American beliefs – do all religions lead to the same God?

Do all religions lead to the same God?  When Americans were asked to react to the statement, God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, more than half agreed, with 46% strongly agreeing.  Just based on an approximate 70+% of Americans claiming to be Christian, that number is surprising. 

do all religions lead to the same GodAnd disappointing.  It means, right or wrong, only about two-thirds of American Christians even think they know enough about their claimed religion to have a strong response to the statement.

Consider the image – either to the right or below – with three paths.  There could be more.  Two of them appear to go into a city.  The other appears to go to the right, probably bypassing the city.

But let’s say those were paths to God.  This question is especially for Christians – does it make sense that the path would split and there are multiple ways to reach God?  Before you answer, let me remind you of some things that your God, the God of the Bible, said.

 

The Narrow and Wide Gates

Mt 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Small gate, narrow road, hard to find.  No, that doesn’t line up with all roads leading to the same God.  Not at all.

In fact, further exploration shows that the image above is pretty much the opposite of what’s told in the Bible.  That, of course, is the Christian belief.  Jews disagree.  So do Muslims.  And since they are the only ones who even claim to have any sort of belief in the God of the Bible, I won’t even get into other religions.

Do Christianity and Judaism lead to the same God?

From the Jewish viewpoint, strictly speaking, I have to say yes, but.

We’ll see that in the Old Testament, faith in God was required.  Abraham was the example for that faith.

However, when Jesus came, the New Testament times began with the New Covenant.  While He is the same God, He is more fully revealed to us, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  As of that time, belief in Jesus as the Son of God and our source of salvation is now required.  We’ll get into that as well.

Footnotes

  • 1
    Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1997). The Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version (Ge 15:17). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.
  • 2
    Wiersbe, W. W. (1993). Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Ge 17). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
  • 3
    Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’an . The Book Foundation. Kindle Edition.
  • 4
    Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’an . The Book Foundation. Kindle Edition.

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