Views: 1<\/p>
[Note<\/strong>:\u00a0 <\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 2<\/strong>\u00a0 page.]<\/span><\/p>\n For generations, millions of otherwise rational beings, claiming to be disciples of Jesus, have mouthed the slogan: \u201cIt makes no difference what you believe, as long as you are sincere in following that belief.\u201d Of course, they do not really believe this when put to the test. They correctly do not believe it when applied to Buddhists, Hindus, or Muslims, and certainly not to Atheists. What they really mean is that one can believe and\/or practice almost any doctrine and be acceptable to God, as long as one claims to \u201cbelieve\u201d in Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God.<\/p>\n Men do not entertain such a \u201csincere-only\u201d credo in any other area of life besides religion. The more sincerely one believes the spiel of the con artist, the more one will be victimized. Armies have been defeated, ships sunk, marriages destroyed, and governments toppled because of sincere belief of a lie.<\/p>\n Is sincere belief of error in religion as valid as belief of the Truth? The Old Testament unequivocally answers, \u201cNo.\u201d A young prophet of Judah lost his life for sincerely believing one whom he thought was entirely trustworthy\u2014an older prophet. The Bible says simply, \u201cBut he lied\u201d (1 Kin. 13:18). On Mt. Carmel, 450 prophets of Baal shed their own blood seeking his favor, proving their sincerity of belief in that senseless \u201cgod\u201d (1 Kin. 18:22\u201329). Hundreds of Biblical condemnations and consequences of idolatry demonstrate the disaster of believing a lie in religion. The unrivaled sincerity of Saul of Tarsus\u2019 belief in the lie that Jesus was a deceptive blasphemer did not excuse his damnable persecution of the Son of God (Acts 9:1\u201319). This same Saul, as the converted apostle of the Lord, did not subscribe to the dictum that belief of error in religion, however sincere, is inconsequential. He described those who \u201creceived not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.\u201d Instead, he said they \u201cbelieve a lie,\u201d and that all \u201cwho believed not the truth\u201d would \u201cbe damned\u201d (2 The. 2:10\u201312, KJV). Elsewhere he wrote, \u201cLet God be true, but every man a liar\u201d (Rom. 3:4; cf. Gal. 1:6\u20139).<\/p>\n Jesus Christ said that Truth\u2014not error\u2014in matters of the soul, makes men free (John 8: 32). He defined truth in religion as the Word of God (17:17). He called religious leaders of his day\u2014enslaved by religious error\u2014\u201cblind leaders of the blind\u201d and said that leader and follower alike would \u201cfall into the ditch\u201d (Mat. 15:14). The sincerity of one\u2019s believing and following a lie in religion will not only not<\/strong>prevent his fall, but rather will be its cause. The same destiny awaits the blind follower.<\/p>\n Jesus said that those who would enter Heaven will not do so by believing what they like, regardless of their sincerity, but by doing the Father\u2019s will (Mat. 7:21\u201323). The \u201cit-matters-not-what-you-believe\u201d slogan in religion is simply the precursor to the \u201cyour-truth, my-truth, no-truth\u201d Postmodernism nonsense that curses today\u2019s society in both the secular and religious realms.<\/p>\n [Note:<\/strong> I wrote this article for and it was published in The Lighthouse, <\/em>weekly bulletin of Northpoint Church of Christ, Denton, TX, February 6, 2009, of which I was editor.]<\/p>\n Attribution:<\/strong> From www.thescripturecache.com,<\/em> Dub McClish, proprietor, curator, and administrator.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Views: 1[Note:\u00a0 This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 2\u00a0 page.] For generations, millions of otherwise rational beings, claiming to be disciples of Jesus, have mouthed the slogan: \u201cIt makes no difference what you believe, as long as you are sincere…<\/p>\n