Seems like a discussion in semantics… not religion…
You would do better comparing what their “Gods” demand their followers to do. Which means taking the Koran and the Bible as direct telegraph from their dieties. Then taking that the original “word from god” wasn’t re-edited for personal gain.
If both dieties demand similar things than maybe they are the same… The problem would lie with the “interpreters”. Commonly knows as mullahs and priests. These would be where the religions are different.
Muslims say that they, Jews and Christians all worship the same God, and that’s been a tenant of Islam since its beginning.
I will say, though, that the traditional view of God in Christianity has been, in my opinion, at least, fundamentally different than the traditional view of God in either Islam or Judaism (who, traditionally, have had fundamentally similar concepts of God)
Unless you think believing in a god somehow literally creates that god, we are, without much doubt all worshipping the same G-d. We just don’t know it.
Muslims say that Christians and Jews worship the same god they do.
Christians say the Jews worship the same god they do.
Jews aren’t too sure about that, mind you.
However, from a christian mindset, while muslims may be in error or apostacy about many things, I don’t see why you couldn’t say muslims are worshipping the same god they are. Wrongly, horribly so, but it’s not a different god, is it?
Sounds right to me, IWLN. In effect, we’re all worshipping an elephant, and we’ll all find out how and where we were wrong in the end.
My favorit athiest is Isaac Asimov (not a hijack, bear with me). I’ve always cherished the image I hold of his surprise when he got to the Pearly Gates to find God waiting for him, his arms open wide and a big ol’ shit-eating grin on his face.
I suspect that’s the way it’ll be for most of us. Maybe there’ll be a “what-were-you-thinking-when-you-believed-that” session as part of Heavenly Orientation.
Right before we get issued our wings and stratocasters.
Why? Somebody can believe in a god that doesn’t exist. And if no gods exist, it’s possible that Christians, Jews and Muslims might all believe in different fictional gods. (or all in the same fictional god)
Muslims seem to believe that Christians, Muslims and Jews worship the same God.
Jews seem to believe that Muslims and Jews worship the same God which is different from the Christian God.
Evangelical Christians seem to believe that Christians and Jews worship the same God which is different from the Muslim God.
From an atheist perspective it’s all rather amusing.
It seem pretty obvious to me that Christianity, Islam, and Judaism all ostensibly worship the same God of Abraham. Tradition tells us that Abraham had two children, Isaac and Ishmael, from who the Jews and the Muslims descend, respectively. Christians consider the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to be an update to the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants JHVH made with the Jews (expanding it to all those who believe in Christ).
I think the major differences stem from the conceptualization of the supreme being. Judaism and Islam are rigidly monotheistic, so even though Christians generally understand the Trinity to be different aspects of the same Being, the concept of a tripartite god (especially the idea of G-d incarnate as Jesus Christ) is still considered highly blasphemous to Jews and Muslims; and from what I remember of the Qu’ran, this puts Christians, in terms of their theology, in a position of quite lower esteem than the Jews, if at all possible. Rather ironic, given the current state of events in the Middle East, especially vis a vis the Palestinians, who include both Muslim and Christian Arabs. Anyway, I think the Islamic understanding is that Paul distorted the ministry of Jesus, blasphemously elevating the status of Jesus from that of a great prophet to that of G-d Himself. The picture of Jesus in the Talmud is rather unflattering: Jesus is the bastard child of Miriam the hairdresser who, after being intiated into secret rites in Egypt, turns to the black arts and becomes some sort of perverse magician. (I think at one point, like the 15th century maybe(?), there was an attempt to expunge all references to Jeshu in the Talmud in hopes of mitigating the horrible persecution the Jews were experiencing in Europe…but unaltered versions survive to this day.)
Obviously, if Christians worship the man Jesus an aspect of the Father Himself, there’s some serious disparities, as Islam sees Jesus as a very mortal prophet, and some parts of the Judaic tradition describe Jesus as a depraved sorceror. However, I still think that all pratitioners of these faiths regard THEMSELVES as spiritual descendants of Abraham, and in that sense they lay claim to the same diety.
It’s the same God. Those evangelicals who say it isn’t are just ignorant buffoons.
There is no nitpicky distinction that can be made between the Christian and Muslim concepts of God that can’t be made between the Christian and Jewish concepts of God.
Quoted in the OP:
This is a moron speaking. For one thing, the Bible does not use the English word “God” in any of ots original languages so it’s pretty stupid to whine about it not using the Arabic “Allah.”
Secondly, it doesn’t use the word “Jehovah” either. That’s a misconstruction of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH.
Anyway, two persons of the same faith can be worshipping the same deity, but still be bitterly divided. So I think the proper emphasis here is really on the worship, not on the god(s), or lack thereof. As long as we approach the unknowable (except to fundies, of course :rolleyes:) ultimate reality in divisive ways, it doesn’t really matter what that reality is.
Rashak ManiYes, I do. But when I said the same, I meant absolutely the same. Consider, for example, the gay-bishop controversy in the Episcopal church. Or the “Methodist Civil War”:http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_MAGAZINE/spring97/enigma.html