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Thanks for this post. Everything this pastor says rings true, but I have one quibble with this quote:

nor is there any such thing as a Christianity that stands side by side with Islam, or Judaism, or Buddhism, and says, “We worship one God under many names.”

Seems to me Christians and Jews do worship one and the same God.

(I have been thoroughly barraged on another thread for asking if Allah weren't just another word for God, so I accept that the god of Islam --and certainly of Buddhism or Ba'hai-ism etc.-- is not the God of Judaism and Christianity.)

What do you know about this?

First, thanks for posting the article.

Seems to me Christians and Jews do worship one and the same God.

Judaism is monotheistic, they only believe in Jehovah. Christianity is trinitarian giving full divinity to the three Persons of the Godhead, Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Christ said that He is the only way to the Father, that there is NONE other. So while it is true that Judaism worships Jehovah, the Jehovah that they worship is not fully the Jehovah of Christianity.

Maybe I can help clarify a little. Abraham and Sarah had a son named Issac. When they were promised a son in their dotage by God, Sarah had laughed and told Abraham to get his son from her maid, Hagar. Hagars son was Ishmael. Issac is the "father" of the Jews and Ishmael is the "father" of Islam. Christians believe Jesus is the Son of God. Islamics believe Mohammed was the prophet fortold. Of course, the Jews believe neither. This is a VERY simplistic answer but I think it does answer your question.

Gumbo, technically, Allah is the same God of the Christians and the Jews. In that, I mean, Muslims believe him to be Yahweh or the Father. However, the Islamic Allah seems to be a very big departure from the Judeo-Christian God.

As a Christian, my opinion is that Christianity is more an evolution of Judaism. Now, a Jew would disagree with me on this, but I think both would agree that we share more in common than Islam.

Seems to me Christians and Jews do worship one and the same God.
(I have been thoroughly barraged on another thread for asking if Allah weren't just another word for God, so I accept that the god of Islam --and certainly of Buddhism or Ba'hai-ism etc.-- is not the God of Judaism and Christianity.)

What do you know about this?

Sorry, but what does "this" refer to? Let me try an answer that should cover what I think you're asking.

Do I think Jews and Christians worship the same God? I'll be candid, full-ish, but not terribly diplomatic. I believe Christians worship the God revealed in the Torah, the "Old Testament." He never changes (Malachi 3:6). That God, as the Old Testament very broadly hints (to say the least) and the New Testament makes clear, is one in essence and three in Persons. He said Messiah the Prince would come 483 heptads after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and before the later destruction of Jerusalem at the hand of the Romans (Daniel 9:24-27), which takes us to c. 20-30 AD. He said His people were to listen to Messiah, or face His judgment (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).

So it is my belief that anyone who worships the God revealed in Torah also accepts Jesus as His divine, incarnate Son, the Messiah. Anyone who rejects Jesus is rejecting that God by rejecting His word, as surely as His people did in OT times (Hosea 4:6, etc.).

Nor is the God of Old and New Testament the God of Islam. The God of Islam is some sort of monad. The living God revealed in the Bible is one in essence, three in persons. Jesus is His unique son, the Prophet par excellence (Deuteronomy 18:15ff.), and the only way to know Him (John 14:6). This is not what Islam teaches.

I hope somewhere in there is the answer to what you were asking me. If not, maybe you want to re-ask on the Biblical Christianity message board?

Dan