Isn't Being Sincere Good Enough for God?

In this regular feature Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call.  Here is this week’s question: Dear Tom and Dave, Why isn’t sincerity good enough for a person to be acceptable to God?Doesn’t God have room for those who are doing the best they can based on the knowledge they have?

Tom:

Dave this is—I know we’ve been talking a lot about things that are irrational, and ridiculous, but just from kind of an emotional side, or subjective side, you think about God, that God is going to cut us some slack.I mean he’s a big God and we are finite beings, and so on.But on the one hand yes, we are going to argue with this guy’s point of view, but what I am looking at is I know a lot of people out there think well God’s not going to be so strict.He’s not going to be so dogmatic about things.If he is a loving God and we are talking about grace and mercy, he’s going to cut us some slack here.

Dave:

Well Tom once again, I guess I shouldn’t say it again, but I lose a little bit of patience with all of these ideas.Sincere, it sounds good.Well Tom how can you be sincere that I am levitating right now?Or how can you be sincere that this room actually has a swimming pool on one end of it?How can you be sincere about some—?

Tom:

That would be really tough Dave.It’s about the size of a closet in here.

Dave:

Yes, that would be really tough. Right, so you see when a person says yes, but I’m sincere, now wait a minute.You can’t be sincere about something that you know is not true.Nor could you be sincere in believing something you are not sure is true.You couldn’t be sincere about something for which you have doubts.It’s that simple.I get pulled over by a motorcycle officer and he says you were doing 80 mph in a 25 mph zone.And I say but officer I really sincerely thought that I was only doing 25.Is he going to buy that?So now a person says well I really sincerely believe that God is just a higher power.Now on what basis would you come to that sincere belief?Now you might say well I just kind of think God is a higher power or I wish that he might be.Well think about it a little bit and we’ve talked about that.Power?Higher Power?Higher than what?What does a power do?I mean how can a power even think? You’re going to pray to a power and so forth?So I just think Tom, this is a cop out.This is an excuse that people want to give.Well I’m really sincere.No you are not sincere, you are trying to escape the truth, and you are trying to escape the true God under the cloak of sincerity when there is no basis for sincerity.Tom, you tell me, am I being too abrupt with these people?

Tom:

Well no you are not being abrupt, and what we are trying to do is get people to think a little bit more critically.Now by critically, I don’t mean in a nasty way, or a harsh way.I am saying take a look at something that they are believing and get into it with a little more depth.Because it’s going to be delusion if they don’t take a look at specific things which are so important in their lives.And sincerity comes off today as well, this person is well meaning and they are trying their best and they are working with what they have but—

Dave:

Sure, I put some arsenic in the food I fed my little child because I heard that it tasted good and I really sincerely wanted to give this child a good taste, you know?Come on!I would just ask maybe there are some people out there listening and you’re getting a little bit uptight by what I am saying here.You are unhappy.You say you are sincere about what you believe.Well I would just ask you, what do you base your belief upon?You are sincere in what you believe.Have you checked it out?Have you really checked it out with the Bible?The Bible is God’s Word, we can prove that.Have you really tested the Bible?Have you checked it out with God himself?Have you checked the facts?What do you base your sincerity upon?There must be some basis for your being sincere.That’s all we’re saying.You can’t just cover up everything.Every belief, no matter what a person believes—well, but they are all sincere.No, that won’t work Tom.It’s not rational, it doesn’t make any sense.So now let’s back away from this idea that sincerity is all I need and let’s look beneath that word and find out, well now wait a minute.Why do I think I am sincere about this?What basis do I have for this belief?And if I don’t have a solid basis, how can I possibly be sincere?Maybe I better rethink some things and make a little investigation here.

Tom:

Dave there’s another aspect of sincerity.If you take the word itself and its meaning—it means somebody is truly seeking after, they are sincerely going after something or trying to understand something.

Dave:

Sincere in what they believe or do.

Tom:

But not necessarily dogmatic.That’s the other side.What I am saying is somebody who is sincere and pursuing truth—they are going to be correctable.They are going to be looking for truth, for answers, for things that make sense, for something that’s rational, reasonable, [and] objective.

Dave:

That’s right.Absolutely.