Do all religions lead to God?

Very often, when we talk about different religions, we hear the infantile reasoning: «what is here to argue about, there are different religions, but one God!» Thus, without burdening oneself with the study of the most fundamental matter of life, a man, living in a modern world, makes a hasty conclusion concerning the Creator of the Universe. But is it really so simple? This is usually said by the people who do not belong to any religion, or when a religion has no essential meaning in their lives. Such people perceive religion as just one of somebody`s life’s components, like a different hobby that different people have with its satisfaction that it brings with it. Therefore, the deep analysis and discussions with regards to religion are useless and even inappropriate for such people. «Every man to his own taste...», as they say. It also can be the case, that religion is perceived by them simply as a set of moral rules that help the human being to spend his life at it’s best in this earthly world.

Meanwhile, the word «religion» is translated from Latin as «to connect», «to restore communication». Communication with whom? With the Creator of the Universe. Of course, God is indeed one, as the Bible says: «I am the LORD and there is no other; There is no God besides Me» (Isaiah 45:5). Based on that, a wrong conclusion of the multiple ways leading to Him can be made. God is one, but religions (ideas about God) are many. Nevertheless, a true religion can be only one, just as the address, where a person is located, can be only one. One needs a precise «address» in order to come to the true God. If there are several addresses, only one of them will be true, and the others will be false and will not lead to God.

From the Bible we know that God is All-wise, Merciful, loves His creation, covets interaction with it and wants salvation for every person. The Lord is a superintelligent Personality, not some abstraction, not «something higher», not «something there...». It is not people who “create” God, but God Himself is our Creator, and in order to enter into a salutary contact with Him, we need the hand of God Himself outstretched to us, His supernatural revelation to humanity. Revelation is what He Himself discloses about Himself. Of course, the loving Lord would not mock His creation by giving him contradictory revelations about Himself. Even a superficial glance at the most common religions leads to an unambiguous conclusion - they are not from the same source, do not preach the same thing, contradict each other in teaching about God and fundamental issues. Although some provisions may coincide.

What is the true religion? The Creator of the Universe through His word - the Bible and through the Holy Fathers of the Church - strongly proclaims to us that there is only one true and saving religion, connecting to God - Orthodox Christianity: “Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6), ”He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36).

St. Theophan the Recluse: «All existing religions in the world, except for the true one Orthodox, are false and do not grant a salvation. False religion is a mockery of people. The death will immediately reveal how solid is the foundation on which one’s hope was built... What a terrifying and devastating state it will be for someone who will see that he has been deceived».

1)Historical
Christianity has evolved in the conditions of persecution over three centuries by the pagan Roman Empire. The more Christians have been killed, the more their numbers grew. The Christian martyrs died for crucified on the сross God, which was considered madness by the pagans. After all, the Roman Empire itself has become Christian. It would be impossible without the power of God.

2)Doctrinal
Christianity reveals its singularity, non-triviality, uniqueness, obvious otherworldliness and depth of the doctrinal truths (for example, the creation of the world from nothing, the trinity of God, the Divine Incarnation in Jesus Christ, Redemption by His Blood, His Resurrection). Something that a person could not have made it up on his own. It is even more remarkable, that the Christian faith was preached by ordinary and unschooled people.

3)Spiritual and moral
No religious or philosophical system reaches that highest moral standard which is offered by Christianity. Adoption to God, deification, holiness, purity of heart, perfection of love for God and their fellow man but also love for enemies, «disadvantage» of biblical norms for everyone - neither rich nor poor, nor rulers, priests, prophets or sinners- for anyone but those who sincerely seek to do the Lord's will. All this testifies to the Divine origin of Christianity.

4)Prophetic
The Bible contains many prophecies that have been fulfilled. The Old Testament books have several hundred prophecies, manifestly fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament also contains many prophecies. For example, in the 1st chapter of the Gospel of Luke we read the words of the Mother of God: «For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed...». The Virgin Mary, being at that moment a weaver from a poor family, predicts that she will be celebrated by all future generations of people. The prophecy has been fulfilled - we see the veneration of the Most Holy Mother of God in all the world and in all times. If one had to recap all the prophecies of the Bible, he would have to write a huge book.

Then where did the false religions come from? Since the Fall, people have kept their religiosity but most have lost faith in the true God. All religious delusions are the fruit of the collaboration of demonic forces with a fallen man, driven by the spirit of pride: «For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens» (Ps. 96:5)

Nevertheless, one can hear the objection: «Well, as far as it concerns non-Christian religions, it is clear, but how about the diversity of religious communities in Christianity itself? Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants, Old Believers, Nestorians, Monophysites... All of them believe in the Holy Trinity and in the God-man Christ. Why do you claim that it is the Orthodox Christianity which is the only way to salvation? »

The fact is that it is namely the Orthodox Church which is for 2000 years preserves intact the teaching of Christ and apostolic succession of the priesthood. The other communities calling themselves Сhurches either have distorted their faith (Catholics, Protestants, Monophysites, Nestorians) or have broken away from the Church for reasons unrelated to religion (e.g., the Old Believers). Thus, the heresies and divisions which were foretold in the Bible and which are strongly condemned by the Lord God have emerged:

The Orthodox Christian faith offers holiness and union with God as meaning of human existence. No other purpose of life can be deemed higher than this. The Orthodox Church in all ages abounds with examples of numerous miracles of God through prayers of saints, through the Sacraments, icons, relics and other sanctuaries. But the most important miracle is the encounter with the Loving God, the Creator, who gives us the greater good – God-likeness, holiness and eternal life, which many generations of our Orthodox predecessors have achieved before us.

To all who read these lines we wish to experience the true God and find salvation in Him!