Posted on 10/10/2007 6:22:49 AM PDT by Finally Awake
Whatever else his critics say of him, no one can fault President Bush for failing to go the extra mile in his efforts to show that neither he, nor the United States, is opposed to the Islamic faith, or to Muslim nations.
Last week, the president and Mrs. Bush hosted their seventh Iftaar Dinner, the celebration that breaks the Muslim fast during Ramadan. Immediately after 9/11, the president visited a Washington, D.C., mosque and proclaimed Islam a religion of peace. He has frequently said that terrorists are not real Muslims, anymore than people who proclaim to be Christian and engage in violence are genuine Christians.
The president is the most openly evangelical Christian and faithful churchgoer since Jimmy Carter. And the evangelical community has mostly embraced him and twice voted for him in overwhelming numbers. But that constituency is likely to be troubled over something the president said in an interview with Al Arabiya television. In an official transcript released by the White House, the president said, I believe in an almighty God, and I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God. Later in the interview, the president repeated his statement: I believe there is a universal God. I believe the God that the Muslim prays to is the same God that I pray to. After all, we all came from Abraham. I believe in that universality.Continued
To paraphrase a remark often attributed to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, everyone is entitled to his or her own faith, but everyone is not entitled to define the central doctrines of that faith. The doctrines of what is called Christianity not only stand in stark contrast to Islam, they also teach something contrary to what the president says he believes.
It is one thing to try to reach out to moderate and sincerely peaceful Muslims. It is quite another to say the claims of your own faith are of no greater importance than the often contradictory claims of another faith. If we all worship the same God, the president should answer the call of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Osama bin Laden, convert to Islam and no longer be a target of their wrath. What difference would it make if we all worship the same God?
Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (carm.org) has created a useful chart that shows the conflicting claims of classic Christian belief and Muslim doctrines. It is worth studying whatever ones faith.
The central doctrine of the Christian faith is that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for sinners and by repenting of sin and accepting Christ as Savior, one is saved and is guaranteed a home in Heaven. Muslims do not believe God had a son and, therefore, no atonement for sin is necessary. Muslims believe simply telling God one is sorry and repenting of sin is enough, if one also lives up to the five pillars of Islam. Furthermore, according to Muslims, Jesus did not die on a cross (as Christians believe); instead, God allowed Judas to look like Jesus and it was Judas who was crucified.
Evangelical Christians believe the Bible is Gods Word and is without error in the original manuscripts. Muslims respect the word of the prophets, but claim the Bible has been corrupted (mostly by Jews) and is only correct insofar as it agrees with the Koran.
God calls himself I Am and says He is one, but with three personalities. Muslims believe Gods name is Allah and reject the Trinity.
How can the president say that we all worship the same God when Muslims deny the divinity of Jesus, whom the president accepts as the One through whom all must pass for salvation? Do both political parties have the same beliefs? Are all baseball teams equal (clearly not, because only two will go to the World Series)?
The president can be commended for sincerely reaching out to Muslims, but he should not be commended for watering down his beliefs and the doctrines of his professed faith in order to do so. Thats universalism. There are churches that believe in universalism, his Methodist church does not. No Christian who believes the Bible believes in universalism. And No Muslim who believes the Koran does either.
President Bush is wrong -- dangerously wrong -- in proclaiming that all religions worship the same God.
There is one God. There are many religions with many beliefs, but there is only one God.
The Origional sources of the Koran
All good reading. Of course Muslims will try and say anything to make their cult appear legit. As we can see many people take their word for it because they are simply too lazy or uninterested to look into it for themselves, which in this day and age is a lot easier than it used to be thanks to computers.
The muzzie version of Abraham is completely different than the Judeo- Christian one.
Everything Islam says about Abraham is made up in an attempt to tie Islam to Abraham.
Islam didn't exist at the time of Abraham, it was invented by Mohammad thousands of years later.
According to Muzzies, he was a Muslim, and lived in an entirely different location thousands of miles from his Biblical location. some Muzzie "scripture" claims Abraham built the Ka'aba" "allah's house" in Mecca, a simple pile of unhewn rocks around a water hole with o roof. Acording to this "scripture' the guy walked thousands of miles at 100 years old to do this.
Other Islamic "scripture" claims Adam built allah's house.
Adam of course was a devout muslim who had a great army, although he had nobody to fight yet. Eve had to wear a Burka even though there was nobody to look at her.
Islamic "scripture" is full of such amusing tales which will keep you laughing for hours on end.
One of my favorites is Noahs ark, in which Satan hitches a ride. Noah, being a devout Muslim had to improvise to keep married men and women separated (why separate married men and women from each other?) during their voyage, so he used Adams corpse as a divider. (why he took Adams corpse along is a mystery)
Of course, just as the waters receded, Noah, being the great sailor he was of a rudderless ship, circumabulated the Ka'aba a few times before putting ashore, and that's why all muslims run around the ka'aba to this day during Ramadama ding dong.
Anyways, It's a pathetic attempt to try tie Mohammads genetics to Abraham bastard son who he cast out.
Realistically, it would be impossible for Mohammad to have ANY genetic link to Abraham or his bastard son thousands of years later, even if he did wander across a near impossible to cross desert, and become the seed of all Arabs, who are Bedouins.
The fact is that Abraham's slave woman which he had this bastard son with was already a Bedouin, so obviously someone else was the seed of all Arabs (Bedouins) before Abraham.
If we all believe in the same God, then why are muslims murdering their brothers and sisters?
Perhaps the Irish might have an answer...
Mr. Bush is technically correct, in a Clintonesque sort of way - since there really is only 1 God, when anyone prays to any deity, by definition that 1 God is the only one who hears the prayer. Doesn’t mean He listens or responds....
A Muslim is someone who follows Islam. "Muslim" isn't any particular race of people. According to Mohammad, Allah says those who refuse to convert to Islam, which is Allah's religion, must die. Since Allah is too busy in hell stoking the fires and torturing people, Muslims take it upon themselves to do Allah's work for him.
My God says “Thou shalt not murder.” He does not say “except that you may murder and enslave infidels.” With regard to murder and kidnap-slavery, my God says you will not forgive these sins but those who commit these acts will be put to death. But, my God has provided a path to salvation for everyone, even including murderers and slavers, who trust in the character of God’s Mercy (usually translated as, “confess on the name of Jesus”). So even at the execution of the heinous criminal, we pray for the salvation of the sinner’s immortal soul. The current Pope in thinking what we Christians have that is unique, that we offer to all people of good will, said it is Jesus. It is the personal relationship we have with God through his son.
>>Christians are really just Jews who accepted this fact and through baptism in the blood of the Lamb mark the flesh in his name and are “born again” accepting the new Covenant of Christ which releases us from the old law, which traps everyone in sin.
I thought the Jerusalem church decided that a goy did not have to convert to Judaism in order to convert to Christianity. A goy had only to give up his pagan ways, and he couldn’t tease Jewish believers in Jesus (e.g., by eating a ham and cheese sandwich during a Hafdallah service). So, as for me, I no longer burn insence to my Bhudda god, and I’ve cut way back on sacrificing virgins to the volcano god, but I sure enjoy a crabcake sandwich when I’m in Baltimore.
Psalm 2 proves you wrong. Many Jewish people do not recognize that the Son of God, The Messiah, has come once and will come again. But the Jewish scriptures make it plain for those who have ears to hear.
I have read those theories but do not believe that is the source of islam. Certain elements may have been borrowed to make it more familiar to the inhabitants of that region, but I believe the source is otherwise.
For another interesting read on islam I suggest: http://answering-islam.org/Authors/JR/Future/index.htm
As I stated, even satan believes in God.
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This President doesn’t get it when it comes to Muslims.
Just like Roosevelt/Truman didn’t get it when it came to Commies.
‘Jews do not worship the same god because their god has no incarnate son.’
um what theological institute did you graduate from to come up with this statement; which I will hasten to point out to you is so far from being correct it is astounding.
It is a known fact in many theological circles, that Christianity was born of Judisim; Christ the Lord and Saviour of humanity was a Jew, he believed in the same god as I do, which is the same god as did all those might men of God in the bible.
The contentous point I might think you are aluding to is the fact while we beleive that the Messiah has appeared and await his return, our Hebrew sibling are still in waiting for the Messiah to come, having discounted Jesus as the true King of the Jews and Messiah.
Please check your facts people, as I am not even going to comment on the statements about Islam.
What Christians is he talking about??? Do we have Christians who are engaging in violence on a world-wide scope?
I believe the God that the Muslim prays to is the same God that I pray to.
And I believe that Bush's moronity emboldens them.
Your reply was addressed to me but the quote you take issue with was from Cletus.D.Yokel.
My original point was that if one says Muslims don’t worship the same God as Christians do, it is hard to avoid concluding that neither do Jews. Mr. Yokel took the bait and proved my point.
Since a Muslim’s understanding of God and of what God wants is flawed, some of the prayers he makes are likely to be inappropriate, but it is not the case that God fails to hear those prayers; rather, He answers them as He answers all prayers addressed to Him (and sometimes the answer is “No”). The critics of Islam on this thread seem to feel that Islam is so evil and wrong that God does not even hear the prayers of a Muslim; but sometimes Muslims pray for good things, and I know of no Christian theological teaching that those prayers are always doomed to remain ungranted.
I’ll admit that a Satan-worshipper’s prayers might be ignored in this way, but Islam, bad as it sometimes is, is not Satan-worship.
Then there are others that don’t fit the mold well such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
The Jews worship a false god:
1 John 2:22
1 John 2:23
Luke 12:9
Matthew 10:33
I believe Al lah is The God.
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