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Of all the absurdities taught by modern religion, the one which says, "All
religion is acceptable to God, so long as one is sincere" is perhaps the
most ridiculous.
Thousands of sincere people placed their confidence in the "unsinkable" Titanic in April, 1912 and lost their lives in the North Atlantic. Sincere people placed their confidence in the stock market in 1929 and lost their life's fortunes. Sincere people followed Jim Jones to Guyana in the 1970s and died as a result. Those who hold to sincerity as an acceptable standard before God surely do not believe their own absurdity. If so, then they believe the Muslim thugs who hijacked three planes and killed thousands of people on Sept. 11, 2001 were acceptable to God. They were sincere, religious people—so sincere in their religion that they were willing to die for it. No one can be more devoted and sincere than that. How silly is this idea that "sincerity" is the standard of true religion before God? Here's what Tyler Young had to say in a recent article on the subject: "The Dean of the Washington Cathedral, the 'Very Reverend Nathan D. Baxter'—whose title alone is an arrogant violation of scripture (Matt. 23:1-12)—issued a statement on the day of the attacks in which he said, 'We pray that our belief in God's justice and love will continue to sustain people of good will whatever their faith tradition... I encourage people to seek solace in their religious faith.' "At the prayer service, the 'Right Reverend' (another humble title) Jane Holmes Dixon, apparently unbothered by the Bible's prohibition of women addressing men in such a setting (1 Tim. 2:8-15), spoke of 'people of many faiths' being welcome to pray together and to acknowledge 'Muslim, Jew, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu, indeed, all people of faith' as part of God's family. So we have those who reject Christ and God (Hindus and Buddhists are idol worshippers) welcomed as a part of the community of faith. Apparently it matters not what the object of a person's faith may be—God, Allah, the moon, a tree, or the earth—so long as he is a person 'of faith.' "...The pluralistic Jesus [who was] worshipped at the Interfaith Gathering in Washington; the Jesus who smiles approvingly at people of all faiths; who welcomes without judgment Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and Hindus is not the Christ of the Scriptures. He is the idol of false religionists who ignore and pervert the teaching of Christ in order to fit everyone into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said, 'I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life'—not A way—and unequivocally declared, 'No man cometh unto the Father but by me' (John 14:6). That rules out Mohammed and Buddha. That means Jews who don't obey Christ are lost. Such dogmatism would have made the Lord himself unwelcome at the politically correct prayer service held 'in his name.' "Especially disconcerting is the effort to place Islamic faith on an equal footing with the faith of Christ. The terrorist hijackers were Muslims motivated by their Islamic faith to murder Americans. "...At the prayer service in the Washington Cathedral, the 'Very Reverend' Baxter began his prayer by saying, 'God of Abraham, Mohammed, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.' The God of Mohammed? That's Allah—not Jehovah. Later, Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi of the Islamic Society of North America read from the Qu'ran and led the assembly in prayer. A man who advocates a religion which rejects Jesus Christ as the Son of God was given a part in a 'Christian' church service. It was a shameful moment for our nation! But the inclusion of a Muslim cleric was designed to show that we accept 'all people of faith'—even the faith which motivated terrorists to bring death and destruction to us because we are not of their faith. "And there is the REAL irony. The National Cathedral service included a Muslim to show that 'Christianity' is inclusive, yet Islam itself is as exclusive as a religion can be, condemning all other religious faiths and labeling as 'infidels' all who refuse to acknowledge Mohammed as Allah's true prophet. If Christians condemn other faiths it is 'arrogant,' 'intolerant' and 'judgmental.' Yet Islam somehow avoids this stigma, at least in the context of a National Day of Prayer. If WE are condemned when we judge Islam, why is ISLAM not condemned for judging everyone else?" (THE LAMP, Leonard church of Christ, Leonard, Texas, ed. Sam Dilbeck). If you still believe that sincerity is the standard for acceptable religion with God, you are surely blinded by prejudice. The apostle Paul was a sincere man with a clear conscience when he practiced the Jews' religion and persecuted Christians. (Acts 23:1). But he was sincerely wrong. So are all who reject Christ's religion for what they "sincerely feel" in their hearts. The religion of Christ is founded upon his authority as expressed in the New Testament—not upon the "sincerity" of deluded men. |