Do all roads lead to heaven?

Oprah Winfrey (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)

Are all the religions of the world just many different paths traversing the same mountain in a variety of ways?  Will we all eventually reach the summit of God’s presence via our different paths?  Many people believe this to be the case:

• John Lennon: “I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right.  It’s just that the translations have gone wrong.”
• Homer Simpson: “I’m gonna die!  Jesus, Allah, Buddha – I love you all!”
• Mahatma Gandhi: “All paths leading to God are equally good.”
• Oprah Winfrey: “One of the biggest mistakes humans make is to believe there is only one way.  Actually, there are many diverse paths leading to what you call God.”

When discussing eternal matters with a Hindu friend, I said that while I respected her right to believe what she did, our religions are not parallel belief systems, but mutually exclusive.  She was shocked at my statement.  She maintained that as long as a person has a religious system and is sincere, they will go to heaven.  She said to me that if Jesus had heard my statement he would be embarrassed by my narrow-mindedness.  I in turn was surprised by her response, and said that I was simply being true to what Jesus said.

One of Jesus’ most outrageous, exclusive statements is recorded in the Gospel of John.  Jesus is quoted as saying,“I am the way, the truth and the life.  No man comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).  Regarding this verse, Thomas à Kempis tried to describe the fullness of what Jesus was saying with the following words: “Follow … me.  I am the way and the truth and the life.  Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living.  I am the way which [you] must follow; the truth which [you] must believe; the life for which [you] must hope.  I am the [only] way; the infallible truth, the never-ending life.  I am the straightest way; the sovereign truth; life true, life blessed, life uncreated.”  Jesus’ way has always been the ‘narrow way’, not the ‘broad way’ that leads to destruction.

Image by The Loopweaver via Flickr

With reference to the postmodern philosophy of pluralism Tony Walter says, “A new stage has been reached; people do not choose between different religions, they choose their own religion from the elements they like in all the others … Orthodox, institutionalised religion is out, but home-made, make-it-up-as-you-go-along spirituality is in.”   But we must seriously question our faith in our own assessment of truth.  Can we believe that all religions are equally true, when their definitions of who God is, how one is saved, and how God has revealed Himself are so contradictory?  If Jesus claimed to be God, and the only way to heaven, then we cannot say that all other religions that discount the deity of Jesus are equally true.  All roads cannot lead to heaven.