Vol. 4, No. 24, Aug. 7, 2005

Closet Christians

Written by Christopher Mentzer

Faster than a Sermon on Sin, more prayerful than a convent full of nuns, able to quote several bible passages in a single breath. It’s the Closet Christian! Sounds like a superhero right? Well you probably know many people like this. In fact the definition of a Closet Christian is one who lives his life like everyone else and then on Sunday he transforms, like a superhero, into a Christian! Friends, family, co-workers, all seemingly normal mild-mannered individuals. On Sunday, though, they become the local Bible Thumper ready to defend their beliefs…but only on Sunday. Come Monday, they hang up their tights, or Bibles, in their closets and forget about them until next week. They won’t disagree with you when you mention Heb. 10: 25, “not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting `one another'; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.” But is that enough? To them it is. Even some of the younger members of the Lord’s church go through life like this. They will become converted and “act” like a Christian around family and friends. Once they are old enough to go out on their own, they remove the “costume” of Christianity and live the way they want to.

In Exodus 32, when Moses was delayed in coming down the mountain they turned to Aaron and asked him to make them a god to worship. And Aaron complied and they worshipped a golden calf. What happened was the congregation got tired of wearing their newfound religion and cast it aside or “hung it up in the closet” and began to live like those in Egypt. They assumed Moses wasn’t coming back so they decided to live the way they wanted to. As the saying goes, “While the cat’s away, the mice will play.”

Today we have a similar delay. What some consider the Delay of Christ. Look at 2 Pet. 3: 3-4, “knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts, 4. and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” Just like the Jews back in Exodus 32, some get tired of waiting for the Second Coming of Christ and so they discard their Christianity like some worn suit and return to their former life.

But being a Christian is much more than assuming a role in the community or an identity on Sundays. It should be a lifestyle that includes permanent change. Read chapter 3 of Colossians. It is a basis of how Christians should live. Here are verses 9 and 10: “lie not one to another; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings, 10. and have put on the new man, that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him” And if we are asked to wait, then we should rather than get frustrated and cast off what we’ve been given. In Luke 21: 19 Jesus said, “In your patience ye shall win your souls.” The reason comes from 2 Pet. 3: 9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” This should be a great for Christ’s delay. The longer he waits the more opportunity we have to repent of our sins, to share the gospel with others, and to help prepare others to wait patiently for His return.

If you aren’t a Christian today, you can become one now! Read the steps below and you can begin a new life in Christ. If you’re one who has discarded the “suit” of Christianity, today is the day you can put it back on and leave it on until you die (Rev. 2: 10) through repentance and forgiveness. The decision is yours.

To Become a Christian you must:

Hear the Word of God (Rom. 10:17)

Believe Jesus is the Son of God (John 8: 24)

Confess Jesus is the Son of God (Rom. 10: 9-10)

Repent of your sins (Acts 2: 38)

Become baptized to wash away your sins (Acts 22:16)