Throughout my life I have come across the idea that all religeons worship the same
God but in their own particular way. When the twin towers were blown up in N.Y. The Mayor, Rudy Guilliani in a speech said that on a typical weekend he would visit an Islamic Mosque on Friday, and a Christian Church on Sunday.....
He commented that both groups worship the same God.
Is he right? Do folks worship the same God different ways?
I am asking..... Is Jesus the only way Or is there more than one way?
Jesus offers assurance to his disciples . The cross is not far ahead. and he has already warned Peter of his betrayal...Shortly Jesus will be arrested..tried...death will follow. And in a moment of Pastoral care, Jesus offers these words to his disciples Jn14:1-4
Actually they did not know the way. It still had not crossed their minds that Jesus was goong to leave them. Thomas breaks the silence, the same man who doubted. "Lord we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?
That is the Question! How can we know the way to God?
What path must we take? Whose directions can we accept as truth?
And here is the answer to that difficult question...Jesus answered "I am the WAY.....no one comes to the Father except through me..If you really knew me you would know My Father as well...From now you do know HIm and have seen Him.
Jesus makes it clear....The only way to God is through me. I am the Way, There may be many paths...but I am the only one that leads to God. Peter made the same claim in Acts 4 "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men, by which we must be saved...Many ways may lead to Christ....but only Christ the 'Door' leads to God.
The bible teaches that God saves the world, saves you and I, through Jesus Christ. He, Jesus is Gods way of forgiving our sins.
Jesus is the cleansing agent. He is the one-way-ticket-to-paradise. Hallelujah
No one comes to God the Father except through Jesus....
But if Jesus were on earth today, you might want to ask him a few things.
For example you might ask...Jesus you claim that you are the only way to God, and even your Apostle Peter makes clear that your Name is the only one that can save.
But Jesus I have got to ask
What about Other Religeons?
Is the "mountain analogy" of God true. Where god is pictured at the top of a mountain, and man at the base. Man is carving his way up the mountain,. Some take a direct route, others wind their way up, but eventually all reach the top in their own way.
After all aren't there many 'good' religeons out there, and aren't there "good intentioned people" who are part of those religeons, brought up in those religeons. What about them? Is Christianity the only true way?
Are not all other religeons describing the same God in differing ways? Is there really a difference between Islam, Buddhism, Judaism?
Many claim these religeons to be valid. But many have not looked closely at the truth claims involved....Looking close we see that these different religeons contradict Christianity in many important ways. It becomes clear that both cannot be true.
For example Buddhism teaches that the ultimate goal is 'Nirvana' where all pain and suffering exist no more. And the way to reach this Nirvana is by following the 8 fold Path to Enlightenment, and then you reach a place of total nothingness........
In Hinduism the ultimate goal is also 'Nirvana' , but Nirvana is different....Instead of being snuffed out like a candle, 'Nirvana' for a Hindu is being reunited with Brahm, an all pervading force of the universe.
And the way to achieve this union with Brahm, this 'Nirvana' is through re-incarnation.
Depending on how you have lived your life determines whether you move up or down.
In Islam, heaven is a paradise of wine, women, and song. And the way to achieve this blissful paradise is to, ironically, abstain from these things in this world. In addition a Muslim must follow the five Pillars of Islam to achieve paradise
Judaism denies that Jesus is Lord. They say that it is through the following of the Law that one obtains eternal life. And Jesus he was merely a human teacher or prophet at best. But he is not the Messiah.
All these truth claims, these ways to God and to paradise, are completely contradictory to Christianity.
We should look down on people who follow such religeons. That would be contradictory to Christian life. But we must recognise the serious contradictions that cannot be reconciled.
C.S. Lewis one of the greatest minds of the 20th century puts it in his classic book 'Mere Christianity' "Being a Christian does not mean thinking that where Christianity differs from other religeons, Christianity is right and they are wrong.
As in arithmetic -there is only one right answer to a sum, and all other answers are wrong; but some of the wrong answers are much nearer to being right than others"
Let me simplyfy this, by painting a picture that I believe offers the stark contrast between Christianity and all other religeons. Picture a father and his 3 year old daughter. The daughter wants her father to pick her up, to embrace her...to carry her, to hold her close. That is all the little girl wants.....to be in her fathers arms.
And so the little girl lifts her hands up to God and desperately reaches for his father neck so that she can be lifted up. She reaches and reaches...and urges her father to pick her up. But she is never qute able to reach up high enough. That is a picture of the desperation many have in trying to reach up to God...but never quite reaching high enough.
Other religeons are a system of rules and pious commandments which may perhaps bring a person close to God.......I do not know! But never close enough
But now picture a father and this same 3 year old child. The child reaches up to her father to be lifted up and held in his arms. But instead of just looking down at his child, he lovingly reaches down to where the child is, and with compassion and strength lifts the child up into his arms and draws the child close to himself.
That is what makes Christianity different from all religeons. God came down to us in the form of Jesus Christ, and made a way for us to be lifted up to God....
Jesus is the WAy to the arms of God.. He came here to us, so that we could come to Him
God but in their own particular way. When the twin towers were blown up in N.Y. The Mayor, Rudy Guilliani in a speech said that on a typical weekend he would visit an Islamic Mosque on Friday, and a Christian Church on Sunday.....
He commented that both groups worship the same God.
Is he right? Do folks worship the same God different ways?
I am asking..... Is Jesus the only way Or is there more than one way?
Jesus offers assurance to his disciples . The cross is not far ahead. and he has already warned Peter of his betrayal...Shortly Jesus will be arrested..tried...death will follow. And in a moment of Pastoral care, Jesus offers these words to his disciples Jn14:1-4
Actually they did not know the way. It still had not crossed their minds that Jesus was goong to leave them. Thomas breaks the silence, the same man who doubted. "Lord we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?
That is the Question! How can we know the way to God?
What path must we take? Whose directions can we accept as truth?
And here is the answer to that difficult question...Jesus answered "I am the WAY.....no one comes to the Father except through me..If you really knew me you would know My Father as well...From now you do know HIm and have seen Him.
Jesus makes it clear....The only way to God is through me. I am the Way, There may be many paths...but I am the only one that leads to God. Peter made the same claim in Acts 4 "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men, by which we must be saved...Many ways may lead to Christ....but only Christ the 'Door' leads to God.
The bible teaches that God saves the world, saves you and I, through Jesus Christ. He, Jesus is Gods way of forgiving our sins.
Jesus is the cleansing agent. He is the one-way-ticket-to-paradise. Hallelujah
No one comes to God the Father except through Jesus....
But if Jesus were on earth today, you might want to ask him a few things.
For example you might ask...Jesus you claim that you are the only way to God, and even your Apostle Peter makes clear that your Name is the only one that can save.
But Jesus I have got to ask
What about Other Religeons?
Is the "mountain analogy" of God true. Where god is pictured at the top of a mountain, and man at the base. Man is carving his way up the mountain,. Some take a direct route, others wind their way up, but eventually all reach the top in their own way.
After all aren't there many 'good' religeons out there, and aren't there "good intentioned people" who are part of those religeons, brought up in those religeons. What about them? Is Christianity the only true way?
Are not all other religeons describing the same God in differing ways? Is there really a difference between Islam, Buddhism, Judaism?
Many claim these religeons to be valid. But many have not looked closely at the truth claims involved....Looking close we see that these different religeons contradict Christianity in many important ways. It becomes clear that both cannot be true.
For example Buddhism teaches that the ultimate goal is 'Nirvana' where all pain and suffering exist no more. And the way to reach this Nirvana is by following the 8 fold Path to Enlightenment, and then you reach a place of total nothingness........
In Hinduism the ultimate goal is also 'Nirvana' , but Nirvana is different....Instead of being snuffed out like a candle, 'Nirvana' for a Hindu is being reunited with Brahm, an all pervading force of the universe.
And the way to achieve this union with Brahm, this 'Nirvana' is through re-incarnation.
Depending on how you have lived your life determines whether you move up or down.
In Islam, heaven is a paradise of wine, women, and song. And the way to achieve this blissful paradise is to, ironically, abstain from these things in this world. In addition a Muslim must follow the five Pillars of Islam to achieve paradise
Judaism denies that Jesus is Lord. They say that it is through the following of the Law that one obtains eternal life. And Jesus he was merely a human teacher or prophet at best. But he is not the Messiah.
All these truth claims, these ways to God and to paradise, are completely contradictory to Christianity.
We should look down on people who follow such religeons. That would be contradictory to Christian life. But we must recognise the serious contradictions that cannot be reconciled.
C.S. Lewis one of the greatest minds of the 20th century puts it in his classic book 'Mere Christianity' "Being a Christian does not mean thinking that where Christianity differs from other religeons, Christianity is right and they are wrong.
As in arithmetic -there is only one right answer to a sum, and all other answers are wrong; but some of the wrong answers are much nearer to being right than others"
Let me simplyfy this, by painting a picture that I believe offers the stark contrast between Christianity and all other religeons. Picture a father and his 3 year old daughter. The daughter wants her father to pick her up, to embrace her...to carry her, to hold her close. That is all the little girl wants.....to be in her fathers arms.
And so the little girl lifts her hands up to God and desperately reaches for his father neck so that she can be lifted up. She reaches and reaches...and urges her father to pick her up. But she is never qute able to reach up high enough. That is a picture of the desperation many have in trying to reach up to God...but never quite reaching high enough.
Other religeons are a system of rules and pious commandments which may perhaps bring a person close to God.......I do not know! But never close enough
But now picture a father and this same 3 year old child. The child reaches up to her father to be lifted up and held in his arms. But instead of just looking down at his child, he lovingly reaches down to where the child is, and with compassion and strength lifts the child up into his arms and draws the child close to himself.
That is what makes Christianity different from all religeons. God came down to us in the form of Jesus Christ, and made a way for us to be lifted up to God....
Jesus is the WAy to the arms of God.. He came here to us, so that we could come to Him
Last edited:
