To play the game, you must line up as many players as possible in such a way that they can whisper into their immediate neighbors ear, but not allow any other players to hear what is being said. The game begins with the first player whispering a phrase to the second player in line. Each player successively whispers what that player believes he or she heard to the next. The last player announces the statement to the entire group. Errors typically accumulate in the retellings, so the statement announced by the last player differs significantly, and often amusingly, from the one uttered by the first.
In this game there is no winner, but it is quite entertaining to compare the original message with the final result. It is also interesting to note that some messages will be completely altered and unrecognizable after only a few steps. The game is usually played as a party game or crowd breaker and is often used as a metaphor for cumulative error, especially the inaccuracies of rumors, gossip, and the unreliability of human memory. It can also provide educational value by demonstrating how easy it is for information to become corrupted by indirect communication.
To some degree, this is what has happened in the church. The first century disciples and apostles heard the message directly from Yeshua and started doing and teaching what they received from him, but over time those teachings and practices have been altered from their origins, and now, 2,000 years later, we have a very different version of the church than what was originally authored by Yeshua.
Tradition has had a tremendous influence on church history, and people often feel more strongly about their traditions than they do many other things, including the authority of scripture. Yeshua rebuked the Pharisees for this very thing saying,
“You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” (Mark 7:8)
I suggest that we take a step back and re-evaluate what it means to be a follower of Yeshua, and what it means to be the community of God. As we do this, I believe, we will grow closer to the Messiah, and start to resemble the people he desires us to be.
“The great Christian revolutions came not by the discovery of something that was not known before. They happen when someone takes radically something that was always there.” - H. Richard Niebuhr