Aren’t all religions basically the same?

In many ways they are close. They ask many of the same questions, and most people who follow them sincerely want the same things.

Nearly every religion begins with an honest observation: something is wrong with us. There is a gap between the people we are and the goodness, holiness or peace we sense we were made for. Most traditions are an attempt to close that gap.

Where they part ways is the question underneath all of it. Who does the closing?

Up to you

In most paths, the answer is you. Keep the law well enough, build up enough good karma, practise enough discipline, reach enough clarity, and you may get there. These paths take human effort seriously, and they often produce admirable people.

The trouble is the honest part of us that knows we never quite get there. If the gap is closed by our own effort, there is no way to know when we have done enough, and some part of us suspects we never will.

Done for you

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.Ephesians 2:8–9

Christianity agrees about the problem and turns the answer around. We can’t close the gap, because we are part of what’s wrong. So God closes it himself. He comes to us instead of waiting for us to climb, takes the cost on himself in Jesus, and asks us to trust that he did.

This doesn’t mean other religions contain nothing true or good. It means that on this one question, who saves, they can’t all be right at once. It’s worth knowing which answer you are living by.