Posted on 11/20/2003 4:54:20 AM PST by truthandlife
I was watching the Tony Blair and President Bush press conference and an American reporter asked a question on the lines of do you believe Muslims and Christians worship the same God.
President Bush said that Christians and Muslims worship the same God!!!!
Dust Bunnies.
Sounds like Calvinism. ;-)
But seriesly, do you want a President or a Preacher?
Historically, the Allah of Islam is the God of Abraham. Islam has perverted their belief of the character and the nature of God, but they have not created a new deity.
Well, for us non-believers, how are we supposed to tell the difference? Christians say they believe in Jesus and Muslims say the same thing- in fact they will issue a fatwah against you for insulting Christ. Muslims say they worship the God of Abraham and Jews say the same thing. From the non-believer's perspective it all looks about the same frankly.
Or they do as a expression of liberal Protestantism mixed with the syncretic deism of the lodges. Faced with the fierce zeal of real Islam this wishful thinking turns into absurd.
You could be right. Especially that offending Christians is not so risky. They will turn the second cheek instead of smashing your face. :)
Exactly. It's been an old, bloody story, misusing and abusing religion in order to gain power. Every disinherited prince stirred the religion pot to inflame the populace in order to grab power from his brother, the peasants be damned. It's happening now with al Qaeda using Islam to gain power, and the Muslims be damned for all they care, too.
That isn't necessarily so. If this were the case, then after the flood, you would only have followers of the ONE G-d. If this were the case then YHVH wouldn't have had to admonish those that went seeking after 'other' gods.
I do think though that this is why various religions of the world have 'similarities'. After the flood, YHVH made a covenant with all mankind. ALL mankind. The descendants of Noah are Gentiles. At this time, everyone was Gentile. There were certain commands given after the flood and these became the Noahide Covenant. YHVH gave a sign for this covenant. The rainbow. After the flood, people dispersed, taking the Noahide covenant with them. In time however, 'traditions of men' crept in.
After Sinai, there were two sets of laws. Noahide and Mosaic. The Noahide laws are less stringent and are for gentiles. The Mosaic are more strict, they encompass the Noahide, but they also get extra laws, most of which are applied to their 'priests' and such.
Israelites/Jews and Gentiles/rest of mankind, were meant to have a special interlocking relationship. They were/are supposed to be supportive of each other, offering encouragement to one another, to help each other remain on YHVH's path. So that, we ALL can do YHVH's will.
Anyone not an Israelite/Jew is a Gentile. No matter what faith you label yourself with, or where you live. You are a Gentile.
Pertaining to 'other' religions or belief systems. Avesta, Confuscious, Buddha, and of course Judaism all predate 'Christianity'. Some of these have their 'branches', just as Christianity has its branches. There are 3 common denominators. 1) belief in G-d, 2) code of ethics and 3) royal law (do unto others).
Whether one calls the code of ethics (conduct), the 10 commandments (Judaism), or The Ten Charges (Buddhism, Khuddaka Patha), or Laws of Manu (Hinduism), or Tatthvarthasutra (Jainism), or the Precious Garland (Buddhism, Nagarjuna), or The Negative Confession (Egyptian Book of the Dead)... what they call it is a moot point. The point is, they have a set of rules or laws governing their conduct. And within these rules they have the royal law, of doing unto others.
"Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence." (Confucianism. Mencius VII.A.4 ) Confucious predates Christ by about 500 years.
The differences between various religions, seems to be based on culture and/or when they existed, and agendas, inserted by whoever was in 'control' at the time. (Traditions of men)
So, you see, no matter what label one applies to their faith, they are still a gentile, BUT if they are keeping the commandments they are doing YHVH's will, and thus have a place in the heavenly Kingdom. People can belong to any group and still be keeping the commandments of YHVH. The labels are meaningless, and only separate people, much like the hyphenated-American garbage, compartmentalizes people.
There is only ONE G-d, but there are 'false' gods out there. For instance ancient Egypt had tons of 'lesser' gods, also known as 'patron gods'. Not any different than the 'patron saints' of the Catholic church. Here are some examples: Those with the * are the Catholic equivalent. Anhur ( Anhert, Anhuret, Greek Onuris ) Egyptian warrior and hunter god. * Eustachius; * Hubert of Liege
Bastet ( Bast, Ubasti ) Egyptian goddess of the home and pregnant women. * Elizabeth, * Ulric Ptah, Egyptian god of artisans, designers, builders, metal workers, architects and masons. * Thomas the Apostle, * Blaise Isdes, She was a goddess of Heliopolis. * Mark the Evangelist,
* Francis of Assisi
Most of the Catholic topics have more than one 'patron saint'. You can check them out here
The important thing is keeping YHVH's commandments.
Very simple - read Old/New Testament and read Koran. Then you will know.
"The god of Islam and the God of Christianity are not the same, but Muslims and Christians can still work together on issues of common concern, like fighting terrorism."
To the inevitable followup question:
"This is not a theology seminar, so I'm going to decline to elaborate. My response speaks for itself. Next question."
Just becuase we both use the Old Testament as a reference does not mean that our god is the same. They believe in a distorion of what we hold to be true. They believe in a false god. Their belief is so contrary to ours that they have distorted the Christian God to the point thet it is no longer the Christian God. Muhammad would be a false messiah in one sense. They have hijacked a religion and a a true God. Historically, it is the same entity that they worship. That is it. From there they have created a false religion and a god that does not exist.
I am a Christian. I do not believe that Allah and Jehovah are the same. The demotion of Jesus makes it so. Yet, I can understand the strategry of this President avoiding the trap of forcing this battle onto a religious front. I don't under why Christians react in such a kneejerk way everytime the President speaks.
And Muslims believe that we all worship the same God as do many Christian scholars.
You must be pretty old ;)
Wrong!
Bahrain, Oman, UAE, Qatar (where our command headquarters are), and the Stans throughout Central Asia.
We should hang out some time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.