No matter how good they are, some say they are just not the real thing. And no matter what you do to them, no matter how closely they resemble the real thing, they are still substitutes.

Our spiritual life is one area where substitutes can be dangerous.

John 10:1  Truly, truly, I say to you, He who does not enter into the sheepfold by the door, but going up by another way, that one is a thief and a robber.

John 10:10  The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

 It is only when one is immersed in a relationship with Jesus Christ that the truths of God are unfolded, not just into our doctrines, but in our very lives.