A pastor once used the analogy of a burning fire to represent the Church. He told me that if you place many logs together and strike a match, the mass of logs will ignite and create a roaring fire. As long as the logs are together, the fire continues. But if you take one burning log out of the fire, the flame will soon die out. Nothing changed in the log; it is still the same flammable materials as before. But something changed in the environment; without the heat and flame of the other logs, it simply won’t burn as readily. ‘So it is with Christians,’ he said to me. ‘As long as we are together, we burn for Christ as lights in the darkness. But if you separate one Christian away from the Church, in very little time he will be reduced to a smolder.’^{[1] 1}

1. an excerpt from Finding the Will of God ~ a Pagan Notion? by Bruce K. Waltke, p. 105 [[2] back]