Dennis Abernathy

Do you ever think much about how we ought to live? Perhaps you won’t be surprised to hear that polls today show that in matters of moral and ethical behavior many churchgoers do not differ very much from non-churchgoers.

Unfortunately, that’s not because non-churchgoers have unexpectedly high morals, but rather it’s because many churchgoers have worldly morals. Instead of the world becoming more “churchy,” what has gradually happened is that many church people have become more worldly!

Basically speaking, what is happening is that religious people have gradually become “conformed to this world.” Romans 12: 1: 2 tells Christians not to “be conformed to this world” but to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The New English Bible says, “Adapt yourselves no longer to the pattern of this present world.” The New Living Translation says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world.” J. B. Phillips translation has, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold.” Renewing your mind refers to one’s attitude or way of thinking. Thus, this transformation comes from within. Changing the outside without changing the inside is like putting clean clothes on a boy who plays in the mud. Therefore, to change the outside, we must first change the inside because as one “thinks within himself, so is he” (Prov. 23: 7).

Actually, this religious and moral degeneration in many churches is not really surprising. It is the result decades of handling God’s Word in loose and careless ways. As someone pointed out, “preachers in many churches have left the Bible and slid into ever-increasing apostasy, and now, when they try to hit the brakes, they can’t even find the petal.

We will be formed into the image of the world if we follow the thought patterns, values, and attitudes of the world. Once we start doing what the world does, it is only a matter of time until we begin to look like the world. What is my point? No matter how religious and devout we claim to be, if we pattern our lives after the world, we cannot help but look like what we have patterned ourselves after! Truly, we must live in this world, but we must not be “of this world! (1 Jn. 2: 15-17).

Well, we’re not claiming perfection at the White Oak Church of Christ, but we are trying to stick with the Bible. For example, we’re staying with the Bible on moral and ethical issues, such as its teaching about marriage and divorce and remarriage. We also stand with the teaching of the Bible in its condemnation of sexual sins-including homosexuality. When it comes to our speech, social drinking, modesty, and what the church should be in its work, worship, and organization we accept the Bible as our guide.

I know that many people, even church people, will think the things we have mentioned are outdated and old-fashioned, but the White Oak church of Christ is still trying to follow all God tells us in His Word. Please think on these things.