Everybody has a religion. If you claim to be “free of religion,” you’re wrong (that didn’t take long, did it?) Your religion is the beliefs that matter most to you. Your religion is your philosophy about good and evil. If you believe religion is evil, then your religion is anti-religion. If you don’t believe God exists, then your religion is atheism. If your religion is atheism, you can stop reading because the rest of this article is going to fly like a majestic eagle, right over your head.
Is there such a thing as truth?
Your answer to that question is the foundation for your religion. If you do not believe truth exists, then the statement, “There is no truth,” cannot be true. So you must make an exception for the phrase, “There is no truth,” which immediately proves truth DOES exist. So if your religion claims there is no such thing as truth, it’s wrong.
God is the source of all truth in the Universe. He is personally responsible for all reality. This is why God is worthy of “worship.” If your religion worships anything other than the creator of all reality, your religion is wrong.
Does your religion tell you what is true?
The truth can’t be personalized like a bedazzled pair of pants. The truth is exclusive. There is only one version. If your birth certificate says you’re a girl and you say you’re a boy, one of you is wrong. If your religion talks about “my truth” or “your truth” or “her truth” or “their truth” then your religion is wrong.
Any religion worth your time will tell you the truth. Good religions don’t send you on vague “journeys” to “find your truth” or “discover reality.” A good religion will tell you, straight-up, “This is reality.” If your religion leaves discovering truth up to you, that religion is wrong.
How does your religion know what is true?
Christianity claims that truth is a person. Jesus Christ said he was “the way and the truth.” Of course, he could have been wrong. So to help validate his outrageous statement, he came back to life three days after he was crucified. That information is contained in the Bible. Which could also be wrong. There’s no reason to believe what the Bible says if it’s just another old book.
To help validate the Bible, the book claims to be authored by God himself. That doesn’t necessarily mean it was. The Bible could be a bunch of fairy tales and Jesus Christ could be a liar. If you don’t believe the Bible contains truth, then your religion is something other than Christianity.
Truth is exclusive. If your religion says the Bible is not true, from what alternative source of truth are you getting that? And if you don’t believe the Bible is true, why are you calling yourself a Christian?
You don’t get to define the terms of Christianity. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing,” which destroys your premise that what’s best for people is sometimes “running away from Christianity.” You are, according to scripture, encouraging people to destroy themselves. Your religion is not Christianity. Your religion is wrong.
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.
2 Peter
4 Responses
Well said. Thank you!
It amazes me the number of people who believe they can pluck out a little of Christianity here, a little Buddhism there, and mix in a smidgen of Native American nature worship to boot. And then some of them call themselves Christians. Nope. I don’t know what they are, but they’re not Christians.
And you are absolutely right, John. Everyone has a religion. They might refuse to call it that, but that doesn’t change the truth.
Too many people that call themselves Christian have no idea what the Bible says and when they read it they distort it to prove themselves right in their incorrect belief. That is why we must study the scriptures to find ourselves approved and be able to defend our faith. I am afraid this is only going to get worse until we won’t even recognize Jesus in the North American Church.
Me too.