A question came up during a Bible class I attended some time ago about the differences between the different main religions of the world. Those include Christianity, Judaism, Muslim, Hindu,and Buddhism. Looking at Wikipedia there seems to be about a dozen other large ones but let’s concentrate on the five largest. The question was:

“Are we all praying to the same God?”

I mentioned that I thought we were and was very surprised to learn that the clergyman who was leading the study had a very different answer. His answer was he definitely knows that all the other religions besides Christianity are praying to pagan gods! But he did hedge on Judaism. I guess I should not have been surprised by this statement but I was.  I personally think we are all looking for the same creator. Some of us lean toward one version of Him and some to another but in the end we are all at least trying to find the “true” God.

I really don’t know if all Christian denominations feel the same as this clergyman let alone if other religions also believe that Christians are praying to a pagan god. But I guess I would not be surprise to learn even that. It saddens me that we so disrespect others who don’t toe the same line as we do. I guess this same certainty also applies to the question of who gets into heaven. Everyone wants to believe their version of God is the ONLY true one. I know that when I was a child in Catholic grade school I was taught that only us Catholics would be in heaven. Although I have not been a Catholic for many years that message still clings to me.  With these types of beliefs it is no wonder that the world’s history is literally filled with different religious wars. I think this truly saddens God!!