Is the amount of sub-Christian behavior it tolerates and still happily calls the practitioners ‘Christians’. Things that are now ‘ok’ with Disciples of the Crucified and Risen Lord are (in no particular order)
- premarital sexual relations
- premarital pregnancy
- marital infidelity
- premarital cohabitation
- failure to participate in worship
- failure to contribute to ministry
- failure to pray
- failure to read the Bible with any regularity
- failure to share the Gospel with neighbors and friends
- failure to show the decency and compassion which Jesus requires (cf. Mt 25)
In short, you don’t have to believe, do, or be anything which is the hallmark of Christian belief. All you need to do is call yourself a ‘Christian’ and, voila, you are one… Or so you would think…
Which is why it’s helpful to remind our contemporaries of a simple pronouncement of Jesus:
‘It is not anyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven. When the day comes many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, work many miracles in your name?” Then I shall tell them to their faces: I have never known you; away from me, all evil doers! ‘Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. But everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell; and what a fall it had!’ (Matt. 7:21-27)
If you aren’t going to obey him, don’t bother to identify with him.
Zwinglius Redivivus 