I have been thinking about this a lot and asked a few different kind of people and am not too sure if we do all worship the same God.

This is my logical chain:

Muslims, Christians and Jews all say they worship the God of Abraham
Therefore, although some differences, all three religions worship the same God.

Now if one does agree with the above statement, they then also acknowledge the fact that loyal Muslims and Jews, to God, Dios, Allah, Yaweh will be going to heaven.


Do you agree or disagree with these statements?

Now if I was a Muslim I dont think I would become a Christian.
1) Muslims have more honour and morals than a lot of Christians
2) Muslims are more respectful and reverent to God/Allah than Christians.
There are quite a few others, but it just doesn't seem to make sense, if only Christians are going to heaven why is that the case? When 1 and 2 are usually correct about Muslims.

Anyways so what do you think?

Im still sitting on the fence on this one...

Note: Please dont say that Muslims worship Allah and we worship God...Allah is a name for God like Dieu, Dios etc

Yes they do in fact worship the same God as us, but that does not mean that they have received cleansing through Jesus Christ. As good of lifes as they may be, they have still fallen short of the absolute holiness of God, and therefor, cannot enter into his presence, as they would corrupt him. Worshiping God doesn't get up into heaven, the forgiveness we receive through Jesus Christ the son gets us in.

I think that we have to be careful about how much margin we give in respecting both the similarities and differences between Islam, Christianity and Judaism. For instance, many people still imagine that Judaism is basically Protestantism without Jesus. Many are torn between idealizing and condemning another religion. Prolems like these arise when we don't respect how religions function, how they relate to one another and what they mean with respect to themselves. The Abrahamic religions share core mythologies. These myths are indicative of the blurred boundaries between the three of them, but also should be viewed in each's own grander arch-narrative.

I never like anyone idealizing a particular religion or culture over and against others, so I'm going to disagree with you on Islamic people's adherence to their faith. Each religion will have people who are completely devoted to their faith an each religion will have people who treat their faith as a once-a-year event. Further, being respectful to God/Allah is not measured by just how many people one would murder for drawing a picture, it's constituted to how commited one is in following the Islamic rituals and sacraments.

Just as being a Christian or Jew is about identifying in the Christian or Jewish faith and practices.

Josh

I will agree with you Some Muslims are still in the feudal way of thinking, but a lot of them are so dedicated and honorable, that I envy them, I envy how passionate they are about God, yet in Christianity it just seems like people go to church and thats it...



I wouldnt be interested what 'mythologies' the Abrahamic faiths believe, unless your talking about historical characters such as Moses and Abraham...

Well, yes. Some Christians just go to church and that's really it. But there's monastic movements and various rites in the church which demand dedication and honour. All I'm pointing out, and I'm not saying that this is something that you're doing, but it doesn't make sense to envy the dedication of some Muslims and not the dedication of other Christians. Why not just ask the opinion of CTF on how we respond to the powerful and life changing dedication that various people show in various faiths?


We share the same core religious stories although there are some differences in the narratives and interpretations and rituals we have constructed around them. They all share the same background: an ancient Middle Eastern temple mythology. And, yes, I'm talking about Abraham and Moses.

Josh

In general, I know there are some great Christians who serve the Lord hard.

Most Muslims pray 5 times a day, before they touch the Quran, they wash their hands, as it is God's Word.

They only use the word Allah with absolute delight instead of vainly and carelessly saying, 'Oh my G**'

Most Christians dont even read God's Word...anyways, this is really off topic...



Josh, do you believe that Christians, Muslims and Jews worship the same God.

My point was that we shouldn't take similarities lightly, there are core differences as well. Probably not enough to suggest that we worship different God's, but most certainly enough that we should not try to reduce our religions to each other because of it.

Josh

Well, originally, Muslims were supposed to pray 50 times a day. And then, someone real dedicated like the prophet Mohamed bargained with Allah and had it reduced to 5 times a day.

Muslims do not worship the same God as us.There are differences.
Jews do worship the same God,but they don't believe Jesus is the Messiah,just a special prophet-like Muslims believe.

This post has been edited by fjs93: Oct 28 2009, 09:47 AM

Islam changed what Araham said, and said that the Jews and Christians got it wrong. Abraham in the Koran apparantly also referred to God as "Allah" along with other prophets doing the same thing, but according to Islam the Jews covered that up. Also, Jesus would have referred to God as "Allah" But that was ereased aswell. Theres no hard evidence that God was ever called Allah prior to the Koran however. So in essence we dont worship the same God that Muslims do because the God of Abraham would be a whole different Aberham then the one we know.

Jews and Christians worship the same God however, but they are still waiting for their messiah who we believe is Jesus Christ.


Yur not looking at the big picture. The Muslims who are very dedicated to their religion follow their religion, some however do bad things because of their dedication. However, dedicated Christians go out and preach the gospel to try and help bring others to Christ. There are tons of missionaries out there working hard for God. Your just looking at your Christian friends and/or family, look at the big picture of things.

Are we all children of the same god? Isn't that what really matters.

We are children of God when we get saved.

God made us all.

Yes,He did.
But the saved are called children of God,not the unsaved.

"But as many as received Him(Jesus), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

This post has been edited by fjs93: Oct 28 2009, 03:57 PM

And I'm sure God still loves everyone bc they're His children.

Exactly. I can't imagine an omni being like god would hold back his love and compassion and only have room for those that are saved. If god exists then his compassion(like everything else)would be limitless, no?

Christians and Jews worship Yahweh, the true God.
Muslims do not worship Yahweh. They worship Allah. And, although Allah is the Arabic word for "God", it is also the proper name for the Muslim god, just as Yahweh is the proper name for the Christian God.


Btw, on a side note, the Koran says semen is excreted from a male's chest.

I think He loves people too,but I don't think they can be called His children until they are "born-again".

Different beliefs about God, same God. When you posit "maximally perfect being" as what you worship, its very hard to dictate how two people who worship that God are worshipping different entities. I could be wrong about some of my concepts about God, but that doesn't mean that suddenly I'm not worshipping God.

Although they are worshiping an entity and calling it "god" that does not mean that they are right in their worship. There is only one way to salvation, and only one way to come before a Holy God.

Matthew 7 sums it up pretty good I think-
21Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Yeah. Jews and Christians worship the same God.

Muslims do not.

Even if they did... the radicals of their religion worship God in an EXTREMELY wrong way.

Aren't people right in their freedom to worship as they wish?

If your answer is "no" then you must not believe in the freedom of religion thing.

At the cost of human life, in the case of fanatical Muslim terrorists?

No. They do NOT have a right to worship as they wish. That infringes on the rights of others.

This is a really bad argument. Just as I am not free to make a perpetual motion machine, I'm not free to coat a baseball glove in chocolate and worship it such that I now worship God. God is a "maximally perfect being." If you aren't worshipping such a being, you are not possibly worshipping God. It's just a logical impossibility.

People can be free to choose their own religion, but that doesn't mean that a person worships the God of Abraham if they do so.

If I made a Religion and in it I said that Abraham talked to God but God said something different then what is traditionally believed, and then I worship that God... Am I still worshipping the same God of Abraham?