Posted on 04/19/2016 8:52:53 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Most Americans say they believe in God. And around the world, religious Jews, Christians, and Muslims all say they believe in God, as do many people who do not identify with any formal religion.
But this statement is actually meaningless. To cite but one example, the God in whose name Muslims cut innocent people’s throats and rape women cannot be the same God as the God of those who believe that God hates such actions.
Who, then, argues that all those who say they believe in God believe in the same God?
Two groups make this argument. The first consists of people who have an anti-religious agenda; in order to discredit God and religion, they say that all believers believe in the same God. The second group consists of people who have an “inclusion” agenda and wish to depict Muslims as believing in the same God that Jews and Christians do. (And some Muslims do indeed believe in the same God as Jews and Christians — see below.)
So, then, how are we to know whether any two people who say they believe in God in fact do?
I will answer as a believing Jew: How do I know if another person believes in the same God as I do?
I ask the following three questions:
1. Do you believe in the “God of Israel”?
Those who cannot answer this question in the affirmative do not believe in the same God that believing Jews and the majority of believing Christians do. As for Muslims, they should have no problem answering in the affirmative. But in our time, at least, many wouldn’t.
The God of Israel is, among other things, the God introduced to the world by the Jews and their Bible: the God who created the world, revealed Himself to the Jews, and made His moral will known through the Ten Commandments and the Hebrew Prophets.
2. Does the God you believe in judge the moral behavior of every human being?
There are many people today who say that they believe in God but not in a God who judges people’s actions. These people do not believe in the same God that traditional Jews and Christians worship. Those who believe in a God that is indifferent to the moral behavior of human beings believe in a “God” that is so different from the God introduced by the Jews that they might as well use a word other than “God.”
This does not mean that such people cannot be fine upstanding people (any more than everyone who believes in a morally judging God is necessarily a fine upstanding person). But in general they are less likely to be moral for the obvious reason that most human beings act better when they believe their actions will be judged (by God or by man).
At the same time, one need not be a Jew, Christian, or Muslim in order to believe in the God who judges people’s moral behavior. Benjamin Franklin was one such individual. He did not affirm the Christian creed, but he did believe in the morally judging God introduced by the Bible.
One might argue that violent Islamists also believe in a judging God and that Torquemada, the infamous head of the Spanish Inquisition, did. But this argument is not valid, because Islamists do not believe — and Torquemada did not believe — in a God who judges people by their moral conduct, but solely by their faith, a faith that they alone determined God approves of.
For the record, Jews never believed — and the Jews’ Bible never suggested — that one must believe in Judaism or be Jewish in order to be favorably judged by God.
3. Do you believe in the God who gave the Ten Commandments?
This question needs to be asked. After all, if God never revealed his moral will, how do we know what behaviors God demands from us and what He judges?
Finally, what about all those people who answer the three questions affirmatively but who have additional theological beliefs that separate them from others who believe in these three things? Do they believe in the same God?
For example, what about Christians who believe in the God of Israel, the God who morally judges human actions and who revealed the Ten Commandments — but who also believe, by definition, in the Christian Trinity? Do they believe in the same God as Jews and other non-Christians who believe in these three things? I think they do. And the same would hold true for a Muslim who believes in those things but also believes that the Koran is the only fully valid revelation.
Whether or not one uses these three criteria, we should all at least acknowledge that saying one believes in God tells us nothing about the God one believes in. And regarding faith, that is what matters.
— Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest book, The Ten Commandments: Still the Best Moral Code, was published by Regnery. He is the founder of Prager University
Dennis is a good Jew. His questions are valid for him....not so much for me.
He makes it too complicated. The answer to his question is simple....NO!!!!!
The God of Jews and Christians commands us all to “Love your enemies”.
Allah commands his followers to “Kill your enemies”.
Clearly not the same being.
RE: He makes it too complicated. The answer to his question is simple....NO!!!!!
His answer is the same as yours, I think the article analyzes why the answer is so.
God is Trinitarian. Islam denies the Son, and the Holy Spirit, continually.
Paul explains perfectly the relationship between Christian, fully true, and the God of the Old Testament, also true, but not fully disclosed.
So the answer with respect to Islam is, absolutely not.
The answer with respect to Judaism, is...read Paul (well, and Hebrews...well, and the Gospels...).
No. Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6).
We do not worship the same god, and not everyone will go to heaven. Don’t blame God for this. He has given us Jesus out of the goodness of His heart.Those who refuse to believe have only themselves to blame.
Jews and Christians worship the God of love, mercy and forgiveness. Islam? Not so much.
Did you know that Mohammad, when first encountering the angel Gabriel, thought he was the devil? Funny thing about that, Mary didn’t have that reaction. I wonder why Mohammad thought he was seeing a devil?
There’s room for only one God of Creation in the entire universe.
That means that all other manifestations claiming to be gods are actually devils.
The logic is undeniable: the God of Creation commands us to love while the Allah of Islam commands its followers to kill.
Simple. Occam’s Razor stuff.
If you can say that muslims and Jews do not worship the same God, then you are saying that there are two distinct Gods, which is impossible.
If you want to say that muslims worship an imaginary God, which doesn’t exist, OK, you are right there.
No. Next question.
However, “Love your enemies” is not a suicide PACK.
God did not mean for us to be stupid and uninformed. When another sect beheads people, hangs people, sets people on fire .. I’m confident whoever or whatever they worship IS NOT RELATED TO THE GOD I WORSHIP as a Christian.
If people cannot make that distinction, they will DIE.
Jews and Christians yes. Muslims no. Next question.
Islam’s “god” is literally the criminally insane parts of mohammad’s brain.
You could go even further than that and ask “Do any two people believe in the same God?”
Well said!
Dennis views this from a Jewish perspective, and waiting for the Messiah. Christianity is the proclamation that Christ is the Messiah, the Savior, the Truth, 100% Man 100% God, etc... You can't ignore that and go back to just God and his prophets like Muslims and Mormons believe.
Christians and Jews, yes, but Muslims worship some other, not benevolent, entity.
no, Allah/Muhammad did not have a son named Jesus
Simply believing that God exists is in itself insufficient; even the devil knows God exists.
The real question is who can be saved from the wrath of God when the appointed time comes (and it will come)?
Romans 10:9 is quite clear:
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
The late, great Lawrence Auster used to call Dennis a confused liberal. And in fact Dennis used to correct callers who referred to him as a conservative- he is and was a ‘60s RFK liberal. People seem to conflate religious observance with conservatism more than is warranted.
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