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Many people believe that being honest in one's belief is the standard by which he is saved.
They usually say, "So long as he is honest, he is saved." But those same people will not use
that logic in any other realm of life.
Nearly everyone has found that being honestly mistaken in traveling doesn't make a wrong road right. When a person takes the wrong road, he must discover his mistake, recognize it and then get on the right road and follow it to reach his destination. But in religion, men toss that concept out the window. Being honestly mistaken doesn't make a wrong road right in our travels, or in religion. Those folks who boarded the Titanic in 1912 honestly believed that ship was unsinkable, as did its builders. They were sincere in their belief, but the Titanic sank anyway. The same principle holds true in religion. Honesty and sincerity are necessary in our religious beliefs, but honesty or sincerity alone do not make us right with God. We have a great example in the Scriptures of a man who honestly believed he was right, even while killing and imprisoning Christians. That man was the apostle Paul. Before his conversion, Paul consented to Stephen's death, according to Acts 8:1. Acts 8:3 says he "made havock of the church" and imprisoned both men and women for being Christians, and in doing this he persecuted the Lord, according to Acts 9:4-5. Honesty or sincerity does not make a man right before God. Paul was as honestly mistaken as any man has ever been. He described himself as "a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious" but said he did those things "ignorantly in unbelief" (1 Timothy 1:13). But even while doing those things, he said he lived in good conscience (Acts 23:1). His conscience didn't condemn his murderous actions because he honestly thought he was serving God by persecuting Christians. He opposed the truth, Christ and the church because he was sincere and honestly mistaken, but his sincerity didn't make his actions right. God does not excuse even sincere and honest religious ignorance. Paul told the Athenians that, "The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30). God has provided the way of salvation for us and now demands that we study and learn the truth in order to be saved. Jesus said the truth makes us free (John 8:32). We may be honestly ignorant of the way of salvation, but our honesty does not save us. Only a study of God's word and obedience to it will do that. It's so sad that many honest and sincere souls have been led to believe they were saved before — and without — baptism. They've been told that baptism has nothing to do with salvation, and they honestly believe that fatal error. But Jesus said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," (Mark 16:16), and all the honesty in the world cannot set aside that command. Be honest and sincere in your study of the truth, but don't think honesty or sincerity alone will save you. |