THE DEADENING EFFECT OF RELIGIOUS MAKE-BELIEVE

by A. W. Tozer

 "Let...no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." Romans 14:13
    The deadening effect of religious make-believe on the human mind is beyond all describing.
    What can the effect be upon the spectators who live day after day among the professed Christians who habitually ignore the commandments of Christ and live after their own private notions of Christianity?
    Truth sits forsaken and grieves until her professed followers come home for a brief visit, but she sees them depart again when the bills becomes due. They protest great and undying love for her but they will not let their love cost them anything!
    Will not those who watch us from day to day conclude that the whole thing is false?
    Will they not be forced to believe that the faith of Christ is an unreal and visionary thing which they are fully justified in rejecting?
    Certainly the non-Christian is not too much to be blamed if he turns disgustedly away from the invitation of the Gospel after he has been exposed for a while to the inconsistencies of those of his acquaintances who profess to follow Christ.
    In that great and terrible day when the deeds of men are searched into by the penetrating eyes of the Judge of all the earth what will we answer when we are charged with inconsistency and moral fraud?
    And at whose door will lie the blame for millions of lost men who while they lived on earth were sickened and revolted by the religious travesty they knew as Christianity?

from his book Renewed Day By Day, reading for Oct. 14th, Christian Publications, Camp Hill, PA, USA

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