Debating the Nature of God

American Thinker ^ | January 3, 2016 | Gene Van Son

[Kaslin]

The recent flap at Wheaton College, an Evangelical college near Chicago, caused by Dr. Larcyia Hawkins donning a Muslim hijab to stand in religious solidarity with Muslims 'because Christians and Muslims believe in the same God,' touched off a spate of opinion pieces on whether or not Hawkins is correct. Some supported her contention and some did not. Reader comments after most of these essays were split as well, but the majority clearly supported the 'no we don't worship the same God' position.

The opinions offered in the 'no we don't' essays, are based on the theology that Christians worship a loving, merciful but just triune God of reason -- God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, while Muslims pray to a demanding and unreasonable God who condones murdering nonbelievers, honor killing, polygamy, and keeping women subservient and uneducated, etc. The Muslim God is clearly not the same God that is worshipped by Christians.

If the doctrine of monotheism is correct, the yes we do' arguments goes, then there is only one true God. As such, all monotheistic religions are worshipping this same God, even though each religion may have a different name for God and a different understanding of the nature of God. Additionally, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all worship the God of Abraham initially revealed in the Old Testament. They part company when it comes to discerning the nature of God and exactly what He expects of us.

[grey_whiskers]

To paraphrase Chesterton,

"Mohammedeans and Christians are fond of saying that Islam and Christianity are very similar, especially Islam."

[I want the USA back]

Putting on a hijab implies accepting the beliefs of that cult. Obviously that idiot thinks that all religions are equal.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

A thorough discussion from a Catholic philosopher on this question:

Christians, Muslims, and the reference of "God" by Ed Feser

[beethovenfan]

The god of Islam is a deceiver, according to their own “sacred” writings.

The one thing the true God of Abraham cannot do is tell a lie.

Satan is referred to by Jesus as a “liar and the father of lies”.

They are not the same. Q.E.D.

[sparklite2]

God can do anything he wants. If he wants to lie, he can lie. Otherwise, he is not omnipotent.

[gorush]

If there is a God, he must get a kick out of discussions like this.

[Telepathic Intruder]

It rests on the premise of whether Mohammed was a prophet or a false prophet. For one thing, there were no miracles attributed to him. He once even claimed to be possessed. The “Satanic Verses” told his followers to worship the daughters of Hubal, the Arab name for Baal, before they were removed as a “mistake” because he was possessed at the time. All the prophets were Jewish except for Mohammed, who saw Christ as only a minor prophet. No, they’re not the same God.

[beethovenfan]

You can’t assert that from any careful reading of the Bible.

[Zeneta]

I find it interesting that recently the committed atheist Sam Harris has begun to discriminate between Islam and Christianity. This is a huge shift from his prior position that “ALL” religions are equal and the major cause of wars and strife in the world.

I think he is following his hero, Richard Dawkins who may be following Bill Maher, I don’t know.

[Kaslin]

Matt Barber has a good explanation about it in his article

Myth of the 'Moderate Muslim'

[who_would_fardels_bear]

The one thing that some atheists have going for them is that they are rational. Except for their irrational belief in the non-existence of a Creator, they try to think and act rationally.

So unlike some of their liberal friends and colleagues, they aren't afraid of technological advances, they don't routinely dismiss capitalism, and they see Islam as a truly menacing force.

The article I pointed to is by a former atheist turned Catholic philosopher. Here's hoping that some folks like Sam Harris will use their reasoning powers to see that atheism makes as much sense as Islam.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

Here is a place where a number of moderate Muslims share articles along with non-Muslims:

3QuarksDaily

[TBP]

GIATI — God is all there is.

“I thank the God that is that the God they told me about isn’t.” — Ernest Holmes

[Zeneta]

I spent years following and researching the back and forth debates between the leading atheists and Christian Apologetics.

I have found that there are only a handful of atheists thinkers and writers, but they command an extraordinary amount of influence in society and educational institutions compared to Christians. Christians can consistently win these debates on logic, reason and on objective morality, but lose to the ever increasing peer pressure to accept “Uncertainty” as the norm.

They have taken the uncertainty of quantum physics and the spirituality of Buddhism to proclaim themselves their own God.

[Lera]

[[Additionally, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all worship the God of Abraham initially revealed in the Old Testament. ]]

The God of Abraham , Issac and Jacob is Holy and can not lie.

Allah is a deceiver , the koran teaches people to lie and deceive others . They are NOT the same .

[Biggirl]

No, God cannot lie, and the God of the Bible is no liar.

[MHGinTN]

bttt

[Iscool]

A thorough discussion from a Catholic philosopher on this question:

Christians, Muslims, and the reference of "God" by Ed Feser

WoW...What a multitude of words just to say he believes Catholics and muzlims worship the same God...Unfortunately thru that long screed the Catholic Philosopher never once used a verse of scripture to back up his views...

According to this guy, any religious person who believes in an 'uncaused cause of creation' (his words) believes in the correct God...This naturally would include muzlims, Jehovah Witnesses (tho he doesn't mention them, Hare Krishna, Rosicrucians and most every other sect out there...

He claims a knowledge or belief in the Trinity is not necessary to believe in and worship the true God...

Col_2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

I would think a Christian would want to know what Jesus Christ thinks about the issue...

[who_would_fardels_bear]

It was hardly a screed, and he was speaking as a philosopher.

That's what he does on this blog.

I'm certain that he personally has more reasons than merely philosophical to believe as he does. He says so in many other articles he has written.

He specifically stays away from quoting from the Bible for two reasons: 1) such arguments are not convincing to non-believers, and 2) he is able to successfully argue certain points without relying on Biblical quotes.

If you think that a person has to believe in the Holy Trinity in order to believe in the same God as Christians, then you are necessarily saying that Jews do not believe in the same God. Which is not only crazy, but borderline anti-semitic.

You seem to believe that every question can be answered easily with a few quotes form the Bible. This seems to be a particular failing of fundamentalist protestants.

Maybe all questions should be answerable from a few Bible quotes. Perhaps Apple could have saved millions of dollars in research costs if they had just consulted Numbers or Judges when coming up with their latest iPad.

To suggest that questions regarding the infinite God, the non-intuitive Triune nature of God, the nature of the Soul, etc. are questions that can be answered with greater ease and fewer words than building a new cell phone is a little bit on the blasphemous side, don't you think?