Perception May Cost You Your Life…
“But I believe in Jesus, and I’m saved!”
This article was inspired by a discussion about our beliefs, knowledge, and understanding of spiritual (Biblical) matters as they compare with those of our family and acquaintances.
My interlocutor feels that if one believes something false but finds comfort in that belief, there is no reason to disabuse that belief if one will eventually learn the truth in the resurrection.
“Let them believe what they want as long as they find comfort in it,” were his words.
Although a false religious belief may be comforting, as with the false notion that everyone is one day going to heaven, or that loved ones are “up there looking down on us,” it may well lead to great disappointment if and when “a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous” takes place.
(I challenge any reader to show a Biblical reference that speaks of “our loved ones in heaven looking down upon us.”)
Some readers infer heavenly awareness from particular passages, but those passages do not establish that our deceased relatives watch our daily lives, or that they are indeed born to heavenly life.
The Bible is rife with cautions of how such false beliefs endanger our relationship with our Creator—and, consequently, our prospect of life beyond death.
Bad Associations Can Give Us Useful Knowledge
Our family was associated with Jehovah’s Witnesses for many years, and we watched as they, in much the same way as the Catholic, the Mormon, the Baptist, and so many others before them, attempted to establish themselves as the sole representatives of God’s Kingdom on Earth.
According to each of those institutions, the only way to salvation is through them.
Consequently, all of them, by doing so, fulfill the role of those ‘false prophets’ of whom Jesus spoke when he said:
“Many will come on the basis of my name saying that I am the Christ, and will mislead many.”
Matthew 24:5
A Lie, When Repeated, Will Eventually Be Received As Truth…
In his introduction to A History of the Bible, biblical scholar and Oxford professor John Barton writes,
“…the Bible does not ‘map’ directly into religious faith and practice, whether Jewish or Christian … for many reasons, Christianity is not in essence a scriptural religion.”
He also observes: “In truth, there are no versions of either Christianity or Judaism that correspond point for point to the contents of the Bible, which is often not what it has been made into and read as.”
Reference:
John Barton, A History of the Bible, introduction, pp. 2–3. (Penguin Publishing ©2019)
Those ancient, original languages used words and expressions whose meanings or sense were unclear. Consequently, someone had to determine the author’s intended meaning, and those choices required knowledge, certainly—and interpretation. (Berlin, pp. 66–67).
Obviously, the process of interpretation had to be accurate and unbiased. Unfortunately, the addition or omission of an article, or even something such as a slightly misplaced comma, could and does change the meaning of the passage.
Sadly, the original writings of the apostles and disciples of Christ were lost, but handwritten copies were produced about 300 years after Christ’s death and resurrection. What they were copied from is a mystery.
Since that time, nearly 2000 years ago, more copies were discovered (copies of copies of copies), translated and retranslated, until some of them were eventually compiled into what we now call the Bible.
Inarguably, it is those many translations whose interpretations have led to the development of an estimated 50,000 so-called Christian denominations and rites worldwide.
(See: Status of Global Christianity, 2025)
Whom Then Do You Serve?
Your God, or Your Religion?
There are many believers who turn a literal reading of scripture into physical practice. Such as handling snakes, drinking poison, self-flagellation as a way of punishing themselves for their sins, or believing that they are sharing the ‘suffering of Christ’, etc.
Again, Professor John Barton points out:
“There are versons of Christianity that claim to be simply ‘biblical,’ but the reality is that the structures and content of Christian belief, even among Christians who believe their faith to be wholly grounded in the Bible, are organized and articulated differently from the contents of the Bible.
This can be seen most clearly in Christian fundamentalism, which idolizes the Bible yet largely misunderstands it.”
(John Barton: A History of the Bible, Introduction, page 3)
Also, you may or may not be aware that in regard to translations — The New International Version, as well as the New World Translation used by Jehovah’s Witnesses — omit passages found in older printed Bibles because modern translators judge them as having been added to later copies of the manuscripts, and therefore erroneous.
By all evidence, then, when we read those purportedly “God-breathed” words, regardless of the translation we chose, we are also reading someone’s judgment about what the original words mean and how they should be understood.
Then, beyond that, we have institutions and organizations numbering in the tens of thousands pontificating, each one pretending to know the truth. Falsely claiming to be the “elect of God.”
And that is when we begin serving religion rather than God.
Which may well be why Jesus Christ is quoted as saying:
“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
All of which leaves something to think about in regard to the infallible Word of God.
Bend the Truth and Pervert the Message!
Beginning with the lies of Rome and the integration of pagan Roman teachings, falsehoods propagated and became intermixed with Christian truth. (The worship of Mary and the so-called saints; immortality of the soul; heavenly life for all; pagan holidays; pagan rituals; idolatry; the defamation and misinformation about the Messiah and God’s Kingdom, and most importantly, the apotheosis of men. Rome’s leaders have always considered themselves equal to God.)
By 380 CE, Roman emperors were prescribing Christian orthodoxy by law. The Edict of Thessalonica endorsed a particular Trinitarian faith and threatened Christians who dissented with imperial punishment. Logically, making religious conformity a demand of the state was a corruption of the faith Rome already claimed to uphold.
The institutionalization of religion thus had its beginning, and history records how that perverse formation of corrupted Christianity began to reform itself into the tens of thousands of institutions, sects, and rites that we see today.
Nowhere in the Bible will you find a particular church, denomination, or modern organization that a person must join to obtain salvation.
Am I Serving God? Or Am I Serving a Religion?
A woman once said to me:
“I refuse to believe any Bible except the one Jesus used, and that’s the King James Version.”
Knowing what you know about the formation of the Bible, can you see the ignorance involved in that statement?
THE BIBLE, as we know it today, is not from God or Christ. It did not, in fact, exist in a printed form similar to what we have today until 1455, which was 571 years ago, when it was known as the Gutenberg Bible.
Since that time, it has been juggled and cajoled, twisted and tormented, as it divided peoples and kingdoms, incited wars in which both sides declared themselves to be Christians for the sake of their false nationalistic gods and flags.
In doing so, they nullified the Biblical teachings found in Ephesians 2:8–10, Titus 3:4–7, and Acts 16:30–31, which directly present salvation as God’s gift through Christ FOR ALL HUMANITY, received through faith. Those passages speak of God’s grace, faith in Christ, repentance, and conduct—not membership in a named religious institution.
Has Religion Made The World A Better Place?
If your mind is fully aware of what’s going on in the world today, then you know the answer to that is “no!”
Has Christianity Made the World A Better Place?
Jesus did not promise to bring universal peace or end human suffering. He warned of division, told his disciples to expect trouble, challenged the expectation that God’s kingdom would appear immediately, and warned of tremendous tragic events in the far distant future.
Whatever hope his teachings offered, it was not a promise that the world’s troubles would disappear then and there. (Luke 19:11, Matthew 10:34–36, and John 16:33)
Forgive Me, Father, For I Am Sin—(ful).
If you believe and trust in God and Jesus Christ as much as I do, then you know there is no institution, organization, or ‘church’ that can make you do what is right. Neither can they give you God’s blessing or impact your life in any way. The rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous alike.
Indeed, you already know right from wrong. (See: Romans 2:14-15) We don’t need idols or edifices; there is no magic talisman or special prayer to be said. The Bible is not a book of magic, and the cross and other symbols are nothing more than idols created by faithless men to support faithless people.
Putting faith in the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us, doing what is right in God’s eyes rather than what the world expects of us, having the proper expectations in knowing that we have to endure whatever befalls us, and that we have no special protection. That is what is expected of us. (Matthew 24:26–31; Mark 13:24–27; Luke 21:26
An unselfish and honest heart, putting aside superstition and the misleading and false representation of the world’s religions, will keep you close to God and Christ.
Think deeply about this: You cannot have a friendship with this world and expect to have a friendship with God and His Son (James 4:4)
To whom is it that you look to for salvation, men, or God? The world has taught you to believe—what?
Free your heart from this world! Let go of it! It will not honor you, nor will it give you life in the future.
Psalm 7:10 — God saves the upright in heart.
Psalm 84:11 — God does not withhold good from those who walk uprightly.
Acts 10:34–35 — God is impartial; people of every nation who fear him and practice righteousness are acceptable to him.
Your thoughts are always appreciated—please feel free to leave a comment.