Let Your Yeah be Yeah
by R.C. Sproul Jr.

Church membership involves the taking of vows

There is a host of ways in which we handle poorly the idea of church membership. None, however, have the capacity to get my goat, than those who treat their church membership as if it were like some old Flock of Seagulls record in their closet. "Well yeah, I belong to Sodomites Are Us Presbyterian Church, but really I'm an evangelical." Or "I may be a member of Let Him Be Anathema Roman Catholic parish, but I believe in justification by faith alone. Why, I listen to Renewing Your Mind every day."

Church membership involves the taking of vows. It means putting on some kind of uniform. You don't kiss the Nazi just because he says he really likes baseball and thinks Hitler likes to wear a bra. No, you wait until he renounces formally, and publicly, his old allegiance. You can't see the man's heart. What you can see is his uniform. This whole "I'm a member here, where they believe x, but I believe x is hooey" is akin to me saying, "Well, yes, I suppose I am married to Denise. But I really love so and so. And if you were at all kind, you would treat me as if I were the husband of so and so."

Evangelical Catholic makes as much sense as Allied Loving Nazi. Let's stop pretending we can peer into people's hearts, and start holding people to their vows.

Let Your Yeah be Yeah by R.C. Sproul Jr.

Church membership involves the taking of vows

Let Your Yeah be Yeah
by R.C. Sproul Jr.