But just suppose for a moment that it truly does not matter what we believe. Then if I were an atheist who sincerely believed that there is no God at all, that would not matter, right? But Psalm 14:1 says "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God."
Or, it would not matter if I were an infidel or a Jew or a Muslim who sincerely rejected Jesus, saying that He was not the Son of God who died to save us from our sins. But Jesus said in John 8:48: "... If you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sins." So Jesus said that it does matter what we believe.
Now suppose someone agrees that we must believe in God and in Jesus, but they say it does not matter whether or not we believe and obey the teachings of Jesus. But I wonder how we can truly believe in Jesus without believing what He taught. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God who came to teach the will of God to men. If we do not believe what He taught, how can we truly believe that He was who He claimed to be?
Acts 3:22,23 speaks of Jesus as a prophet to whom we must hearken in all that He teaches or we will be destroyed! 2 John 9 says that if we do not abide in the teachings of Jesus, we do not have God. And furthermore, verse 10 warns us to be on guard lest we be led astray by false teachers who teach doctrines different from what Jesus taught.
Yes, it does matter what we believe in religion.
(c) Copyright David E. Pratte, 2018; gospelway.com
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