“All religions are the same” - A prevailing View

“All religions are the same” - A prevailing View

Agree or disagree it is a prevailing view in today’s society.  When one makes such a statement, they are addressing pluralism or universalism.  The apologist, Ravi Zacharias, had this to say, “If we think about it carefully, really the opposite is true.  All religions are fundamentally different and only superficially the same.”

I found this study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religious & Public life to be of great interest.  “84% of the world’s population identifies with a specific religious group.  Therefore, approximately 5.8 billion people around the globe are affiliated with a specific religion – 2.2 billion Christians, 1.6 billion Muslims, I billion Hindus, 500 million Buddhists, and 400 million who practice various folk or traditional religions (African traditional religions, Chinese folk religion, American Indian religions, Australian aboriginal religions, etc.), and 14 million Jews.  An estimated 58 million people – less than 1% of the world’s population – belong to religions like Baha’i, Jainism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Taoism, etc.  These are the only religions that are compatible with pluralism or universalism.  All other religions claim exclusivity of some sort.  That means 99.5% of the world’s religious population (again, 84% of the world population) disagrees with the claim that there are many ways to God.

This does not prove that Christianity is right, and all other religions are false but does show that the world does not agree with the pluralist position.  Think about this, could it be that in reality, pluralism is the more extreme and arrogant position.  It seems the crowd that is saying all religions are the same is not listening or paying attention to what other religions are saying.

Tim Keller had this to say, “Christianity stands in a category of its own.  It cannot be incorporated into other religions, nor can it stand equally beside other religions.”  Tim Keller explains this point by saying “that all other religions have prophets that show them the way to God or some sort of “salvation.”  Yet Jesus never claimed to be a prophet who could show us how to get to God; He was God Himself who came to get us.  Therefore, either Christianity is exclusively true or exclusively false, but it cannot be the same as all other religions.”

So we have the question did Jesus claim to be God, He never claimed to be a great teacher or a prophet, but He often claimed that He and God were one?  Jesus ask this question of His disciples in Matthew 16:15 “But who do you say that I am?”  We have written what Peter said, but Jesus is still asking you and me the same question.  In verse 16 we have Peter’s answer; “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Do you recall this encounter Jesus had with the Jews at the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem at the temple and this question was ask of Jesus; “How long will you keep us in suspense?  If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”  We find Jesus’ answer in John 10:25-30, Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.  I and the Father are ‘one.”

• You may never stop and give thought to this question, you may have bought the lie that all religions are the same, that we have many ways to God, but Jesus has not left that door open for you, for it is written in 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.”  Now you, like Thomas has been told, Thomas followed Christ and became His disciple, what will you do with Jesus?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Note from the writer of the back porch, some of this information came from a lesson we are studying at Oakwood.  The writer of the lesson gave credit to where the information came from in the lesson, and I also have done so.