Don't All Religions Lead to God?
by Hank Hanegraaff

"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

Before answering this question, a word of warning is in order: Anyone who answers in the negative may well be ostracized for being narrow-minded and intolerant. That being said, my answer is, "No, not all religions lead to God, and it is incorrect and illogical to maintain that they do."

First, when you begin to examine world religions such as Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, you will immediately recognize that they directly contradict one another. For example, Moses taught that there is only one God; Krishna believed in many gods; and Buddha was agnostic. Logically, they can all be wrong but they can't all be right.

Furthermore, the road of religion leads steeply uphill, while the road of Christianity descends downward. Put another way, religion is fallen humanity's attempt to reach up and become acceptable to God through what we do; Christianity, on the other hand, is a divine gift based on what Christ has done. He lived the perfect life that we could never live and offers us His perfection as an absolutely free gift.

Finally, Jesus taught that there was only one way to God. "I am the way and the truth and the life," said Jesus, "No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6, emphasis added).

Moreover, Jesus validated His claim through the immutable fact of His resurrection. The opinions of all other religious leaders are equally valid in that they are equally worthless. They died and are still dead. Only Jesus had the power to lay down His life and to take it up again. Thus, His opinion is infinitely more valid than theirs.

For further study, see John MacArthur, Why One Way? Defending an Exclusive Claim in an Inclusive World (Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2002); and Ronald Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994).

(Adapted from Hank Hanegraaff, The Bible Answer Book (Nashville: J. Countryman, 2004)

Sunday, November 15, 2009