Muslims: Do Christians Worship the One True God?

[oldcatholicguy]

Well, sort of. That’s not to detract from the sincerity of Muslims, but there are differences to appreciate.
In discussion of non-Christian religions there is a subtle difference in the way the Church sees the Muslim faith compared to the Jewish faith. The word “profess” is used in regard to the Muslims. They are not said to hold the same faith of Abraham, but to profess it. They “adore” God, but the Jewish faith is characterized as worshiping God (there is a difference) and being of the same covenant family, of being “already a response” to God.

Your above applies more to the validity of Islam as a faith than it does to the issue of who Muslims worship.

 

[Yago]

Did Ghandi speak out against the British in South in India?

Not ghandi, but Gandhi.

 

[Yago]

“Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians – whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord. And there will be no fear for them, nor shall they grieve” (2:62, 5:69, and many other verses).

“…and nearest among them in love to the believers will you find those who say, ‘We are Christians,’ because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant” (5:82).

“O you who believe! Be helpers of God – as Jesus the son of Mary said to the Disciples, ‘Who will be my helpers in (the work of) God?’ Said the disciples, ‘We are God’s helpers!’ Then a portion of the Children of Israel believed, and a portion disbelieved. But We gave power to those who believed, against their enemies, and they became the ones that prevailed” (61:14)

Hmmmmm…

 

[AprilFoolish]

Catholics accept the idea that Muslims worship the same God that we do.

Do you believe that Christians worship the same God that you worship?

Why or why not?

Thanks.

To give a straight forward answer - there are many Gods, and therefore not a ‘one true God’

At the present time, we do not have the means to verify the existence of any God, let alone count how many people are ‘following’ him. I think we would need that first and then set up a way to check if people are ‘following’ the same one. I don’t know of any programmes that have been set up to verify God, maybe the Vatican has something it is working on. I imagine it would be difficult to get funding/support for it.

The religious lobby, would no doubt prefer to keep ‘faith’ and so not supply funding and the secular world does not have that much interest. My guess is that peoples ‘God’s’ are particular to themselves and so in that respect they worship as many gods as there are God-worshiping people.

 

[SteveVH]

To give a straight forward answer - there are many Gods, and therefore not a ‘one true God’

At the present time, we do not have the means to verify the existence of any God, let alone count how many people are ‘following’ him. I think we would need that first and then set up a way to check if people are ‘following’ the same one. I don’t know of any programmes that have been set up to verify God, maybe the Vatican has something it is working on. I imagine it would be difficult to get funding/support for it.

The religious lobby, would no doubt prefer to keep ‘faith’ and so not supply funding and the secular world does not have that much interest. My guess is that peoples ‘God’s’ are particular to themselves and so in that respect they worship as many gods as there are God-worshiping people.

Irrelevant to the discussion. Both Christians and Muslims do believe in “one God”, not many gods, or no god. The logic follows that if we both believe there is only one, true God then we must worship the same God. Our understandings of that one, true God may differ, but out worship is directed to the same divine Entity.

 

[AprilFoolish]

Irrelevant to the discussion. Both Christians and Muslims do believe in “one God”, not many gods, or no god. The logic follows that if we both believe there is only one, true God then we must worship the same God. Our understandings of that one, true God may differ, but out worship is directed to the same divine Entity.

The logic does not follow that if ‘we’ both believe there is only one, true god, then we must worship the same God. You will need to provide more evidence than just the ‘logic follows’ when it clearly does not.

 

[SteveVH]

The logic does not follow that if ‘we’ both believe there is only one, true god, then we must worship the same God. You will need to provide more evidence than just the ‘logic follows’ when it clearly does not.

The three great monotheistic religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam all profess belief in the God of Abraham. Evidence enough?

 

[oldcatholicguy]

The logic does not follow that if ‘we’ both believe there is only one, true god, then we must worship the same God. You will need to provide more evidence than just the ‘logic follows’ when it clearly does not.

The specific evidence would be from the teachings of both faiths concerning the followers of the other in regards to who they worship; and general evidence would be the basic application of logic to the claims by both faiths that a) there is one ultimate source of everything and b) said source is God.

 

[Randy_Carson]

Not ghandi, but Gandhi.

Dang. I knew that.

Just thinking faster than I was typing 'cause I couldn’t remember Aung San Suu Kyi’s name at the time.

Thanks.

 

[Randy_Carson]

To give a straight forward answer - there are many Gods, and therefore not a ‘one true God’

At the present time, we do not have the means to verify the existence of any God, let alone count how many people are ‘following’ him. I think we would need that first and then set up a way to check if people are ‘following’ the same one. I don’t know of any programmes that have been set up to verify God, maybe the Vatican has something it is working on. I imagine it would be difficult to get funding/support for it.

The religious lobby, would no doubt prefer to keep ‘faith’ and so not supply funding and the secular world does not have that much interest. My guess is that peoples ‘God’s’ are particular to themselves and so in that respect they worship as many gods as there are God-worshiping people.

:dts:

 

[clem456]

Your above applies more to the validity of Islam as a faith than it does to the issue of who Muslims worship.

Paragraph 841 directly address people…what they acknowledge, what they profess, and who they adore. Not to get all sticky about it, but this is what the Church teaches. There are similarities, and there are differences in what our Muslim friends believe. It is not entirely correct to say they “worship” the same God.
If we can’t accept the differences, can we really know who they are?

 

[AprilFoolish]

The three great monotheistic religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam all profess belief in the God of Abraham. Evidence enough?

You would need to show at least a) God of Abraham exists - no one has yet managed that and b) to ‘profess’ something is not evidence and c) with millions of people professing their belief in a God, how could one show that they all 'believed the ‘same’ thing

 

[AprilFoolish]

The specific evidence would be from the teachings of both faiths concerning the followers of the other in regards to who they worship; and general evidence would be the basic application of logic to the claims by both faiths that a) there is one ultimate source of everything and b) said source is God.

I can’t see how one can apply logic to these ‘claim’ and that makes it evidence. If that is the process then all Gods are real (Zeus, Aphrodite etc,.)

One would need more than that. I could claim that Harry Potter exists and there is a lot of evidence that he does, books, films, pictures, reports, theme parks, followers, fans…but he is still fictional. I could say he is the source of everything - but he is still fictional. i could say he has millions of fans from all religions…but he is still fictional. I could say, but what else could have created the Cosmos, it must be Harry…but he is still fictional.

At the present, we don’t know what is the ultimate source of everything.

 

[Eric_Hilbert]

Remain on topic please

 

[oldcatholicguy]

Paragraph 841 directly address people…what they acknowledge, what they profess, and who they adore. Not to get all sticky about it, but this is what the Church teaches. There are similarities, and there are differences in what our Muslim friends believe. It is not entirely correct to say they “worship” the same God.
If we can’t accept the differences, can we really know who they are?

It is entirely correct to say the worship the same God. They do. That their faith get’s a bunch of stuff wrong doesn’t matter in this regard because it does get the worship God part correct. That’s why we see in that section separate entries for Judaism (which you’ve covered why in your previous), Islam (it gets the worship God part right), and then all the other non-Christian non-Judaism faiths. If we use a simple analogy, the Church’s teachings are- “Yes, Muslims correctly identify an apple as an apple, but how their reasoning that led to this correct identification is flawed with erroneous material.” This erroneous material doesn’t change the fact that they correctly identified an apple as an apple; or somehow make the apple they identified as less of an apple than one identified by a Catholic, non-Catholic Christian, or a Jew.

 

[Yago]

Remain on topic please

Let all posters read this post.

 

[MartinJordan]

Catholics accept the idea that Muslims worship the same God that we do.

Do you believe that Christians worship the same God that you worship?

Why or why not?

Thanks.

I can’t speak for Muslims, but I’ve lived among Muslims all my life. Not once has any told me (after Ive made acquaintance) that I worship another God.

MJ

 

[jakasaki]

Catholics accept the idea that Muslims worship the same God that we do.

Do you believe that Christians worship the same God that you worship?

Why or why not?

Thanks.

If they fully follow their Holy Book, according to this passage, the answer is no.

Al-Kaafiroon #106

   1	Say: O ye that reject Faith!	

2	I worship not that which ye worship,	

3	Nor will ye worship that which I worship.	

4	And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship,	

5	Nor will ye worship that which I worship.	

6	To you be your Way, and to me mine.

 

[Randy_Carson]

Hi-

I read an article on About.com/Islam this week that directly relates to your post, Randy. I have included the link here to the letter written by top Sunni Muslim scholars from across the world to dispute ISIS claims and condemning the group’s actions in the strongest terms.

www.lettertobaghdadi.com

Quoting the article I read:

This unprecedented letter was written and signed by esteemed Muslim scholars from nearly 40 countries on six continents. The signatories are university professors and deans, authors, imams, scholars of Shari’ah law, and leaders of Islamic councils and organizations. From Egypt alone, signatories include the Grand Mufti and a former Grand Mufti, faculty from Al-Azhar University, and members of the Fatwa Council. There can be no doubt as to this group’s authority in matters of Islamic faith, law and practice – especially on a topic in which they sign their names in universal agreement.

islam.about.com/od/terrorism/fl/Islamic-Scholarsrsquo-Open-Letter-to-ISIS.htm

I hope this information helps clear up misconceptions regarding the world Muslim communities support for ISIS.

The Least of These

ISIS responds with its justification of sex slavery:

cnn.com/2014/10/12/world/meast/isis-justification-slavery/index.html

 

[Yago]

If they fully follow their Holy Book, according to this passage, the answer is no.

Al-Kaafiroon #106

   1	Say: O ye that reject Faith!	

2	I worship not that which ye worship,	

3	Nor will ye worship that which I worship.	

4	And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship,	

5	Nor will ye worship that which I worship.	

6	To you be your Way, and to me mine.

That surah was revealed when Muslims were persecuted by Arab polytheists. It was addressed to them.