A Plea for Consistency

I am currently taking a graduate class called "Contextualization." In this class we have discussed how that in evangelism sometimes former beliefs of a convert are never really rejected, but instead religious beliefs are blended together. What often happens in far eastern countries is that "converts" to Christianity end up accepting Jesus but simply adding him to their firm beliefs in other gods also. This blending together of beliefs is called "syncretism" and we see it taking place in our country today in the form of religious "pluralism." But before we point fingers at how people in other countries "blend" beliefs together, perhaps we should examine ourselves. I am amazed at how often I perceive that we in the churches of Christ take pride in "restoring the first century church" when many of our methods and practices have simply been adopted from denominationalism. For example, I have literally heard people say that we should always offer an invitation at the close of the sermon because it is Scriptural. Yet, in reality there is no biblical instruction about offering an invitation. This is simply our tradition. It seems likely to me that our tradition of offering an invitation following a sermon likely came from the denominational concept of an "alter call." There are traditionalists among us who claim that offering the invitation is the "Scriptural" thing to do (and you are "liberal" if you do not), when in reality we simply adopted it from the denominations. Yet, many of these same individuals claim that churches that raise hands in prayer are "trying to be like the denominations" when in reality we do have Scriptural instruction to do this very thing (read 1 Tim. 2:8)! What is my point? I simply desire that we study our Bibles and be consistent in our convictions!