Vol. 4, No. 10 Apr. 17, 2005

The Doctrine of “Close Enough”

Written By Christopher Mentzer

While preparing for leading songs, I was trying to remember a song but forgot the title. I turned to Vern and asked him the name of the song that contained the line, “As for me and my house, we are gonna serve the Lord.” He replied, “That’s ‘Dare to Stand Like Joshua’, but I don’t think they used the word ‘gonna’.” It was then I realized what I said. Grant it I used the wrong word but it was “Close Enough”.

Oftentimes people sometime lapse into a paraphrase of certain scripture they’ve quoted dozens of times but end up doing it from memory. Rather than actually open the Bible and read the scripture straight from the book, they will continue to quote it verbatim and eventually end up paraphrasing to the point of twisting the verse. One such example is 1 Tim. 6: 10 which reads, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (ASV) This is then paraphrased by most and quoted as such: “Money is the root of all evil.” One word, love, is omitted and it takes on a whole new meaning! Now ALL money is considered evil! If that were true, then how does one explain what Jesus said in Luke 20: 24-25, “Show me a denarius. Whose image and superscription hath it? And they said, Caesar's. 25. And he said unto them, Then render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's.”

Another example of the doctrine of Close Enough, people decide on which church to join based on their feelings and the programs that the church may offer. Questions arise like:

How long are the sermons?

Am I going to be accused of sin?

Do you have a ‘singles night’?

Is there a Youth Ministry?

How about a softball team?

If congregations don’t provide such things, then they will move on to the next one. Most often they will not attend at all. Then again, those who know what the scriptures say about the Church will pick one that’s “Close Enough”. Perhaps they use instrumental music…but only during the Lord’s Supper. Or they will welcome anyone of any belief and make them a member before actually teaching them the truth. Once again this is unacceptable in the eyes of God. The apostle John wrote, “Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God: he that abideth in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son.” ‘Goeth onward’ means you are leading Christ rather than following Him. You believe your is better than God’s way because it is more modern and its what people want rather than what they need.

One final example is attendance. In Hebrews 10: 24-25 the writer states, “and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works; 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.” This means attend services as often as the congregation comes together. Evening services, Mid-week Bible Studies, Gospel Meetings, etc. To some they look at attending only Sunday Morning as ‘Close Enough’. They’ll follow up by saying, “Give me Book, Chapter, and Verse that says I need to come more than once a week.” True there is no such scripture but if a Christian’s life is supposed to be centered on God then you would want to attend as often as possible. Psalm 118: 8, “It is better to take refuge in Jehovah Than to put confidence in man.”

Finally James wrote, “To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Don’t settle for “Close Enough”, read the scriptures and seek that which God has given us.