Facing Religious Errors

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/ysjwpy

Have you ever been overcharged for an item at the store? Have you ever been served a meal that wasn’t what you ordered? Or have you ever been stopped and mistaken for someone else? Most people would agree that errors need to be corrected.

If you were served the wrong meal, overcharged for an item or mistaken for someone else I think that you would want to do something to correct that situation.

You would tell the waiter and send the incorrect meal back and ask for what you ordered. You would tell the clerk about the differences in the prices for the item. And you would certainly tell the person who stopped you that he must be mistaken because you are not the person he thought you were.

Errors occur all the time in life. Most of them are innocent, but some are intentional. But still, errors do occur.

I once called a church member by the wrong first name for an entire year. I didn’t mean to get it wrong, but after awhile she felt awkward about mentioning it to me until finally her husband convinced her to tell me that I was wrong.

Actually, I was wrong. And I was relieved that an error in my life had been corrected.

Errors also occur in the religious areas of our lives as well. David wrote in Psalm 14:1, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” That is a rather large religious error to make. There is a God. But He doesn’t force you to believe in Him.

When we encounter people who do not believe in any gods at all, we should look for ways to help them correct that error. Of course, they won’t see their belief as an error, so that makes our job all the more difficult.

There are some other religious errors being taught today as well. Some say that the Bible is full of myths and fairy tales. But Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Another error is that all paths lead to God and to heaven. This is one error that is believed by many people. There are so many sincere people in the world that genuinely believe that their god or their path in life will ultimately lead to eternal peace just like Christianity. But that isn’t what the Bible teaches.

In the Ten Commandments God said that He is the only God and that we are to follow Him and Him alone. We are not to make idols or worship any other gods. Additionally, Jesus said in John 14:16, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

There is only one way to God and to heaven and that is through Jesus Christ. All other teaching is religious error.

Another common error taught is that one religion is just as good as another. Like in the previous error, if this was true, many more people would live in peace in eternity. But it isn’t true. It is an error.

One illustration of how wrong it is to have other gods can be found in the account of the golden calf. In this setting Moses has gone up to the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments from God. He left Aaron in charge of the people while he was gone. But Aaron didn’t do such a good job of keeping people in line.

In fact, the people came to Aaron and asked him to make gods for them so they could worship something. Instead of sending them back to their tents or punishing them for wanting to leave the true God, Aaron decides to take the lead in overseeing the process of creating this idol.

In Exodus 32:4 we find that he said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt.” The next day they held a great feast and sacrificed to their new god.

Obviously this all angered God and he sent Moses down to straighten things out. As a result all of the people suffered a plague and about three thousand of them were killed.

Friends, God wants us to know that He is the only true God. He gave us the Bible so that we could learn from the mistakes of others and determine to live our lives according to the truths of the Bible.

Whenever we confront error in our lives, whether in a store or in religion, we need to remember that there is a standard for truth and what is right. If we are unafraid to correct the clerk who returns the wrong amount of change, should we not also be willing to correct someone who believes an error in religion?

On Our Daily Walk today, may we reflect on the love of God and on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. May we also meditate upon the exclusive nature of God and Jesus and be thankful that we have been invited to join with them for all eternity.

Our thought for the day: “It is one thing to show a man he is in error, and quite another thing to put him in possession of the truth.”

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.