CAN ANY RELIGION LEAD US TO GOD?

I had attended a chapel service at the Union Theological Seminary, NYC devoted to 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.”

However, the participants lined up to give their testimonies to prove that this verse had to be wrong, because they had observed that there were many ways to God. They insisted that the belief that there is only one way was judgmental and divisive. However, their faith is equally judgmental and dismissive of those who do not believe as they do.

This “progressive” belief has percolated down throughout the West. A woman just gave me her testimony about how she came to the Lord. She concluded by confidently declaring that we all worship the same God, but do we?

What does it mean to worship the same God? Does it mean that we all have our “higher power," whatever it might be – our car, ourselves, a stone – and that one “higher power” is just as valid as the others? More importantly, does any “higher power” suffice in the Mind of God?

Biblically, such an idea is unthinkable. All of the Canaanites had their gods, but they were all detestable before the God of Israel. He therefore warned Israel:

·       “You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.” (Deuteronomy 7:3-4 ESV)

·       “But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you  (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.” (Leviticus 18:24-28)

Only one revelation of God and worship was acceptable to God. This pertained to anyone who preached a different revelation of God:

·       “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.” (Deuteronomy 13:1-3)

Jesus followed suit about the exclusivity of the God of Israel. He informed a Samaritan woman that there was only one revelation that was acceptable before God – the revelation made to Israel:

·       “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:22-24)

Jesus made no allowance for the Samaritan religion. He wasn’t a multiculturalist. God had to be worshiped in one way only – according to the truth of who He is. Paul likewise had warned:

·       But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8-9)

However, such exclusive claims are repugnant to modern secularist and progressive ears. In contrast, they believe that, with one world religion, they can cure the ills that plague humanity. Professed Christian, Tony Campolo, has placed his hope in a unity based upon common mystical experiences:

·       “A theology of mysticism provides some hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam. Both religions have within their histories examples of ecstatic union with God… Could they have encountered the same God we do in our Christian mysticism?”  (Roger Oakland, Faith Undone, 108)

Other progressives have sought other means to break down what they regard as the unacceptable Biblical “Us vs. Them” division. However, Scripture unflinchingly teaches a consistent distinction between the children of the light and those of the darkness:

·       Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)

Consequently, the only deep and lasting unity can be the unity which the Spirit of God has achieved (Ephesians 4:1-5).

Questions of truth and accuracy pertain to all of our academic endeavors – history, science, business, and geography. Why should questions of truth not pertain to God? There is no reason at all to believe that any god is right if it feels right. Some believe in an impersonal, uncaring, and amoral god who cannot judge them. Such a god represents an escape from God. This god is a lump of putty that we can mold into anything that pleases us, but it cannot be God, not our Creator and Redeemer.