Do all roads lead to Rome?
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5)
Today I was in the grocery store, waiting at the deli for a pound of turkey. There was another man who had asked for a pound of turkey right after me, only he had asked for “cracked pepper turkey” and I had asked for “garlic and herb turkey”. The woman who was helping him reached for the turkey that was laid out for me and went to use this for the man. She was about to give him the wrong deli sliced turkey to take home. I leaned in and let her know what kind of turkey it was and the simple mistake was easily straightened out.
Which way to Rome?
This world is filled with options. We have our options for beverages, meats, vegetables, churches, vehicles, clothing, etc. So many have come to say “whatever works for you is okay,” coming to accept the “all roads lead to god” mentality. This passage above tells us that there is only ONE God, and only ONE mediator between God and man. If you believe the Word of God to be true, which I do, then you must evaluate this truth with everything you come in contact with. Every road cannot lead to One God, especially when you look at all the roads.
Look at it this way you get on a plane and expect to go to Rome, Italy. Will you get there if the captain has the plane set up to go to Tokyo, Japan? No matter what you do you will never be able to convince the captain that his plane needs to go to Italy. He has the route planned out, his instruments in the control panel have been set up to take the route that is designed for the day. Every other passenger on the plane is ready to go to Tokyo. It doesn’t matter that you want to go to Rome. The plane will not be stopping there or detouring for your current desire. All planes do not fly to one airport, that would lead to a huge traffic control issue.
Here are some examples of religions that people believe are all leading to one place, but the Truth of God’s Word reveals something else!
1. Hinduism
*Hindus worship an “infinite oneness” made up of 300,000 gods and goddesses.
*Hindus work to be free from Karma by meditating on Brahman (oneness).
2. Buddhism
*Most Buddhists do not believe in any god or supernatural power. They follow the teachings of Buddha.
*Buddhists believe to avoid reincarnation into an evil world they must practice meditation and other disciplines until all selfish desires are abandoned on their own.
3. Muslims
*Muslims believe in one powerful god who is Allah. He is powerful, just, and distant.
*Allah is merciful to his followers dependent upon their good works and obedience on the 5 pillars of Islam.
4. New Age
*Followers refer to god as a higher consciousness within themselves.
*Origins are from ancient spiritual traditions. Followers believe that the self is the originator and the ultimate reality, or god.
5. Christianity – THE TRUE ROAD TO GOD
*Christians believe in One God who is omnipresent (everywhere), omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful). God doesn’t need more than one of Himself because He has all of the qualities that many of the other religions try to make up for in having many gods.
*Christians believe that God sent His One and only Son to live and die as a man on this earth. He has been the Savior for mankind. He was not prophet, not a religious sage, but He was God Himself. Jesus is the One who took on our sins for us. He has made a way for us to come to God, so that we do not have to work for our salvation. Christianity is the only religion that offers a relationship, a free way to come to God and have continual access to the trinity: God the Father, Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ.
*Jesus’ claims put Him in one of three categories: 1.) He was indeed God. 2.) He was deluded and crazy. 3.) Or He was simply lying. These are the only options we have been given with Jesus and the only one we can truly believe is the first one. There were thousands who saw Him after He resurrected from the dead. A prophecy that had been written hundreds of years before He was born, along with countless other prophecies that come true in Jesus lifetime. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). His life gave answers to many. We live today by the answers we have in the Word of God.
This all being said, Christianity shows us that there can only be one road. Just like one plane cannot go to two different locations at the same time, so also one person cannot choose to go in two directions at the same time. You choose to go left or right, north or south, east or west. Hell or Heaven. Jesus is the Savior, the One who took away the sins of the world. He was raised from the dead and lived a life for those who could not live it for themselves. He lived the perfect life that no human could live. He went to Heaven before us to prepare the way for us.
Now we are here to help people discern the truth from the lies. Fact from fiction. The one true road from all the fake roads that are out there. In the beginning of this devotion I shared about there being ONE God and One mediator. It’s still true. Only One God exists. My major in college was religion, I learned a lot and I would be willing to share more if anyone has questions. The most important thing is to keep coming back to the Truth. God’s Word! His Word will reveal the lies, the things that are not true, the false words, and the roads that lead to dead ends. May you be able to discern the truth from the lies! May you teach others how to get on the road that leads to eternal life, not the road that has more options! Is it more important to you that your friends and family are with you in Heaven happy and secure in eternity, or happy in the moment of options here and now?
Dear Father God, I pray that we will be convicted to lead people in the Truth of Your Word. May we show people what the Truth is and seek to help them find the ONLY road that leads to You. It is difficult for those who do not know you to find the right road, but for those of us who know You it is not difficult! May we go forth and carry Your name well! I pray I will treasure the times I can teach others of the One TRUE ROAD to ETERNITY!
Walking down the Right Road,
In looking towards Truth, it’s a good thing to understand Logical Fallacies.
I have responded to Doug’s comment. He is a Buddhist who does not agree with the exclusivity of Christianity. Feel free to leave comments. I’m hoping we can learn more from him and share more with him about our faith. It’s an opportunity! Don’t be afraid to share the Truth!
Google is your friend.
https://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/
I have read the article you have posted, but I’m unsure where you find fault with the blog I posted. It’s easy to find articles online, I’d much rather carry a conversation with you. You have said on your blog that Christians are closed minded. Please show me that you can be open minded and carry a conversation about where you are at and what you believe.
You see, I didn’t say that Christians are closed-minded. The ones who want to save me seem to be.
“This passage above tells us that there is only ONE God, and only ONE mediator between God and man.”
Your first Appeal to Authority.
“Buddhists believe to avoid reincarnation into an evil world they must practice meditation and other disciplines until all selfish desires are abandoned on their own.”
Really not an egregious error, nor so bad as some I have seen.
“Jesus’ claims put Him in one of three categories:”
Bearing in mind that very little of what Jesus may or may not have said can be actually shown to be printed in the Bible, that the Bible itself is a translation from a much more ambiguous language, and translated with a bias and political intent, and is a selected record of known and excluded historical documents, and is reportage, really, of what people said about what people said about what people said… I have to first discount the reliability of what are claimed to be “Jesus’ claims”.
Your three options, then, are an example of a kind of False Dilemma. Those are not the only possible explanations. He may have been a real person, who understood something and his story has been conflated into something else entirely, for instance.
Aside from that, as a next step, the rest of your argument is based on unproven propositions. Belief isn’t the same as Truth. I have no problem with Belief. It may or may not coincide with Fact. That doesn’t make Belief into The Truth.
Doug, I’m sorry for making the statement about you saying Christians are closed minded. I was taking that from the post I saw on your blog about “More Closed Minded Evangelists,” so you are right you never said Christians.
I can understand the frustration you would feel about people wanting to save you. I’m hoping that most people genuinely just want to learn more and have a good conversation. That is what I’m about.
I’m not on here to save you or change your mind about anything. I don’t have the power to do that. And if you think this is a battle of the wits to see who will come out and win the conversation, that’s not it either. I’m just here to learn more about you and share my beliefs too. If we can both learn from each other, than we should be able to walk away as better people.
Buddhism was one of the religions that I studied a lot about in college and was able to visit a few temples, as well as meet some people who practiced their beliefs in these temples. I was able to ask my questions and learn. Honestly, it has sharpened my faith and made my belief in God that much stronger. I’m going to be honest because I don’t believe in being dishonest. I’m hoping that this opportunity to discuss with you will continue to make me stronger in my journey with God.
I am happy to hear that you did not feel there was much error in the statement I made about Buddhism, as I said before I have studied it well and I really wouldn’t post something on my blog without fully knowing what is behind it. I have been very careful about every word I put on these posts.
On to Jesus. It sounds like your disagreement is more with the Bible than with Jesus Himself. And if you don’t believe that the Bible is in fact a historical document, than that would make it difficult to believe anything that Jesus said was true. So that would also make it difficult to believe anything in my post. That’s perfectly fine!
Here are some facts about the Bible that I know and make it difficult for me to believe it’s just a fiction book, put together by accident.
1. The Bible was written from 1400 B.C. to 100 A.D. (A span of 1500 years). There are physical documents available in a few museums, one is at the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, FL. The documents are behind glass and very impressive.
*By the way, I know that Buddhism hadn’t even come into play until 563 B.C. when Siddhartha Gautama, after renouncing his royal heritage, sat under a tree and received enlightenment. I could share more about this, but I’m sure you know the rest. The Buddhist Scriptures did cause a split between Theravada and Mayahana Buddhism in 250 B.C. (at least this is when it is confirmed). So can you let me know where you are at, which side are you on or do you take even one of the more modern versions of today?
2. The Bible was written by 40 authors who came from all walks of life (i.e. kings, peasants, fishermen, philosophers, doctors, statesmen, scholars, poets, taxcollectors, etc.). They all wrote about one continual theme Redemption through Jesus Christ. They could not collaborate their story because they did not live next door to each other or even in the same time period. The Bible is believed to be inspired by God, that’s why it all lines up and leads to one culminating life, the life of Jesus Christ.
*If I’m not mistaken there are “Three Baskets” as they are referred to for the Buddhist Scriptures. The one I will mention here is sutras: discourses purportedly spoken by the Buddha, and sometimes by his immediate disciples. Who were Buddha’s immediate disciples and who decided that the Buddhist Scriptures are a historical document? Where is the evidence? Every time I’ve been to a temple, I’ve seen the statues, but not the Buddhist scriptures.
3. The Bible was written on three different continents Asia, Africa, and Europe. This is pretty amazing that one book managed to be written across this many miles and still makes sense when it is all put together.
*Another one of the “Three Baskets” is abhidharma, which includes scholastic treatises that codify and interpret the teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddha was one man who taught from one place, sure he traveled here and there, but many of his writings come from one place. Then the Mahayana Buddhists expanded this portion of scriptures to include more, so did they not believe that what Buddha wrote was enough? If Buddha is the one that people go to the temple to bring their offerings to, shouldn’t he have the last word? Shouldn’t his scriptures have been enough? I know that the Bible says, that nothing should be added to it or taken from it, not even a single word (Revelation 22:18-19). Can you help me reconcile what has happened with the Buddhist scriptures?
4. The Bible was written in three languages Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Yes, you talked about the different languages it was written in and the translations. But I can tell you with the Expository Dictionaries I have I can go right back to the very words that were the original language and find out what they mean for myself. It’s amazing how it was all brought together. To say that man cannot put together these words is saying that we do not have brains to comprehend the knowledge that you are trying so hard to get me to believe in!
*The last of the “Three Baskets” is vinaya: rules of conduct, which are mainly concerned with the regulation of the monastic order. I guess this doesn’t really apply to you since it was mainly written for the monks and the nuns. So I will skip it for now!
5. The Bible has 80 fulfilled prophecies from 700 B.C. to 1900 A.D. Men were writing about things they couldn’t possibly have known would happen, only God knew the details of the future. And these details came true one by one. I could list them for you, but this post is already becoming quite long. You will never be able to find another book that declares so many prophecies and has them come true with such great detail.
*So what does your belief look like according to the Buddhist Scriptures? Educate me on what you know according to what you have learned from your teachings! Prove to me that the Buddhist scriptures are real and not just a piece of paper in another book!
I hope you have a great day!
~Sarah
Nice blog,,, even better writing. Thanks. I might snatch this one later when I have time. 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed the blog. If you wan to chime in on the conversation taking place, feel free. You’re more than welcome to use the blog when you need it!
“Buddhists believe to avoid reincarnation…
Tricycle Magazine recently posted an interesting discussion between Stephen Batchelor and Bob Thurman on this topic. link
If, as Buddhists believe, the self, as it is known by others as eternal soul or some kind of lasting immortal personality, is an illusion – then there is nothing of the personality or soul to reincarnate.
Better to use the word ‘Rebirth’, because desires, greed, anger, ignorance, for instance, can all be transmitted from person to person, from life to life. We can learn these habits at the feet of society, some are born into the organism.
“into an evil world …
Well, no. The world is not evil. The world is not good. The world just is. In the extreme, good and evil are qualities, are judgements we make about actions and events, because we are attached to form – substance, and process – the way things *should* be done.
More lightly; When the Emperor asked how to practice Buddhism, the monk replied “Do good things, don’t do evil things.”
The actions we do are reborn.
“they must practice meditation and other disciplines …
There is a great gap in what Buddhists do. A beginner, the Emperor, can just do good things, and not do evil things. Some persons just come to temples and chant. Some do their very best in this life and practice toward a rebirth in a better land where they can then work towards nirvana. There’s a great range of practice, yes, and meditation is one tool. Not everyone practices meditation.
“until all selfish desires are abandoned …
Aaaah. This is so subtle. You see, abandoning anything is the same as holding it. If you are abandoning desire, you still have it.
And even if you are blissed-out in Sunyata, Desire still comes. But you can recognize it arising, forming, manifesting, but are not carried away by it. Still you can feel it. It is never abandoned, it is never cut off. It doesn’t grab and hold you, neither do you grab onto it.
“on their own.”
They are never separate from us. Never were, never will be, never could be outside, apart from us, or other than what we are.
Doug,
I have been thinking over some things that you have mentioned. You have asked me to read an article in a magazine about your beliefs. I feel that it would be unfair for me to start reading more about your beliefs when I’m not asking you to open up the BIble and read about my beliefs. I guess what I’m saying is when you become open to reading more about who Jesus is and believing that in fact He is a historical figure whose words are True in the Bibles, then I will become a little more open to reading a article here and there. But for now I think this would be one sided and that’s not fair to me. We started this as a discussion. I gave you a list of facts about the Bible and how it is historical and even some of facts of where the Buddhist scriptures came from. Then you came back with your experience. Honestly, I’m not sure where you come from with your arguments because they kind of skirt around the clear cut issues we start to talk about. Thank you for sharing your experience. I just would like to hear more about what you received form the information on the historical background from the Bible and where the Buddhist scriptures come into play.
I too have had many experiences, but they all have been through Jesus in God. I’m not ashamed to admit it or live it out. My life begins and ends in God. You said, “When the Emperor asked how to practice Buddhism, the monk replied ‘Do good things, don’t do evil things.’
I agree with this statement. In fact, you will find it stated many times in the Bible which was clearly written before Buddha became enlightened.
“And now your servant says, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good and evil. May the LORD your God be with you.’ “ ~2 Samuel 14:17
Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. ~Psalm 34:14
Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. ~Amos 5:14
Here are just a few scriptures about how important it is to seek the good and not to do the evil things in life. These verses were written down before Buddha was even enlightened. It could be argued that some of the philosophies that come out of Buddhism are borrowed from the Bible. In fact Mara is compared to Satan in many ways. I would need quite a few pages to show you the scriptures where there are similarities in the Buddhist Scriptures and the Bible. I don’t think this is by accident.
But again it comes down to what you believe. It sounds like you have not studied the Buddhist scriptures too much, as you have told me to go to a Buddhist scholar for some answers. Well, I have books and knowledge from college. I have studied quite a bit. What saddens me is that you consider yourself a mere layperson who will not study to show himself approved! I would not want to be in your shoes. When you have come to me with your discussions, I have come back with answers from things that I have studied. I have not needed to go to a scholar, I haven’t gone to an article on the web, and I most certainly don’t need to research through an experience in another religion. Especially when you are not open to doing the same. If you were open to going to an apologetics seminar, my husband and I would gladly fly wherever you are to take you there. Then I would consider entering a conversation about the experience you are talking about in the link you left for me. But until then, I think it is unfair for you to ask me to experience your side of life without you experiencing what life inside Christianity is like. It’s easy to scrutinize and find the flaws when your mile away from it emotionally, but much harder when you dig into it with a microscope.
I have taken a microscope into Buddhism and will continue to, as long as we discuss it. I’m open to sharing this experience, but I’m not open to receiving personal knowledge through personal experience. I already have what I’m looking for. Christ has been and always will be the sacrifice for me. I will die once and after that I will face judgement. Then Jesus will step in my place for my sins and I will enter the glorious Kingdom of Heaven. I’m not turning back. I’ve got everything I need in God.
I’m not saying you need to change your ways. I was just hoping you wouldn’t try to change mine. I really wanted to just learn from your experience and hear what you know about Buddhism. I’m not into looking at articles and other information on the internet, if you aren’t willing to do it yourself. I have so many other irons in the fire and plenty of reading material. I hope you understand and I do hope to continue a conversation with you in the future.
~Sarah
“…Who were Buddha’s immediate disciples and who decided that the Buddhist Scriptures are a historical document? Where is the evidence?
Talk to a scholar, not a mere layperson. Or you could do some research on your own.
You know that it was an aural/oral history and Ananda’s memory was the source of all that was written, and confirmed by others of his time as being Buddha’s words.
What is more important than the literal words is one’s own personal knowledge of experiencing them in action.
See the Kalama Sutra
and that link to the discussion on reincarnation: https://community.tricycle.com/forum/topics/the-great-debate-reincarnation
“I feel that it would be unfair for me to start reading more about your beliefs when I’m not asking you to open up the BIble and read about my beliefs”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfI9e4BX0lU
“In fact, you will find it stated many times in the Bible which was clearly written before Buddha became enlightened.”
This is so charmingly naive. You do know what the letters ‘BC’ mean when used as in a year?
“but I’m not open to receiving personal knowledge through personal experience.”
How did you ever learn anything?
“I was just hoping you wouldn’t try to change mine.”
I’m not trying to change your ways. I wanted merely to point out your arguments logical fallacies.
Doug,
You clearly love to walk around every single issue. You want to twist my words and make them into something that sounds good for you. I thought we could have an adult conversation, but I’m finding out this is child’s play.
Your youtube presentation has been around for a long time. It’s fine and dandy. I’m willing to have a conversation and learn. All I’m asking is that you do the same, but I haven’t seen that yet. All I have seen is article after article. Where is your knowledge?
Now you calling me naive is quite humorous. I do know what BC stands for, but maybe you don’t when the Bible began to be written. If this the fact, you can simply refer to the post I wrote you with the 5 points sharing the historicity of the Bible. It began in 1400 B.C. Yes, before Christ. Buddha was enlightened in 563 B.C. So I’m not sure what your comment has to do with the price of tea in China.
I never said I’m not interested in ever receiving personal knowledge from personal experience. Again, you twist my words to fit how you would like them to appear. I’m just not interested in experience something outside of the belief system I have come to know as the Truth. I’m sorry you don’t agree with it, but I have dug into it with a microscope and I find the details to be quite fascinating. Where is your microscope? Have you dug into the details or are you still searching for meaning in your own life?