Posted on 11/24/2003 9:53:14 AM PST by joesnuffy
Evangelicals outraged over Bush's 'same god' remark Christian leaders express dismay: 'He is commander in chief, not theologian in chief'
Posted: November 24, 2003 11:26 a.m. Eastern
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
Many Evangelical Christians in the U.S. say they are outraged over President George Bush's statement that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.
The statement was made Thursday, during the joint press conference in England with Prime Minister Tony Blair. A reporter noted that Bush has frequently expressed the view that freedom is a gift from "the Almighty," but questioned whether the Bush believes "Muslims worship the same Almighty" as the president and other Christians do.
"I do say that freedom is the Almighty's gift to every person. I also condition it by saying freedom is not America's gift to the world," Bush replied. "It's much greater than that, of course. And I believe we worship the same god," reported the London Telegraph.
Bush's equivalence of the Judeo-Christian and Muslim gods brought reactions of shock and dismay from Christians in the U.S. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, was quoted in the Baptist Press as saying the president "is simply mistaken."
According to a Washington Post account, Land said in an interview: "We should always remember that he is commander in chief, not theologian in chief. The Bible is clear on this: The one and true god is Jehovah, and his only begotten son is Jesus Christ."
Blair avoided answering the same question, replying with a general statement about freedom.
Bush, a practicing Christian who frequently talks publicly about the importance to him of his faith, nevertheless has repeatedly defended Islam as a religion of peace, ever since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack on the U.S. by 19 Islamist radicals.
The Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, also contradicted the president in a press statement, reported the Post. "The Christian God encourages freedom, love, forgiveness, prosperity and health," said Haggard. "The Muslim god appears to value the opposite. The personalities of each god are evident in the cultures, civilizations and dispositions of the peoples that serve them. Muhammad's central message was submission; Jesus' central message was love. They seem to be very different personalities."
Despite their strenuous objections, neither Land nor Haggard thinks the president's statement will cost him votes: "This president has earned a lot of wiggle room among evangelicals," said Land, according to the Post. "If he had said that Islam is on a par with Christianity, it would be a more serious case of heartburn. This is just indigestion."
But according to Gary Bauer, former presidential candidate and president of American Values, Bush's comment is "not helpful to the president. Since everybody agrees he's not a theologian, he would be much better advised to punt when he gets that kind of question."
But,......BUT,.......BBBBUUUTTT!
The 'same' god does NOT give Americans,.....the tolerance of the FREEDOM of "Speech".
/sarcasm
I think what President Bush believes is that there are many sincere Muslims who wish to worship God, and who hunger to know and please Him. What they don't know is that this God in their hearts is Jehovah, and His Son, Jesus Christ. I'm sure that Bush believes that if the Middle East is democratized, economic freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and religious freedom come with the package, that freedom in the Middle East will open the opportunity for sincere Muslims to consider the claims of the true God, and they will respond, because their hearts are inclined to worship the true God, and they will turn to Him when they finally realize that God's name is not "Allah."
Exactly! Who are they to be telling the rest of us what to think as well? Less then impressed with this group!
All others are going to Hell... no ifs ands or buts. There is only one God and He is exclusive not inclusive.
I believe Muslims are encouraged by their Mulas to kill Christians if we try save their Heathen souls. George really blew this one.
The Islams place Jesus Christ incarnate on about the same level as Mohammed and Rasputin, bearded "holy men" and "prophets" wandering the deserts and temples in religious history.
Leni
You might as well say Jews do not worship the same God.
oth Christianity and Islam are outgrowths of Judaism.
So9
That's why the vast majority of the Jewish religionists missed their Messiah when he arrived 2000 years ago.
Christians have a long history of murdering each other, too. Take a look at the wars between Catholics and Protestants as well between orthodox and heretic Christians sometime.
The Bible and the quran say two very different things, therefore they cannot possibly come from the mouth of the same God, who the Bible says is never changing.
Many people who read the Bible also believe that the Old Testament and the New Testament say two very different things and can not be talking about the same God. This point of view goes back to the earliest days of Christianity and you will notice that the Jews, who continue to follow only the Old Testament, have a very different interpretation of God than Christians do. Do you believe that Christians and Jews essentially worship the same God?
Well no we don't
According to the Encyclopedia of Religion, Allah corresponded to the Babylonian god Baal, and Arabs knew of him long before Mohammed worshipped him as the supreme God. Before Islam the Arabs recognized many gods and goddesses, each tribe had their own deity. There were also nature deities. Allah was the god of the local Quarish tribe, which was Mohammed's tribe before he invented Islam to lead his people out of their polytheism. Allah was then known as the Moon God, who had 3 daughters who were viewed as intercessors for the people into Allah. Their names were Al-at, Al-uzza, and Al-Manat, which were three goddesses; the first two daughters of Allah had names which were feminine forms of Allah. Hubal was the chief God of the Kaaba among the other 360 deities. Hubal was the chief God of the Kaaba among the other 360 deities. Hubal was a statue likeness of a man whose body was made of red precious stones whose arms were made of gold. (Reference Islam George Braswell Jr.)
My God won't reward me in Heaven with 72 horny women, nor will He reward me for blowing myself up and taking innocent civilians with me. My God does not want me to subjugate my wife to the burqua, or whip her when her ankles show. My God does not want me to force my faith on others, nor does He tell me to hate my neighbor who is not a Christian.
My God is the Triune God, the Holy Trinity, Whose only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, came into the world the save me and you. To the Muslim, Jesus was a mere man who died long ago and remains dead. To the Christian, He is God.
Christians do not worhip the same God that Muslims do. The god of Islam is an idol, a false god, a cruel god who keeps his people laboring in the Dark Ages, and wandering in the arid desert sands and the cold barren, mountians. The god of Islam keeps his followers in a perpetual state of poverty, turmoil, bloodshed and warfare, as we see in the Sudan, Rwanda, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Indonesia, Yemen, Libya, and now they even rise their discontent heads in Christian nations like the Philippines.
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.