Are You Worshipping in Vain?

It is fashionable for people to profess that all religions are of equal value, that no single one is better than the others. But is that really what people think when push comes to shove? Experience says otherwise.

Many years ago, I visited a couple who were considering marriage but held very different beliefs when it came to worshipping God. They believed in different days for weekly worship, they worshipped on and celebrated different annual religious days, and they held many other significantly different ideas. I pointed out some of the obstacles they would face going forward, especially if children came along. Nevertheless, they were “in love” and had answers for every challenge I threw their way. There was no doubt about their sincerity. Their highest priority of the moment was to be together in marriage—but, once that goal was achieved, those differences would certainly rise on the priority list.

When asked about what they thought was the end goal of life—God’s reward—there was another clear difference. The young woman thought that they both would go to Heaven, while the young man did not see Heaven as God’s reward for humanity. She openly professed that his religion was as good as hers, that neither had any advantage over the other. I therefore made this proposal to her: “Why don’t you convert to his religious faith? After all, since both paths, as you profess, lead to the same place, would it not make life more harmonious, especially for any children that might come along, if you both held to the same practices and traditions?”

That is when her pie-in-the-sky attitude broke down. She was unwilling to accept the young man’s religion, belying her claim that all roads lead to the same place. I certainly did not blame her for not wanting to change the way she had been taught from birth. That is asking a lot of someone unless he or she is truly convinced from the heart that his or her own way is wrong and that there is a better one. To do otherwise would be to go against one’s conscience, and Scripture warns us against that (Romans 14:23). The point is that when the chips are on the table, what we merely profess to believe and what we really believe are often not the same.

Are All Faiths the Same?

Do all roads really lead to Detroit? Sheer logic tells any thinking person that they do not. Who knows where one will end up with such shallow thinking! Christianity—Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant—Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Shintoism, atheism, agnosticism, and the thousands of other “isms,” each with its own internal divisions, are not harmonious. Their expected rewards are different. The paths to those rewards are different. Their requirements and practices are different. The list is endless, and the differences are consequential. Where do we even begin to list the myriad differences? And though some in our modern world refuse to accept reality, the fruits of each are not the same—all religions are not of equal value!

Even though they do not remotely understand God in the same way, all profess to worship Him (or Her, or It, or They). Even atheists, without realizing it, worship the “god” of materialism. At a minimum, people arrogantly worship themselves, trusting that their own puny mental resources can determine what God expects of them—if He even exists—as if we could dictate to Him good and evil, right and wrong.

So, it must be asked: Is it possible to worship God—even the true God—in vain? You may never have considered this, but if you look to the Bible as your source for truth you would do well to ponder this not-so-trivial question. To put it bluntly, anyone who believes that God will bend His will to ours—accepting us no matter how we approach Him—does not believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God. But if that is the case, where do you look for moral truth? To the philosophies of men? How is that working out?

The Bible leaves no doubt that there are only two options in life—obey God or live your own way (Deuteronomy 12:8–9; 30:15–20). It is evident from Scripture that the nation of Israel did the latter, and it did not go well for them. Throughout God’s word, we find His authoritative definition of good and evil and the contrast between them—along with the end result of each.

John, the Apostle closest to Jesus, defined sin for us: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4, King James Version). And the Apostle Paul confirms that sin—the transgression of the law—applies to Gentiles as well, and that there is a consequence for it: “For the wages of sin is death, [not eternal life in hellfire,] but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). You can gain further understanding of this important subject by reading our free resource John 3:16: Hidden Truths of the Golden Verse.

“In Vain Do They Worship Me”

Can God be worshipped in vain? Does it matter how we worship Him? Is doctrine—that is, the teachings and practices of a faith—important? Yes, according to Jesus.

Christ’s disciples were challenged one day for not washing in the Pharisees’ ritualistic manner before eating. It is important to understand that this was not a law of God, but one of the thousands of man-made rituals and traditions the Jews had created. That is clear to anyone who carefully reads the account. When questioned why His disciples did not follow the “tradition of the elders,” Jesus replied, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?” He then paraphrased Isaiah 29:13: “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:1–9).

Therefore, according to Jesus Christ, yes, you can worship God in vain! But that is the easy part to answering this question. The difficult part is, what will you do about it if you find your denomination is teaching doctrines and traditions of men rather than the teachings of the Bible?

“They Honor Me with Their Lips”

Many understand that the “sanctification” of Sunday does not come from God but from man. They understand that Jesus was not born on December 25 and that the customs of Christmas come from heathen traditions. They understand that the day on which they think Christ was resurrected is named after a pagan fertility goddess and celebrated with fertility symbols: rabbits, eggs, lilies, and more. At the same time, they knowingly reject the Holy Days found in Scripture and kept by Jesus, His Apostles, and first-century Christianity. Is God pleased with humanly devised traditions of worship? Let Him answer:

When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, “How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.” You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it (Deuteronomy 12:29–32).

God does not accept our human traditions as worship of Him. We cannot dictate to Him how He is to be worshipped. It is really that simple—yes, you can worship God in vain. The real question is, What will you do about it?