The same God?

[dzheremi]

Haha. No it wouldn’t be. That’s just silly. God punishing people is not evil, and the reason why Christians reject Islam’s idea of God is not because Islam’s god punishes people. Any Christian (or Jew) who is against the idea of God punishing people must be woefully ignorant of what their own scriptures say. The Holy Bible, in both the old and the new testaments, is full of God’s punishments and judgments. Some people might not like it, but God doesn’t seem to mind…

The Holy Bible tells us, in the Psalms:

"But the LORD shall endure forever; He has prepared His throne for judgment."

For Christians, I would imagine that objections against Islam’s idea of punishment comes more from this idea, from the book of Job:

*“If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant
When they complained against me,

14 What then shall I do when God rises up?
When He punishes, how shall I answer Him?

15 Did not He who made me in the womb make them?
Did not the same One fashion us in the womb?
*

Some of what is enshrined in Islam’s texts and edicts seems to completely contradict this understanding.

 

[meltzerboy]

False worship…thats blasphemy.

But seriously I can understand your point. Muslims are misguided therefore they are praying in the wrong manner to God which means our prayers are not accepted.
But if i am Gods child then does it matter how i pray. If my son does something good, then I accept it even if he is too dumb to do it rightl. Surely this can happen in Christianity as it is taught that God is our loving father. Just a thought i had

I agree with you in that I believe G-d listens to all prayers and is more concerned with an individual’s heart and sincerity than in what specific manner they pray to Him.

Isn’t there a Catholic tale (not sure if it is fact or fiction) about a juggler whose only means of prayer to the statue of Jesus or the Madonna was practicing his trade? And G-d accepted the prayer because it was heartfelt. Someone must know what I’m referring to.

 

[MartinJordan]

That still doesn’t make it the same as the Christian God. That just makes them Monotheist. That is all that we have in common.

Let me borrow a quote from the Quick Questions section of this website for your comments:

Question: Pope Benedict XVI has stated that Muslims worship the same God as Christians do. Is this just his private opinion?
”
A: No. The Second Vatican Council taught that Muslims worship the one true God:

The Church regards with esteem also the Muslims. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; **they take pains to submit wholeheartedly ** to even his inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God.(Nostra Aetate 3)

Bold emphasis mine.

Once again I wish to inform, that If you read more in context from where the CCC 841 is based, it’ll make more sense.

Yes, you are right. They are Monothiestic and but no where in the CC’s is it thought that Muslims worship a false God, but they have an **incomplete **understanding.

Blessings,
MJ

 

[eucharist04]

To say that muslims worship the same God that we do is deception, even if Vatican II says so.

 

[Godfollower]

To say that muslims worship the same God that we do is deception, even if Vatican II says so.

Only if Allah is actually another god.

Scripture tells us that it is possible to worship God without understanding Him.

For passing by, and seeing your idols, I found an altar also, on which was written: To the unknown God. What therefore you worship, without knowing it, that I preach to you.

Acts 17:23.

St. Paul knew that there is, in fact, only one God. And there are people out there who worship Him but don’t understand Him. That’s why Paul started preaching to the Athenians about God, beginning where they were (which was a sadly misplaced understanding of God).

The Muslims worship God. They don’t know everything about Him (of course, neither do we), and they believe other things about Him that are simply wrong. But that doesn’t mean that they’re worshiping some other god; they simply don’t understand the one they’re worshiping.

Some on this thread have said that anyone who doesn’t worship Jesus is worshiping some other god, not God. But that doesn’t make sense: Jews don’t worship Jesus, and they clearly worship the very same God whom Jesus called “Father” and whom we teach to be co-extensive with Jesus. So (unless you want to advance the theory that Jesus was calling someone else Father, not the YHWH of the Old Testament) the thesis that anyone who doesn’t believe in Jesus isn’t worshiping God fails from its own logic.

They may not be worshiping Him completely, and they may not understand Him completely, but that’s not the same question.

Let’s say I flip a coin and hide the result from you. Let’s also say that, for whatever reason, you are firmly convinced that the coin is a quarter and heads up, while for whatever reason someone else is just as firmly convinced that the coin is a nickel and tails up. You can argue about it eternally, but what you believe about the coin doesn’t change what it is. Eventually I will reveal it to you both, and you’ll see that you were right: the coin is a quarter, and it’s heads up. Then your friend will see that he was wrong.

But you were both thinking about the same coin.