God’s Word Is Alive

Will Sincerity Alone Please God?

TERRIBLE things have been done in the name of religion. Look at Stephen here, a disciple of Jesus Christ. He is being murdered!

Stephen’s murderers are very religious men. One of them is Saul, the man watching the garments. (Acts 7:58-60) He later said: “I was making greater progress in Judaism than many of my own age.” Rather than making him a better person, however, Saul said that his religion was responsible for his “persecuting the congregation of God.”​—Gal. 1:13, 14.

Saul persecuted Christians in Jerusalem by invading their homes, dragging them out and putting them into prison. (Acts 8:3) But he did not stop at that. He also started out for Damascus to arrest Christians there.​—Acts 9:1, 2.

On his way, however, a remarkable thing happens. As you can see, a light from the sky flashes around Saul and he falls to the ground. A voice says: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asks.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” comes the answer. (Acts 9:3-5) Jesus says this because when Saul persecutes Jesus’ followers, Jesus feels as if he is being hurt himself. Soon afterward Saul becomes a member of the Christian congregation and, in time, is known as the apostle Paul.

We can learn an important lesson from this. Saul was sincere, believing that he was pleasing God by persecuting Christians. (Acts 22:3, 4; John 16:2) But that did not make what he did right. He needed to change his religion to gain God’s approval. Later he wrote of others who were sincere, but who were not pleasing God. What was their problem?

Paul explains: “I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God; but not according to accurate knowledge.” (Rom. 10:2) Yes, along with sincerity, an accurate knowledge of God’s Word is needed. If one does not know the truth of matters, one may do terrible things. So how important it is that we gain a correct knowledge of God’s purposes!​—1 Tim. 1:13; John 17:3.