Do Moslems, Christians & Jews Believe in the Same God?

One in a series of excerpts adapted by Robert Locke from Dr. Serge Trifkovic’s new book, The Sword of the Prophet: A Politically-Incorrect Guide to Islam

One of the clichés endlessly repeated by those who would conceal the dangerous potentialities inherent in Islam is that Moslems "believe in the same God" as Christians and Jews. But this is a severe distortion of the truth, for what Moslems fundamentally believe is that they know the true nature of the God that Judaism and Christianity tell lies about. Lies for which Christians and Jews will be punished in hell. The fact that Moslems share Levantine monotheism with us thus makes them more, not less, antagonistic to us on a religious level. Hopes for reconciliation on the grounds of common monotheism, as opposed to a realistic "good fences make good neighbors" civilizational détente, are wishful thinking.

The widespread belief in the non-Muslim world that Islam accords respect to the Old Testament and the Gospels as steps in progression to Mohammad’s revelation is mistaken. Modern Muslim apologists try to stress the supposed underlying similarities and compatibility of the three faiths, but this is not the view of orthodox Islam. Muhammad’s insistence that there is a heavenly proto-Scripture and that previous "books" are merely distorted and tainted copies sent to previous nations or communities means that these scriptures are the "barbarous Koran" as opposed to the true, Arabic one. (Let’s leave aside for a minute the puzzling question of how any degree of "distortion" of the Koran could produce either an Old or a New Testament.) The Tradition also regards the non-canonical Gospel of Barnabas, and not the New Testament, as the one that Jesus taught. The Koran alone is the true word of God and sets aside all previous revelations.

While the influence of orthodox Christianity upon the Koran has been slight, apocryphal and heretical Christian legends are the second most important original source of Islam. In other words, Islam contains an awful lot that Christians have deliberately rejected over the years as religiously unsound. There are also influences of Sabaism, of Zoroastrianism, and of ancient Arabian paganism, including the divine sanction for the practices of polygamy and slavery. The reports in both the Koran and the Hadith (authoritative traditional sayings) concerning paradise, the houris, (virgins) the youths, the jinn (genies) and the angel of death have been directly taken from the ancient books of the Zoroastrians. Zoroastrianism also originated the story that on the Day of Judgment all people will have to cross a bridge stretched across hell leading to paradise on which the unbelievers will stumble and fall down to hell.

The biblical stories been passed on to Muhammad presumably from Jewish and Christian sources, but it is probable that he never read the Old or the New Testament. Those narratives had deeply impressed him, but being incomplete and imprecise, they gave his imagination free rein. Of the books of the Old Testament he knew only of the Torah or Pentateuch and the Book of Psalms, while the Scriptures he treats collectively as "the Gospels." Muhammad took these narratives as they were given to him, and their use in the Koran amounts to random, approximate and often badly misunderstood reproduction of the Talmudic traditions and the Apocrypha. Moreover, they are of course devoid of their original contexts and of the spiritual message of the original.

Many Old Testament stories are changed beyond recognition, and can be treated as a "source" only in the most general sense. Abraham did not offer Isaac, but Ishmael, as a sacrifice. "Haman" was pharaoh’s chief minister, even though the Haman known to Jews lived in Babylon one thousand years later. Moses was picked from the river not by his sister but by his mother. A Samaritan was the one who molded the golden calf for the children of Israel and misguided them, even though Samarians arrived only after the Babylonian exile. The accounts of Moses’ life are sketchy and say nothing of his character, descent, the time he was sent as a prophet, the purpose of his mission, and where, how and why he appointed Aaron as his deputy. It does not relate the argument between them and the people of Israel, which is crucial to the story. The story of Noah reflected Muhammad’s dilemmas and difficulties rather than Noah’s mission, and even the names of the idols that Noah warns against are Arabic.

The Koran makes reference to Jesus, Mary and events related to them, but with a critical distinction. It explicitly denies that Jesus was crucified: Allah made the Jews so confused that they crucified somebody else instead who had the likeness of Christ: "They slew him not nor crucified but it appeared so unto them." Muslims claim that an impostor by the name of Shabih was crucified, and he resembled Jesus in his face only. It seems illogical to those who count "proud" as one of the "99 most beautiful names of Allah" that Jesus, who was capable of raising the dead and of healing the blind and the leper, willingly submitted to the cross and failed to destroy the Jews who intended to hurt him. Islam rejects the whole concept of the crucifixion, claiming that it is against reason to assume that Allah would not forgive man’s sins without the cross: to say so is to limit his power: "He forgives whom he will, and he chastises whom he will."

The denial of the Trinity is also explicit: Allah begets not, i.e. he is no Father; and was not begotten, that is, he is no Son; and no one is like him, which means he is no Holy Spirit. "They are infidels who say, Allah is the third of three." But "Isa" is not the Son of Allah, only a special prophet, and the Christians’ contrary claim shows how they are perverted. The Christians are guilty of blasphemy because of their belief in the "trinity" of Allah, Mary, and Jesus. The "real" Jesus was a righteous prophet and a good Muslim who paved the way for the final prophet, Muhammad himself.

There is a wishful myth in circulation among liberals that Islam accords respect to all "people of the book," i.e. Christians and Jews in addition to Moslems. While Islam indeed accords them a higher standing than it does to polytheists like Hindus (pace the question of whether Hinduism properly understood is truly polytheistic) or African animists, this hardly amounts to respect. Of all the "people of the book" only Muslims can attain salvation. Jews’ and Christians’ refusal to acknowledge Mohammed as the messenger of God dooms them to unbelief and eternal suffering after death. Christians are mortal sinners because of their belief in the divinity of Christ, and their condemnation is irrevocable: "God will forbid him the garden and the fire will be his abode."

Unlike the Christian faith in God revealing Himself through Christ, the Koran is not a revelation of Allah – a heretical concept in Islam – but the direct revelation of his commandments and the communication of his law. It has been said that the Koran, to a Muslim, is not the perfected Gospel, it Christ, the Word Incarnate. This is a somewhat tenuous metaphor, however, not a valid parallel: Christian God "comes down" and seeks man because of His fatherly love. The Fall cast a shadow, the Incarnation makes reconciliation possible. Allah, by contrast, is cold, haughty, unpredictable, unknowable, capricious, distant, and so purely transcendent that no "relationship" is possible. He reveals only his will, not himself. Allah is "everywhere," and therefore nowhere relevant to us. He is uninterested in making our acquaintance, let alone in being near to us because of love. We are still utterly unable to grasp his purposes and all we can do is what we have to do, to obey his command.

The Koran claims to be the fulfillment of a religious design which was imperfectly revealed to the Jews and to the Christians. It is the crowning synthesis, the final word. But viewing the matter objectively, leaving aside for a moment the question of the actual truth of the book, it seems hard to see how the Koran is a synthesis of anything. The way in which Christianity makes sense – again, simply as a logical matter and leaving aside the truth of it – as a fulfillment of Judaism, is clear even to the unbeliever. But the Koran’s claim is singularly implausible. Non-Muslim commentators fail to see in what way is the Koran an improvement over, or advancement on, the moral teaching, language, style, or coherence of the Old and New Testament. It is looks, feels, sounds like a construct entirely human in origin and intent, clear in its earthly sources of inspiration and the fulfillment of the daily needs, personal and political, of its author.

Finally, one cannot ignore that whatever mildly friendly things the Koran may say about Judaism and Christianity in its early part, the late Surras also signify the final break with the Jews and Christians, who are fiercely denounced. The Muslims must be merciless to the unbelievers but kind to each other. "Whoso of you makes them his friends is one of them." War, not friendship, is mandatory until Islam reigns everywhere. Muslims are ordered to fight the unbelievers, "and let them find harshness in you." They must kill the unbelievers "wherever you find them." The punishment for resistance is execution or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides. By the stage in his life during which these Surras were written, Muhammad was no longer trying to convert his hearers by examples, promises, and warnings; he addresses them as their master and sovereign, praising them or blaming them for their conduct, giving laws and precepts as needed. His raw dogmatism stands, finally, naked of all pretence.

You can't follow your own logic. That's a common fault. Don't sweat it.

Are you trying to make me laugh on purpose or what dude?

I know exactly what I believe, and I've addressed far more well thought out arguments than anything you've posted.

Is this what your simple minded challenges have been reduced to?
I've laid out the Biblical foundations and teachings which support the doctrine that man was endowed with free will by God.

And you still seem unable to articulate a coherant argument to challenge any of my points...and have gone from parroting worn out simple minded cliches like "if God is all powerful then how can evil exist???? Huh? Huh?" ...to the juvenile responses we see above.

LOL.

We may not be at war with Islam - but IT is at war with us. I myself think of it more as "We will fight a war against Afghanistan (or Iraq) and destroy them." We obviously didn't want to destroy the entire country, or the citizens. Only to get rid of the power structure and belief system that was there that was attacking and threatening us. The PEOPLE themselves we are compassionate for.

I know that Jesus was obviously against the false beliefs people had at the time (pagan, Jewish, Roman, etc.), but he loved the people, and tried to teach people about Himself and His Father. And He left His disciples and their followers (Christians) to spread the word with love.

Not that I think that the terrorists will always respond to love (I pray that a few will), and shouldn't be dealt with force. But, I do think that our Muslim neighbors and friends (of whom my wife and I have a few) CAN be treated as friends if they give respect to us and our country. But that doesn't mean I have to respect their religion. (However, most of them do say that they aren't very good Muslims. I've wondered if they were "good" Muslims we wouldn't get along?)

If I am not right yet, I ought to be,

Why?

and someday will be, if the country survives.

How will this be accomplished? Do you really think that the First Amendment, whose wording was chosen over far more specific terminology, only meant to cover specific religions even though it does not explicitly state as much?

The Bible teaches that God created Lucifer perfect in every way. Lucifer rebelled against God

That's interesting. So the nature of a "perfect" being is to rebel against God.

Very interesting.

To claim that somehow God's being all powerful makes Him responsible for the evil committed by man and Satan is an unfounded smear against the perfectly Holy character of God.

I think that the point is that if God created absolutely everything that exists (except for Himself) and if God knows absolutely everything then God knew before He made his creation just how it would turn out, and He could have done things differently so that events would have worked out differently had He chosen. As such, He is responsible for everything that did happen, including evil, since none of it would have happened without His original act of creation, and because He is all-knowing and all-powerful, there's no room to argue that unforseen variables cropped up.

your lucky

Really? You're saying that suicide bombing and decapitation is common practice for Muslims in the US? I'm sure that you have evidence for this assertion.

I went to middle school with a Muslim kid as well (different kid, different family). Again, no evidence that his family was involved in any such things.

even winston churchill knows we are at war with islam

In 1965, at the age of 90 he died of a stroke.

When did you start channeling?? ;)

RECOGNIZE THE ENEMY --- THE ENEMY IS ISLAM

Islam is a violent religion bent on world domination. Recognize this now or pay the tab later.

John Rossi’s recent article in The Weekly Standard told us of Winston Churchill’s opinion of Islam. Here --- read this:

"That religion, which above all others was founded and propagated by the sword--the tenets and principles of which are...incentives to slaughter and which in three continents had produced fighting breeds of men--stimulates a wild and merciless fanaticism."

Is it time to listen to Winston Churchill?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/736443/posts

Jorge"This still doesn't make God responsible for evil." What about Isaiah 45:7?

The "evil" in this passage means calamity or disaster...not that God is the author of moral evil.
God prohibits, judges and punishes moral evil throughout the Bible. For Him to also be the creator of moral evil would make Him a sadistic monster who causes his creations to sin and then delights in their suffering His punishment for it.
This is a horrific characterization of God that defies what the Bible teaches about His love, patience and mercy toward mankind.

In a word, "No" the Muslims do not believe in the same God as the Christians and Jews.

In a word, One. As in there is only one God. And he don't share no power, especially with anything worshipped by people who send their own sons and daughters to be suicide, murderous, pig vile scum.

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