Cookie-cutter Christians result from blind organizational loyalty (Winter 1997 pages 2-3, Comments from the Friends)

WHY would anyone want to be a cookie-cutter "Christian"? Actually, there are many good reasons--no, many reasons but none of them "good" in my opinion. Well, you decide.

FIRST of all, it's easier. Or at least it seems easier from fallen mankind's viewpoint. When Jesus was about to select his twelve apostles, "he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." (Luke 6:12, KJV). That was hard. When faced with a tough decision, why spend all night alone in prayer, if you can simply look up the answer in a Watchtower magazine?
Free children of God must shoulder responsibility, think for themselves, struggle, sweat, puzzle through things, and learn the hard way. Cookie-cutter "Christians" let someone else do their thinking for them. Easier! Less work!

Here's another reason why people become cookie-cutter "Christians": Unscrupulous religious leaders are always looking for more followers. "They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth." (2 Timothy 3:6-7 NIV). Cookie-cutter "Christians" are obedient and loyal to their teachers, who make sure that they are "always learning."

People are often impressed by the appearance of cookie-cutter "Christians." Just see how clean their organization looks, how clean-cut their young men are groomed. In contrasting such ones with real Christians, the inspired Scripture warns, ""Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!'?... Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value..." (Colossians 2:21-23 NIV)

Also impressive to fallen man is the lofty structure formed when cookie-cutter "Christians" are organized row upon row, column upon column, the top of their 'Tower seemingly reaching up to the heavens. At the very top the leaders appear to sit close to God, ready to shout down commands as His spokesmen:

"Today, a 'faithful and discreet slave' has been appointed . . . Jehovah, by his spirit, reveals deep Scriptural truths by means of this loyal slave..."--The Watchtower January 1, 1996, page 30 (bolded for emphasis)

They blasphemously make loyalty to them a condition of salvation:

". . . being loyal to Jehovah's visible organization. . . . Thereby we will win his favor and will receive the prize of everlasting life."--The Watchtower March 15, 1996, page 20
". . . come to Jehovah's organization for salvation . . ."--The Watchtower November 15, 1981, page 21
"'. . . how unsound it is to rely on human reasoning . . . stay by the faithful organization. How else can one get Jehovah's favor and blessing?'"--The Watchtower July 15, 1996, page 20

The spiritual bullies who rise to the top in such religious organizations love to push the flock around and to command unthinking obedience from their followers:

"Loyalty requires that we . . . loyally uphold the Bible teachings found in the Watchtower and Awake! magazines as well as all other spiritual food provided by the Watch Tower Society."--The Watchtower January 15, 1996, page 6
"Avoid Independent Thinking . . . questioning the counsel that is provided by God's visible organization" --The Watchtower January 15, 1983, page 22
"It would be wrong, however, to try to convince others in the congregation to accept our own divergent opinion."--The Watchtower July 15, 1996, page 17

[cookie cutter Christians rolled out like dough under a rollingpin]

"No matter where Jehovah's Witnesses live on this earth, they speak and teach in agreement."
--The Watchtower January 15, 1996, page 5
ARE YOU TIRED of being a cookie-cutter "Christian"? God extends the invitation for you to receive the adoption as one of his free children. (See the next article.)

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"No matter where Jehovah's Witnesses live on this earth, they speak and teach in agreement." --The Watchtower January 15, 1996, page 5 ARE YOU TIRED of being a cookie-cutter "Christian"? God extends the invitation for you to receive the adoption as one of his free children. (See the next article.)

"No matter where Jehovah's Witnesses live on this earth, they speak and teach in agreement."
--The Watchtower January 15, 1996, page 5
ARE YOU TIRED of being a cookie-cutter "Christian"? God extends the invitation for you to receive the adoption as one of his free children. (See the next article.)