‘Surely all roads lead to God, so it does not matter what you believe or which road you are on as long as you are sincere?’
Man alone of all creation is a worshipping being. This is perhaps the main difference between man and the rest of the animal world – this inner feeling that there is someone out there greater than him.
Every civilization, every primitive tribe has had its objects of worship – its gods. Usually they are focused on the sum or moon or river or some animal. Always there is a desire to please the gods by offering sacrifices.
Behind it all is man’s search for God. This search shows itself in many ways in the world’s religions.
Hindus try to get away from the world and its evil influences by relaxing the body and the mind and so coming closer to Brahman – their creator god. They aim to achieve this by extreme concentration and meditation helped by the bodily exercises of yoga.
Buddhists see the body as full of evil but believe it can be overcome by acts of self-denial and self-discipline. Only so can they hope to reach the blessed state of eternal bliss-Nirvana. They therefore believe in an elaborate system of reincarnation to achieve this – coming back into this world again and again, hoping to get better each time.
The Muslim stress total obedience to the laws of his holy book, the Koran, as the only way to please God. All the great religions of the world have in common:
- A desire to come to God
- A desire to live a good and holy life
- A desire for life after death
The founders of these religions were looking for God. Jesus said he was God. “He who has seen me has seen the Father,’ He said.
Other religious leaders have pointed the way to God. Jesus said He was the only way to God – ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.’
The other religions claim no personal knowledge of God, no certainty of forgiveness of sins or of life after death. They all stress the only way is by trying to get better, trying to obey moral laws and religious rules.
Jesus promises complete forgiveness because of His death for our sins on the cross.
Jesus promises victory over death. He also promises life with Him in heaven after death because He rose again.
Jesus promises power in our lives to grow more like Him because He gives the Holy Spirit to all who trust in Him.
Being a Christian is not a case of desperately trying to find God. The heart of Christianity is God so loving us that He sent Jesus to find us and bring us into a close and loving relationship with Him now in this life and throughout the whole of eternity. Christianity is trusting Jesus Christ and what he did, rather than trusting our good deeds to bring us to God.
