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?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."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!
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:
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:
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.)