I was referring to the act of kissing the Koran. I don’t, personally, think it was a good idea. I don’t have to believe it was a good idea just because it was the Pope who did it.
With regard to whether “Allah” is “God”:
ANYONE who says, I believe in an infinite being, perfectly good, changeless, the creator of the universe—that person believes in God. It is nonsense to say that he believes in some OTHER GOD. There is only one infinitely perfect being.
What people can be wrong about is whether God spoke to a particular prophet, or whether God favors some particular people. They can be wrong about what historic events were interventions by God.
Muslims are screwed up about WHO is God’s authentic prophet. They honor a violent, even satanic, non-prophet, and fail to honor Jesus, who, as God Incarnate, is the perfect and final prophet. In hating the Jews, they hate the people who WERE chosen by God to experience authentic revelation and prepare the way for the Incarnation.
Muslims are wrong about practically everything having to do with God and His activities in history.
But it is meaningless to say that “their” God is literally a DIFFERENT GOD. First of all, any “god” other than the true God is non-existent. And any person who believes in God as infinitely perfect, infinitely good, and the creator of all things, may have all kinds of things wrong, but is at least REFERRING TO the true God when he says “God.”
If a man has two groups of acquaintances, and one knows him as “Joe” and other knows him as “Mike,” it is nonsensical to say, “Those people are talking about two different men.” They may not agree on anything ABOUT “Joe” and “Mike,” but they are referring to the SAME PERSON. It is in that sense that Muslims worship “the God of Abraham.” They don’t worship Him AS the God of Abraham. They don’t worship God AS the Trinity, either. But it is the same God, no matter how impoverished and distorted their understanding is.
Muslims have no understanding of what God revealed about Himself to Abraham and his descendants. They know and understand nothing about who Jesus really is. The Catechism is NOT saying that Muslims have a “place in God’s plan” in the sense that God has revealed Himself to Mohammed as He revealed Himself to Abraham, but only in the sense that Muslims do believe some core truths about God, picked up (and garbled) from Judaism and Christianity.
In the Catechism’s sense, ATHEISTS have a place in God’s plan—i.e., not that atheism is actually good for anybody, but that God undoubtedly wishes atheists, and Muslims, and all other people to progress in some way toward knowing the truth, and is undoubtedly pleased when they SINCERELY seek the truth, however poor the results may be.
The bottom line: The Catechism is not asserting precisely what you are saying it asserts.
At least we agree on that. But you can't yet grasp that he committed blaspheme by doing so because he honors the god of Islam which is a false god. I undestand that to admit to that is to admit to a major flaw in your belief system.
ANYONE who says, I believe in an infinite being, perfectly good, changeless, the creator of the universe—that person believes in God. It is nonsense to say that he believes in some OTHER GOD. There is only one infinitely perfect being.
By your definition, then the god of Islam is NOT the One True God. The god of Islam is NOT a perfectly good god, nor is he changeless. The god they beleive in, that is, to use the biblical sense of the word, the god they put their total trust in, is not a good god. He is a god that commands them to murder and to lie and to steal and to commit adultry and gives his ok on pedeophilia. (sp?). Actually, if you had not added the phrase perfectly good, it could very easily be shown that many who would actually made that statement does not know the one true God.
Have you ever done any research on the god of Islam??? I would be willing to wager that you have not from the statement that you made. Surely you would NOT make that statement if you have read much about Islam at all. There are many, many references online that show that the god of Islam is NOT the God of Abraham. This online book, "Prophet of Doom" very clearly shows that it is not. And it gives links to much of the koran so one can decide themselves.
Deists also believe in an infinite being, perfectly good, changeless and the creator, but they don't have salvation either. A person could say that they are in "firstplace" before all other unbelievers, but that still doesn't give them eternal life.
The God of Abraham, the God of the Bible, the God who became man, is not just an infinite being, perfectly good, changeless and the creator. He is much much more. And His invisible attributes are evident to all (Romans 1). He is also kind, slow to anger, merciful, holy, righteous, just, gracious, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and He is a very personal God. That is not the god of Islam.
Muslims are screwed up about WHO is God’s authentic prophet. They honor a violent, even satanic, non-prophet, and fail to honor Jesus, who, as God Incarnate, is the perfect and final prophet. In hating the Jews, they hate the people who WERE chosen by God to experience authentic revelation and prepare the way for the Incarnation.Muslims are wrong about practically everything having to do with God and His activities in history.
Agree, EXCEPT that by honoring Mohammed, by believing in him, they then believe in and accept the god that he depicts. The god of Islam is not perfectly good, not at all. Do some research.
But it is meaningless to say that “their” God is literally a DIFFERENT GOD. First of all, any “god” other than the true God is non-existent. And any person who believes in God as infinitely perfect, infinitely good, and the creator of all things, may have all kinds of things wrong, but is at least REFERRING TO the true God when he says “God.”
No, it is not meaningless at all. You are right though, the other "god" does not exist in the literal sense, but it does in their belief. Just as the gods and idols that represented them in the OT did/do not really exist, but that is still who the "ites" all worhsipped. The Asherim pole was a symbol of the goddess that the Caanites worshipped. The goddess does not exist, but still, that is where they put their allegiance, that is what/who they trusted for their peace and security. Just as the Muslims do in their god, allah.
We KNOW these are false gods, but they do not. That is one reason why you see the phrase, TRUE God Jeremiah 9,10. Why would Jesus Himself pray for His children that they know the only True God in which to find eternal life in John 17? You seem to think that because one believes in one God, that it MUST be the True God?
Your story about Mike and Joe is nice, but your analogy has fundamental flaws. Joe and Mike are not the same. Your analogy works for the many different denominations in Christianity, but not without Christianity. Just because their false god has been "given" a few of the attributes of the One True God, does not make it the same when so many of the attributes of the false islamic god are evil. By your definition, then the "great white spirit" and the pantheism idea of new ages is also the one true God.
God's "plan" of salvation is that all of those who call on His Name, knowing that it is He and He alone that can provide atonement for their sins and redeem them from evil have and trust in Him and Him alone to have accomplished that, knowing that it is the One True God, and Him alone, has eternal life. Where a person was before then does not matter.
However, the catchesism in question does not say that, it says that Muslims have firstplace among many because they believe in the same God. They don't (nowhere in scripture does any gentile group have precedence over another - unless you can show one), and they simply do not believe in the same God. That is the bottom line. Do your research, read on what the god of islam is REALLY like, THEN, come back and we can discuss it.