All paths lead to God?

Vajradhara said:
Namaste,

here's a great link to a huge array of sources for early Biblical texts... though i recognize the controversy surrounding this group, i leave it for the reader to determine for themselves.

http://religion.rutgers.edu/jseminar/complete.html
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I am not a religious studies scholar but my understanding is that the researchers in the Jesus Seminar are using academically sound methods to find out which parts of the New Testament are historically authentic. I haven't read a lot of their anaylsis (I would like to read more), but what I have read strengthens my faith. I like to see religous text rigorously examined because if it is from God it will withstand the examination. For example, I read (or should I say, slogged through) Dominick Crossan's The Birth of Christianity recently. I don't just automatically believe all that anyone, scholars included, might say about scripture, but the process of trying to think about the Bible in a new way was invigorating. Sometimes I can read the Bible just randomly and feel inspired or comforted. But when my brain is challenged with analysis, that's when I really am able to write the Word on my heart. My impression is that this is done a lot more in Judaism than in Christianity.

Nothing makes me start to reject a religion faster than apologetics.
 
lunamoth said:
I am not a religious studies scholar but my understanding is that the researchers in the Jesus Seminar are using academically sound methods to find out which parts of the New Testament are historically authentic. I haven't read a lot of their anaylsis (I would like to read more), but what I have read strengthens my faith.
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I studied their selections and was disappointed although I sympathize with their good intentions.
 
brian said:
The "popular" saying "All paths lead to God" is one of my personal principles.

Just as there is one world, one sky, one sun - each with many names and expressions - so I see that there is only one Divinity, with a myriad of expressions and names.

However, this is not a belief everybody will share. :)

I'm curious as to how many people here see the world's religions as existing to explain one Divinity, but through different means that make most sense to different people.

Or is there only one True Path to God, that a single Religion - perhaps even denomination - has sole privileged rights to?
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I agree with you, Brian, when you say that "All paths lead to God". Not all the people are alike. So we cannot ask to everybody to behave the same way. This is impossible ! So each of us find finally his own way to God.
 
brian said:
The "popular" saying "All paths lead to God" is one of my personal principles.

Just as there is one world, one sky, one sun - each with many names and expressions - so I see that there is only one Divinity, with a myriad of expressions and names.

However, this is not a belief everybody will share. :)

I'm curious as to how many people here see the world's religions as existing to explain one Divinity, but through different means that make most sense to different people.

Or is there only one True Path to God, that a single Religion - perhaps even denomination - has sole privileged rights to?
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I agree with you. All the religions are describing the same One and the apparently different paths lead to the same destination. The first time I heard this idea put in the words "All paths lead to God" was from a Muslim at an interfaith panel discussion. I thought that was pretty neat.
 
lunamoth said:
I agree with you. All the religions are describing the same One and the apparently different paths lead to the same destination. The first time I heard this idea put in the words "All paths lead to God" was from a Muslim at an interfaith panel discussion. I thought that was pretty neat.
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We have the same destination, even we have different religions, as our soul needs esentially the same thing to be happy. Deep, inside of us, we are not different at all. When mankind will understand this, all barriers between us will disapear and we should be on a superior step of evolution.
 
alexa said:
We have the same destination, even we have different religions, as our soul needs esentially the same thing to be happy. Deep, inside of us, we are not different at all. When mankind will understand this, all barriers between us will disapear and we should be on a superior step of evolution.
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Exactly. I also think of this as an evolutionary process.
 
I’m not an “all roads lead to Rome” kind of guy, but that doesn’t mean that I believe only one Religious/Spiritual Path “leads to God” - I believe there are, and have been, multiple “Paths to God”.

However, I do believe there is such a thing as a Wrong Direction - I believe it is possible to “travel” in a direction that does not & will not lead one to the desired destination.
 
I think eventually, ashes to ashes, dust to dust...we are star dust and will return. Shiva will do its thing, no matter the embalming fluid and lead lined concrete sealed sarcophagus time err heals...
 
It's in the nature of the world that no two paths are the same, nor that all paths lead to the same goal.

I think the origin of the idea that 'all paths lead to God' came from Hinduism, but apart from that, I think it's pertinent that when Gandhi said, 'The various religions are like different roads converging on the same point. What difference does it make if we follow different routes, providing we arrive at the same destination?', he was talking about a few religions, and probably the mainstream ones, and not people's own individual inclinations.

Nor is there any evidence that Gandhi was qualified to pass anything other than an opinion on the matter.
 
Depends on what definition of "God" is used.

When understood in a mystical sense, I'd agree, even if I have no God or gods.

Any other sense is bound to lead to disagreement.
 
Cino said:
Depends on what definition of "God" is used.
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Yes — although I'm not sure, or rather for me, the nature of 'God' is not the issue, it's the idea that all paths lead to the best possible outcome that I find naive and illogical, if not actually irrational, although it's affirmed by many in the west, but then the nature of these particular affirmers is an axe I've ground often here.

I'm not even sure mystics would agree on the nature of God, either, or the nature of their particular paradigm.
 
Well, we will all die, so much is certain.

While we live, we all consume other lives.

We all blank out under certain conditions.

These are places where all paths converge. Up to the individual to examine if God is there.
 
wil said:
Omnipresent, omniscient when taken to the logical conclusion
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But it's not a logic puzzle, to me. If the logical conclusion indicates something, then I want to see if that is the case.
 
There is the idea that it doesn’t matter how you live, what you do or what you believe - we are gonna return to “God” and everything will be all good in the Afterlife for everybody.

Personally I don’t believe that. I believe misery & failure is not only a reality of this world, but of the next as well.

Although I believe that there is a great deal of Mercy, Forgiveness & Redemption on the “Other Side” - I don’t believe everything is gonna turn out alright for everybody in the “Hereafter”.
 
Arif Ghamiq said:
There is the idea that it doesn’t matter how you live, what you do or what you believe - we are gonna return to “God” and everything will be all good in the Afterlife for everybody.
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I'm not sure what "idea" you're talking about here. I have never heard of it.
 
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