Don’t all religions lead to God?

"All roads lead to Rome."

When people said that hundreds of years ago, they knew perfectly well that the sentence didn't mean what it literally said. There were roads between London and Cambridge that did not continue to Rome. You could walk away from Rome even on the roads that led to it.

What did people mean by "All roads lead to Rome"? One thing is that the Roman civilization was famous for road-building. They were good at it. Some of their best roads still exist today, over two-thousand years after they were built.

By that expression people also meant that the Roman civilization was influential in almost every area. You could hardly dream up an area of science, mathematics, language, history or religion in which Rome did not have some influence.

So, when people ask, "Don't all religions lead to God?" could they possibly mean what that literally says?

No. There are a few religions that don't have a god. That's usually the main point of those religions. Of course, if God exists, those religions are automatically wrong.

No. Different religions teach different gods. If one god doesn't exist but another does, those religions are automatically wrong.

The question usually means to imply something else. People who ask it wonder whether you can ever figure out whether there is one true God, distinguished from the gods of other religions. It implies that there is not one true God, that all religions have something to contribute to the concept of "God."

Most people believe there is a god. If there is, the question is how you can figure out who or what he really is.

Jesus has the answer. He says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).

So you want to find out more about God? You want to find out whether a particular religion teaches something about the true God? The only way is through Jesus. "Salvation is found in no one else" (Acts 4:12).

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