IS CHRISTIANITY REFLECTED IN THE FAITH OF THE
MAJORITY?
Many times,
while discussing over religion with other people, once they are confronted with
explicit truths from the Bible that do not accommodate to their views, they say:
“But that
is what most of us have held in the world from the beginning, we cannot be all
wrong”.
And then they
add:
“That is
only believed by a small bunch of people, they are certainly wrong”.
It is true that
for an idea to be held by a large or significant group of people, it needs at
least to be coherent, understandable, and contain at least some truth in it.
Most people are capable to notice plain errors and wrong ideas, and in religion
is not different. If an idea is held by a majority of people, it is definitely understandable
and possible.
For example, the
idea in mainstream Christianity of the Trinity, is widely held by most. It is
understandable, it is clear; and that is enough for people educated in the
faith to accept it. But to be true, it requires a bit more.
The fact that
Jesus spoke of a Father in Heaven, leaves clear the idea that He was not that
Father. And that is the amount of truth required as a minimum for this teaching
to be accepted in the minds of the believers. However, in what way is Jesus
related to his heavenly Father is something that requires more information, and
which is neither pursuit not known by the majority of Trinitarians. But if we
search deeper, we will realize that to be GOD, you can only be ONE. God being Almighty,
He has no equal, therefore there cannot be two gods, but only one and supreme. After
a careful consideration, we come to the conclusion that this ONE GOD, manifests
Himself in three forms, as FATHER, SON and SPIRIT. And that even those three,
who manifest as three independent beings, they must be three different but
simultaneous manifestations of this single and unique GOD, if we consider the Son
and the Spirit to be divine.
That would be the
truth required to settle the idea. Because if God was modalist the three
manifestations would never happen at the same time; and the other possibility would
be to deny Jesus’s divinity, divinity that is clearly stablished in the NT.
(John 1:1; Philippians
2:8; Colossians 2:9).
We can arrive to
a certain truth if we search for it properly, but sadly that is not the
reaction of most ‘believers’; and therefore, with the little attention they
give to spiritual matters, it is doubtful that the majority would be correct,
just because they are the majority.
CHRISTIANITY
AS THE RELIGION OF THE MAJORITY AND THE RELIGION OF THE FEW
The idea that
Christianity is the religion of the majority is born from the declaration of
Lord Jesus when He said that the Gospel, which started in small scale like a mustard
seed, would grow until it becomes a large tree, where even the birds of the sky
(people who don’t believe but benefit from Christian morals) would make nests on
it (Matthew 13:31-32).
The ‘majority is
the truth’ followers, attribute to this parable the idea that anything held by
the majority is necessarily true. Since that is the case, anything believed by
most Christians cannot be wrong.
But that is not
what the Lord tried to communicate with this parable, save that Christianity,
as an influential force in the world, would increase so much, that would be
incomparable to her humble origins.
But regarding
the salvation of mankind, and the truth that requires to be held to attain it,
our Lord told another comparison in explicit words, when He mentioned that:
“The road
to salvation is narrow and hard, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14)
Even though our
Lord prophesied that the influence of Christian culture would affect the world;
He also made clear that this influence had nothing to do with the path to
salvation.
To Lord Jesus, true
Christianity would be the path of the minority, a hard, not an easy path; and
furthermore, that ‘ONLY A FEW WILL FIND IT”. Not ‘make it’, but ‘find it’.
CONCLUSION
All Christians
from all denominations agree that not all who profess faith in Christ will be
saved. Each group in their own way accept that we need to persevere to the end
to attain salvation, in whichever manner each group teaches it; but
perseverance to the very end is required.
If by principle
we all accept that not all Christians will be saved; the it should not be a
surprise to us than not the majority will be saved either. Not because God
overlooked them, but because most of humanity are so involved into their own
lives and personal interests that pay no attention to their spiritual reality,
and therefore, no attention to the message of Jesus Christ.
Even though
salvation is achieved by faith and repentance in Jesus Christ, and not in a set
of believes or specific creed. Even though Lord Jesus is able to save those who
repent at the last minute, the point is that even those who are rescued at the
last minute by our Lord, are saved because the mercy of Christ, and not as a consequence
of having found and followed the truth most of their lives.
Considering the poor
quality of religious but unconverted majority of ‘Christians’ throughout history,
it would be dangerous to consider that their religious but unsounded moral and theological
ideas are correct, jut because the majority of them profess it.
The truth of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ is not in the hands of the majority of Christians, who
are unconverted, living in sin, who have no knowledge of the Scripture and are
deaf to the Holy Spirit. They are on the ‘wide and easy’ road that leads to
damnation (Matthew 7:13).
The truth of the
Gospel is in the hands of the few Christians who have experienced a personal
encounter with their savior, who live according to his will every day, who search
for his will reading the Scripture every day, and listen to the guidance of the
Spirit of God, in them, and in the community of the converted.
Omar Flores.
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