Aren’t all religions basically saying the same thing in different ways?

Written by SU Scotland and posted in Q&A Corner

John Lennon wrote a famous song called "Imagine" that talks about a world without religion making a world where everyone is at peace.* Let us imagine for a minute that there was no such thing as "religions". What if there weren't any boxes to put yourself in - so no-one could say "I'm a Christian", or "I'm a Buddhist" or "I'm a Muslim".

Now I'm not saying that in this imaginary world all beliefs would be the same. That's impossible, because we all think differently. Of course we'd still disagree on a lot of things - such as "what's the point of life?" and "who is God"? Or is God even a "who" or is he/she/it more of a "what"? But maybe in this imaginary world we'd start talking about what we each believe, rather than arguing over what religious ‘club' we belong to, and maybe that would be a lot better.

Ok, so back to the real world. All the different religions in the world are really just labels for groups of people's attempts to describe "God" and - importantly - what that means for the way we live. So, from that angle, all religions aren't saying the same thing and it really does make a difference which religion (if any) you follow. And because different religions are saying different things about God, they are also saying different things about the world, about mankind and what the meaning of life is. If you believe God is a certain way, that will mean you will live a certain way and value certain things.

I'm a Christian - which means I believe that God became man and lived among us and that to look at this man, Jesus, is to look at God. The reason I'm a Christian and not a Muslim or Buddhist or Jew is because I am convinced that Jesus offers the best description of who God is and the best hope to me and to the world now and in the future.

If religion is just about what we think and believe then maybe it really doesn't matter all that much which one you follow. But if our thinking about God makes a difference to my world here and now, as well as my life into the future (and I think it does) then it becomes really important to think and choose carefully.

 

FOOTNOTE:
* Imagine was voted the number 1 song of the 20th Century by people older than you!


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Please note: All questions have been left as they were phrased to us. The answers we've given are the opinions of ignite's Q&A Corner panel and are not necessarily the opinions of all Christians or staff/volunteers of SU Scotland.