soren120.jpg“If one who lives in the midst of Christianity goes up to the house of God, the house of the true God, with the true conception of God in his knowledge, and prays, but prays in a false spirit; and one who lives in an idolatrous community prays with the entire passion of the infinite, although his eyes rest upon the image of an idol: where is there most truth? The one prays in truth to God though he worships an idol; the other prays falsely to the true God, and hence worships in fact an idol.”

I do not have an issue with his assessment of the first worshipper in the above quote. However, when a person bows in sincerity to an idol, he is not bowing to the true God. Simply put, Kierkegaard’s religion is not Christianity. In fact, it is a blatant denial of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Kierkegaard holds that an authentic Christianity rests in the passionate sincerity of the worshipper as opposed to belief in the person and work of Christ as revealed in the word of God. In essence, sincerity = communion with God. Kierkegaard also believed that God was unknowable, hence his disdain for rational belief. Sincerity of devotion never saved a soul and it is precisely “sincere belief” in anything other than Christ that will send countless souls to hell. It is “sincere belief” that causes suicide bombers to carry out their plans. It is “sincere belief” that makes those in the Jehovah’s Witness cult knock on door after door. The Bible clearly teaches that it is faith in Christ alone, faith in a knowable Person, that saves.

Now here is what Bonar has to say to those who exalt sincerity over truth:

horace120.jpgStrange to say, he [the unbelieving, religious man] does not seem to imagine that God can refuse to accept his religion, of whatever kind it be. “If I be sincere,” he argues, “God must accept me;” and, making himself the judge of his sincerity as well as of his religion, he casts his offering on God’s altar with the proud thought that it must be acceptable. He hates the thought that, after all, God may reject himself, and declare his religion vain. That, he conceives, would be unfair, for he has done his best—he has been sincere! Thus he would fain force his religion upon God; and all his worship proceeds upon the idea, that God cannot without injustice be displeased with the worship, or frown upon the worshipper. Two things, then, are very obvious. The first is, that there can be only one true religion in the world. There may be many creeds, but only one religion; there may be a thousand systems called religions, but only one of them is true. To say this is not to utter bigotry—it is simply to state a fact. The second thing is, that the difference between the true and the false is no trivial one. The gulf that divides is broad and deep; the line that marks the boundary is not easily effaced. At certain points they may seem to resemble each other, but in all vital ones they are as far asunder as the east is from the west. (Man: His Religion and His World, 1851, The Life and Works of Horatius Bonar, pg. 12)

Bonar’s point is clear: sincerity of belief saves no man. Sincerity of belief in the truth is necessary, and sincerity of belief devoid of truth is ultimately unbelief and damning. The faith/philosophy of Kierkegaard should be rejected by those who love the truth, love the Lord Jesus, and who believe the scriptures are true when they say:

“That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” -2 Thessalonians 2:12-14.