“He Is Too Narrow!”

Jarrod Jacobs 

                   The observation is sometimes made about the preacher or teacher that he is “too narrow.” In our culture, absence of conviction is often mistaken for broadness of mind. Roy L. Smith said the following about “broad-mindedness” in religion; it is worth reading. He said:

                   “The preacher is sometimes accused of being narrow-minded because he insists upon the Christian’s forsaking all to follow Christ. Yet, all of life is narrow, and success is to be found only by passing through the narrow gate and the straightened way (Matt. 7:13-14). There is no room for broad-mindedness …

• … in the chemical laboratory. Water is composed of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. The slightest deviation from that formula is forbidden.
• … in music. There can only be eight notes in a measure. The skilled director will not permit his first violin to put in even so much as an extra thirty-second note.
• … in the mathematics classroom. Neither geometry, calculus, nor trigonometry allows for any variation from exact accuracy, even for old time’s sake. The solution of the problem is either right or wrong.
• … in biology. One varying result out of a thousand experiments will invalidate an entire theory.
• … on the athletic field. The game is played according to the rules, with no favors shown for charity’s sake.
• … in the garage. The mechanic there says that the piston rings must fit the cylinder walls within one two-thousandths of an inch. Even between friends there cannot be any variation if the motor is to run smoothly.

“How then shall we expect that broad-mindedness shall rule in the realm of religion and morals?”