Yes, Markbsnr, we DO have a choice and that choice is not, as you expressed, between what Almighty God has revealed through his Son and the Apostles or our own imagined god. Any person who claims the Christian faith MUST hold to what the Holy Bible says because it is the revelation from God. Through the Holy Spirit, holy men of God spoke as he moved them and what God has preserved for us is our authority. We cannot rely on the traditions of fallible men but only upon what has been taught that the authority of Scripture proves.
I don't blame you for wanting to deflect the point about the glaring error in your Catechism regarding the Muslim religion and Christianity worshipping the same god. According to the Catechism, 'together with us (Catholics) they (Muslims) adore the one, merciful God.' Pope John Paul II repeats this statement even more clearly. Addressing Muslim youths, the Pope said::
We believe in the same God, the one and only God, the living God, the God who creates worlds and brings creatures to their perfection' (What Dialogue Means for Catholics and Muslims, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, http://www.usccb.org/seia/brunett.htm).
Dr Robert Reymond comments on the odd stand of Roman Catholicism on Islam:
I should note in passing that Islam’s doctrinal hostility to Biblical Christianity apparently does not bother the Roman Catholic Church, for Rome declared in its 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 841) that Muslims are included within God’s plan of salvation because they 'acknowledge the Creator,...profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with [Christians]...adore the one merciful God [Muslims and Christians hardly 'adore' the same 'one merciful God'].' Never mind that Islam’s Allah is not the triune God of the Old and New Testaments; never mind that Muslims think our Trinity is made up of God, a human Jesus, and Mary his mother, the last two of whom we blasphemously worship along with God; never mind that they deny that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God and that he died on a cross a sacrificial death for his people’s sin and rose again because of their justification; never mind that Muslims believe that Christians are idolaters because we worship Christ who they contend was simply a human Messiah and a human prophet; never mind that they see no need for Christ’s substitutionary atonement or for that matter any substitutionary atonement at all. According to Rome’s teaching, in spite of their unbelief, Muslims are still salvifically related to the People of God and may go to Heaven as Muslims, all of which shows how serious is Roman Catholicism’s departure from Christianity (Reymond, R. What’s Wrong with Islam?).
From: http://www.justforcatholics.org/islam.htm
The Christian response to Muslims should be twofold. Firstly, we must separate ourselves from Islam and clearly state that it is a false religion. 'Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds' (2 John 9-11). Christians do not have any ecumenical relationship with Muslims. We cannot participate in their idolatry by saying that we worship the same God. On the contrary, we must warn them that since they do not abide in the doctrine of Christ, they do not have God.
Secondly, we have an evangelistic responsibility towards Muslims. They have been indoctrinated against the Son of God. We must proclaim Jesus, the Son of God, the Lord from Heaven, the Saviour of the World. We must proclaim that he died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. This is our message to Muslims, and to the rest of the world, 'He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him' (John 3:36).
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P29.HTM
841 The Church’s relationship with the Muslims. “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”330
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From: http://www.justforcatholics.org/islam.htm
The Christian response to Muslims should be twofold. Firstly, we must separate ourselves from Islam and clearly state that it is a false religion. ‘Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds’ (2 John 9-11). Christians do not have any ecumenical relationship with Muslims. We cannot participate in their idolatry by saying that we worship the same God. On the contrary, we must warn them that since they do not abide in the doctrine of Christ, they do not have God.
Secondly, we have an evangelistic responsibility towards Muslims. They have been indoctrinated against the Son of God. We must proclaim Jesus, the Son of God, the Lord from Heaven, the Saviour of the World. We must proclaim that he died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. This is our message to Muslims, and to the rest of the world, ‘He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him’ (John 3:36).
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I’m not surprised that you have *No Replies* to that post.
Yes, Markbsnr, we DO have a choice and that choice is not, as you expressed, between what Almighty God has revealed through his Son and the Apostles or our own imagined god.
That is the basis of Reformational theology.
Any person who claims the Christian faith MUST hold to what the Holy Bible says because it is the revelation from God. Through the Holy Spirit, holy men of God spoke as he moved them and what God has preserved for us is our authority.
Snippets; bits and pieces thrown into the air and read as they land do not mean that one follows the Holy Bible. The Holy Spirit moved the Bible writers, but individual Protestants claiming that whatever they came up with this morning is the fault of the Holy Spirit is blasphemy.
We cannot rely on the traditions of fallible men but only upon what has been taught that the authority of Scripture proves.
Taught by whom? Martin Luther? John Calvin? Robert Schuller? Jimmy Swaggart? The god in the mirror?
I don't blame you for wanting to deflect the point about the glaring error in your Catechism regarding the Muslim religion and Christianity worshipping the same god.
Bone up on your history, I said before. Islam traces its roots back to Abraham. No error there, but actual true historical fact. Emotions notwithstanding, it is true.
According to the Catechism, 'together with us (Catholics) they (Muslims) adore the one, merciful God.' Pope John Paul II repeats this statement even more clearly. Addressing Muslim youths, the Pope said:: We believe in the same God, the one and only God, the living God, the God who creates worlds and brings creatures to their perfection' (What Dialogue Means for Catholics and Muslims, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, http://www.usccb.org/seia/brunett.htm).
We may say the same about Joel Osteen and Ted Haggard as well. However imperfectly, we believe that they worship the One True God. As opposed to the Buddhists or the shamans of the Congo.
I should note in passing that Islam’s doctrinal hostility to Biblical Christianity apparently does not bother the Roman Catholic Church, for Rome declared in its 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 841) that Muslims are included within God’s plan of salvation because they 'acknowledge the Creator
Hysteria aside, it does not make it any less true.
Look, we agree that Islam is a false worship of God. However, because they believe in the God of Abraham, they still technically do worship the One God, however they practice that worship. You want to hold up the snake handling Oneness Pentecostals as better examples of worshipping the One God? How about the Branch Davidians? How about the white separatist Nazi groups scattered about the US? The Michigan Militia? They all teach out of the Bible. Are they Christian?
Words and terms have meaning. The Church is correct here yet again and you are wrong. I don't care how much hysteria is involved.