When the current Pope first made some worrying remarks about how all religions are basically taking us to the same God, I thought I would let others deal with it. And many have, of course, both Catholics and non-Catholics. But given that he seems to want to keep pushing this, I suppose I should finally weigh in on it.
Pope Francis, once again, has landed himself in hot water by stating that there are many roads to God – not just Christianity. And it was not enough for him to state this once, but he doubled down on it again a few days after his first remarks.
He said this a week ago at an inter-religious gathering of young people in Singapore: “Every religion is a way to arrive at God. There are different languages to arrive at God, but God is God for all. And how is God God for all? We are all sons and daughters of God. But my god is more important than your god, is that true? There is only one God and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, they are different paths.”
And just the other day in a video message to an ecumenical youth gathering in Tirana, Albania, he reaffirmed this stance: “I invite you to learn together to discern the signs of the times. Contemplate the difference of your traditions like a richness, a richness God wants to be. Unity is not uniformity, and the diversity of your cultural and religious identities is a gift of God. Unity in diversity. Let mutual esteem grow among you, following the witness of your forefathers.”
Let me say a few things before some people get all bent out of shape about this. One, I have long made it clear that while I am an evangelical Protestant, it is not my purpose to incessantly attack Catholics. I certainly have many major theological differences with them, but I count many of them as my friends, I speak at their meetings, and some of my fav authors are Catholics, and so on.
Two, some have said that we need to take his words in context and that he does not really mean what he has said. Well, it seems pretty clear to me just what he was trying to say, especially in that first comment. It is very hard for anyone to weasel their way out of what was declared. He even specifically mentions Muslims, Hindus and so on as he makes his point.
Three, forget my views if you like. It is not just Protestants who have very real problems with all this. There are plenty of orthodox Roman Catholic groups which have also spoken out about his remarks. See here for just one of many such pieces.
And I have plenty of Catholic associates, friends and acquaintances who are all equally disgusted with this and many other things the current Pope has done and said over the past 11 years. One gal who is as devout and gung-ho a Catholic as you will ever meet actually told me once: “Pope Francis is a heretic.” Plenty of folks within the Roman Catholic Church are quite concerned about these matters.
Is Jesus just one of many ways?
Not only does biblical Christianity unambiguously affirm that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to the Father, but this is even basic Roman Catholic teaching. Always has been. And no one actually reading the New Testament can ever come up with any other ideas.
You will not find there any idea that Jesus thought of himself as just one of many great religious leaders and teachers and that he was just one path among many that would take us to God. Indeed, simply consider some of the things he said about himself:
Matthew 11:27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
John 1:12 “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”
John 3:3 “Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.'”
John 3:18 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
John 3:14-16 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:35-36 “The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”
John 10:7-10 “Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
John 11:25-26 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'”
And the rest of the New Testament also affirms this. Some passages that can be mentioned include:
Acts 4:11-12 “Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Acts 16:30-31 “He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.'”
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 10:9 “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.?”
Romans 10:13-15 “‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'”
1 Corinthians 8:6 “Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.?”
1 John 5:11-12 “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
1 John 5:20 “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
How anyone can read a passage like John 14:6 or Acts 4:12 and come away with any other spin on things is beyond me. There is one way and one way only to God. And that is through Jesus Christ – not Muhammad or Buddha or Confucius.
No we are not all children of God
The Pope also claimed that everyone is a child of God: “We are all sons and daughters of God.” Um no, wrong again. This too is made clear throughout Scripture. This too is basic Christian teaching, and something I have also written about before.
Some eight years ago I penned a piece on this, offering a number of biblical texts which clearly make this case. I just looked at that article now and was interested to note what or who prompted me to write that piece back then. Yep, you guessed it: Pope Francis!
He sure likes to push this interfaith and interreligious nonsense. Back then he said this: “Many think differently, feel differently, seeking God or meeting God in different ways. In this crowd, in this range of religions, there is only one certainty that we have for all: We are all children of God.”
If you go to that article, you will see how I responded to this, and the various biblical passages I appealed to. The piece is here.
Just one of the texts I highlighted was John 8:39-47
They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
Hmm, not much room for any other slant on this. Even religious leaders are NOT children of God unless that get right with God through Christ alone. We are all made in God’s image, and in THAT sense we are all God’s handiwork via creation, but we need to become his actual children via redemption – in Christ alone.
Sorry, but I must stick with the clear words of Scripture here, and not the words of any religious leader.
