Do all religions lead to God?

[SNPete]

I use to live in a part of the US that was very spiritually diverse. It seemed like most people were either New Age, Buddhists or Pagans. They kept saying that all religions are basically the same and all lead to God. Well I disagreed with those good people.

I have studied the major religions and I found while they share some points such as, worship of a deity, life after death, and to be nice to each other, the theology of the various religions are very different. And theology is what it is all about!

To keep my point simple and short, I will compare the core teachings of just two of the many religions, Hinduism and Christianity, as they apply to God and what happens after a person dies.

Hinduism teaches that there are many gods, with Shiva, Vishnu, Kali and Krishna as the top four. There are local and regional gods, who are limited to a geographic area. When you die you are reincarnated into another person or animal, depending on the laws of karma and how good or bad of a person you were in life. The goal of a Hindu is to reach nirvana. In nirvana a person loses his or her personal identity and becomes one with the cosmic consciousness. It takes many, sometimes thousands, of reincarnations to achieve nirvana. (Buddhism is like Hinduism, except the Buddha taught that there are no gods.)

Christianity teaches there is only one God, who is present everywhere at the same time. God is not bound by time or space. People only live life once, no reincarnation. When you die you either go to heaven or hell and you retain your separate, personal identity. Whether you go to heaven or hell is not dependent on your good works, but on whether you personally accept the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross and allow Him to be your savior.

Now how can these two religions be viewed as being the same or similar? Either there is only one God and a person lives once or there is more than one god and a person lives many lives. I don't see how both of these theologies can be true.

I want to add that I subscribe to the concept of objective reality, meaning that what a person believes does not change truth or the true nature of reality (no offense intended to New Agers)

What do you think?

[jeafl]

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

BTW: The symbol you used in your post, the same symbol used on the cover of the New King James translation of the Bible, may have satanic overtones. See here:
http://www.av1611.org/nkjv.html

[Athena]

Hum, must God be a being? I ask because you say Buddhist don't have a God. Spinoza didn't believe in a personal God, but in a God force. I lean towards Spinoza's concept of God.

I can understand many Gods as aspects of the one God. There is a Hindu picture that is identical to a Christian picture. Both pictures refer to subduing ego. This concept of ego though is different from Freud's understanding of ego, and that is another subject. I will have to look Hinduism before I can say anything else of what it shares in common with other religions. You ask an excellent question.

At one time Buddhism and Catholism were so close, some fear they would blend and become one religion. To bad that didn't happen. I am sure as Catholism went west it became more separate from religious belief in the east. I think the barbaric influence on the church is unfortunate. There is a possibility that Jesus spoke of reincarnation when he said there are many mansions. I think an understanding of Buddhism improves our understanding of the teachings of Jesus. But then I also I think attaching the teachings of Jesus to the Old Testament is a misfortune.

[SNPete]

double post, sorry

[SNPete]

Hum, must God be a being? I ask because you say Buddhist don't have a God. Spinoza didn't believe in a personal God, but in a God force. I lean towards Spinoza's concept of God.

I can understand many Gods as aspects of the one God. There is a Hindu picture that is identical to a Christian picture. Both pictures refer to subduing ego. This concept of ego though is different from Freud's understanding of ego, and that is another subject. I will have to look Hinduism before I can say anything else of what it shares in common with other religions. You ask an excellent question.

At one time Buddhism and Catholism were so close, some fear they would blend and become one religion. To bad that didn't happen. I am sure as Catholism went west it became more separate from religious belief in the east. I think the barbaric influence on the church is unfortunate. There is a possibility that Jesus spoke of reincarnation when he said there are many mansions. I think an understanding of Buddhism improves our understanding of the teachings of Jesus. But then I also I think attaching the teachings of Jesus to the Old Testament is a misfortune.

What do you think of the Bible?

How do you view Jesus?

[RickSp]

I think of religion as addressing a deep seated need to cope with the limitations of human awareness as constrasted with the vastness of existence. It is not suprising that doctrine tends to converge or overlap, just as most mythologies are remarkeably similar even across diverse cultures.

[SNPete]

I think of religion as addressing a deep seated need to cope with the limitations of human awareness as constrasted with the vastness of existence. It is not suprising that doctrine tends to converge or overlap, just as most mythologies are remarkeably similar even across diverse cultures.

Do you believe in God?

[Starboy]

Now how can these two religions be viewed as being the same or similar? Either there is only one God and a person lives once or there is more than one god and a person lives many lives. I don't see how both of these theologies can be true.

I agree. In a real sense they cannot both be true.

I want to add that I subscribe to the concept of objective reality, meaning that what a person believes does not change truth or the true nature of reality (no offense intended to New Agers)

I wish it were not so but I agree with you. We do not get to dictate reality. All we get to do is to try to figure it out.

What do you think?

I think you are on the right track. I would also suggest that you go a step further. Look at religions as manifestation of man, just as governments or cultures are. And ask yourself what qualities or characteristics of mankind would lead man to create religions. What is common to all religions is not god, it is man and the plight of man. Our circumstances have changed greatly in the last two thousand years but we still do not come with an owner’s manual and it is not as if any of the supernatural religions even remotely matches with actual reality. But everyone still wants to know how to live a life well. Our best chance of figuring that out is not looking for a god to command us but by looking at ourselves and trying to understand us.

Starboy

[Athena]

Interesting first there is agreement we do not create our own reality, and then there is discussion on how we do create our reality with religion, politics and economic decisions.

[Starboy]

Interesting first there is agreement we do not create our own reality,

Not that we do not, that we can not.

and then there is discussion on how we do create our reality with religion, politics and economic decisions.

Just recognition that even though we can't create our own reality it is still very common for people to try anyway. That is reality, the question is how to understand it.

Starboy

[SNPete]

I think you are on the right track. I would also suggest that you go a step further. Look at religions as manifestation of man, just as governments or cultures are. And ask yourself what qualities or characteristics of mankind would lead man to create religions.
Starboy

Thank you for your post. I respect your view, but I see things differently.

I believe that religions are based on the desire for people to connect with a greater power, the source of all that there is. Christianity in particular is about relationship with God as well as with people. I believe that each of us has a spiritual side, but not all of us are interested in spiritual matters. That is to bad. To have a relationship with God is a wonderful thing.

[Starboy]

Thank you for your post. I respect your view, but I see things differently.

I believe that religions are based on the desire for people to connect with a greater power, the source of all that there is. Christianity in particular is about relationship with God as well as with people. I believe that each of us has a spiritual side, but not all of us are interested in spiritual matters. That is to bad. To have a relationship with God is a wonderful thing.

I agree. Most supernatural religions are based on the desire for people to connect with a greater power. But they are not connecting to say hi and drop off some cookies. They are connecting as a reaction to fear. Reality is scary. We are conscious creatures. We are somewhat intelligent. We know we will die. We are made to be afraid of dying. This is a natural reaction to death that all creatures that are subject to the process of evolution will have. Any species that did not have such a fear would become extinct.

So, we are here, we know we are going to die, and we are afraid to die. Wouldn't it be nice if we could reach out to some powerful being that could help us out? Hell, it doesn't even have to be real and it can still help us out. Placebos work not because they have any effective ingredient, but because we think they are effective. We are still going to die but we just think we are not. It is a psychic teddy bear. It is an artificial god.

Is there an artificial god? - Douglas Adams

Starboy