It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe something! Sounds good, doesn’t it? As we wrap up our brief look at Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code we have had an opportunity to examine some of the core beliefs of Christianity. It seems to me that the real danger of The DaVinci Code is not that we will totally dismiss the Bible and embrace the “truth” Dan Brown espouses, but that we will believe both Brown and the Bible!

We live in a time when everybody is right and where very little is actually wrong. We work hard at finding out how conflicting claims are actually saying the same thing but use different language or examples. George Barna discovered some years ago that 72% of Americans agreed with this statement: “There is no such thing as absolute truth; two people could define truth in totally conflicting ways, but both could still be correct.” The term for this is syncretism. Some have affectionately referred to this as ‘the salad bar of truth.’ When it comes to our religious beliefs, we approach truth’s salad bar and pick and choose what we like and don’t like—a little Christianity, a little Hindu, a bit of Judaism, add a sprinkle of Islam and spoonful of Buddhism with a sprig of new age and don’t forget a little Scientology ala Tom Cruise! It’s all about creating your own custom spirituality and faith. Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar argues, “I consider myself a spiritual person. I believe in an idea of God, although it’s my own personal ideal. I find most religions interesting, and I’ve been to every kind of denomination: Catholic, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist. I’ve taken bits from everything and customized it.” This is the epitome of syncretism or salad bar religiosity where we have customized Christianity.

This problem is epidemic in American culture and it carries with it the high potential of serious and deadly results. Stunningly, Gallup also discovered that 20% of born-again believers believe in re-incarnation and 26% believe in astrology. These folks either do not know what being born again is and means, or they have little clue what the Bible teaches. Both reincarnation and astrology are ardently anti-Biblical.

Christianity from a salad bar approach looks like this: we like the idea of God’s unconditional love so we will put that on our plate, but the idea of hell and eternal damnation has too strong a flavor so we will leave that alone. Jesus’ compassion is sweet and we take some of that, but his “brood of vipers” language and his anger in the Temple doesn’t sit well with our taste palates so we will skip that. Jesus’ forgiving attitude with the woman taken in adultery is absolutely divine so we load up our plates on that one, but the idea of ‘going and sinning no more’ is quite frankly ridiculous to even have available at this salad bar so we pass that up. Talk of little children is especially precious especially at Christmas what with the baby Jesus and all, so we pile that high on our special religious salad. However, when it comes to the idea of the crucifixion and all that blood and guts and gore, why would anyone want to mess up a perfectly good spiritual salad with that?

Let’s look at 3 questions to help us understand this whole scenario.

Does it really matter what you believe as long as you are sincere? The reality is that you can be as sincere as you can be and be sincerely wrong. History is full of examples: 1930s Germany and Adolf Hitler, John Wilkes Booth, Idi Amin, Lenin and Lennon, Lee Harvey Oswald, et al. When Sharon and I were young parents we set out to be the best parents possible. So every time Stephanie cried in her crib, we would go in, pick her up, calm her down and put her back in her crib. That lasted only a few minutes and we would go in, pick her up, calm her down and put her back in her crib, and it would happen again and again. Some wise, experienced parents told us that when she cried in her crib to check her diaper, and if she was not hungry, pat her and reassure her that we were there and then walk out of her bedroom. In a few days Stephanie was sleeping through the night, and we were sleeping through the night. We were sincere but sincerely wrong.

When I student-taught at Lafayette High School in Lexington, Ky a student told me that she liked to smoke pot because it helped her to learn more. I then asked her why she was flunking my American History class? Was she sincere or just dumb?

There are many sincerely held beliefs that are simply wrong. “Having more stuff will make you secure.” “The bottom line is always this—what’s in it for me.” “The purpose in life is to be happy.” “It’s not your fault; you’re a victim.” “It’s okay to have sex with anyone as long as you are consenting adults.” “You have the right to be entertained at all times.”

I love the Geico gecko and one commercial especially. The voice asks, “What makes Geico so special?” The gecko blinks, tilts his head and answers with one word in that Aussie lilt, “Exclusivity.” Jesus spoke of that in John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” In John 10:9 Jesus says, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” I John 5:11-12 , “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; and he who has not the Son of God does not have life.”

Exclusivity! Are you familiar with Bobby Chez’s? They have the best crab cakes and the best coconut shrimp. There are look-alikes and wannabes but you can only get Bobby Chez’s crab cakes and coconut shrimp at Bobby Chez’s! Exclusivity! It is important to be sincere and well-meaning, but it is also important that what you sincerely believe is actually true.

Secondly, “Just because you say the Bible is true for you, does that automatically mean The DaVinci Code can’t be true for me?” The question is this: is absolute truth always true whether you believe it as true or not? George Barna discovered that 71% of Americans agree with this statement: “There are no absolute standards that apply to everybody in all situations.” In the church 53% of self-professed born-again Christians claim that there is no absolute truth. That is, two people could define truth in totally conflicting ways and both still be correct. Henry Blamires in his book, The Christian Mind, writes, “In the sphere of religious and moral thinking we are rapidly heading for a state of intellectual anarchy in which the difference between truth and falsehood will no longer be recognized. Indeed, it would seem possible that the words true and false will eventually (and logically) be replaced by the words likable and dislikable.”

So, is truth more like math or more like ice cream? Your favorite ice cream is a matter of personal preference and both can be right. But if you say 2+2=4 and I say 2+2=5 one of these answers is wrong as we both cannot be right. Unfortunately most people today see religious truth as ice cream rather than arithmetic. I maintain that ultimate truth is NOT a matter of personal choice and preference but is a matter of original created order. Lloyd Douglas, author of the classic novel (later a movie) entitled, The Robe, tells the story of a resident of his boarding house when he was in college. On the first floor resided a retired music teacher, infirmed and unable to leave his apartment. Every morning they had a ritual: Douglas would open the man’s door and ask, “Well, what’s the good news?” The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the side of his wheelchair and pronounce, “That’s middle C. It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat, the piano across the hall is out of tune, but, my friend, that is middle C!” God’s truth is middle C—the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Third, as long as we’re all seeking truth, aren’t we all going to end up in the same place? 62% of Americans believe that it doesn’t matter what religion you believe because “all faiths teach similar lessons about life.” It’s the old idea: “It doesn’t matter which road you take up the mountains as long as you get to the top.” Again, sounds good and warm and fuzzy, but it doesn’t hold water. The assumption is that all religions teach basically the same truths. Ergo most people believe that the God of the Bible and the god of the Koran is the same god—not true! Do you know that Islam has no sin? Their goal is not salvation and hence they don’t need a Savior because they have nothing to be saved from. Their goal is to be successful and therein lays their salvation. Are both Islam and Christianity right? Hinduism teaches that heaven involves a person losing their individuality, like a drop of water falling into an ocean. Christianity teaches in heaven we will have a new body and our names are written in the Lambs Book of Life. Atheists teach that there is no God. The Bible teaches that there is a personal God who has a name. All religions are not saying the same thing but using different words. They sometimes teach diametrically opposite things ergo the Bible and The DaVinci Code cannot be both right.

The problem with all this is that we are asking the wrong question. Most people ask: what do I think is true? The correct question especially for those who claim the name of Jesus ought to be: what does God say is true? If the foundation is cracked and crumbling, the house will fall down. If the foundation of your life is not on solid footing, everything else will eventually fall. Jesus told a story of 2 men. One built his house on sand and the other built his house on rock. When the storms and rains came, which house stood and which house fell?

Don’t believe the lies of syncretism, of salad variety truth, because it is all a sham. The truth of Jesus is constant, unbending, durable, and real. You can take that to the bank!

Thank You for Taking The Time to Read This Message.
May God Use These Words to Help You and Strengthen You.