Do All Religions Lead To God? Series

27"But he will reply, ’I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’

28"There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."”

The short answer, from Jesus’ lips, to the direct question of universal salvation for all is a resounding “no”. The door will close, and some – those to whom Jesus says “I don’t know you or where you come from, away from me, all you evildoers” – will be left outside.

This is not an isolated occurrence. We find the same teaching in Matt 7:13-14, where Jesus says: “13Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Jesus makes that same claim to exclusivity in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

It seems to me that Jesus is pretty clear. The only way to God/heaven/life/the Kingdom of God, is through Jesus.

A Neat Conversation:

A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of having a spiritual conversation with a woman from a native background. She was an Indian, and came to talk with me about spiritual things. As we talked about what she believes, one phrase stuck out to me, loud and clear. She said: “I know God – whom you call Father and I call Creator. And I know the Great Spirit – whom you call the Holy Spirit. But I can’t figure out Jesus.”

It’s All About Jesus:

It really all does come down to Jesus. Jesus is the hinge-point, the dividing line, the narrow door, the stumbling block. What do we do with Jesus, in this whole conversation about the relationship of Christianity to the rest of the religions of the world? Jesus was pretty clear in His answer to the question, “are only a few people going to be saved?”. What does that make our message as those who claim to be followers of Jesus?

Background Survey:

Before answering those questions, let’s take a very brief step back and survey the other main belief systems in our world.

First, where did they come from? (chart from Eerdmans Bible Handbook)

Where are they now? (chart from adherents.com).

What do they actually believe? I can’t answer that question for you today, as we simply do not have enough time to even begin. I will refer you to an excellent summary that Leanne Attwell prepared for me, and which I found immensely helpful in my preparation. I’ve made extra copies for the table at the back, and encourage you to take those and have a look.

Things In Common:

Having read Leanne’s summary, I did pick out some things in common among the world religions. Like I said before, we begin with the same questions:

• is the physical, observable, is all there is to life?