Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God?

[Almost Heaven]

A statement made by a professor at a leading evangelical college [in 2016 became] a flashpoint in a controversy that really matters. In explaining why she intended to wear a traditional Muslim hijab over the holiday season in order to symbolize solidarity with her Muslim neighbors, the professor asserted that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

Is this true?

The answer to that question depends upon a distinctly Christian and clearly biblical answer to yet another question: Can anyone truly worship the Father while rejecting the Son?

The Christian’s answer to that question must follow the example of Christ. Jesus Himself settled the question when He responded to Jewish leaders who confronted Him after He had said “I am the light of the world.” When they denied Him, Jesus said, “If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (John 8:19). Later in that same chapter, Jesus used some of the strongest language of His earthly ministry in stating clearly that to deny Him is to deny the Father.

Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God. Christians worship the triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and no other god. We know the Father through the Son, and it is solely through Christ’s atonement for sin that salvation has come. Salvation comes to those who confess with their lips that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in their hearts that God has raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9). The New Testament leaves no margin for misunderstanding. To deny the Son is to deny the Father.

To affirm this truth is not to argue that non-Christians, our Muslim neighbors included, know nothing true about God or to deny that the three major monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam—share some major theological beliefs. All three religions affirm that there is only one God and that He has spoken to us by divine revelation. All three religions point to what each claims to be revealed scriptures. Historically, Jews and Christians and Muslims have affirmed many points of agreement on moral teachings. All three theological worldviews hold to a linear view of history, unlike many Asian worldviews that believe in a circular view of history.

And yet, when we look more closely, even these points of agreement begin to break down. Christian trinitarianism is rejected by both Judaism and Islam. Muslims deny that Jesus Christ is the incarnate and eternal Son of God and go further to deny that God has a son. Any reader of the New Testament knows that this was the major point of division between Christianity and Judaism. The central Christian claim that Jesus is Israel’s promised Messiah and the divine Son become flesh led to the separation of the church and the synagogue as is revealed in the Book of Acts.

There is historical truth in the claim of “three Abrahamic religions” because Judaism, Christianity and Islam all look to Abraham as a principal figure and model of faith. But this historical truth is far surpassed in importance by the fact that Jesus explicitly denied that salvation comes merely by being one of “Abraham’s children” (John 8:39-59). He told the Jewish leaders who rejected Him that their rejection revealed that they were not Abraham’s true sons and that they did not truly know God.

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Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God?

Hard times come with hard questions, and our cultural context exerts enormous pressure on Christians to affirm common ground at the expense of theological differences. But the cost of getting this question wrong is the loss of the Gospel.

harbingersdaily.com

 

[mattfivefour]

Excellent article! And very important to understand as a Christian in this world as we move among people of other faiths...and of no faith.

 

[Andy C]

Good read, thanks for posting this.

 

[Growing in Grace]

Good article, thanks AH I missed your news stories!

I've spent some time learning about Islam from three sources: Pfander Films with Jay Smith on YouTube, David Wood, and CIRA International with Al Fadi.

Jay Smith has experts worldwide who are sticking their necks out to challenge whether there was a Muhammad in the 6th Century. They have serious evidence that it was a politically motivated made-up leader for Arabic conquerors, and I know it sounds a bit looney, but they have evidence in coinage, artwork, even in buildings.

 

[Growing in Grace]

As disturbed as the war in Israel makes me feel, in revisiting this article an idea came to mind and I’d appreciate some input.

When the false prophet sets up shop, he will most vehemently deny that Yeshua has come in the flesh, was crucified (as one of us), and alone worthy of resurrection from the dead (as one of us) to end the cursed power of death so that we can live in Him.

What if the FP manages to merge Islam, Judaism and false Christianity? He presents an evil false religion that draws three death cults into full agreement. His ‘new’ religion satisfies the hatred, violence, greed, lusts & lies of all three.

Thoughts? (Mind y’all that when I think of Israel & am disturbed, well, disturbed feelings kinda mess with my thinking )

 

[mattfivefour]

I think your reasoning here makes sense. It is quite possible. To me, a syncretistic approach is the obvious tool that will draw disparate religions together that will permit solidarity behind the Antichrist.

 

[Growing in Grace]

Thanks Adrian! I thought it may have been a stretch.

It’s such an impossible idea to imagine. But, it could settle things down temporarily and pave the AC’s way toward both the false peace agreement & the gentiles trampling down the third temple outer courts.