Close Enough?
My wife and I pulled into a restaurant last week expecting to meet my parents there for lunch. Before we went in to eat, we had an item we needed to drop off in their car. We walked by a car parked next to the restaurant that was the same make, same model and same color as my mom’s car. I peered through the window and saw a car seat in the backseat too and felt safe it was mom’s car (she always has a car seat ready for the grandchildren).
As I opened the door to place the package in the backseat I saw a mess. There were fries on the floor, trash strewn on the seats and stains. About that time I heard my wife yell, “Josh, that’s not her car...she has leather seats.” I quickly shut the door and my wife laughed at my attempt at carjacking as we went inside.
How silly would it have been for me to leave the package inside that car anyway? What if I had reasoned, “Oh well, it’s close enough to her car, so it’s okay.” Senseless? Yes. However, religiously, people reason this way all the time.
Imagine a person walking into a local church expecting to find a New Testament church meeting there. This person has read the New Testament and knows how New Testament churches were organized, how they worshipped and their basic work. Upon arrival, they see some similarities — prayer, preaching, etc. However, they also notice some major differences — entertainment-oriented or chaotic worship styles, ecclesiastical organization, recreation-focused appeal and the tolerance of open sin in the lives of church members.
What should they do? Just say, “Well, it’s close enough?” Should we compromise the purity and simplicity of Christianity by tolerating practices that are without a Scriptural basis?
Jesus warned, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15).
The Apostle Paul once wrote to the fickle Galatians, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon...to a different gospel...But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:6,8).
Think about it.
December 2008