Why All Religions Cannot Be Equally True
BY LE ANN TREES | The word "ontology" and what it means regarding both God's and our existence help us understand why different views of the afterlife can't all be true.
Everyone you know likely has an opinion about what is going to happen when they die. Some believe they will go to heaven—if it exists—because they have tried hard to be good. Others believe that their state in the afterlife will depend on how well they kept the commands of their religion.
Some people believe that upon death they will cease to exist, so it doesn’t matter how they live. Others think the goal is to leave behind an honorable legacy. Many believe they are in a repeating cycle of death and rebirth until they can break free from the cycle and enter a state of bliss. Christians believe that both heaven and hell exist, and the only way to heaven is through faith in Jesus Christ.
The claims of Christianity draw a line in the sand.
All these views cannot be correct. It is impossible because they are mutually exclusive. The claims of Christianity certainly draw a line in the sand. If salvation comes only through Jesus, as the Bible teaches, other religions can offer no more than helpful advice at best; at worst, they lead people away from the most important truth of all.
Something is going to happen to us when we die. We had all best try to discover the truth of the matter, instead of assuming we have the power in and of ourselves to determine our eternal state.
There is an important word to know to make sense of the claims of different religions. This word is ontology; and when you understand its meaning, you will be able to see why all religions cannot be equally true. Ontology is…
So many need to figure out what they believe. The Bible is the only source of absolute truth.