Broadly speaking, current statistics show that between 80% – 85% of the world’s Population ( 6.56 – 6.97 billion people) identified with a religion, while between 15% – 20% (1.23 – 1.64 billion people) do not.
While it is difficult to give an accurate statistics of those who are sincere with their religious beliefs, it is nevertheless safe to opine that, given the zeal and fervor with which most people pursue their religious duties, the majority of them are. But whether it is the majority who are or not, sincerity itself is not the actual thing to hold on to when we want a strong assurance of God’s acceptance of our devotions to Him. This is true because sincerity of purpose is not the sole litmus test for ascertaining the rightness of any purpose. To put this in perspective: a person can pursue a wrong cause with all sincerity without realising their error until they’re proven wrong by some cogent and verifiable means.
When you look at the religious landscape of the world, you see so much in the activities of most people that show how sincere they are with their beliefs. In fact, most people believe in their religion more than in any other thing they know or do: just consider some of the things that people do or abstain from doing because of their religious beliefs and you’ll understand how deeply and sincerely convinced they are about the rightness of their beliefs.
I remember an incident very many years ago when I was just about ten or eleven years of age: it was on a Good Friday, prior to Easter Sunday, and a much older family friend had taken me to their home. He was a Muslim, so he didn’t understand the significance of that day to me, and I on my part had momentarily forgotten that as a catholic ( at that time), I was not supposed to eat meat on that day. So I was entertained lavishly with some Hausa traditional cuisine garnished with ram meat, which was rare to come by in the eastern part of Nigeria where we both lived at that time.
Honestly, I enjoyed myself and thought it was a good meal until the thought suddenly struck me that I wasn’t supposed to eat meat that day.
My parents had brought me up as a devout Catholic, so it was to be understood why the realization of what I had just done eating that food brought so much fear and sorrow to me.
I thought I had failed God. Even worse, I thought I had actually eaten the flesh of Jesus Christ because that was the tactic used to keep children away from meat in those days: they said that anyone who ate meat on a Good Friday had actually eaten the body of Jesus Christ whose crucifixion and death is commemorated on such days.
Well, I caused a scene in that house when I came out of the room and forced my index finger down my throat in order to induce me to vomit the sumptuous meal I had just eaten.
My host and his mother came to my aid thinking I was in some kind of trouble, but after I had explained that I was fine but for the fact that I had eaten meat, which my religion forbade to be eaten on that day, they let me be.
I’m sure it was an embarrassment to them that I behaved that way after they had taken the pains to entertain me, but I equally felt embarrassed at myself because I thought that I had recklessly desecrated a religious ritual that was held in high esteem among Catholics at that time ( I do not know if they still observe it because I have ceased to be a Catholic for almost four decades now ).
The Muslims, the Hindus, the Judaists, and the faithful of some other religions equally have taboos peculiar to their ways of worshiping the deities in whom they believe, and the sincerity of purpose with which they carry out their piety leaves no one in doubt of their conviction that they are in the right way.
But is sincerity of purpose actually enough proof that God accepts us?
I do not think so.
Unless what we are sincere about is entrenched deeply in the truth of God’s Word in the Holy Bible, we might be sincerely mistaken about our beliefs.
The Gospel of John 8:32 says: “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
Taboos, dogmas, harams,, or whatever kind of restrictions which religion or tradition places on their adherents hold no value before God unless they reflect the truth of His Holy Word, and the only way to know that they do is by subjecting them to the highest and strictest rigours of Biblical verification devoid of bias and guided by honesty to God alone before Whom we either stand or fall, and to Whom we shall render an account of our attitude towards His commandments.
“I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
That thou keep this commandment without spot, unreputable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:”
1 Timothy 6:13-14 .
We may have spiritual leaders whose duty is to guide us in the right way to worship and serve God, but we must always verify that their religious duties over us are strictly carried out in compliance with the Word of God because they are also imperfect humans just like us, and failure to hold them accountable for leading and teaching us strictly according to God’s Holy Word, the Holy Bible, will certainly be detrimental to our hope of living with God and Jesus Christ in heaven forever. To this end we must imbibe the wisdom of King David who wrote in Psalms 16:8 the following words which give us a great insight into the kind of relationship between him and God Almighty. He said:
” I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.”
In much the same way, we must set our focus on God through His Son Jesus Christ, and not on any man or woman, no matter their religious influence or charisma, as that is the only way we can be sure to remain unshaken in our faith.
The sincerity of our faith must be based on the truth of God’s Word which we know and practice; it should not be based on the lifestyle or personal conviction of a clergy who is a mere mortal person. No man is good enough to be the role model for God’s people unless they are strictly following in the footstep of Jesus Christ our Lord and personal Saviour, who we must all aspire to be like.
” Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. “
Hebrews 12:2.