If it really did not matter what you believe in religion, then truth would be worthless! A man who believed error would be just as well off as a man who believed the truth.
In John 8:32 Jesus said: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Jesus thought that truth was very important. He said we must know the truth, because it can make us free. Free from what? Verse 34 shows that He was talking about freedom from sin. But if truth is necessary to free us from sin, then how could we please God if we believe error instead of truth?
In Matthew 7:15 Jesus warned: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." No one wants to learn that he has been misled by a false teacher, but Jesus warned us to beware of this very thing. Why would He warn us if there were no danger? 1 John 4:1 says we should examine religious teachings closely because "many false prophets have gone out into the world."
Often today one religious teacher will teach one thing and then another will teach just the opposite. How can both be right? How can we know which is telling the truth and which is speaking error? God gave us the Bible exactly for this reason. Like the Bereans in Acts 17:11, we should "search the scriptures daily" to learn if we are being taught the truth.
To please God, we must know the truth, and that truth is found in God's word.
(c) Copyright David E. Pratte, 2005; gospelway.com
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Scripture quotations are generally from the New King James Version (NKJV), copyright 1982, 1988 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. used by permission. All rights reserved.