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Objective and absolute truth exists. That is a simple and sometimes inconvenient fact of life. Not all truth is simply subjective in a “what’s good for you – doesn’t mean it’s good for me” sense. Never is this more a fact than when it comes to the truth of a person who actually exists, which in this case is the God who created all things. For example, there is only one Brad Pitt, there might be many people named Brad Pitt but there is only one who is a mega Hollywood movie star from the 90s until today. How do you know you have the actual real mega star Brad Pitt? You examine all of those named Brad Pitt to see if they possess the uniqe qualities and attributes of the Hollywood star. What you do NOT do is simply say, “All Brad Pitts are the same – they are all the mega star Brad Pitt if you want them to be!”
To suppose that all gods are ultimately the same God and that each ‘god belief’ is simply a different “understanding” or “expression” of who or what god is can be referred to as spiritual relativism, syncretism or pluralism. Some believe that as mankind has evolved physically from a molecular glob into a fish into a frog into a 4 legged creature, into a monkey, and then into a man, etc, there is also a belief that our religious/spiritual belief system is also “evolving”. The only problem is, absolute truth doesn’t “evolve”.
The claim has been made that spiritual relativism is a “higher, more evolved” way of thinking about god. One is “enlightened” once they “realize” that all gods are the same God. But is this actually a higher and more evolved way of thinking about who God is? Or has this pluralist belief system existed since primitive times and indeed only a half-step away from primitive Animism (Voodoo, Shamanism, Black Magic, Paganism, Wicca, etc)? Lets take a look.
The origins of Spiritual Relativism can be traced back to the Pantheistic underpinnings of mainstream Hinduism which is historically, one step further along than Animism. In Animism, there isn’t a “supreme god” just a hierarchy of spirits all of which seem to be without any origin. This is widespread across the world. There is no codification of its practices yet all variations seem to be attempting to appease angry spirits living in trees and rivers and lakes. Sometimes these sprits are vengeful relatives or rivals other times they are ancient angry spirits. This is clearly in contradiction to the God of the Universe who made mankind in His own image. A God who is holy, just and righteous while being loving and quick to forgive to those who ask it of Him.
In Hinduism, there are over 33 million deities, the most powerful of which are Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. This is a belief system brought into Northern India by the light-skinned inhabitants of the Indus Valley.
It was a system that contained an ever-growing pantheon of gods (each introduced deity was added to Brahman – all is god), and they even brought their own priests. As with invasions in Northern Europe, Asia, and the Americas, the invaders brought in a ‘caste’ system whereby, those of the light-skinned invaders were a higher caste, and those indigenous tribes from the south who were “darker skinned” were deemed “lower caste” and “untouchables – Dalits”. Strangely enough, even today one can travel to India and witness the caste system for themselves and amazingly, the higher castes are, yes, lighter skinned Indians and the lower castes are darker skinned Indians.
Is this more advanced? Is this a higher evolution of religious belief? That all gods are absorbed into this giant cloudesque god-like existence called Brahman is nearly 2500 years old, yet today many believe that whatever god a person espouses is indeed real (for them) and is really a partial expression of the overall impersonal “God”.
Some of these Hindu gods appear as cows (which the God of the Bible created) some are bearded half-naked men with beards and a penchant for sexual assault, some are blue 6-armed women with swords and the decapitated heads of lesser gods in their hands! How can these 33 million gods be just “another way” to the Holy God of Moses, of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the prophets? Here is what the God of Moses said Himself about the other gods that people make for themselves (whether materially or imaginatively) and worship:
“The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.” It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. When He utters His voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, And He makes the clouds ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses. Every person is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, For his cast metal images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of mockery"
For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
In Islam the god’s name is Allah and can be referred to by no other name. Allah was originally one of 360 deities in Mecca and represented the moon (which the God of the Bible created). Allah the moon god was the tribal god of Mohammed who declared that all other gods are considered false and belief in such gods is considered blasphemous.
Allah doesn’t have a son like the God of the Bible and considers any such thought of a “Son of God” to be blasphemous. Allah can change his mind and via the practice of abrogation, Allah can contradict his own prior declarations. Allah can either let you into his heaven (a place of eternal sexual fulfillment with a harem of women) or this false god can block you from heaven, despite all the Muslim’s best efforts. Therefore, the Muslim who serves this god will never know if they are going to heaven or to hell, in fact because of Allah’s fickle will, they cannot know.
How can someone say that this is just “another version” of the God of the Bible? That is blasphemous against the Holy One who sent His only Son Jesus who paid the death penalty that all of us are/were due; promising us that if we put our faith in Him and in Him alone for the forgiveness of sins, we can KNOW that we have eternal life with Him – no change of mind – no contradiction, only truthful promises that He fulfills to all those who turn from their false idols to Him.
"The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
In Buddhism, many have deified Siddharta Guatama (the Buddha) and have taken to worshipping him by religious ritual – prayers, meditation, and burning of incense to his likeness. Children are taught to “trust in the Buddha”.
Siddharta himself declared that his followers were not to worship him or elevate him to deity however, within a few hundred years of his death, Chinese emperors were burning incense to his tomb and a god was born. He is referred to as “Buddha the Protector”. But he was simply a man who was a former Hindu that became obsessed with suffering and the antidote for it, he lived, taught, died and his bones are still on Earth today. He did not speak of an afterlife but rather ascending into Nirvana which is a variation of the Hindu idea of Brahman. Is Buddha the same God as Allah of Islam? Are Allah and Buddha identical to Brahma? Vishnu? Shiva?
The quick answer is no. They all contradict one another therefore it is critical (eternal life depends on it) to examine the claims of these gods to see who of all them can be trusted.
Is the true God greater or lesser than the men and women He has created? If indeed He did create them, then by default, He is greater. If each man and woman has an “essence” whereby they derive their identity i.e. personality, looks, demeanor, mannerisms, preferences, etc. why is it that their Creator (according to spiritual relativism) is stripped of all unique features and the essence by which He derives his identity?
The truth is, He does have a right to His own identity as it pertains to His essence as He has revealed Himself to His creation. So if God has a unique identity, this would mean that spiritual relativism would only be compatible with a direct revelation from God himself whereby He decrees that all gods, in all their diverse and self-contradictory personalities, are indeed Him. Has God said this? If so, where has he revealed this? Can the idea of such diverse god-beings co-exist with actual truth? We would have to look at the various descriptions of god as given by the various world religions in existence today, consider the source of those descriptions and determine which is the most reliable understanding of the God of the Universe.
Here is a test that the Lord puts out to ALL other gods who are called “god” to see if they are the same as Him:
Present your case,” the Lord says. “Bring forward your evidence,” The King of Jacob says. Let them bring them forward and declare to us what is going to take place; As for the former events, declare what they were, So that we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming; Declare the things that are going to come afterward, So that we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may be afraid and fear together. Behold, you are less than nothing, And your work is less than nothing! He who chooses you is an abomination.</b"
God does indeed say that we as mankind can choose any of the gods we want to worship, however, if we choose a god which is a false god – one that is different and “other” than Him. We make ourselves an abomination to our Creator and that is a frightful thing. Spritual relativism, pluralism and syncretism is just plain laziness. It is mankind’s way of avoiding/disobeying the command from God to “seek the Lord”:
Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
The God who led Moses and nearly 2 million Israelites out of Egypt claims that He and He alone is responsible for the creation of all things seen and unseen and further declares that said creation was all accomplished through and by His Son Jesus.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."
This was done in conjunction with the third person of the Trinity referred to as the Holy Spirit. This God says that all other gods are false and are actually demons masquerading as gods, imitating His power in order to deceive and destroy human beings which bear the likeness of Almighty God and are thereby hated by the demons.
They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With [e]abominations they provoked Him to anger. 17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, To new gods, new arrivals That your fathers did not fear. 18 Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you.
According to the God of reality, the God that Moses wrote about, that the prophets prophesied about, that the Apostles preach, Allah is a liar and a demon, Buddha is a thief and a destroying devil, Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu all are liars, thieves, and destroyers of mens souls. So how can it be that the God of Christianity could be considered the same god as those He refers to as false gods and lying demonic spirits? The answer is, they are not all the same. There is only God and only one judgement of mankind when he passes from this earth which can happen at any moment. We will not stand before the demonic false gods but in front of the one and only true God – the one Jesus refers to as “the one true God”.
No one receives eternal life and eternal presence with God (from Whom all good things come – James 1:17), by belonging to the right church, denomination, world religion, or by having a particular world view. Rather only those who trust in the Lord Jesus (preached by the Apostles in the Bible) for their own sin. We will not trust in a Savior for sins that we either don’t believe we have or that we think aren’t deserving of hell. But the Bible says that ALL have sin and the wages of that sin is eternal separation from God (death). The good news is that the Bible says that you can know that YOU have eternal life. Click the button below to see if you are genuinely saved from your sins according to the Bible: