Does It Matter What You Believe?

Whatever your political persuasion, you should be horrified by what has and is happening in Afghanistan. I’ve been disappointed by Christian social justice warriors this last week, who seem to only speak up when it’s in support of one political ideology. While claiming to fight for the rights of oppressed people, when it comes to the atrocities in Afghanistan, crickets. Innocent people, betrayed by American promises, are now being executed. Little girls are being raped. Christian home gatherings are being ransacked, and the leaders put to death.The evil personified in human beings with false religious zealotry is beyond our explanation. Systematically torturing, raping, selling as slaves, and beating to death…children. Children! In the name of religion!I don’t know if evil is ever more salient than it is when coupled with false religion. You have to know that Satan is involved when there is a claim of some kind of worship, and that worship or religious belief leads to torturing, raping, and killing children. These terrible practices go back to a belief system that undergirds them.It does matter what you believe. What you believe makes you who you are. It leads to the choices you make and habits you establish. What you believe matters.The only answer for this dark, cruel, and hurting human race is sincere belief in the real Jesus. It is in Jesus that narcism and animosity in the dark corners of human hearts are cleansed and absolved. The Jesus that Christians believe in is the answer. And Jesus himself said that he is the only answer.Christians believe that evil is real. Christians believe that going our own way or even creating our own religions has led to acts of hatred against humanity. Sin is the source of evil. Christians believe that.But we also believe in Jesus, the Savior, who came to deliver us from our sin and rescue us from its repercussions. And when we turn to him and begin following him, having faith in his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, he does just that. He frees us from the guilt of our sin, cleanses our hearts of sin’s corruption, reconciles us to our Creator, and gives us spiritual life that will take us to heaven for eternity.Do you believe? Because it matters. It matters more than anything.