How would you explain this bishop's statement?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Everyman
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
E

Everyman

Guest
A good Protestant friend of mine asked me this:

I was read some news and came across this quote. I don’t understand how Bishop William Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), can say:

*"In the United States, the bishops are participating in such a dialogue,” he continued. “We recognize, with Pope Benedict, that Catholics and Muslims ‘worship the one God.’” *

This seems blasphemous to me. Do the Catholics worship the god of the Koran?

here is the article.

http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=71444

How would you respond?
 
Ummm, there’s only one God. The One that created the universe.

Maybe the muslims got a lot of His revelation wrong, but if their God created the universe, it must be the same One, at least in some respects.
 
I share your uneasiness with this comment. But, I think he meant that we are both Monotheistic, Abrahamic, and both consider the Old Test. as valid scripture.
But it’s a mistake, I think, no tto clarify the big difference- We belive in the Triune God-Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
To gloss over the Muslim rejection of Christ as Son of God is leads to the fall out when the Pope makes his statement. We need to be clear on our differences in an open way . the policy of trying to be ecumenical and respectful should always place clarity at the top of our aims. Clarity is the courtesy of the philosopher.
 
According to True Christianity, which for me would be the Orthodox Church, NO! Christians and Muslims DO NOT worship the same God. How could they? Do Muslims worship “God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the Trinity One in Essence and Indivisible”? NO, they do not.

I would explain this Bishops’s statement as a great example of what is wrong with the Roman Catholic Church today-they do not want to embrace or follow historical Christianity, but follow the Spirit of the Times, and follow the spirit of political correctness, and not “offend” anyone.

It is basically a bunch of nonsense-or has the Roman Catholic Church denounced the Trinity? Or possibly Muslims have started worshipping the Trinity? If neither of these things is the case, then, without a doubt, this Bishop is no Bishop at all, but an apostate!

Do you want to have Bishops who say things so no one will feel “bad,” or Bishops who tell speak Gods Truth openly and freely?
I prefer the latter, which is why I left the Roman Catholic Church and became an Orthodox Christian. At least our Bishops are not confused about which God we worship!

O Most Holy Trinity have mercy on us! O Lord blot out our sins! O Master pardon our iniquities! O Holy One visit and heal our infirmities for thy name’s same! Lord have mercy! Lord have mercy! Lord have mercy! Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, always, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages!
 
The Catechism teaches that Muslims and Catholics worship the same God.
841 The Church’s relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day."330
Click to expand...
vatican.va/archive/catechism/p123a9p3.htm#II
 
Everyman you might like to show your Protestant friend this article from This Rock

Muslims Worship the One True God
Only Their ‘Receiving Apparatus’ Is Defective
By Fr. Brian W. Harrison, O.S.

Fr. Brian Harrison, O.S., M.A., S.T.D., is a prolific writer on Church issues, especially those having to do with the “Traditionalist” movement. He is a professor at the Pontifical University of Puerto Rico.

catholic.com/thisrock/2003/0301fea4.asp
 
If you believe that Muslims worship a different god because they don’t believe in the Trinity, what about the Jews? Our religion is descended from theirs, and so we must worship the same God, even though they reject Jesus and the Holy Spirit (either outright, or as a separate person, i don’t know).
When JPII said that we worship the same God as the Muslims, he was saying that we are all monotheistic, and we believe that our God is perfect, omniscient, omnipotent, etc. We absolutely have huge differences in doctrine, but we at least worship the same God, the Father.
 
Courtesy of Wikipedia:

A **semantic dispute **is a disagreement that arises if the parties involved disagree about whether a particular claim is true, not because they disagree on material facts, but rather because they disagree on the definitions of a word (or several words) essential to formulating the claim at issue.

It is sometimes held that semantic disputes are not genuine disputes at all. But very often they are regarded as perfectly genuine, e.g., in philosophy.

It is also sometimes held that when a semantic dispute arises, the focus of the debate should switch from the original thesis to the meaning of the terms of which there are different definitions (understandings, concepts, etc.).
Read it, live it, understand it. Then post.
 
Everyman said:
A *"In the United States, the bishops are participating in such a dialogue,” he continued. “We recognize, with Pope Benedict, that Catholics and Muslims ‘worship the one God.’” *

This seems blasphemous to me. Do the Catholics worship the god of the Koran?
d?
Click to expand...
the only alternative is to say that Catholics recognize there is more than one God, that Muslims worship their God, Jews worship theirs etc.

how do you want to have it?

truth: there is only one God
there are many religions, but only 3 that profess as an article of faith belief in one God.
CAtholics believe that only the Christian doctrine of the Trinity fully addresses and explains, as far as is possible in human terms, the Divine Nature. We acknowledge however that the other two world religions based on belief in one God have a true, if incomplete and sometimes flawed, worship of the One God. We accept Jewish books of revelation as the Old Testament of our bible, but reject completely any “revelation” that is claimed to have occurred after the death of the last apostle, including and especially the Koran.
 
Well now let us see where things are at. The Jews have said that they believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Christians say that they believe in the God of the Old Testament who turns out to be a triune God, but still the same God of the Old Testament. The Muslims come along and using some of the Old Testament writings, rewrite them and add to them in the Q’uran which speaks of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now unless one wishes to postulate that there are three distinct and separate Gods of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and that two of them are false Gods that do not exist and that the third is the real triune God, we arrive at the conclusion that the three religions are speaking of the exact same God and that Muslims and Jews merely have a more limited understanding of that God than do Christians. The Bishop knows whereof he speaks whether some folks like it or no. The successor of the Apostles has his ducks in a row.
 
AkronPonderer said:
Ummm, there’s only one God. The One that created the universe.

Maybe the muslims got a lot of His revelation wrong, but if their God created the universe, it must be the same One, at least in some respects.
Click to expand...
Ditto.

Our Triune God is One. Truth is One.

Whatever part of Divine Revelation a Muslim truly accepts, that part belongs not to Islam but to the fullness of Revelation entrusted to the Roman Catholic Church. Insofar as a Muslim adheres to the truth of Revelation, that far does he strengthen his partial communion with the One Church and with the True God.

Whatever part he distorts or is missing altogether; whatever falseness he adds to the true part; insofar as he adheres to this unreality, that far does he depart from the Roman Catholic Church and from the True God.

It depends what is emphasized in an individual’s soul and practice.
 
puzzleannie said:
truth: there is only one God
there are many religions, but only 3 that profess as an article of faith belief in one God.
Click to expand...
Actually, there are more than 3, since “one God” can be understood in various ways.
 
So, everyone, do yo’ thang!
It apparently doesnt matter because its all the same!
If you believe in Christ, Allah, Yahweh,
Buddha, Kali the Destroyer,
or the Aliens of Scientology,
its all the same~
makes it easier tha way
so I can pick and choose
just which one I want to use
to get the message across today
everything I do is OK!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top