Can Every Religion Bring Us to the Same God?

The Question Everyone Avoids

I have met people who say we are all worshipping the same God but in different ways, so we should just respect each other’s opinion and leave it like that.

I want to try to examine this from everyone’s point of view — and then come to a conclusion.

The Muslim Encounter: Internal Inconsistency

While preaching to a Muslim boy, he said we all have our religion so let’s just respect each other’s beliefs. I told him that it would not be right for him to say that as a Muslim — and here is why.

The Hadith (Abu Musa al-Ash’ari) states: “On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will assign to every Muslim a Jew or a Christian and say: ‘This is your ransom from the Fire.’” This means that every Muslim who did not make it out of hell — perhaps because they were not devout or righteous enough (see Surah 19:71–72) — would have a Jew or Christian take their place. And another Hadith (Sahih Muslim) states: “No Muslim dies except that Allah admits a Jew or a Christian into the Fire in his stead.”

So I looked at the Christian friend standing next to this Muslim boy and said: according to his own religion’s teaching, his Christian friend was going to hell. The position of “we all worship the same God, let’s just respect each other” is not a position Islam actually allows its own followers to hold.

Beyond that, as much as Islam and Christianity share some similarities, Islam denies the core beliefs of Christianity: that Christ — Jesus — died for our sins, that He rose from the dead for us to be made righteous, and that He died so we could have a relationship with God. These are not peripheral points. They are the foundation of what Christianity is.

And for further contrast: most Hindus and other religions consider trees and other created things as their god — which Islam would reject and consider idolatry. So if Islam itself would not say it is worshipping the same God as Hinduism, the claim that “all religions worship the same God” cannot be sustained even from within Islam.

The Hindu Encounter: You Cannot Believe Everything

Another time I approached a Hindu woman, and she said she believes in every religion — that she prays to everyone: Jesus, Allah, Buddha, her Hindu gods — and that she has a relationship with all of them because she feels connected to them.

I replied and said it is logically impossible to believe every religion simultaneously. Islam says Jesus is not God. Christianity says Jesus is God. Hinduism has multiple gods. These positions directly contradict each other. Believing all of them at once is a contradiction, not an open mind.

I also pointed out that it is impossible to have a genuine relationship with all religions, because while she can feel a connection, that connection must be coming from one source — not from all sources equally — because all these sources do not have the same nature or the same claims.

I put it this way, using a word she would understand from her own tradition: these sources do not have the same “energy.” They make different claims about reality, about God, and about what happens to human beings after death.

And there is another issue: you cannot claim to have a relationship with someone you do not know. Think of a close friend. The first day you met, you did not know their favourite food, their likes and dislikes, what hurt them or brought them joy. As you spent time together, you came to know these things — and that is what a relationship is. Even in families, children sometimes say, “I don’t have a relationship with my parents” — not because those people are not their biological parents, but because there is no real closeness or knowledge. Claiming a relationship with every religion’s deity at once — without the knowledge that comes from actually knowing any one of them — is not relationship. It is a feeling of connection that needs to be examined.

What Buddhism Says About Jesus

I have only met one Buddhist, so I cannot speak extensively on what they believe. But broadly: Buddhism teaches that human life is characterised by suffering, and that the way to end suffering is nirvana — the state where rebirth ends and the self is overcome.

From what I have read, some Buddhists acknowledge that Jesus died but do not believe He is God or that He rose from the dead. They agree with His death only because it depicts human suffering — which is central to Buddhist philosophy. This is a significant departure from the Christian claim. It is not the same God approached from a different direction. It is a different framework entirely.

Rights and Truth Are Not the Same Thing

I also meet Christians who say they believe in Jesus but also say it is fine for everyone to believe whatever they want because they have the right to. And I say: yes, they have the right — but having the right to believe something does not mean what they believe is right.

Consider this: an atheist says there is no God. Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity would all say the atheist is wrong. Does the atheist have the right to hold that position? Of course. But do the religions agree that the atheist is correct? No. So the existence of a right to believe does not settle the question of what is actually true.

That is the point. Rights and truth are not the same category.

The Division Jesus Never Made

Some Christians go further and say not just that Jesus is the only way, but that their particular denomination is the only way. I once met an Orthodox Christian on a bus who said that Orthodox was the only way. I told him: no. The only way is Jesus.

John 14:6 (NKJV): “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

Am I saying Orthodox, Catholic, or Protestant denominations are wrong? No. But what we must understand is that Jesus did not come to bring these divisions. You will not find any place where Jesus on the cross said: “I give you Orthodox,” or “I give you Catholic,” or “I give you Protestant.” What Jesus came for is a relationship. He paid the price for our sins because we could not pay it ourselves, and our sins had pushed us away from God. So God came in the flesh, paid the price, and made it possible for humanity to be brought back into relationship with Him.

How the Denominations Actually Formed

The divisions were caused by men. Here is the history:

The East-West Schism (1054): The Bishop of Rome (the Pope) claimed supreme authority over the Roman Catholic Church (Western Christianity), while the Eastern church followed a group of patriarchs (Eastern Orthodox Church). In addition, the Western church added a phrase to the Nicene Creed about the Holy Spirit — “who proceeds from the Father and the Son” — while the Eastern church rejected this addition. The Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated each other, and the two branches of the church divided.

The Reformation (1517): The Catholic Church began charging money for the forgiveness of sins and promoted teachings that had no scriptural basis. A German monk named Martin Luther protested against this corruption. He argued:

1. Salvation comes through faith alone (Romans 1:17).
2. The Bible, not the Pope, is the ultimate authority.
3. Church traditions that contradict Scripture should be rejected.

This protest gave birth to Protestantism.

The divisions were not made by God. And as I said, I have nothing against the denominations — as long as we all believe in the core basis of Christianity: that Jesus, who is God, became man and died to pay the price for our sins, and that He rose again for us to be made righteous (Romans 4:25). And that we love each other — because the Bible says God is love, and how can we say we love God whom we cannot see if we do not love our neighbour whom we can see (1 John 4:20–21)?

What Actually Makes Us Saved

Someone once asked me what I would say concerning the different teachings found across denominations. I told him: as long as we believe that Jesus is God, that He died for our sins, and that He rose again — the core is intact. The other excesses, the things not in alignment with what God’s word says, we will give account for those. But the core — that is what makes us saved.

And I reminded him: although we see excesses in these divisions, that does not mean there are no genuine people in them who have a real relationship with God. The denominations do not equal the relationship. Christ does.

One God, One Way

From the brief examples above, we can see that all these religions cannot be worshipping the same God. So the question becomes: who is the one God? Because each of these religions claims to be serving that one God.

And I will say this: God is not confused. One God cannot bring forth different, mutually contradictory religions.

“The easiest way to disprove Christianity is to prove that Jesus didn’t die and didn’t rise. If you can prove that, you rule out Christianity. But if Jesus actually died, then we rule Christianity in — and rule other religions out.”

Approximately 95% of historians believe Jesus died by Roman crucifixion. 60–75% believe there was an empty tomb. The historical record points consistently toward His death and resurrection — which I have written about in full in the next Chronicle on historical evidence.

But in conclusion, Jesus speaking said He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). He did not say He is part of the ways. He did not say He is one of the ways. He said the way.

We approach God only through Jesus. Jesus is the only way.