Does it Matter What You Believe as Long as You’re Sincere?

  Blog Series

Why Believe in God? 

If You Reject God, You’ve Only Done Half the Job.

We’re in a blog series sub-titled, “If You Reject God, You’ve Only Done Half the Job.”

As we wrap up the series with these last few posts, we’re continuing to look at difficult apologetic issues that often tempt people to reject God in the first place. Today, we look at a common question, “Does it Matter What You Believe as Long as You’re Sincere?”

In our age of inclusion and tolerance, it is becoming increasingly common (even for Christians) to conclude that it doesn’t matter what you believe about God and faith, as long as you’re sincere. This builds off the increasingly popular belief that “truth is what I determine it to be for me,” and it also satisfies the cultural desire for tolerance and inclusion.

And, frankly, it seems reasonable.

It is reasonable to conclude that God would honor sincerity

If the Christian God is the true God, why would such a loving and understanding God condemn anyone who was sincerely worshiping a god other than Him? A loving and understanding person would say (we conclude) that that person is likely doing the best he knows. He’s doing what his parents and culture taught him to do. So why not give him a break?!? Why not show a little compassion and count his sincere worship of another god as a sign of his overall spiritual sincerity?

It seems egotistical and unreasonable for the true God to be offended by the honest mistake of someone worshiping someone else. Or even more so, as we looked at last week, what if that person had never even heard of the true God? How could he worship a God he didn’t even know about?

So, when you look at it that way, yes, it is easy to think that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere in your belief.

However, no one mistakenly worships the wrong God 

The fatal flaw with the conclusion that the true God overlooks sincere worship of another god is that – as we saw in the last blog – no one mistakenly worships the wrong God.

Let me unpack that statement.

A person may be sincerely worshiping a god other than the true God, let’s say Allah, the god of Islam. But, the only reason they are worshiping Allah is because they have first rejected the true God.

Hang in there. Let me explain.

We made two key observations in last week’s blog on “What About Those Who Die Without Ever Hearing of Christ”:

1. God has revealed Himself to everyone through nature and conscience (Romans 1 & 2), so that anyone who rejects Him is “without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
2. If someone observes nature and desires to know the true creator God, then, regardless of his upbringing, there is biblical and anecdotal evidence to suggest that God would get the message of Christ to that person, one way or another (be sure to read examples of this in last week’s blog).

So, if someone is sincerely worshiping Allah, it is because he has rejected the revelation that the true God has given him in nature and conscience, and has decided to worship another god instead.

Now, as a clarification of that principle, there is an avalanche of testimonies, coming from the Islamic world, of Muslims who are turning to Christ because God is revealing Him to them through visions and dreams – because the omniscient God sees that those individuals are prepared to worship the true God if they just know about Him.

So in the end, for anyone to mistakenly worship the wrong god to the end of their lifetime is not because they were sincerely seeking the true God but they never heard of Jesus. Rather, they were not sincere in seeking to worship the true Creator God. No one mistakenly worships the wrong God. God sees to it.

All religions are mutually exclusive, not just Christianity

Also important to understanding this subject is the fact that, while it is true that Christianity is an exclusive religion, all other religions are exclusive, as well. There is nothing unique to Christianity about that.

For example, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” But the other world religions have their teachings of exclusivity, as well. None of the other major religions of the world would agree that “it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere.” That perspective is exclusive to “progressives” living in the West in countries with a Christian heritage. It is rooted in the false belief that a person can choose his own truth… that something might be true for you but not for me. Based on that, people create a god in their own image, and make him tolerant and inclusive. It is not true, however.

Why believe Christianity is true?

Well, of course, this whole blog series has been dedicated to demonstrating why we believe Christianity is true. To summarize it, it is because Christianity conforms to reality. It is true to what “is.”

• Only Christianity is sufficient to explain reality (“why is there something rather than nothing?”).
• Only Christianity has a solution to humanity’s true problem (sin).
• Only Christianity is rooted in historical events that can be verified (the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus).
• Only Christianity gives a clear pathway and a promise to believe, that we can be reconciled to God, made spiritually new, and that it can be safe to die (John 3:16).
• Only in Christianity are we saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).

 Conclusion

Does it matter what we believe as long as we’re sincere? Indeed, it does. But our loving Heavenly Father will see to it that if we sincerely desire to worship Him, He will get us the truth we need to do so.

In case you’re new here

This blog post is part of a series titled “Why Believe in God? If You Reject God, You’ve Only Done Half the Job.”, introduced on January 5, 2022. As the series continues, each succeeding post will be added to and available in the blog archives at www.maxanders.com.

If you know anyone who you think might enjoy joining us in this study, please forward this blog to them and encourage them to go to my web site (www.maxanders.com) and sign up for the free video, “Master the Bible So Well That the Bible Masters You”, available there on the home page. This will put them on my regular mailing list and they’ll receive my weekly blogs on this subject.

I look forward to going through this faith-affirming journey with you.