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holdencaulfield
Guest
Let’s not let doctrine separate us people, because all us Christians, Jews, and Muslims all believe in one God, and this is a great gift to Him. How are we alike?
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swariffin
Guest
We the Christians including the Catholics, including the JW believe in ONE GOD, but the Muslims (may be only some) and the JW (may be only some) think that we are not. Who has to settle this difference? Us or Them?
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holdencaulfield
Guest
They can just accept it. We believe in one God. We don’t claim to believe in something else. We don’t secretly practice polytheism, if that’s what some people think.
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tawheedah
Guest
How does 3=1?
How does God have a son?
How does God’s son equal God himself?
If that’s not the case then, why pray to Jesus and not God?
Why pray to saints or Mary?
If you’re praying to something or someone other than God then are you not associating that which you are praying to as a partner of God?
How are all of those things I just asked belief in One God?
How does God have a son?
How does God’s son equal God himself?
If that’s not the case then, why pray to Jesus and not God?
Why pray to saints or Mary?
If you’re praying to something or someone other than God then are you not associating that which you are praying to as a partner of God?
How are all of those things I just asked belief in One God?
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Claire_from_DE
Guest
But doctrine really does separate us. We all believe that there is only one God. What we believe about that one God does deeply divide us. Jews were the first great monotheists. The Lord, Himself, formed them as a people. Christians believe that Jesus was the messiah of the Jews, is the only begotten Son of the Father who took on a human nature, and died to reconcile us to God, and rose from the dead. Muslims believe that Jesus is just another prophet and that Mohammed is greater and that Isaac was no more chosen by God than Ishmael was. These are fundamental differences.
I guess we can all agree that God exists, He is creator of all, and that He is a personal God rather than an impersonal force.
He expects us to live in a just and moral manner. But we even differ in our view of how this morality should be lived. In our interactions with each other, we can respect each other as persons with a dignity which comes from our creator.
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Claire_from_DE
Guest
This is a very good question! I would never have thought of it because the word ‘pray’ means one thing to us when we talk about God and something different when we talk about ‘praying’ to the saints.
To pray to God means to adore Him, to praise His greatness, goodness, and mercy to us, to love Him, to ask that He will show us what He wants us to do to serve Him. We thank Him for all that He has done for us, we offer Him all that we have because we know that everything comes from Him. We ask Him to help us in our needs and to bless those we love. We tell Him we are sorry for sinning against Him and beg His forgiveness and mercy. Sometimes we just kneel or sit quietly to feel God’s presence, since we know God is everywhere and He always sees us.
To pray to angels, to Mary and the saints (those righteous people whose souls are with God) is very different. We know that they always see the face of God. We ask them to pray to God for us. We believe that God permits them to hear our requests. We don’t think of them as partners of God. We think of them as our friends, our partners, who are in heaven. Here on earth we ask other people to pray to God for us. It is a good deed to pray for our friends. So we ask our friends in heaven to pray for us and sometimes ask them to help us if God permits it.
Even angels, who are much more powerful and intelligent than we are, are only God’s creatures. Sometimes God sends angels as messengers to men. Jesus said our angels see the face of God in heaven. So we believe that God assigns each person a guardian angel to watch over him. We ask angels to pray for us and to guide us to do what God wants us to do.
I hope this helps you to understand us better.
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Reuben_J
Guest
Excellent explanation! I do not wish to jump the gun and so I pray that it helps him/her to understand us better.
God bless.
V
Valke2
Guest
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rciadan
Guest
There lies the basic flaw in the theory of “Let’s just all get along”. There are so many radical, dangerous people out there who absolutely will not “just accept it”. They will spend thier lives and thier fortunes doing all they can to exterminate you and me! They don’t care what we claim to believe: only that we don’t believe exactly like them.
You need to “just accept” the fact that there have always been those who persecuted Christ and His Church and there always will be, till the end of time. Yes, we still Love them, but wisdon and prudence demands we understand that there are many who will hate us no matter how much we love them. Yes it is painful, and in this way we share in His Glorious Crucifixion.
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tawheedah
Guest
Thank you for taking the time out to explain this to me, I really appreciate your doing that. The way you’ve explained it does give me a better understanding, which while our views and beliefs may differ, but I do respect yours and really appreciate you explaining it for me.
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swariffin
Guest
Dear Tauheedah,
May I say something bad about Islam out of my limited knowledge about it?
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tawheedah
Guest
You can say whatever you want to say… freedom of speech and such. But isn’t it better to ask about something you don’t understand rather than to bash it?
C
Christine_Blake
Guest
We are all descended from Abraham…the first monotheist…our history is shared…and while we have split from there, we are always of this one family…read the book Abraham by Bruce Feiler…very interesting view of today’s troubles…
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mark_a
Guest
I read this book and was very intrigued by it. I have also enjoyed his “Walking the Bible” series on PBS.
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swariffin
Guest
Thanks to God, I have not.
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LilyM
Guest
3 can = 1, 3 branches = 1 tree, 3 lanes = 1 road, 3 sides = 1 triangle
Of course God has a son, are we not all sons and daughters of God?
How does God’s son equal God? How does ice=steam=water? (after all, all have the same chemical formula, H20, so in essence they do equal each other)
We DO pray BOTH to Jesus AND to God the Father, haven’t you heard the ‘Our Father’ prayer in our scripture that we all say?
Saints have been dealt with by other posters.
We are all partners of God - children come from God AS WELL AS from their mothers and fathers, food comes from the farmer as well as from God, so mother and father and farmer are partners with God in making these things, no?
M
mark_a
Guest
Where would we pidgeonhole self described “freelance monotheists” such as Karen Armstrong, who is a former Catholic nun and former Muslim?
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