Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Devotion VIDEO here
“You must not
have any other god but me.” Exodus 20:3(NLT)
Islam, the faith of the Muslim community, and
Christianity have some core beliefs in common; the question which is disturbing
and often missed entirely by both groups is:
do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?
Two weeks ago Professor Larycia Hawkins at Wheaton
College (a Christian university) was put on administrative leave to reconsider
her statements that the college considers inconsistent with Christian doctrine:
[She] “…had stated
on Facebook, I stand in religious
solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the
book. And as Pope Francis stated last
week, we worship the same God.” [2]
Responding in an article, former
Muslim, Nabeel Qureshi wrote:
…the Christian God, both in terms of
what he is (Triune) and who he is (Father, Son, and Spirit) is not just
different from the Muslim God; He is fundamentally incompatible. According to Islam, worshiping the Christian
God is not just wrong; it sends you to Hell. They are not the same God.[3]
Qureshi states three reasons he makes this assertion:
1.
Christians believe Jesus is God, but
the Quran is so opposed to this belief that it condemns Jesus worshipers to
Hell (5.72)
2.
According to Jesus, God is our
Father, yet the Quran very specifically denies that Allah is a father
(112.1-4). In fact, in 5.18, the Quran tells Muslims to rebuke Jews and
Christians for calling God their loving Father because humans are just things
that God has created.
3.
Islam
roundly condemns worship of the Trinity (5.73), establishing in contrast its
own core principle: Tawhid, the absolute oneness of God. Tawhid
specifically denies the Trinity, so much so that it is safe to say the
doctrine of God in Christianity is antithetical to the doctrine of God in Islam. Not
just different but completely opposed to one another.
Qureshi makes the important point that because people
hold different ideas about God, we ought not demonize them. This only creates more hostility – and that’s
one thing our culture does not need.
On the other hand, serious Christians should have
these differences held in clear distinction in order to help others who blindly
state that we all serve the same God. Nothing could be further from the truth.
How you “view” God and the doctrines you hold about
how God treats people, thinks about people and wants us to treat people, will
create your worldview, and color all your decisions.
I personally think we can stand in solidarity with
Muslims on the issues of peace, justice and treating others with kindness…in
short, anything that does not deny our faith.
But to hold that we serve the same God is to try
to do something that neither religion embraces.
Jesus set the bar that separates Christianity from
every other religion:
Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me. Matthew 12:30(NLT)
For You Today
Shoot the messenger here if you must, but Muslim
Islamic faith does not worship the same God as those who are baptized in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
[1]
Title image: By Carlos Latuff (http://twitpic.com/3wwrxv)
[Public domain], via Wikimedia
Commons
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