Islam, Judaism, Jehovah Witness, Baptist Church -- do they believe in the same God as Catholics?

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If you’re a Jew, Muslim or Christian then by default you’re a monotheist- ONE God. How each of the Abrahamic faiths sees God and how they worship him is a different story, obviously.

On the other hand, you can’t be a monotheist- and therefore not Jewish, Muslim, or Christian- if you believe any other gods exist.

(A dissenting note, though: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”. Taken one way, this is seen as God is the ONLY god and everything else that is worshiped is false. Taken another way, this could be seen that God- the Jewish/Christian/Muslim God- is one of many gods, but he’s OUR god above all others. Taking the latter view, though, takes one out of monotheism and places one in the polytheistic category- not one I’m sure the Church looks too kindly upon!)

But what is the Church position on the god(s) of other faiths? What is the Church’s position on the Hindus or the Sikhs or the Santerians or what have you? Does the Church condemn them as heathens or pagans all around, or are they simply accepted as ‘different faiths’ without prejudice or even a raised eyebrow? Do they, like Jews and Muslims, simply ‘see God differently’ than do Christians?
 
They believe in one God and since there only is one God they worship God.
Then you get into the bulk of it where Jews will claim Jesus was a false messiah so they worship God in his true form as proclaimed by Moses.
Then Muslims will say they worship the true God revealed through prophets and messengers of God such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, but then say Muhammad restored the true nature of God.
So there is that connection of being the God of Abraham however in a Christian sense their view of God is wrong as they deny the trinity or basic necessities that Christian belief holds onto the nature of God. In that sense it is not the same God.
As for your other examples, those are more so heresies such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, in fact they subscribe basically to the ancient heresy of Arianism.
 
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It sure does, and nowhere more than here on CAF! Even if you deny the other monotheistic religions as worshiping the same G-d as Catholics (which I do not do), I think you have to take Baptists out of the group because they are Protestants and therefore Christians, and even have the same trinitarian form of baptism as Catholics although not infant baptism AFAIK.
 
Prodigal1984 said:
however in a Christian sense their view of God is wrong as they deny the trinity or basic necessities that Christian belief holds onto the nature of God. In that sense it is not the same God.
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I think a better way of saying this would be to say that Judaism and Islam don’t have the complete picture of God rather than saying their view is wrong. It’s not as confrontational that way and shows more charity. No one likes to hear their God is wrong! Especially in Judaism as the Jewish God is exactly who Jesus was referring to as His Father. Just my opinion. Privately, you can think however you wish.
 
I think there is only one God & we all believe we believe in that one God. But I think we understand him differently.
 
theorangeandblue said:
No they don’t

Islam is a completely different religion
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You know Jesus is considered an exceptionally important Prophet in Islam right? They believe in his virgin birth. They believe he will come again on the day of judgement to vanquish anti-Christs. They believe themselves to be an Abrahamhemic religion. If anything they are closer to Christian belief than Jewish belief, especially since they do not reject Christ having any religious importance.
 
God said to Moses - I am.

God is who he is, we all have an incomplete understanding of God. We are all created by the same God, the same God hears all our prayers, we are all related to each other through One God, despite our differences.

You will never look into the eyes of anyone who does not matter to God.
 
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theorangeandblue said:
No they don’t

Islam is a completely different religion

Jehovah witness believe that Christ, God the Father and the Holy Spirit are not one but completely separate

Judaism there is no trinity so yes and no

As for the Baptist yes Baptist and Catholics believe in the same God. (But Baptist believe in grace through faith for salvation while Catholics believe in works)
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You say that No they don’t IOW, they do not worship the same God?
If you are going to follow that line of thought then Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics do not worship the same God. Eastern Orthodox worship the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and for them, the Holy Spirit does not proceed from the Son, but only from the Father. Roman Catholics worship the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and for them, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and from the Son. If you go to some of the Eastern Orthodox forums, you will find that there are Eastern Orthodox bloggers who will say that Roman Catholics do not worship the same God as they do because of this issue.
 
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Baptists are Christian and Trinitarian, and the Catholic Church accepts Baptist baptisms as valid, so there’s nothing to debate about with them.

The other three groups you mention (Islam, Judaism and Jehovah Witness) believe in one God, but they are not Trinitarian and do not accept Christ as God. Jehovah Witnesses are nominally Christian as they believe we were redeemed through Christ’s death, but don’t accept him as God. Muslims and Jewish people are of course non-Christian. All three of these groups worship a God equivalent to the Catholic “God the Father”, the first person of the Trinity. The Catechism indicates that this creates a link with Catholicism due to shared worship of God the Father/ the Creator/ the God of Abraham etc. However, some Catholics still continue to insist that because these groups don’t accept Christ as God and aren’t Trinitarian, they don’t worship “the same God” as us.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
However, some Catholics still continue to insist that because these groups don’t accept Christ as God and aren’t Trinitarian, they don’t worship “the same God” as us.
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Consider this, between at least nominal Christians, Muslims, and Jews, 55% of the world holds the belief that they worship the God of Abraham. Some of course take issue with that statement, but what’s indisputable is that they believe the revelations of their religion does. Some of the best ecumenical discussions I’ve had have been with Muslims, it can be interesting to hear a different take on shared religious events.
 
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I think everyone intends to believe in the self-same one-and-only deity who spoke to Abraham. In that sense, yes, we are all monotheists and we all believe in the same Holy One.

At the same time, our views on what this means beyond our single foundational Abrahamic source of belief are so different and so mutually exclusive that it is impossible that we’re all “correct” in some sense. It is certain that at least some of us are seriously out in left field, whether by our fault or out of innocent invincible ignorance. In that sense, it is impossible that we all believe in the same Holy One.
 
theorangeandblue said:
As for the Baptist yes Baptist and Catholics believe in the same God. (But Baptist believe in grace through faith for salvation while Catholics believe in works)
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As usual you have given an oversimplified and wrong answer from your non-Catholic perspective, but discussion of it here is off topic and also there are about 100 other threads already dealing with this topic.
 
theorangeandblue said:
while Catholics believe in works)
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Nope. But as Tis_Bearself said discussing this is off topic here and I sincerely doubt it would change anything anyways. Protestantism does seem to be built and fueled by purposeful ignorance of Catholicism.
 
There is one God. Religion tells us what God is like and whether anything is required of us. Christianity, Judaism and Islam all worship the God of Abraham although our image of that God has varied over the years and some of the odder quasi-Christian sects have a very strange image of God. Islam is an offshoot of the Arian heresy which separated from Catholicism after the first Council of Nicaea. Protestantism split off from Catholicism in the 16th century. Neither came up with a new God. Jehovah Witnesses are a more recent version of the Arian heresy and have much in common with Islam.
 
I predict there will be an awful lot of ‘wailing and gnashing of teeth’ from religious people when Jesus returns and he doesn’t go to THEIR church.
 
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