Welcome everyone to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth. I apologize for being away for so long. I unfortunately came down with the flu bug. The Mrs. is also currently recovering from some flu-like symptoms but does not have the bug. Fortunately, I’m at the point where I’m able to function again so here I am. Also, before continuing our look at “Should You Believe In The Trinity?” I’m going to break to address a question that has been raised due to some current events loved ones of mine are experiencing. Do Muslims and Christians worship the same god?
And I am regularly dismayed at the number of Christians who think we do.
I want to be clear in this post that while I do advocate Christianity, that is not my goal right now. It could be for the sake of argument that Islam is true and Christianity is false. It could be that both of them are false. However, it cannot be that both of them are true.
Let’s note some fundamental differences in the religions.
Christianity claims that in these last days, God has spoken by Jesus, namely this is said in Hebrews. Islam claims that Muhammad is the last of the prophets.
Christianity claims that Jesus is the Son of God. Islam says it is blasphemous to think that God has a son.
Christianity claims God is triune. This is blasphemy to Muslims also as it is ascribing partners to God in their view.
Christianity claims Christ was crucified. Islam claims that he was not. (To be fair, some Muslims would say the fourth Sura does not demand this, but many apologists like Deedat did deny Jesus was crucified)
Christianity claims salvation by grace through faith. Islam has salvation set up on a measuring scale of works.
Christianity claims the Bible is the Word of God and no other book has that place. Islam gives that place to the Koran.
Christianity says Jesus claimed to be ontologically equal with God. Islam has him denying he ever said such a thing.
Christianity claims Jesus rose from the dead. Islam says he never died so he never rose.
As has been asked in a book before, is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad? If so, it seems that God is getting his message confused. Who is God? How has he revealed himself? What did he come to do? How can I be saved? These are important questions that these two religions disagree on.
Now someone might say Allah was a name used by Christians well before Islam came along and it’s just their word for God.
Now if you went to see some Arabic Christians who speak Arabic, they would use the word Allah for God. Their John 1:1 would say “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with Allah and the Word was Allah.” With that, we have no problem. However, the danger is an equivocation fallacy in saying that because the names are the same, the content behind the names is the same.
For instance, my parents have a cat whose name is Reagan. Am I to assume that that cat is the same as the fortieth president of the United States? Why not? They both have the same name. The difference is that the word “Reagan” is a referent. One points to one of our feline friends. The other points to a president.
But there is only one true God!
To begin with, in being honest observers, we could come out and say “Maybe there isn’t.” Now as a Christian, I believe there is, but if you think so, upon what reasons? I am not going to give mine now but just say that this would require apologetics of some sort on your part.
What will it be? Will you go with Aristotle-Thomistic thinking? Will you go with the ontological argument of Anselm? Could you use the Kalam to somehow arrive at one creator? Whichever way, you are already engaging in apologetics which is important to establish since this is an apologetics question.
Suppose however for the sake of argument that we have done our apologetics and discovered that there is only one true God. Why stop our apologetics there? Our quest for truth should make us wish to decide what this one God is like. What is His nature? Has He revealed Himself and if so, how?
Because there is one true God, it does not follow that all descriptions of him are accurate. There is only one person in the universe that is me, for instance. However, if you say that that person is 6″4′ and can throw a football 100 yards, then I’m sorry but you have the wrong guy.
If all worship the same God just because there is one, then one wonders what the big fuss was about between the Jews and the Christians at the start of the New Testament era. Were the apostles going around saying to the Jews “Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know you’re still okay since you worship one true God! No need to come and know Jesus!”
On the other hand, the Jews were of the opinion that the apostles were blasphemers based on what they were saying about Jesus. The important point is that if Jesus had been a mere man and not God in the flesh, the Jews would have been absolutely right with what they said about the apostles. If Jesus is not God, then all of us who are Christians are blasphemers.
To say there is one God is not the same as saying all descriptions of the one God are accurate. Some are wrong and in fact, the very reason we should be doing evangelism is because we do believe some of them are wrong. I do believe Muslims are not worshiping the real God. I believe they are worshiping something, but that something does not exist as there is no Allah. There is YHWH. (By that, I mean the referent of course and not just a generic word for deity)
For those of us doing evangelism, it does us no service to say they are the same God. In fact, as a Christian, if I was told the God of Christianity and the God of Islam are the same, I would find that a blasphemous statement. I find it especially so because of the glory of the Trinity, a doctrine that Islam by necessity denies.
Christianity and Islam have differences. Let’s realize that. Again, it could be that Islam is right or it could be that both religions are wrong, but both religions are not the same. It may be politically correct to say that they are the same God, but it sure isn’t biblically or theologically correct.
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