Posted on 12/17/2015 6:45:49 PM PST by delacoert
Wheaton College is stirring up an old debate this week that's worth revisiting. Professor Larycia Hawkins, in an effort to show solidarity with Muslims, decided to wear a hijab during advent. While wearing a hijab may have been tolerated by the school, what she said about the relationship between Islam and Christianity, was not. She wrote:
"I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God."
For the crime of saying, "we worship the same God" Hawkins was suspended from school. Once news of this broke, the Evangelical Machine™ went into over-drive to celebrate the decision. Bloggers quickly weighed in with approval, and it certainly caught the eye of my brother-from-a-TOTALLY-different-mother, Franklin Graham, who said "shame on her!" for wearing a hijab (as if a head covering is some mortal sin), and continued to say she was "absolutely wrong" that we worshipped the same God.
In light of what will be ongoing conversations about Islam in America, the issue of God v. Allah is a critical one to have.
Do we worship the same God? If so, what does that mean?
The best answer to this question is, of course, Miroslav Volf's book, Allah: A Christian Response. It's so important that I'd almost say one should hold off on having a firm opinion on the matter until they're informed- and Volf has produced what really is the best that exists on the topic. However, for those who would never go out and read a book, I'm going to answer this question in the most broken-down, basic way I can.
Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? Is God and Allah one-in-the-same? In the most primitive way, yes. Let me explain:
In ancient times there was a man named Abraham who is revered in three of the world's great religions. Abraham, of course, is considered the father of the Jewish people as well as Arabs and then Muslims. Essentially, Abraham somewhat founded a religion that went into three different streams: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Here's the important part: all three of these religions are Abrahamic religions, trying to worship Abraham's God.
And this is where we can say all three religions do in fact worship the same God, as all three religions are pointing to, offering worship, and attempting to describe, the same object.
On the surface, it appears different because we say God, and Muslim's say Allah, but that's simply because that's the word for God in Arabic. In fact, Christians in that part of the world also call God Allah. Allah is just a word- if Islam were born in a different culture, they'd use a different word. In this regard, saying that God and Allah are different because we're using different words would almost be like saying, "Who is this weird god Mexicans worship and call Dios?" It's an issue of language, that's all.
Here's where we're at: all three religions are offering worship the same object, and that is Abraham's God- though they might use different terminology (and described traits, which we'll get to).
Now, when we affirm that Muslims and Christians worship the same God the Evangelical Machine™ goes bonkers, and that's because they assume we're affirming way more than what we affirm when we say, "yes, it's the same God."
Same God yes, but that doesn't mean all three religions are equally true, or that we're describing this God in the same way.
Affirming the basic fact that Christianity, Judaism and Islam are three religions attempting to worship and describe the same God (Abraham's God, whatever one calls him), doesn't mean we're saying all three religions are the same, equally valid, correct, or anything else. We're simply pointing to the fact that we're attempting to describe the same entity.
Some will argue that God and Allah are not the same (Abraham's God) because Christians and Muslims describe the character of Abraham's God differently, even conflictingly. However, describing an object differently doesn't mean that two people are describing two totally different objects. For example, let's say Jane and Henry both work for a guy named Jeff. Jane says that Jeff is a decent boss who treats people fairly. Henry on the other hand, describes Jeff as being lazy and unavailable. The two people may be describing Jeff differently, and one or both of them might be wrong in their understanding of Jeff, but they're still attempting to describe the same object.
Describing an object differently doesn't make it a different object.
However, if having different understandings and opinions on the attributes of the object to which we offer worship were a legitimate argument to say that they are entirely different, one would have to say the same thing about Judaism, and even among Christian denominations/traditions.
For example, Evangelicals are quick to paint Judaism as our close brother, and will say that not only do we worship the same God, but that they are God's favorite people. However, Jews do not believe about God what we believe about God. If this difference in understanding God's attributes or activity through history makes the God of Islam a different God than the one we are worshipping, we would have to say the same thing about Jews. Not only that, we'd have to say it about other Christians, too– making the case that each denomination has it's own God.
And this is the basic logic that's wrong: "You describe the object differently than I do, therefore it is a different object." Unfortunately, that logic would get us into all sorts of problems.
For example, plenty of Christian traditions describe a God I have a hard time recognizing. I even find some of the ways they describe his attributes to be offensive. However, as Christians we do in fact worship the same God- we just disagree on what God is like. It's not the object we disagree on, but the attributes.
We could play this out with every Christian sect- 40,000+ of them. Again, if we apply the same principle Evangelicalism applies to Islam (they describe God differently than how we describe God, thus it is a different God) that same logic would cause us to declare that every Christian different than ourselves is worshiping a different God.
However, we don't do that. While we disagree and sometimes even fight about these differences, we still have the charity and decency to largely affirm that all Christians are attempting to offer worship to the same object: the God of Abraham. That obviously doesn't mean we think all Christian traditions are equally right or valid- we simply affirm that we are attempting to worship the same entity: Abraham's God.
We extend this charity to other Christians. We extend this charity to Judaism- which outright rejected God's covenant and the Messiah. Yet, when we find Islam, we depart from our norm of acknowledging the object of our worship is the same but simply disagree on what the nature and characteristics are like.
Why we refuse to have the charity to admit that, like Jews and 40,000 versions of Christianity we disagree with, we're all attempting to worship Abraham's God, is beyond me. There's plenty the Christian and Muslim disagree on, theologically. We disagree on the attributes of God, the nature of sin, soteriology, etc. However, like it or not, both religions are attempting to worship the same entity.
And that is the God of Abraham.
When I myself was struggling with this question, the most helpful words came from Miroslav Volf when he came to speak to my class when I studied Islam at Gordon-Conwell. Volf said, "there's a difference between worshipping the right God, and worshipping the right God rightly."
One can affirm we are worshipping the same God without it being an affirmation that one is worshipping the right God in the right way.
So, yes: Christians and Muslims do in fact worship the same God- but that doesn't mean everything you're assuming we mean when we say it. It's not a confession of Unitarian Universalism. We're not saying both religions are the same and equally true or correct.
All it means is we affirm that Jews, Christians, and Muslims are all trying to worship the same entity: Abraham's God.
Priming people to accept the merging of islam and Christianity and the anti-Christ and the False Prophet.
Does Allah have a son?
No.
So he’s not my God, he’s somebody else. Sounds like a deceiver. Sounds like Satan.
“Allah” is, rather.
The Hebrew “Elohim” means “mighty one(s)”. “Adonai” means “Lord”.
Also, Muslims consider themselves as SLAVES to their God.
God is Triune with Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Allah is singular, has no son and shares with no one.
God is Love. Allah preaches hate against the enemies of Islam.
God is Truth. Allah encourages lying to deceive the infidels and is a deceiver himself.
God is our Father. Again, Allah has no sons. Mankind is enslaved to his will. If you want to break ecumenism with a Muslim, start praying the Lord’s Prayer.
Take the words from the Muslem most sacred book itself.
According to the Koran
Allah is neither male or female, has no son or daughter.
According to the New Testament of the Bible
the God Elohim of Israel has a Son
- Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
.......but Allah has no son.
Therefore the Biblical New Testament Christian God of Israel is not/can not be Allah!
The author obviously hasn’t read both the Bible and the Quran to study their teachings and compared them. They are diametrically different in almost every way with the exception of some history which Mohammed included from the Bible that he learned while being a former Christian. When I was much younger and ignorant I thought the same as the author. Then I read the Bible and quite a bit of the Quran. The spirit in both books is so completely different that only someone who knows absolutely nothing about what he is talking about could make such a statement.
Allah in NOT the Abrahamic God, it is a reference to the pre-Islamic god ‘al-lah’, a big god to be sure, but actually only one of hundreds of gods.
Since there is only one God, the author is correct that the God one religion worships must be the God that another worships. To claim otherwise is paganism.
But as he notes, that doesn’t mean that they worship the same, or even similarly. It doesn’t mean that they’re the same thing.
It certainly doesn’t mean that Muslims and Christians are both violent killer sects, as some liberals try to imply.
It means that there is only one God, no matter how you describe and define that Being.
The writer does not know the God of Christianity, clearly. And this sort of spittling fool will be advising Americans how to relate to the murderous political system euphemistically called the Religion of Islam.
Gott im Himmel. This argument is specious on its face. What do the practitioners of Christianity, Judaism and Islam do-and not do, to demonstrate their faith (used loosely in Islam’s terms)?
Written by someone from WHEATON College???? Are you kidding me?
I guess the beheaded Christians and blood-libeled Jews and their murdered people are not demonstrations enough to be able to differentiate ‘right’ vs’ ‘rightly.’
All I can think of is the body of that little girl in a little blue dress, her head off her body, and the Islamic butcher holding up her lifeless body proudly. That is not faith, even if 0bama says it is.
Actually, the inscription on the top of the Dome of the Rock specifically says that God has no Son.
These people keep trying to pass this off, it’s idiotic.
I guess they think if they keep repeating this lie that people will believe it.
Uh....NO! Jehovah and Allah are not the same in any way. Jehovah is truth and Allah is a liar.
Allah is not the God of Abraham.
Isaac and Ishmael are the sons of Abraham. Isaac’s descendants are Jews and Christians; Ishmael’s are Muslims.
In the Bible, the Gospels tell the same story quite differently, based on teh different audiences for which they’re writing. The Koran is written for the Ishmaelites, so they’ll feature that aspect of the Abraham story, whereas the Old and New Testaments are written for the Children of Isaac, so they’ll feature that aspect of the story.
Yes, this author is a false prophet. A deceiver; who may not even know he’s deceived and deceiving others.
It matters little. He is doing the work of the antichrist spirit in preparation for the Antichrist.
As are many others.
A Muslim who sincerely thinks he is worshiping THE SUPREME BEING is worshiping the same God as everyone else who thinks he is worshiping THE SUPREME BEING.
This is true EVEN IF Mohammed was demonically possessed, etc.
“Allah” is the Arabic name for the Supreme Being, used by both Christians and Jews. “Allah” is NOT a demon, or a “moon god,” etc.—EVEN IF Muslims are actually demonically possessed.
Islam is an evil, false “religion.” In the Muslim world, demonic possession is rife. But the most intellectually incoherent way to express these facts is to say that “Allah” is a “demon” or a “moon god.” However evil Islam is, “Allah” remains a name for the actual, real Supreme Being.
He came along after those were written.
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