Is Jesus The Only Way

All Roads May Lead to Rome, But Not to God

By Lois Amari

You may have heard it said, or you yourself may even believe, that “All religions lead to God.” Many people, even those who claim adherence to one religion or another, believe that all religions, sincerely practiced and observed, will ultimately lead to God. Just as it was said regarding the Roman Empire that “all roads lead to Rome,” so in terms of religion we are told “all roads lead to God.”

Although it may have been true that all roads led to Rome, it is not true that all roads lead to God. God is not Rome, and the relationship between man and God is not equivalent to the relationship that existed between man and the Roman Empire. For one thing, man was the “god” of Rome: man built Rome, man named her, man crafted her temples, and man ruled, managed, and destroyed her. Second, man created, controlled, managed, and destroyed the roads and the means of transportation to Rome. In other words, all roads led to Rome because Rome and the roads to Rome were created and managed by man.

As a matter of fact, a human can “build a road” to anything if it can be managed by him. Anything can be manageable by any human being (powerful or weak, rich or poor, sophisticated or uncivilized, wise or fool, young or old, and so forth) if it meets the following criteria:

1. It has no will, determination, or purpose of its own.

2. It has no power, authority, or ability.

3. It is within the reach of and accessible to man.

4. It is understandable, explicable, and comprehensible by man.

Unlike Rome, God doesn’t meet the above four criteria, and, hence, he cannot be controlled by men. To borrow a term from author Donald McCullough, God is not a “manageable deity.” As a matter of fact, if we were to rank all that exists according to which is the least manageable entity, God would be number one. When dealing with the issue of whether all religions lead to God, it is critical to keep in mind that we are dealing with God and not with a manageable entity. Since God is not a manageable deity, the view that all religions lead to him is the least logical, least natural, and most difficult view to accept; those who espouse this view bear the burden of proof. Most people who hold this particular view can only do so after they first trivialize God and reduce him to a manageable deity. A manageable deity is a necessary condition and requirement for believing that all roads lead to God.

God Is Not A Manageable Deity

The true God is not a manageable deity because he has a will that is stronger than humans’. The human will is not well understood by humans themselves, it can be easily manipulated, and it keeps changing. But God “does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind” (1 Samuel 15:29). Not only does he have a solid will, but also he “does whatever he pleases” (Job 23:13, Psalm 115:3, Psalm 135:6). He said, “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). It is by his will that everything was created. It is his will that determines the course of history. Indeed, the will of God is the biggest player in this world:

⁶ By the word of the LORD were the heavens made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
⁷ He gathers the waters of the sea into jars ;
he puts the deep into storehouses.
⁸ Let all the earth fear the LORD ;
let all the people of the world revere him.
⁹ For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
¹⁰ The LORD foils the plans of the nations;
he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
¹¹ But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever,
the purposes of his heart through all generations. (Psalm 33:6-11)

God is also powerful. No one can oppose him (Job 23:13). “No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:35) He surpasses every entity, whether an earthly or heavenly being, in power and greatness (Psalm 150:2). There is no one that can compare to him (Psalm 89:6). Indeed, who can be more powerful than the creator himself?

²⁵ "To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

²⁸ Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom. (Isaiah 40:25-26, 28)

The true God is not accessible through human senses. God is a spirit and is omnipresent (present everywhere); man cannot confine him to a single location. Man cannot imprison him as he can imprison men. How can one manage an entity that he cannot see, touch, or confine to a single location? Other gods may be confined to the human dimensions of space and time because these gods were “made by the hands of men”:

³ Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
⁴ But their idols are silver and gold,
made by the hands of men.
⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but they cannot see;
⁶ they have ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but they cannot smell;
⁷ they have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but they cannot walk;
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
⁸ Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them. (Psalm 15:2-8)

Finally, God is beyond our comprehension. When Manoah in the Old Testament inquired of his name, God replied: “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding” (Judges 13:17-18). No one can comprehend his mind (Isaiah 40:13), his understanding (Isaiah 40:28), or his ways and thoughts. He said:

⁸ "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD .
⁹ "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

This is the true God: a God who is all-powerful, omnipresent, all-knowing, and beyond our comprehension. It is ridiculous and arrogant to claim that any road can lead to him. After all, as humans we do not permit all roads to lead to us. This is because we have our own wants and desires, social requirements, and moral standards, as well as some authority over our mind, body, and emotions. If we, with our yielding willpower, hazy moral standards, weak authority, and finite power, limit the number of roads to us, how much more does God, with his solid will, perfect standards, infinite power, and unbending authority, limit the roads that lead to him? The original question has to be rephrased from “Do all religions lead to God?” to “Does God accept all religions?” God, not religions, has to be the subject of the question. Now the question is in God’s court.

Does God Accept All Religions?

We may agree that God is not a manageable deity and that we humans cannot force our ways on him, but could it be possible that he himself is willing to accept any religion? After all, God is free to choose to accept all religions if that what he wants. Remember, God does what he pleases and nothing can stand in his way. But before answering this question, we need to clarify what is meant by “religion.” Let us define it as one’s beliefs about who God is and how he is to be worshiped. The question, “Does God accept all religions?” may now be rephrased as ”Does God accept to be worshiped in any manner man chooses?”

If we were to examine all world religions, we would quickly conclude that each religion has its own unique teaching regarding who God is. If God does accept all these religions, then he must be willing to receive worship through the worship of the creation, of idols, and of anything that man chooses to deify. But does the true God accept worship through the worship of a cow, the moon, the sun, a river, a star, a human, or anything else man chooses to call god? We should allow God to answer this question:

⁶ "I am the LORD your God….
⁷ "You shall have no other gods before me.
⁸ "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁹ You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” (Deuteronomy 5:6-9)

The above verses are the first two of the Ten Commandments. They prohibit the worship of idols and any false god. God emphasized this throughout the Scriptures, such as in the following verses:

“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, ¹⁶ so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, ¹⁷ or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, ¹⁸ or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. ¹⁹ And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars-all the heavenly array-do not be enticed into bowing down to them…” (Deuteronomy 4:15-19)

God refuses to share his glory or praise with anything. He said, “"I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols” (Isaiah 42:8).

It should not be surprising to humans that God refuses to receive worship through false gods. As humans, we expect people to know us as persons (not as cats, cows, cars, or carrots) if they intend to have a relationship with us. We don’t expect to receive affection from others if that affection is not directed toward us. We expect others to address us by our name, and some of us are even particular about the pronunciation of our name. If we as humans don’t accept a relationship with others through a misdirected relationship, why should God accept having a relationship with us misdirected through another human, an idol, a cow, a stone, a piece of metal, a piece of wood, or anything else other than himself? God is not interested in any kind of worship other than true worship. He said that the true worshipers worship him in truth (John 4:23). The worship of God is not independent of who God is. English dictionaries describe the word “worship” as “ardent devotion,” “reverence,” and “respect”; each of these verbs requires an object of worship. To God, worship is to love him “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind " (Luke 10:27). How can one be devoted to, revere, or respect God without knowing him? How can one love God with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength if one thinks of him as a cow, a star, or a river?

There are thousands of religions in the world, all promoting the worship of different gods. These religions are different attempts by humans to reach God. The many varieties of religious beliefs show that man is not capable of creating a religion that can lead to the one and only true God. This is because when man creates a religion, he tends to create a god that fits his own experience, meets his needs, approves of his philosophies, and sanctions his moral values or lack of them, a god that makes him feel good about himself, a god that he can manipulate - a god made in the image of man. In his book “The Trivialization of God: The Dangerous Illusion of Manageable Deity,” Donald McCullough describes why a manageable deity is a false deity:

“Any god I use to support my latest cause, or who fits comfortably within my understanding or experience, will be a god no larger than I and thus not able to save me from my sin or inspire my worship or empower my service. Any god who fits the contours of me will never really transcend me, never really be God. Any god who doesn’t kick the bars out of the prison of my perceptions will be nothing but a trivial god.”

Do all religions lead to God? No, they lead to the worship of different gods. The true God does not accept any worship or praise that is directed toward false gods. He accepts only worship that is directed toward him.

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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.