123-D Snapshot: Do All Religions Pray to the Same God? A Biblical Worldview Perspective
April 11, 2023
Katherine Schultz
This post contains a biblical perspective on a brief topic taken from one or more questions on the 3-D Worldview Survey. It identifies 1 topic, 2 relevant scriptures, and a 3-D Worldview perspective in brief format.
1 Topic: All the Same God?
Do all religions pray to the same god, just under different names, and maybe with different practices?
2 Scriptures
Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
3-D Worldview
Historic orthodox evangelical Christians identify a trinitarian God, Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit. The mystery of the trinity includes the mystery of how God is Three-yet-One. This is the God of the Bible, and therefore the God of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. That means Christians acknowledge the Old Testament God of Judaism, but (most) Jews do not acknowledge that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, so they do not worship the trinitarian God of Christianity.
Religions like Islam would not claim to pray to the Trinitarian God of Christianity at all in part because they do not accept the trinity, though Islam is a descendant of Old Testament Judaism. So that can’t be the same god.
Other world religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism hold a polytheistic view of the deity, and this is incompatible with a monotheistic trinitarianism, so that can’t be the same god.
Western amalgams of eastern religion and modernist spiritualism are clearly not trying to reach the God of Christianity when they pray to mother earth, or to the great spirit, or connecting with the impersonal creator of all that is.
In reality, attempts to conflate all religions into one are often offensive to the adherents of those very religions, and are instead, a result of a non-religious worldview that values something other than faith (peace? justice? unity?) more highly. Better to let the religions be coherent for their followers even if it results in some disagreements between them.
Now what do I do?
Many modern people are reluctant to take a stand for their own beliefs, and end up not standing for anything. They mis-apply the idea of trying to get along with everyone and end up disrespecting faithful followers of religions, including Christianity. Asking questions about what something thinks of ideas like all religions pray to the same god gives people a chance to explore their worldview. And it may help awaken a student to something in their worldview they had not previously seen.
If you’d like help understanding someone’s worldview, asking questions is a great place to start. You can grab a free copy of the PDF “10 Questions to Understand Someone’s Worldview” at the link below.
