It is a very common belief these days that people of different faiths are really just taking alternate routes to the same destination. Often, those who propose this concept cite similarities in the teachings of these faiths in the areas of love, charity, good works and forgiveness as proof for their argument. After all, the argument is made, the different religions really just point out the fact that we need to cease from selfish acts and work to love and accept one another. That being the case, people need to understand that, no matter how different the doctrines appear to be between these religions, these differences can just be explained as cultural idiosyncrasies. If it is nothing more than our cultural understandings that influence our religious beliefs, then there is no reason to support the notion that one religion is superior to another. And if people stopped trying to one up each other in the area of faith, then we can start working together to solve the problems our world faces. Sounds simple enough, right?
The stark truth of the matter is that this line of reasoning, no matter how pleasant it sounds, crumbles under the weight of honest examination. The only way that this concept works is if one of two things are true: first, that religion is an entirely personalized experience with no actual eternal consequences; or two, that universalism is true and everyone goes to Heaven, despite what they have done in this life. Unless either of these points are true, the hypothesis above cannot be accurate. If there is an ultimate end to our faith, an afterlife that results in heaven or hell, then the competing dogmas of the various religious belief systems are contradictory and cannot be equally true. Someone is right and someone is wrong. Alternately, if universalism is the ultimate end, then doctrine and dogma are pointless because we all will enjoy eternal life despite what good or evil we do. No forgiveness or atonement is necessary. Therefore, by necessity, the thesis is wrong, but what is the true answer?
Jesus Christ taught His disciples saying, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” (John 14:6). This is a very dogmatic and exclusivist statement. There is no means by which the Christian faith can be opened up to include competing faith systems. It is often for this reason that Christianity is so hated in our culture today. Post-modern tolerance teaches that all competing views must be given equal weight and acceptance. Any worldview which is exclusive cannot be tolerated because it wars against this core belief and must be, by consequence, excluded (which is in itself exclusivist, but that discussion is for another time). Christianity, because of its exclusivist claims, is in direct conflict with post-modern tolerance. Therefore, it is often seen as the perfect example of conflict in our world and is attacked virulently by those promoting tolerance.
It is worth noting that, despite post-modern thinking, all existing world religions are exclusivist in nature. Islam teaches one must submit to the teachings of Mohammed and practice the Five Pillars of Islam. Buddhism teaches that all pain and suffering comes from the sinful desires of man, thus man must go through repeated reincarnations until he is able to empty himself of all desires. Once this has been achieved, the cycle of reincarnation can end and one can reach Nirvana. Hinduism teaches that man’s ignorance that he is part of the divine Brahman leads to a never ending cycle of bad karma, which causes pain and suffering. Through adhering to Hindu teaching, one can eventually escape the cycle of reincarnation and be absorbed back into Brahman.
These are just three of the world’s leading religions, albeit the largest ones following Christianity, yet they all have exclusive teachings and doctrines. None are consistent with each other and all claim they have the one true path. It would be illogical to claim that all are correct as their beliefs and doctrines are vastly different. One cannot claim that Buddhism is consistent with Islam, for example. One teaches reincarnation until you have achieved Nirvana and cease existing, while the other teaches that there is a god who judges all that you do and either rewards or punishes you eternally based on your actions. Both have completely different understandings of the end of man and how we get there. It would not be possible for both to be true at the same time. Therefore, it is inconceivable for both beliefs to be separate paths to the same destination. What must be determined is not how to reconcile different religions together, but of all the competing faiths, which is one that is correct?
As we read above, Jesus Christ made an exclusive claim to be the only path to the Father. In Matthew 7: 13-14, He also stated, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Jesus taught there were only two paths, one which leads to eternal life, the other to eternal punishment. When looked at in light of the passage in John, it is evident that He was teaching that all paths which do not lead to Him are by nature paths that lead to eternal damnation. So to put it another way, there are really two religions, the religion of Christ and the religion of man. All systems that attempt to solve the dilemma of man’s sin apart from Jesus Christ are systems that require man to do something of his own ability to atone for his wrongful deeds. Only in Christianity is the work of atonement accomplished by God Himself in the form of Jesus Christ. Therefore, all religions that rely upon the work of man are paths that lead to damnation because man cannot do anything to erase the evil of his sin.
How can such a claim be made? In our world, the idea that we can achieve forgiveness by our works is a common one. As children, we are taught to say we are sorry when we hurt the feelings of others. As we grow up, we are taught mistakes are simply a means to learning the wrong way of doing things. Once we learn the wrong way, we can correct our error and start doing them right. As adults, if we damage someone’s property, we can pay restitution. Broken hearts can be healed by the purchase of flowers and a promise of changed behavior. And, at least on the surface, we claim that crimes can be atoned for by our imprisonment for a specified amount of time. So it is not unreasonable to believe that by our own actions, we can achieve forgiveness and make our way out of eternal punishment. After all, by nature we believe we are all really good people who occasionally make bad choices. Since we are good at heart, we can make up for any bad we have done. But in the eyes of God, nothing could be further from the truth.
When God set Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He gave them one command, not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve was tricked by Satan and believed that it was good for her to eat of the fruit. However, in direct rebellion against God, Adam chose to eat of the forbidden fruit. In doing so, Adam brought sin into the world for the first time. His actions tainted the rest of mankind so that his descendants would be born sinners. From that day forward every person born into this world would have a sinful nature, inclined to serve self rather than obey the Lord. Mankind would forever be bound by sin, every action, thought and word would reflect that nature and man would forever be in rebellion against his Creator.
According to God’s Word, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment,” (Isaiah 64: 6) and, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). No matter how we view ourselves, we are seen by God as wicked and sinful down to the very core. We can verify this when we look at the law of God in Exodus 20. Commonly known as the Ten Commandments, the moral law of God handed down to the Israelites reflects the perfect nature of God’s character. When we examine our thoughts, words and deeds against this moral law, it reflects the wickedness of our hearts before the Lord. Anytime we worship a picture of God we have created in our mind, we worship a false idol. When we lie, harbor or express hatred against others, when we lust for a person who is not our spouse, covet the belongings of others, disobey our parents or steal the property of others, we are evidencing that our wicked heart is working against our Lord and Creator. When break those laws, we are sinning. We sin because by our very nature are sinners. From the day we are born until our last breath, we build up a laundry list of crimes against God.
God is good and righteous. He is holy and perfect. When we choose to sin against Him, we bear evidence of the wickedness of our hearts and He must judge us and rightly condemn us. We are criminals against a perfect Judge. Were He to allow us to enter into eternity without bringing judgment against our crimes, He would be capricious and untrustworthy. If God permitted a man who had raped, murdered and stolen for the majority of his life into Heaven without addressing the crimes he committed, He would be unjust, disregarding the harm done both to the victims and to His nature. Thus, God must judge sin. To do otherwise would make Him not be God.
As we have seen from Scripture, man is sinful at his very heart. No amount of “good works” can make up for our sin, because our good works themselves are tainted by our nature. There is nothing that we do that is not influenced by our sin; therefore, we cannot do anything that makes up for sin. Additionally, were we to attempt to erase our sin by our works, it would be an attempt to influence our good and righteous Judge to ignore that which we have done. In other words, we would be attempting to bribe God into rendering an unjust verdict. Time does not erase our sins and neither will sinful works remove them from the eyes of God. All mankind stands guilty before God and will be condemned to an eternity in Hell.
Yet, while God is righteous, holy and just, He is also loving, merciful and kind. Therefore, He made a way for sinners where there was no way. God sent His Son, eternally God, to take on human flesh, born of a virgin (that He might be free from the taint of sin), to live a life of complete sinlessness so that He might become the Savior of men. Christ was tempted in all the ways that we are, yet lived without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He did so in order that He might fulfill the moral law of God perfectly, the law we could not keep for even a minute of our lives. Then Jesus willingly, intentionally allowed Himself to be taken prisoner by wicked men, put on trial in an unjust court, and be found guilty of crimes He did not commit. Jesus allowed this so that He might be put to death in one of the most horrific forms of capital punishment devised by men. His death on the cross was for the purposes of receiving the full weight of the righteous wrath of God deserved by sinners. In doing so, Jesus became sin in the eyes of His Father. He became what we are so that what we deserve may be poured out on Him.
Jesus died that terrible death, was taken from the cross and placed in a tomb, yet on the third day, He rose Himself from the grave, defeating sin and death. In rising from the grave, Christ demonstrated His divine power of all of creation including life and death. In defeating the grave, Jesus guaranteed a promise of eternal life to all those He would redeem from the righteous wrath of the Father. What God commands of sinners is that they repent – acknowledge that they have sinned against Him, confess they deserve His judgment, and turn away from sin and turn to Christ – and trust, in faith, in the completed work of His Son. Whenever sinners do this, God has promised He will change their heart of stone to a heart flesh, making them into a new creation. No longer are men bound to their sins, rather they are bound to the Savior who has purchased them with His blood.
This is why Christ declared that the broad path, the path which contains all the man centered religions which promise atonement through human effort, as the road which leads away from the Father. No act of human will apart from Christ can satisfy the perfect judgment of God. Therefore, all religious systems, be they Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Baha’i or the multitude of others, are of the broad path. Only the narrow path which leads to Jesus Christ and His completed work can grant anyone entrance to Heaven.
There is one respect in which all roads lead to God. The narrow path leads to eternity with the Savior, forever enjoying fellowship with He who bought us. The broad path leads to the eternal judgment of God. He created Hell specifically as the place where sinners would forever receive the condemnation they have wrought upon themselves. It is His Hell and His judgment. Therefore, sinners will be in the presence of God, but it will be in His wrath, not His peace.
To rightly apply the thinking that all paths lead to God, we must suspend logic. The idea that contradictory teachings all have the same destination can only be true if ultimately there is no destination, thus having only personal, subjective benefit; or, if there is an eternal destination that all people will go to, thus eliminating the need for any doctrine or dogma, simply because it does not change the outcome. In reality, there are two paths and two destinations. The path of man made religion teaches that mankind has problems, but ultimately can be overcome by one’s sheer act of will. All religions apart from Christ fall into this path in one way or another. However, as man is sinful at heart, he cannot overcome his depraved nature and cannot atone for his own sins. Therefore, all those on this path are on the road to damnation. The other path is that which leads to Christ. It is the path that reveals the truth about who we are and that we deserve God’s wrath. It is the path that calls us to surrender our own works to the One whose perfect work on the cross satisfied the legal and righteous judgment of God. It is the path which leads to life, because the death and resurrection of the Son of God is the only means by which we can be freed from the sins to which we are bound. Which path are you on?
Excellent!