Don't all religions lead to God?

Recently there was a comment left on our Marc and Julie blog that put forth the notion that it really doesn't matter who you worship or who you call God. The idea being that all religions are just different expressions of God and that we are all worshiping the same God no matter what we may call him or her. The only problem with this is that it is in direct conflict to the bible and it also renders Jesus death on the cross as being meaningless. There is much more to be said on this but for now I will leave you with a helpful article by Hank Hannegraff. Let me know what you think.
Marc

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)
Monday, July 25, 2005

Greetings from Scotland

Religion vs. Relationship

The picture to your left is of the Abbey at Iona, Scotland. It's founder Columba came to Scotland's shores in the 6th century after having to flee Ireland because of his involvement in a petty dispute over the ownership of a manuscript. This little dispute evolved into a tribal conflict that left over 3000 dead. After he was forced to flee the country, Columba vowed not to return until he led as many pagans to Christ as he killed on the battle feild. It was here on Iona that a major change happened in his life. He was no longer the head strong soldier of Ireland, but according to his biographer, he became a very loving, kind person with a great concern for the poor. Sounds like he had a real encounter with the living Christ. This is what the gospel is all about and why I wanted to tell this story in my first post on the new blog.
Columba was very religious while living in Ireland but he wasn't engaged in a real relationship with Jesus. He had what some would now call a seminary degree studying under Finnian and graduating from Whithorn, but he didn't have that life giving relationship with his creator, Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, that is the story of many who fill the pews in churches today, " having a form of godliness but denying it's power..." - 2 Timothy 3:5 Jesus isn't impressed with your church attendance or even if you have a seminary degree, are a pastor or a missionary if you haven't made the great u-turn in life and started trusting and following Jesus instead of your latest wim and personal passion. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3 "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." So why do we have to be born again? What was the problem with our first birth? Because of Adam's sin (which contaminated the whole human race and all of our surroundings) we are all born with a sin nature, a natural gravitation towards that which is wrong. If you don't believe me you probably don't have children. We didn't have to teach our children to do bad things, they figured it all out on their own. So, the idea here is to be born again into Christ by putting our trust and faith in Him andHis death and resurrection for our sins. By doing this we take on a new nature where sin becomes the unatural thing rather than the natural. - Romans 8:9
So, if you are living a religious life as Columba once did, I would encourage you to make that great u-turn in life and follow the real living Christ and experience a peace that transcends all understanding.
God bless you,
Marc

The New Blog

Hi and welcome to my new blog.
This blog is not to replace the marc and julie blog but is in addition to it. I just wanted to create something that would be used more specifically for research, defending the gospel, and general commentary about stuff happening in and out of the church. One of the things that drives me crazy is the amount of misinformation being distributed on such a wide scale these days. These embelleshments and down right lies are coming from all facets of society including the media, the universities, politicians (I know that's hard to believe) and unfortunately the church. I think we have a great opportunity today with the blog scene to combat the lies and proclaim the truth, so that's what this is all about. I hope it will in some way encourage you who take the time to read it.
God bless and keep posted.