Is the God of Christianity and Islam the Same?

[Nathan]

Basically. I certainly don't believe God would make Henry VIII do what he did on purpose.

[blovedwolfofgod]

It is an interesting thought...

I will take this from the nature of God's Love approach.

Christians believe that God is trinitarian and his parts, though all consisteng of the same essence, having neither genus nor specie, are one and yet because they are distinct within the same essence, are able to love each other. God's intellect concieved the Word, and Jesus is that Word made flesh. God loved His Word because it is part of himself and concieved by himself while being one in essence with himself, hence the part of the creed "God from God, light from light, True God from True God, begotton, not made, one in being with the Father." Because God love's His Word, which is also one in being with Him manifested as the Holy Spirit, God's very nature is Love. It is an act of his nature, not an act of his intellect. (I hope I described that clearly )

The Muslim conception of God is not a trinitarian Father, Son, and Spirit... but rather, it is of one God that has no parts within himself. Therefore in order to love, He had to create because love is something that must be between two or more entities, that which loves and that which is loved. This means that God loves as an act of His Intellect and not of His nature. They believe that God can be arbitrary and withhold His grace from relatively faithful followers. EVery soul saved is not of the Divine Nature, but of the Intellect meaning God could and may easily withhold his mercy from those whose spirits are contrite and humble.

Now, God can do what He wants, but to not try and save humanity, He would go against His nature (please correct me if i have fallen into heresy). That is a huge difference between the conception of God that the Muslims have and the conception that the Christians have. I do not wish to go against the teachings of the pontiff, however, and say that their God is different... though it does not seem like we worship the same God. A God of Love vs. a God of Choice... hmmm... familiar.

[N/A Gone]

Catechism 841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."

I have a working knowledge of the six doctrines of islam. In all respect for the christians here allow me to word them in an evangelical language. For I learned along time ago most of our differences come from language.

God is an all powerful, all seeing, all knowing creator. This view is very similar to the jewish view of God. minus the trinitarian theology

angels,(gabriel to Shaitan and the jinns...based on the hebrew terms for satan and denoms)

Scripture 4 God inspired books: torah of moses(xn call the pentateuch) the Zabur(pslams of david) the Injil(a version of the gospel of Jesus) and the Qur'an. but because doctrinally muslims believe that Jews and christians corrupted their scripture the Qur'an is Allah's final word to mankind, superseding all previous writings.

mohammed The quran lists 28 prophets of Allah, including Adam, noan abraham, moses, david, Jonah, and Jesus. but the last and greatest is Mohammed

Eschatology(end times) on the last day the dead will be resurrected. Allah will be the judge, and each person is sent to heaven or hell. Heaven is a place of sensual pleasure, hell is for those who oppose Allah and his prophet Mohammed.

Predestination God has determined what He pleases and no one can change what He has decreed (kismet, doctrine of fate) from this doctrine comes the most common islamic phrase,"if it is Allah's will"

Five Pillars of the faith:

Statement of belief to become a muslim, a person must publically repeat the Shahadah:"There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is the prophet of Allah."

Prayer Muslims pray five times a day-daybreak, noon, midafternoon, after sunset, early evening. The Muslim must kneel and bow in the prescribed manner in the direction of the holy city, Mecca.

Alms Muslim law today requires the believer to give one/fortieth of his profit (2.5%) this offering goes to the widows, orphans, the sick and other unfortunates.

Ramadan The ninth month of the islamic lunar year is called ramadan and is the highest Muslim holy season. Muslims are required to fast for the entire month. Food and drink, as well as smoking and sexual pleasures are forbidden, but only during daylight hours. During Ramadan, many muslims eat two meals a day, ther first just before sunrise, and the other shortly after sunset. During Ramadan, the believer must not commit any unworthy acts. If he does, his fasting is meaningless

Pilgrimage to mecca the Hajj, must be performed at least once in a lifetime. Or send someone in his/her place.

How the Qur'am contradicts the bible.

The bible has has an important influence on the teaching of Islam. For instance, the muslim proudly traces his ancestry to Ishmael, a son of Abraham. Muslim beliefs about the nature of God, the resurrection of the body and judgment are roughly similar to the teachings of the bible. But there are some striking differences. Here are some I have found of Muslim ideas contradicting what is taught in scripture.
For Muslims God is one, period Th QUr'an explicitly attacks the christian teaching on the trinity, saying that anyone who ascribes "partners" to God is committing the sin of shirk(blasphemy). This prohibition is explicitly directed against the christian doctrine of the trinity and the teaching that Jesus is God. Many muslims are also erroneously taught that Christians are reallyu tri-ttheists who believe in God the father, mary the mother, and Jesus the son. This grotesque caricature of the trinity is a complete misrepresentation of what the bible teaches and christians believe. Muslims also teach that Allah is transcendent (all-powerful) and relatively impersonal. Of the 99 names ascribed to God in Islam, "father" is omitted (to avoid the idea of the father and the son) This is in stark contrast to the Bible and to Jesus' own teaching, which says that God is our personal heavenly father. While one of the 99 Muslim names for God is "the merciful," he is not viewed primararily as a dispenser of love and grace, but more as a righteous judge to whom the Muslim must give account.
The Qur'an denies that Jesus is the son of God although is describes the virgin birth in a passage similar to luke 1:26-38(see Surah 3:45-47). The Qur'an calls Jesus a prphet equal to Abraham, Jonah, and others; bu places Him in rank far below Mohammed. Surah 4:171 says that "Jesus...was only a messenger of Allah...far is it removed from His transcendent majesty that He should have a son" Mohammed totally ignored what the New testament says about Jesus' divinity (see, matt 8:29; 17:5; John 1:1-5; 8:58; 10:30, 14:9; 20:28; Col 1:15-17; 2:9) instead of admitting that verses like these exist, Muslims claim Christian have changed the bible.
The Qur'an says that Christ never really died on the Cross "they slew him not nor crucified, but it appeared so unto them'(Surah 4:157) According to Islam, Allah took Jesus to heaven just before the crucifixion, because it is unthinkable that an approved prophet of God should face such humiliating defeat. Muslims say Judas made up so cleverly to resemble Jesus that even Mary and the Disciples were fooled. A minority muslim theory is Jesus was in a coma on the cross and was taken down, revived and later died. Obviously, all of this is in complete opposition to the teaching of the bible and witness of early patristic history. As we have seen, the cross is the center of God's redemptive plan. The crucifixion of Christ was prophesied in the OT. Eyewitness accounts of that crucifixion are contained in each of the four gospels. Jesus predicted his death many times(see matt 16:21). Why did he die? as a ransom for many(mark 10:45) He promised that through His shed blood there would be fgorgiveness of sins (matt 26:2 As for Judas, the gospels tell us that he was the one who betrayed Jesus (see mark 14:10.11,43-45) and in remorse for what he did Judas hung himself. This is a major problem area in the testimony of islam. They claim this "eyewitness" testimony counter anything in patristic history, and developed it 400yrs after any possible witnesses were dead. In a nutshell there is no source from which this doctrine could be contributed to. Not even the early heresys felt this way.
Surah 4:111 declares that each perso must take care of his or her own sins The muslim must earn salvation from sin by following the 5 pillars of faith, if he doesnt make it, its his own fault:"whoever goes astray he himself bears the whole responsability of wondering"(surah 10:109) In contrast the bible teaches that we all have sinned and gone our own way. The only way mankind can find forgiveness is through faith in Christ.

In summery the major differences between Muslims and Christians

regarding God Muslims believe there is no God but Allah; Christians believe that God is revealed in scripture as father, son and Holy spirit, three persons who are coeternally God.

Regarding Jesus christ Muslims believe that Jesus was only a man, a prophet below Mohammed in importance, who did not die for man's sins; Christians say Christ is the son of God the sinless redeemer who died and rose again in fullfillment of scripture for sinful man.

Regarding sin Muslims claim that humans are born with hearts that are clean slates. If they commit sins, these can be overcome by acts of the will, christian counter that we are born corrupted(original sin) by sin, spiritually dead apart from God's grace, and that no one does good apart from faith.

Regarding salvationMuslims say that Allah does not love those who do wrong, and each person must earn his or her own salvation; christians contend that a loving God sent His son to die for our sins; according to the scripture.

I hope and pray I did an accurate and respectful job of comparing the common points and differences in our two faiths.,

[blovedwolfofgod]

beat my attempt...

[N/A Gone]

thanks....I do what I can.

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='Revprodeji' date='Dec 5 2005, 06:54 AM']Catechism 841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these [i]profess[/i] to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."


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The key word above is [i]profess.[/i] They think they are worshipping the same God as the God of Abraham, but their theology is in grevious error concerning the nature of God and Jesus Christ.

[Era Might]

Right. Their vision of God, and of revealed truth in general, is blurred, stunted, and insufficient. Nevertheless, as John Paul II repeated, "We [Christians and Muslims] believe in the same God, the one God, the living God, the God who created the world and brings his creatures to their perfection".

[cmotherofpirl]

They beleive there is only one God and they are correct, so that is a step up from belief in many gods, but if a muslim were to describe their version of God to us, He would be unrecognizable in many ways.
They are not theologically compatable.

[Era Might]

That's true, but the essential understanding communicated through reason is present in the Muslim conception, and this is why we worship the same God. Romans 1 (and also the First Vatican Coucil) note that the essential nature of God, that he is one, eternal, and almighty, can be understood with reason. Thankfully, this much was retained from Jewish and Christian sources, and our dialogue with Islam is not concerned with idolatry, but with the more perfect knowledge in Revelation.

Edited December 5, 2005 by Era Might

[photosynthesis]

are Muslims still waiting for a messiah?

[Didacus]

of course we worship the same God... the CCC syas so!

But my question is do the muslims agree we worship the smae God?

[Aloysius]

the CCC says they profess to belief in the same god. the precise wording of the CCC is important here.

[dspen2005]

how can the God of Christianity and the God of Islam be the same, when Muslims abhor the Trinity. They look upon Christians as being polytheistic.

[Timothy]

Would be great to have a muslims point of view in here.

[Era Might]

[quote][Christians and Muslims] believe in the [b]same[/b] God, the one God, the living God, the God who created the world and brings his creatures to their perfection

--Pope John Paul II[/quote]

I don't know how much more clearer the Holy Father could be.

Edited December 5, 2005 by Era Might