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A common held belief today is that there is no one correct religion and each one just inter-

prets the path differently.

Some religions hold to the belief in the existence of many gods, yet others teach that there

is no god to believe in at all. Some wish to take the practitioner to a higher level of spirituality,

but not to God.

With such profound differences in these systems of belief, they could not all possibly lead to

the same end beacuse they contradict one another.

Can honest sincerity be the base of all religious belief? Because someone is sincere with all of their heart to a specific belief, doesn’t mean that the belief is correct. Believing in pink unicorns with the utmost sincerity will not make them real. Steve Kumar states,

“Love, sincerity, honesty, and faith cannot be the basis for all religions...A Hindu mother may very lovingly offer her child as a sacrifice to the goddess Kali, but her love will not alter the tragedy. One may have faith that the ten dollars in the pocket is a thousand dollars, but all the faith will not change the fact. Faith must be based on fact; sincerity and love must be grounded in truth. Just because we worship some god doesn’t mean we worship the true God.” 1

Isn’t there truth in all religions? Of course some truth or wisdom can be found in all religions. That’s what can make a religion attractive. If a belief system contains some truth, it doesn’t mean all of it is true. Even liars tell the truth sometimes. A liar can say to you,

“Hey look, I bought a new car today, its blue, it has nice rims, a supped up engine, and it goes a thousand miles per hour.”

Surely the car can be blue, have a supped up engine, and great rims, but what do you think about driving a thousand miles per hour? Just because there is some truth in a religion or system of thought doesn’t mean that what they say about God or salvation is true.

How much work does it take? In the world's religions salvation or the spiritual goal is earned by one’s good works (or some type of deeds whether good or not) and is left on his or her own to try to reach God or whatever higher level of spirituality that may be.

Certainly good works is something that we should all do. But when trying to reach God and obtaining salvation through our deeds, how much is enough?

Isn’t being a good person enough to go to Heaven? Of course we should all strive to be good, but there is still the problem of sin. If a law is broken there must be punishment of some kind for it.

Let’s say you committed a crime and were found guilty in a court of law. You were

then given a fine of $100,000 dollars. If the fine is not paid then you go to jail. Would your

being a good person or your good deeds get you out of paying the fine and set free?

You could tell the judge, “Your Honor, I gave money to the poor, I started a soup

kitchen and fed the hungry, I’ve given clothes to those who don’t have any, and I even

cleaned your house.”

Would the judge let you go because you’re a good person? Of course not. The law

has been broken and the fine must be paid. Your good deeds will not cover the $100,000 fine and punishment is still required for the broken law.

However, if a millionaire happened to walk into the courtroom, laid $100,000 cash in front of the judge, and paid your fine, the judge could let you go free. The required payment would be taken care of and you’d be on your way home.

Of course, if you choose not to accept the gift from the millionaire you are still held accountable for the fine and if you could not pay, you would be thrown into jail.

What about God’s law? Ever broken it? We all have broken God’s law at some point or another. Let’s take for example some of the Ten Commandments:

Thou shalt not lie... Ever told a lie? We all have. This would make you a liar.

Thou shalt not steal... Ever stolen anything? Even something small that didn’t belong to you? Maybe, maybe not. Let’s say you did. This would make you a thief.

Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain... Ever use God’s name as a curse word to express disgust, shock, or anger? Doing this is called blasphemy. If you’ve ever done this you would be called a blasphemer.

Thou shalt not commit adultery... Jesus said that if you look at another with lust, you’ve already committed adultery with that person in your heart. Ever done this? I’m sure we all have. This makes you an adulterer.

Let’s say you’ve broken all of the preceding commandments. If this is true then

you’d be a lying, thieving, blaspheming, adulterer at heart.

Now then, when you die and are standing before God, the judge, and He

points to you the laws that you have broken, would you be innocent or guilty?

You’d be guilty of course, and punishment is required for the broken law. Hell.

You could tell God, “Lord, I gave money to the poor, I started a soup kitchen and fed

the hungry, and I’ve given cloths to those who don’t have any.”

Do you think God will let you go without punishment? God is not going to let you go on the grounds that you are a good person. The fine has to be paid.

But God did something so that you don’t have to go to hell. Jesus paid the fine on the cross 2000 years ago. Like the millionaire who put the $100,000 in front of the judge, Christ has paid for your sins with His blood. He took your punishment so that you don’t have to.

Salvation is gift offered by God’s grace through our faith in Christ who has taken our punishment for us. It has nothing to do with how good we are or how much we accomplish through works,

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Eph.2:8-9).

A gift is something that is received freely without payment. This gift is free for us because Jesus paid for it on the cross,

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

And like a gift you can accept it or reject it, the choice is yours.

Is Jesus the only way to God? The evidence of the truth of the Bible is overwhelming. We should pay attention to what it says.

God has made a plan to redeem us from our transgressions because no amount of good deeds on our part could justify sin. But, through Jesus we have the oppurtunity to reach God. Jesus said Himself,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14: 6).

“For if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).

Taking into account all of the evidence to support that Jesus is the Son of God, we must be highly concerned by what He says. What Christ is saying is that all religions do not lead to God and He is the only way. The choice is yours.

Choose wisley.