The simple answer to this question is, yes it does. To clarify the answer, it matters if you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and receive the gift of immortality and salvation to eternal life. Immortality and salvation is a gift from God, given to us freely. We cannot earn it. But, there is one important thing that people forget. God does not force us to take this gift. We can accept the gift or we can refuse the gift. If you do not care about this gift, then the answer to the question is that it really doesn’t matter what you believe. You can believe whatever your heart desires.
Using the Bible as a basis for
this discussion, it tells us that that those who want to know and have a
relationship with God should hold on to beliefs that are based on His laws and
not compromise. “Now by this we know
that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him,'
and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1
John 2:3-4, emphasis added).
Why should what we believe be
important to us? It is because what we
do in life and what decisions we make are ultimately based in a large part on
what we believe. If our decisions are
based on God's laws, then we can resist the pressures to conform to the
standards and values the world imposes on us. We can live in the world, yet not
take part in its sins. We can avoid the breaking of God's laws that so often
takes place in society.
“But he answered and said, it is
written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out
of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4, KJV).
Jesus is saying that what we believe, and ultimately what we do is
determined by what we think. What we
think should come from the words that “proceed out of God’s mouth”.
There is a thought process that
supports the idea that there is no absolute truth when believing in Jesus
Christ, thus, the act of believing is all there is. The theory is that "there is no
objective standard by which truth may be determined, so that truth varies with
individuals and circumstances" (David Elton Trueblood, Philosophy of
Religion, p. 348).
So, does it really matter what
we believe? The idea of finding the
truth or real meaning to life escapes some people’s minds. People spend their lives developing their idea
of truth. It does not matter if you are
sixteen years old or sixty years old. Up
until that point in time you have spent 100% of your life developing your idea
of truth and put up walls resisting any thought that would change that idea. As you get older, most people spend what they
feel is a lot of time, energy, and, (for some), money in formulating their
thoughts and ideas on truth and it is only natural to defend what you developed
over the years.
People have always valued their
act of belief more than the object of their belief. William James lived from January 11, 1842
until August 26, 1910 and was an American philosopher and psychologist who was
also trained as a physician. He was the first educator to offer a psychology
course in the United States. He stated, "Be
not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will
help create the fact”. (https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ William
James”).
Is this statement true,
especially when we are discussing Biblical truths? The belief in something will not make it
true. You can believe that an object is
something that it is not. You can
believe it with all your heart and soul, but that will not make your belief
fact, outside of your own mind.
The truth of a belief is
determined by all of the facts supporting that belief or disproving that
belief. The only alternative to this is
closing your mind to ideas that are new to you and this could ultimately lead
to your eternal destruction.
Belief is not determined by the
strength of one’s faith. There are many
who get seriously injured and/or die every year because of their faith in
something. Teenagers are prime examples
of the support for this idea. They
develop a belief or an idea to do something.
Their parents, because of their experiences in life, tell them it is
wrong and could get them in trouble or in some cases injured, or even killed. Teens commonly think they know everything and
therefore what they believe overrides any warnings or threats that their
parents give them. When things go
horribly wrong, which they usually do, the teenagers and, or friends and family
in the case of a death, now try to answer the question, “Why?”.
The Bible also emphasizes the
fact that it is vital what one believes.
Jesus says that we “... are from beneath” but He is “...from above: (we)
are of this world; (but He is) not of this world.” (John 8:23, KJV). Jesus went on to say, “I have many things to
say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world
those things which I have heard of him.” (John 8:26, KJV).
Jesus said in chapter three of
the gospel of John that “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:
and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abideth on him.” (John 3:36, KJV). Most
Bible translations interpret the first half of the verse and the second half of
the verse to mean the same thing, but they do not.
In the first part of the verse,
the phrase “He that believeth” deals strictly with “belief” alone. It means “to think, to be true, to be
persuaded of, to credit or to place confidence in” something. The phrase in the second part of the
scripture comes from a different Greek word which carries the meaning of refusing
belief and obedience and not to complying with something. That is, not obeying and complying with everything
that Jesus testified to. A person is not
allowed to pick and choose what they want to or do not want to believe.
The scriptures do not place the
weight on the act of belief. It places
it on the object of the belief. It is
not your act of faith but who and what your faith is based on. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me" (John 14:6,
NLT).
“People today believe whatever
they wish to believe, but this will lead to their ultimate destruction. Let's
look at an example from biblical history. One of the darkest periods in the
history of Israel occurred in the time of the kings. During this time, there
was a contest between the Lord God and Baal, a highly regarded cult deity. An
altar of wood was built, with pieces of an oxen laid upon it as a sacrifice.
The god who answered by fire and consumed the sacrifice would be acknowledged
as the true god in Israel. Baal went first.
If anyone could start a fire
from the sky, it was Baal – the great nature god who controlled the weather
(i.e., rain, thunderstorms, lightning). The priests of Baal paraded around the
altar all morning and until late afternoon, beseeching Baal to respond. These
false priests jumped all over the altar, cut themselves with swords, danced
into a frenzy, raved and pleaded all day. No one can say they were not sincere,
or did not believe. Yet, nothing happened.
After they were finished and the
altar was rebuilt, the Lord God answered with fire from heaven and consumed the
altar and sacrifice. The false prophets of Baal were then slain.
If sincerity and belief saved,
then these prophets should have been spared. But sincerity and belief are not
enough. These prophets had their trust in the wrong object. They
had never chosen to investigate the truth. (emphasis added). God requires man to put his faith in Jesus
Christ; nothing less will satisfy either them or Him.” (http://www.bethinking.org/is-christianity-the-only-way/q-does-it-really-matter-what-i-believe).
There are many people who go to
their deaths believing something that had overwhelming facts that go against
that belief. History is full of people
who died needlessly because of this. The
reason this is brought up here is because of the topic of this article
concerning Biblical truths.
This statement is a two edged
sword. All but one of the apostles were
put to death because of what they believed.
In the context of this discussion then, it matters which edge of the
sword you are cutting with. Are you
cutting with the edge of the sword based largely on what comes out of the
mouths of men? I am talking about beliefs
taken out context and not supported by other scriptures, or are disproved by
other scriptures in the Bible.
Or; do you base your beliefs on what comes out of the mouth of
God? The word of God is the Bible, plain
and simple. The facts that you base your
beliefs on need to be supported by “every word of God”, every
word found in the Bible. Your belief
when it comes to God can be based on no more nor no less.
