The world’s religions have different ideas of divinity, different answers to the what, why and hows of human existence and salvation, and exhort people to believe different things. It has been popular amongst some to claim that there are many ways to God. But even that statement has no meaning if we don’t know what we mean by “God”.
The world’s religions and mystical philosophies constantly contradict one another on every important point. For example:
state – hopefully to a state of nothingness where no more desires exist – and therefore no more disappointments and suffering.
Christianity (and possibly Judaism) must unite for world peace.
So many fundamental contradictions exist between different religions
on every major point, yet many want to believe that many if not all religions
are all ultimately ways to God. But what kind of “God” would change his
mind about who He is and what He wants from us? Only some kind of imaginary
wishy-washy, confused, schizophrenic deity, unworthy of our worship, would
think like that. So why should we? Away with this nonsense about
the inherent unity of all religions. Any religious movement which claims
this, such as the Bahai faith, has already separated itself from any other
religious movement in order to maintain its distinctive doctrines anyway.
If you were in Sydney, Australia and wanted to catch a train to Gordon
station you would not just hop on any train and see where it took you.Why
do people use that kind of approach when it comes to the things of God
and eternity? We hear so often that “there are many ways to God”, and that
the many world religions are like different paths scaling the same mountain.
But if that is so, then the God at the top of the mountain must be a liar
– because He would be making a lot of paths which teach contradictory
things about who He is, why we have problems, what the remedy is and what
we should do about it.
Jesus Christ said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes
to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6). These are not popular words in today’s
pluralistic culture. But then again, Jesus Christ was not seeking to win
a popularity contest. He said it because He knew it was true. He backed
up his claims by many miracles and by rising from the dead.
Satan would have people believe that Christianity is a hate religion
because it will not surrender its claim to be exclusively true. This may
be true of religions which spread through physical violence and oppression,
but it cannot be true of a religion that teaches us to love our enemies,
and to do good to those who hate us (Matthew 5:44ff).
Christians are called to love those who disagree with us. We are not
called to compromise our faith in Jesus Christ, or to deny His claims to
be the only way to God (John 14:6), but we are called to love others. Love
does no harm to a neighbour. Forms of religion which require violence,
persecution, oppression and so on to survive are in contradiction with
the spirit of Christ.
Just because the Bible claims something does not logically make it right.
If we can find answers that make better sense elsewhere – answers that
have historically valid roots and are existentially livable, then perhaps
Christianity is not all it is claiming to be. But before we jump to that
conclusion, let us check out some things.