Do All Roads Lead to God?

John 14:6  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

We’ve all heard “All roads lead to God.  Christianity is just one of them.” 

Jesus said differently.  He made the claim only He is the way to God the Father, but how can we show that to others we meet.

Let’s look at the major religions and their gods one at a time:

Theravada Buddhism teaches that God is not a person at all.  In fact, Buddhism at it’s purest form is atheistic.  The Four Noble Truths and the Eight Fold Path of Buddhism teach not a god but a lifestyle they believe will lead to peace.

Hinduism has millions of gods.  There are three major gods: Vishnu, Siva, and Brahma.  On top of those, there are all the other gods, but these three are the center piece.  Hinduism is polytheistic.  They have many gods.

Islam has only one God and is extremely monotheistic to the point of destroying any idols of other gods they come across.

Judaism’s God is personal.  He communicates with His people.

Hinduism’s gods are invisible, non-physical. 

Christianity’s God in the Person of Jesus is very physical.

So, if all roads lead to the same god, he is singular and multiple.  He is physical and non-physical (and doesn’t exist in Theravada Buddhism)   And, he is personal and impersonal.  This idea is akin to a belief in square circles, married bachelors, and living corpses.  It makes no sense at all.

No, there is only one true God.  So, how do we know it is the God of the Bible?  Here is one way:

The Universe is not eternal nor has it always existed.  Scientists tell us there was a Big Bang about 15 billion years ago, that the entire universe was once compressed into a particle smaller than an electron.  Steven Hawking called this particle “infinitely dense.”  With that particle so dense and so powerfully held together with all the matter of the universe and its accompanying gravitational pull, how could it explode?  The Bible says there was a time when even the particle didn’t exist, that God made the universe out of nothing and spoke it into existence out of nothing at all.

So, there was a time when the universe was not.  Then how did it come about?  Well if it had a beginning, it needed to have a cause for that beginning.  Conditions must have been right in order for the universe to come into existence.  But, that wouldn’t bring it into existence.  It needed an Agent.

Think of the beginning of universe like striking a match.  All the materials are there, the match, the striking surface, the oxygen, the fuel of the wooden match.  The match will still not strike itself.  It must have an agent to decide to strike the match.  In the same way, if all the conditions and materials were ready before the universe came into existence, it would still not exist unless an Agent “struck the match.”  In our case, that is described in the first verse of the Bible.

Now think of what that Creator God must be like.  He must be greater than the universe He created (omnipotent).  He must be incredibly intelligent to create this universe and all the laws governing it (omniscient).  He must exist outside the time He created that our universe depends upon (eternal).  He must be personal to decide to “strike the match.”  Since the universe is governed by laws and not chaos, He must be a God of order and unchanging (Immutable). 

Now which God does that sound like?

Why is this important?

We are confronted regularly by skeptics who have “all the answers” as to why they disregard the God who made them.  It is our job to help them understand what they believe is irrational.  “All roads lead to God” is just a silly statement.  It shows the person’s ignorance of those “roads.”

The God we serve as Christians, the God we want to share with others, is greater than we can imagine.  He has communicated with us in His Word.  We are of all people favored.