Lies We Believe #8: Whatever You Believe is Fine, As Long As It is Sincere
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."—Acts 4:12
The times in which we live advocate a religion of tolerance. Each person is free to believe whatever he or she believes is true, provided that they don’t say anyone else is wrong, and sincerely hold to their own belief. But should sincerity overcome truth? The gospel is divisive and will not allow for any other way than Christ Himself. Christ claimed to be the only way to salvation. He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”—John 14:6. God doesn’t desire that we continue on in the ignorant belief that all religions lead to God, no more than there can be more than one element for us to breathe in order to survive. We survive on oxygen, not carbon dioxide or anything else. So too is there no other way to be saved—there is only one way. Christ didn’t proclaim to be “a” way to God, but the way, denoting complete exclusivity and loyalty to Himself.
There have been some who say that truth is like an elephant with three blind men feeling around it. One of the men says that he feels a round cylindrical object, which is the trunk. Another feels the side of the elephant and feels a rough and somewhat hairy patch, while the last blind man feels the tail. Each has a different description of what truth is, but the reality is that each of them is describing the same thing, simply from different perspectives. Those who believe that many religions lead to God advocate this view of truth—that is, we all are explaining God, but in our own different way. But the illustration fails in one very large way—there is one who is still explaining the story and who has objectivity over the entire thing. He knows that there is one elephant and that each of the others’ perspectives is limited. Yet, he knows what the real story is.
God has made Himself known to us through the person of His Son: “but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world”—Hebrews 1:2. And now, He commands all people to repent as Paul preached in Acts 17:30-31: “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead."
We cannot escape God’s judgment, and we can believe something sincerely and be sincerely wrong. In the Old Testament, the people of Jerusalem were told that God’s judgment was coming in the form of a Babylonian invasion, and that they needed to repent, but continually they turned their backs upon God’s prophet Jeremiah and “trusted in a lie” (Jeremiah 13:25, 28:15, 29:31). God’s judgment did come through the Babylonians; Jerusalem was destroyed, as was the Jewish temple. Turning one’s back on God and His Christ is to make a serious, grave and eternal choice. Don’t give into the lie that all paths lead to God or that one can believe whatever they want as long as they are sincere. God has revealed Himself through His Son and has given us no other way. We must respond to Christ in repentance, faith and obedience. And those who turn to Him, He will by no means cast out; rather, He will embrace and give them eternal life in His presence. Amen.
The times in which we live advocate a religion of tolerance. Each person is free to believe whatever he or she believes is true, provided that they don’t say anyone else is wrong, and sincerely hold to their own belief. But should sincerity overcome truth? The gospel is divisive and will not allow for any other way than Christ Himself. Christ claimed to be the only way to salvation. He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”—John 14:6. God doesn’t desire that we continue on in the ignorant belief that all religions lead to God, no more than there can be more than one element for us to breathe in order to survive. We survive on oxygen, not carbon dioxide or anything else. So too is there no other way to be saved—there is only one way. Christ didn’t proclaim to be “a” way to God, but the way, denoting complete exclusivity and loyalty to Himself.
There have been some who say that truth is like an elephant with three blind men feeling around it. One of the men says that he feels a round cylindrical object, which is the trunk. Another feels the side of the elephant and feels a rough and somewhat hairy patch, while the last blind man feels the tail. Each has a different description of what truth is, but the reality is that each of them is describing the same thing, simply from different perspectives. Those who believe that many religions lead to God advocate this view of truth—that is, we all are explaining God, but in our own different way. But the illustration fails in one very large way—there is one who is still explaining the story and who has objectivity over the entire thing. He knows that there is one elephant and that each of the others’ perspectives is limited. Yet, he knows what the real story is.
God has made Himself known to us through the person of His Son: “but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world”—Hebrews 1:2. And now, He commands all people to repent as Paul preached in Acts 17:30-31: “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead."
We cannot escape God’s judgment, and we can believe something sincerely and be sincerely wrong. In the Old Testament, the people of Jerusalem were told that God’s judgment was coming in the form of a Babylonian invasion, and that they needed to repent, but continually they turned their backs upon God’s prophet Jeremiah and “trusted in a lie” (Jeremiah 13:25, 28:15, 29:31). God’s judgment did come through the Babylonians; Jerusalem was destroyed, as was the Jewish temple. Turning one’s back on God and His Christ is to make a serious, grave and eternal choice. Don’t give into the lie that all paths lead to God or that one can believe whatever they want as long as they are sincere. God has revealed Himself through His Son and has given us no other way. We must respond to Christ in repentance, faith and obedience. And those who turn to Him, He will by no means cast out; rather, He will embrace and give them eternal life in His presence. Amen.
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