Don’t all religions lead to God?

‘Surely, all religions lead to God, don’t they?’

Many people in our culture today think that whatever path you chose, you’ll end up in the same place. Another popular view is that religion is an awful thing that should be done away with altogether.

Religion is generally considered to be a bad thing. And there are a number of reasons for that, so, let’s pitch in at what usually is the starting point…

Wars!

 

 “Surely everybody knows that religion has been the cause of most wars?”

 

The funny thing about all this is that rather than being a supporter of “religion,” Jesus spent his best energies opposing hypocritical religion and opposing violence.

 

And the fact is that the New Testament denounces violence.

 

Whereas other religions encourage us to take revenge, “Go on” they say “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” Jesus came along and said “No, don’t ever seek revenge, love not only your neighbours, love your enemies.” Jesus preached non-violence. “Don’t hit back,” he said, “turn the other cheek.”

 

But just suppose someone in Northern Ireland set off a bomb, in the name of Adrian Holloway, it wouldn’t mean that I was actually to blame. I’ve got nothing to do with it. In the same way I’m sure all of us can appreciate that the real Jesus of Nazareth has got nothing to do with the crimes that have been committed in his name.

 

But people still think that religion in general is a bad thing. “Wouldn’t it be better,” they ask “if we could just get rid of religion?”

 

And here a Christian could lovingly point out that that’s already been tried.

 

You see people forget the 20^th century. People forget that atheistic governments killed more people in the last century than anyone else.

 

Anyway, what about real Christianity? A Christian can honestly say that for every crime that ever has been committed in the name of Christ, there are hundreds orphanages, hospitals, schools and soup kitchens which are started by Christians every week around the world. And for some reason, people forget about that. True Christianity is about feeding the poor, not about starting wars.

 

So that’s a response to the usual opener: “Hasn’t religion been the cause of most wars?”

 

Then sometimes people ask:

 

 “If your Christianity is so great, why do these other religions even exist?”

 

Now a Christian response is that there are so many clues that God exists, it’s inevitable that over thousands of years you’ll get different religions starting up.

 

3 points

 

1. Firstly, because God has revealed himself in nature. So all through time it’s been possible to look at mountains, oceans, deserts, stars and skies and arrive at the idea of a creator or “higher power.”

 

2. Secondly wherever you go in the world people have a conscience. They seem to have a moral sense that some things are right and others are wrong. And so people have always wondered whether that sense comes from God.

 

3. Thirdly, people are continually discovering that material things don’t satisfy them. One of the great lessons of history is that money and possessions don’t deliver as advertised, and so, many people are looking for a spiritual dimension to life.

 

Well, quite honestly, with all that to work with, we’d expect to find different religions springing up around the globe.

 

And lots of things these religions teach, Christians totally agree with. For example, the Muslim Qur’an says there is a creator of this amazing world around us, who is supreme, sovereign and majestic. Christians can say “Amen” to that.

 

Similarly lots of religions say that you should obey your conscience and live unselfishly. Again Christians can happily agree.

 

But at this point in the discussion, people tend to say: “Well there you go then,

 

Q. Surely all religions are basically teaching the same thing?

 

“Surely all religions lead to God?”

 

And here we get to the heart of our subject. Everyone who has ever told me that all religions lead to God has also told me that the differences between world religions are essentially trivial.

 

So people say things like: “You call him God, Muslims call him Allah, what’s the difference?” as if all the differences between world religions can be boiled down to terminology.

 

Many people think that there’s nothing at stake in the choice between Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Sikhism. And it would be no exaggeration to say that some people taking this view seem to think that it’s about as big a deal as the choice between strawberry, chocolate or vanilla ice cream.

 

And there are two classic analogies which are almost always used, both of which, I suggest, turn out to be own goals.

 

Here’s the first analogy you may have heard . . .

 

“The way I see it,” someone says, “it’s like a story I heard somewhere about three blind men all touching different parts of an elephant. There’s a Muslim holding onto a leg who says: ‘It’s a tree. And I won’t tolerate anyone telling me different.’ Then there’s a Hindu holding onto the elephant’s trunk and he says ‘No, you’re wrong, it’s nothing like a tree. It’s a hose. I’m certain of it.’ And then the Christian, who’s holding the tail says, ‘No, you’re both wrong, it’s a rope.’ But the reality is, you’ve each got a unique insight, you’ve each got a piece of the same truth, you’re just describing it in different ways. If only you could see the bigger picture. And that’s why it’s so arrogant of you to say that you’re right and that all the others are wrong.”

 

To which the Christian can reply: “But isn’t that exactly what you’re doing?”

 

And they say: “what?”

 

The Christian can ask: “Surely, you’re saying everyone else is blind except you? You’re saying ‘It’s not a rope or a hose or a tree. You’re all wrong.’ You’re saying that Muslims, Hindus and Christians are all mistaken. You’re saying that you and you alone can see the big picture. You’ve got a true picture of the real situation, and everyone else has only got a small piece of it. You’ve just invented a story about four people in which three of them are blind and the fourth person is you, and you are the only one in your story who can see. You’ve invented a story in which you’re right and everyone else is blind and wrong.”

 

A popular alternative to the elephant analogy is the mountain climbers’ analogy.

 

Here’s another late night discussion favourite:

 

They say: “There’s a huge mountain, and God is at the top of it. But the Muslim is making his way up one side, and as far as he can see, his is the only path up. He doesn’t realize that five miles away round the other side, there’s a Hindu chiselling out several different paths to the top. And neither of them know that behind the clouds on the steep side there’s a Christian climbing up, and he reckons that there’s no other way. So you’re all climbing towards the same God, but the Christian’s coming from the European side of the mountain, and the Muslim’s coming from Arabia, and the Hindu from Asia. All these religions are paths from different cultures and civilizations to the same place.”

 

Again it would be logical for the Christian to then ask the question: “And where are you on the mountain?”

 

They reply: “How do you mean?”

 

A Christian could ask: “How do you know that these religions are going up different sides of the same mountain? Where are you watching all this from?”

 

They say: “Well, from the top.”

 

The Christian says: “But you just said that God is at the top.”

 

They don’t know how to respond to this, so they say: “OK, so maybe I’m in a helicopter hovering over the top.”

 

But surely at this point, the helicopter is back-firing, because now the person has placed themselves above God. They’re saying that every world religion is culturally conditioned, but that they have done something no Muslim, Hindu or Christian has ever managed. They’ve risen above their own culture, and even above God, so that they can see all these poor travellers toiling away up the mountain in their narrow-minded way. They’re saying they’ve got a true picture of what’s really going on, but that millions of ignorant Christians, and ignorant Muslims haven’t.

 

And the Christian can say: “At no point in this whole discussion have you told me how you know so much about God. Your religious claim is as exclusive as everyone else’s. In fact, your religious claim rules out everyone else’s, but unlike my Moslem and Hindu friends, you don’t feel the need to reveal your sources. You haven’t let us in on your secret! How did you find out the truth? Where’s your information coming from? It sounds so open-minded and generous when you say that all religions lead to God, but you don’t seem to notice that you’ve just said that you’re right and everyone else is wrong.”

 

And it’s at this point that I find so many people realize, perhaps for the first time in their lives that they have a religious faith. It may not be Christianity or Islam, but it’s a religion just the same. It’s actually called relativism. The term doesn’t matter, what does matter is this: They have just come to realize that their religion is just as exclusive and narrow as any other. In fact it seems to me, that relativism is the most narrow-minded religion of all, because it says: “We’re right and everyone else is wrong. Moslems, Christians, you’re all wrong. We know what’s really going on.”

 

But I want to say that all of this whole conversation could have been avoided, if only we had first looked first at the key issue, which, I repeat, is the commonly held view that the differences between different world religions are essentially trivial.

 

I want to say that it is a matter of fact that they are not trivial. The differences between world religions are massive. The real question should be “how can all religions be equally true when they contradict each other so blatantly?”

 

For example

 

 

A. The Bible and the Qur’an are NOT teaching the same thing about Jesus of Nazareth

 

Christianity and Islam both contain accounts of the life of Jesus. But they are so radically different that they cannot both be historically accurate.

 

You see the Qur’an says that Jesus never died on the cross. If that is true, then Christianity totally collapses, because as we’ve seen over the last two weeks, Christianity is totally dependent on Jesus actually dying on the cross. Jesus death on the cross is the be-all and end-all of Christianity, because it deals with the problem of sin, and this, the Bible says is a universal barrier that separates every human being from God. Jesus death on the cross destroys this barrier for everyone who follows Jesus.

 

So if Jesus really did die on the cross, then Islam totally collapses, because Jesus is one of the most important prophets in Islam, and for Allah to desert one of his prophets would prove that Allah was not all-powerful. Allah would never let one of his prophets die such a shameful death as crucifixion. Any Moslem will happily tell you that if Jesus did die on the cross, or if there are any other fatal flaws in the Qur’an, then therefore it cannot be God’s word, and Islam collapses because Islam holds that every word of the Qur’an was dictated by God.

 

All I’m saying is that it’s difficult to believe that Jesus was being crucified and not being crucified at the same time. In the same way, it is very difficult to believe that I am in London and Los Angeles at the same time. Common sense then does seem to put the skids under this initially attractive view that “all religions are equally true.”

 

Either Jesus of Nazareth was crucified or he wasn’t. History is terribly brutal to relativism.

 

Now I know that the detail is important here, so please indulge me as, just for the moment, we delve into the Qur’an itself . . .

 

In Surah 4 of the Qur’an, there are six long arguments directed against the Jews at Medina. The sixth is a condemnation of their boast that they got Jesus killed. The Qur’an says:

 

 “They claim, ‘we killed Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, the Apostle of God.’ But they killed him not, nor did they crucify him. They were under the illusion they had. . . . Assuredly they did not kill him. On the contrary, God raised him to himself.”

 

Yet the crucifixion of Jesus by Pontius Pilate is attested by Josephus the Jewish historian, by Tacitus, the major Roman historian of the period and by other non-Christian historians. In other words, you can demonstrate the historicity of Jesus’ crucifixion, without even using the Bible.

 

So on this fundamental, crucial point, the Qur’an is at odds with secular history, and the Bible. But I’m sure we can all agree that, on this point the Bible and the Qur’an cannot both be equally true.

 

Looking at the whole question more broadly, the contradictions between the different religions are endless. I have time for only a couple more . .

 

Hinduism teaches that when you and I die, we will be re-incarnated. Islam says no, everyone goes to heaven or hell, and stays there forever. Hinduism and Islam cannot be equally true. 

 

Buddhism says there is no creator God. Judaism, Islam and Christianity say: “On the contrary, there is a God who created the universe.”

 

So it is possible to say “All religions are equally true,” or “All religions lead to God.” But that statement would be in the same category as saying “all flights from Heathrow go to Australia.” Or “all roads out of London go to Bristol.” We might want to believe it, but common sense and real life tell us it can’t be correct.

 

If all religions cannot all be equally true, could it be that one of them is true?

 

Of course. That is entirely possible, and it is precisely what Jesus claimed. He said: “I am the way and the truth and the life, no-one comes to the Father except through me.” 

 

Let’s mention briefly

 

3 unique claims Christianity makes:

 

1. Jesus claimed to be God. None of the other founders of the historical religions ever claimed to be God. Jesus is unique in this.

 

CS Lewis put it like this: “If you’d gone to Buddha and you’d asked him ‘are you the son of Bhrama?’ he would have replied: ‘my son, you are still in the veil of illusion.’

 

                                    If you’d gone to Socrates and asked him ‘are you Zeus?’ he would have laughed at you.

 

                                    If you’d gone to Mohammed and asked him ‘are you Allah?’ he would have first rent his clothes and then cut off your head.

                                    If you had asked Confuscious ‘Are you heaven?’ he would probably have replied ‘remarks which are not in accordance with nature are in bad taste’.

 

                                    And yet in 33AD when previously doubting Thomas fell at the feet of the resurrected Jesus of Nazareth and worshipped him saying: ‘My Lord and My God’ Jesus told him off for being so slow to believe the truth.”

 

Jesus didn’t say: “Thomas you’ve got the wrong end of the stick old chap. I’m not God.” No Jesus is surprised that Thomas was so slow to believe the truth.

 

2. Jesus claimed to be sinless. He claimed to be perfect

 

3. The Bible is unique in claiming that only perfection is acceptable. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And what we deserve is death. The wages of sin death.

 

God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him, won’t perish, but can have eternal life.

 

So if our second point, which is that Jesus was and is perfect, is true . . .

 

And if our third point, which is that everyone else has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God is true . . .

 

Well then no-one’s good enough for heaven except Jesus. If that is true then it’s quite reasonable and rational to say that you’ve got to follow Jesus to get into heaven.

 

 

Which is why Jesus said:

 

 “I am the way, the truth and the life, no-one comes to the father except through me.” (John 14:6)

 

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
(Acts 4:12)

 

At this point, people quite understandably point out that:

 

“Look, however logical your position is, it still sounds arrogant for you Christians to say there’s only one way to heaven.”

 

The answer to that is “Yes, it sounds arrogant,” but it isn’t arrogant. Becoming a Christian is a very humbling thing, because you’re saying, I’ll never be good enough for God, but I’m trusting in Christ, who is good enough, and he’s the only one who is good enough.

 

Besides, sometimes in life there is only one way through a problem.

 

For example, is it arrogant for a doctor to say there is only one cure for a disease? If your doctor says “there’s only one course of anti-biotics which can heal you,” do you think she’s being narrow-minded? Of course not!

 

If you have a life-threatening illness and you’re rushed into emergency at the Hospital, and the surgeon tells you “there is only one operation that can save your life”, do you think the surgeon’s being arrogant?  – No, of course you don’t! You are relieved that there is an operation that can save your life and you’re grateful to the surgeon for telling you about it.

 

Sometimes people say Christians are too narrow-minded:

 

But when you’re on an aeroplane and it’s coming in to land, do you angrily unbuckle your seatbelt and march into the cockpit and say to the pilot as he’s closing in on the runway: “Don’t you think you’re being a bit narrow-minded? I mean what’s so special about the runway? Why not land on the grass, or in that lake over there?” No, you sit tight in your seat and you thank God that the pilot is narrow-minded and is homing in on the runway. The pilot is not being arrogant. He knows what he’s talking about. The runway is the only place to land.

 

Sometimes sincerity isn’t enough. When you’re doing a maths exam, there’s only one correct answer. A sincere wrong answer is a wrong answer.

 

Let me finish by re-assuring you, it’s clear that people from all sorts of religious backgrounds are having genuine experiences of God. For all I know millions of non-Christians are having real experiences of God every day. And they include Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists and so on. I have a friend who is a relativist, who sometimes experiences what he calls “existential angst”.  In other words he wakes up in the night wondering what is the point of his life, what’s it all for? I think my friend is having some sort of experience of God.

 

In this life, God is working in loads of people’s hearts, and answering all kinds of prayers.

 

But none of these other religions deal with the problem of sin, as far as the next life is concerned. In fact most of them don’t even claim to deal with the problem of sin.

 

Jesus, however, went straight to the heart of the matter, and through his death on the cross, Jesus dealt with sin, and that is why he is unique.

 

Click here to listen to the whole talk.