PrintSincerity Does Not Make Wrong Right
"It doesn't matter what you believe, so long as you are sincere". Have you heard that one before? Here is something that sounds so right but it is potentially a catastrophe waiting to happen. It's got a nice ring about it but it is a philosophy of stupidity.
"But, your Honour, I sincerely believed the gun was not loaded". Sincerity did not change reality. The gun was loaded and the tragic death that ensued was virtually inevitable. But why is what we believe so important? Because what we believe determines how we act. The person mentioned above acted in accordance with what he believed. Had he believed the truth; namely, that the gun was loaded, he would have acted very differently and handled the gun with much greater care and caution.
"I don't believe in God". Here again the principle holds true. Belief determines behaviour. The further the human race moves away from an active and accurate belief in God, the more destructive our behaviour becomes. There was a time when we would have called Australia a "Christian" nation. I'm not sure that there are too many people who would now give that designation any credibility. As a nation, we seem hell bent on abandoning the moral and ethical foundations that make a strong nation and, in their place, we now believe whatever seems right in our own eyes.
Belief determines behaviour. What we do (or don't) believe about God effects the way we live. What we believe about life after death, about sexual values, about personal accountability, about social responsibility, about marital fidelity….I mean, the list goes on. What we believe about any and all of these issues determines the way we act and the choices we make. "But I sincerely believed, even though I believed wrongly".
Sincere, but sincerely wrong. Sincerity does not make wrong belief right. Tell that to the man who sincerely believed the gun was not loaded. So, in an age of rejected absolutes, where do we turn for truth?
Jesus Christ claimed not only to tell the truth but to be the truth - the very embodiment of truth that can change lives for the better and to protect us from falsehood and deception.
