September 26, 2024
Pope Francis recently dropped quite a theological bombshell at an interreligious youth gathering in Singapore by claiming that “all religions are paths to God.” He went on to explain that religions are like languages seeking to express the divine. “There is only one God,” the pontiff stated, “and each of us has a language, so to speak, in order to arrive at God. Sihk, Muslim, Hindu, Christian. There are different paths. Understand?”
Unfortunately, this is not the first time Pope Francis has dipped his toe in the waters of religious pluralism. Back in 2022, at a similar meeting in Kazakhstan, the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics caused similar confusion when he addressed the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions as a united “fraternity” made up of “children of the same heaven... journeying toward the same heavenly goal." By doing so, this pope placed himself in direct opposition to the faith once and for all handed down to the saints (Jude 1:3), and consequently, the preaching of the Savior he claims to represent.
But why should followers of Christ who are not Catholic care about sloppy statements like these? As much as we might like to pretend that only our friends in Rome must worry about such errant theology, the reality is that Protestants are drinking the same pluralistic poison. According to a 2022 LifeWay Study, almost six out of ten evangelicals agree with the statement, “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.” Either ignorance of or apathy for Scripture seems to be the most common hermeneutic today.
As God prepared ancient Israel to birth the Messiah, He repeatedly admonished them regarding his exclusivity (Deut. 6:4-5) even as He warned them about the danger of acknowledging false gods (Joshua 23:16). These exclusions were so important that God codified them within His commandments, restricting who (Ex. 20:3) and how (Ex. 20:4-5) His people worshipped. The Lord even declared the customs of false religions as a “delusion” to be rejected because pagan idols will perish with the earth (Jer. 10:6-18). Ultimately, both Israel and Judah succumbed to the pluralistic fodder of their day and faced exile from their land as a result.
When Jesus stepped onto the scene as the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy, He maintained that there is a single path to heaven by preaching an exclusive gospel. Though His invitation was open to all people from all walks of life, the path of redemption was singular rather than multifaceted. Our Savior unapologetically declared, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:6)”
Jesus further cautioned, “The gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it (Matt. 7:13b).” The popular path of the majority, which insists that all religions are viable paths to God, leads to eternal punishment. On this road you can believe anything, or you can believe nothing, usually to the applause of the masses. It is the path of least resistance, without boundaries or restrictions. Just live your truth. Just chart your own course. Just do whatever feels right.
By contrast, the steps toward eternal life “enter through the narrow gate,” (Matt. 7:13a) because according to Christ “the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it (Matt. 7:14).” This way of living limits our devotion solely to the person of Jesus. He is not a good way to heaven, or even the best way. HE IS THE ONLY WAY. The exclusivity of Jesus Christ exposes all other religions as woefully impotent and blindly deceptive.
Clarity like this does not prevent any who desire to walk the path of righteousness from doing so. To the contrary, it points to the true way of salvation for those sincerely seeking to live according to the truth. The problem is not in the clear directive of Scripture, but in our fallen tendency to compromise ideas that are right in order to accommodate those which are wrong. Thus, “few” will find these words helpful, despite their reliability.
The pope’s muddy language, even if unintentionally, leads people down the wrong path, away from God. Thankfully, the Bible’s authors make plain what some religious leaders today do not. “There is salvation in no one else,” says Luke, “for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).”
The Apostle Paul echoed the same reality, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5).” Ultimately, since the name of Jesus is above every other name, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11).
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Dr. Adam B. Dooley is pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, Tenn., and author of Hope When Life Unravels. Contact him at adooley@ebcjackson.org. This column first appeared in Kentucky Today.
