Don’t All Roads Lead To God?
 

A:  No, they don’t.
 

It’s a common belief that all religions basically teach the same thing.  This isn’t true.  For starters, some religions teach that there is one God (Christianity, Judaism, Islam), others say there are many gods (Hinduism), still others say you and I are god (New Age), and some even say there is no god (Buddhism). 

Even the religions that believe in one God don’t agree on who this one God is.  Christians believe in the Trinity, one God existing in three forms – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jews believe in God the Father but reject the idea of a Son and Holy Spirit. In Islam they believe in Allah who is completely different then the God described in the Bible.

Listen to Gregory Koukl thoughts on the subject; “What about this religious stew view that all religions ultimately lead to God? What it fails to take into consideration is that much of religious truth is actually competing and not complimentary. Religions have contradictory claims. For example, God in the Christian tradition is personal and in the eastern tradition is impersonal. God can't be personal and not personal at the same time. It's like turning left and right at the same time. It can't be done. Christianity teaches that when you die, you will go to heaven or to hell. Eastern religions say you will be reincarnated. Maybe there is some third option. Now you could go to hell or heaven, or be reincarnated, but one thing I know for sure, you are not going to heaven or hell and be reincarnated at the same time. One view must be wrong.”

So all the world’s religions claim they are true, yet all contradict one another. Truth is not relative; it is absolute.  In other words, one teaching is right, the others are wrong. 

Let’s look at the issue of salvation.  There are many different ideas here, too, but basically we can place all the world’s religions in one of two categories. 

In one category is Christianity which teaches that God did the work of salvation.

In the other category is every other religion that believes in a heaven or some sort of afterlife.  All other religions teach that man must do some sort of good work to go to heaven (even though they disagree on what this work is).

One of the unique claims of the Bible is made when Jesus said that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that no man can go to heaven and be with God except through Him (John 14:6).  Buddha, Mohammad and Confucius all said, “here is the way” while Jesus says, “I am the way”.

If the Bible and Christianity are true, then the road Jesus lays for us leads to God while the rest lead away from Him. 

The words of Proverbs 14:12 come to mind, ”there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”  But Jesus encouraged us to "enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

* For further study: 

- Does God Exist And Is He The God Of The Bible?

http://www.biblestudyplanet.com/s73.htm