It’s a commonly held assumption that all religions are just different ways to God. After all, why should the claims of one religion take precedence over all the others?
The problem with this proposition, however, is that different religions have radically different notions of what getting ‘to God’ means. For some there is not just one God but many, for some the goal is to achieve a place in paradise rather than a relationship with God, and for others the idea of some divine being doesn’t exist anyway.
So, to argue that all religions lead to the same destination is a bit like saying that you can start a journey in London, and no matter which motorway you pick, you’ll end up in Southampton. Clearly that’s not the case. If you pick any motorway other than the M3 you’ll never arrive in Southampton.
On closer enquiry it turns out that uniquely among world religions Christianity proposes the possibility of an intimate, eternal and personal relationship with a living God who reveals himself as a loving Father. So, when Jesus said in John’s Gospel, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but my me’, he meant exactly what he said.
