That question, “Do Muslims worship the same God as Christians?” is not a new one, but has been in the Christian news (at least) recently over the controversial suspension of a black female professor at Wheaton College. I haven’t written specifically on this topic, though I touched upon it in Does DA: Inquisition’s Imshael have anything to do with Ishmael and Islam? In that article I point out how Islam rejects God’s plan for humanity, as provided by God in the Old Testament through Isaac, and openly celebrates this rejection through their holiday of Eid Al-Adha. How can it be claimed that Muslims worship the same God when they reject biblical scriptures and even God’s plan for humanity? As any bible student knows, God’s plan is interspersed throughout all of the Old and New Testaments, so to reject it and then claim you worship the same God makes no sense. Yet the Wheaton professor, besides showing solidarity with the repression of women (which is not biblical), claims that Muslims worship the same God as Christians.
One could say, “Well, it’s the same between Jews and Christians. Jews would say we don’t worship the same God.” Many Jews no doubt say just that, but there’s a big difference. Christians don’t change the original scriptures given to the Jews, but embrace them and seek to keep them pure. Muslims, on the other hand, claim the scriptures have been altered and they are now the only ones that have the truth (which is cultish).
Also, while Christians believe Jesus is the promised Messiah based on the original scriptures, Jews simply reject him as The One God spoke of; both groups, to reiterate, look to the same unaltered scriptures. Muslims both reject the scriptures (old and new testaments) and the Christian messiah. And, both in Muslim and Western countries (ie, “honor” killings), people are often executed for rejecting Islam after having grown up in that faith. This practice–forced belief and execution for not believing–is in no way scriptural or of God. God gives us a choice to believe or not, and this concept is also at the very heart of who God is and is integral to His plan for humanity and future events/conditions as well (who enters heaven, who enters hell, redemption of creation, etc.).
God never left it in the hands of men to force others to believe, and He doesn’t give man the authority to execute other humans over nonbelief. He only gave man the authority to execute other men for the crime of murder (this authority is given to governing bodies, not individuals). The Muslims who premeditatedly kill others for nonbelief, then, are committing murder and deserve what God commanded. He makes all humans in His image and no man has the right to murder one of His human creations (Genesis 9:5-6). (Of course, all of this applies to anyone, and any “Christian” in the past who has ordered the execution of others over heresy, say, is just as guilty as anyone else of murder.)
I do agree with what CS Lewis conveyed in The Last Battle, however. Some people can worship God in adverse cultures. God calls them and they answer, but they are caught in a situation that keeps details of the faith away from them, at least for a time.
If you’re interested in reading further on this issue of the Christian vs Muslim God, Christian philosophy professor William Lane Craig had addressed it recently in his Questions of the Week column: Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?
In addition, Westerners have been getting more of a taste of Muslim teachings and practice through recent events in Europe (“uncovered” females don’t belong to anyone and are fair game for sexual assault), and I have provided many links in Raping of Women and Children Now Allowed in the West; Why Not, Eh? (A friend of a friend of mine was murdered many years ago for bathing in an isolated pool of water, or so she thought, in a Muslim country. No concerns or questions asked, just shot and killed from a distance by someone who saw her. Since men under Islam either are not obligated to control themselves, or “can’t,” women must do what they can to not be raped or murdered.)
If you think this kind of thinking is only from cultures that have older traditions that remain after Islam has been accepted, please see Female Hajj Pilgrims to Saudi Arabia Sent Back Home. “O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks all over their bodies that they may thus be distinguished and not molested” (Koran 33:59). These pilgrims in Saudi Arabia were covered, yet they still could not do their religious duty under Islam because they had no accompanying males to protect them . . . from what? From other males molesting them, of course. And these are Muslim women, covered . . . In stark contrast, the God of Christians and Jews expects men (and women) to put effort into not sinning, and thus controlling themselves. We are not to harm others through sin, and if we do, the blame is on us, not on our (animal?) nature or on others for “tempting” us.
With Christian Eyes 
WCE,
Great post .
Have you read the book, “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus ” by Nabeel Qureshi. He converted from Islam to Christianity.
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I haven’t read that one yet, so thank you for sharing it!
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Vicki,
You’re welcome.
God bless you
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🙂 And The Lord keep you
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Great topic. Well presented. Side note I would elaborate or add that God allows capital punishment through the function of government. Christians or others do not have the right to take that upon themselves outside of a government justice system.
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Yes, of course. I’ll edit the wording – and thanks! I hadn’t planned on writing this today, so it’s not a thorough, article type of post, but I think it presents some needed points. Thanks again, Brent.
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I find it funny that the pope of all people is pushing this idea… he is not a man of God, he is of the world and for the world. People who hold to what the pope says are not following God, they are following a human being. There is no other way to God, except through Christ who saves us. If you don’t believe that, then you surly don’t believe in the same God as Christians!
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Vicki,
You may find this interesting.
Rome was sacked by Muslims in 846 AD during the great conquests of Islam after the time of Mohammed.
During the 8th and 9th centuries, the Muslim Arabs (then called Saracens in Europe) were rapaciously invading Christendom through Southern Italy which they succeeded in conquering by fire, murder, rapine and the sword. Sailing from newly acquired bases in North Africa which they had just stolen from the Christians of the Eastern Roman Empire, the had conquered Sicily and were now bent upon seizing the rest of the peninsula.
They had earlier been rebuffed in France in 732 by King Charles Martel, the grandfather of Charlemagne, but they had got as far as Tours in Nothern France. King Charles was the first to halt their seemingly inexorable advance. Thereafter they retired to Spain and parts of Southern France and settled. They retained their hold on what had once been Catholic Visigothic Spain for the next 800 years! They were not finally ejected from Christian Spain until 1491 by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand.
Under Pope Paschal I (817-824), the relics of the holy martyrs were concealed in the walls of the city of Rome. When Rome was sacked, Paschal’s careful precautions did not prevent the wholesale spoliation and robbery of Basilica of Saint Peter itself, nor, indeed, of San Paolo fuori le Mura (St Paul’s outside the Walls), because they both lay outside the walls of the city of Rome.
Later, a second wall was constructed on the other side of the Tiber from the main city area. It was constructed by order of Pope Leo IV and so this enclosure was called the Leonine City.
The Islamic conquest and domination of Sicily, as well as parts of southern Italy began in the 7th century after the foundation of Islam and the attempt by the Muslim leaders to conquer the world.
By Koranic tradition, Islam makes its attempts to re-conquer the world in the 7th or 8th decade of every century and does not stop until it is halted by force. When stopped it generally lies low until the 7th or 8th decade of the next century when it then makes another attempt at world domination.
How, then, can it call itself a religion of peace? It does so because it means by peace the eventual peace that will, it says, be the consequence of the conquest of the world for Islam. In the meantime, however, it is war.
(Retrieved from, http://www.romanchristiandom.blogspot.com)
The Battle of Tours France is said to be the most important battle ever won for the sake of civilization.
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Thanks for posting that – it is important history that school texts leave out these days. I have had that history (in university), but it’s been quite some time. I also have a short review of God’s Battalion’s here, but I want to revisit that and write much more about it. It was originally written for someplace else that required it be short. Anyway, thanks–people need to know that Islam was spread by violent force, not by helping the disadvantaged or going door-to-door. It’s a spiritual battle that gets people to think, against all rationality, that Islam is good (following the murderous polygamist Mohammad) and Christianity (following Jesus, who healed and uplifted women) is bad. It’s completely insane.
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Vicki,
I couldn’t agree more.
God bless you
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I simply ask people why Jesus is upheld differently then every other prophet. Good post!
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Thank you very much! Regarding your question. It’s because Jesus claimed to be God, and the belief that He was telling the truth is essential to the Christian faith. Other prophets don’t claim this, and Jesus’ claims seem verified by his life and miracles. Therefore, people believe that he wasn’t a prophet, but part of the triune God/God came to visit in the flesh. A great deal of writing has been done on the subject, as you may well imagine, but all that can be written is based on the scriptures themselves and that’s all that really needs to be read for a person to make up one’s own mind/heart (sure, some of the prophecies in the Old Testament and some other passages can use a good contextual commentary, but those are for questions, and in the end aren’t necessary for faith). A good translation should be read, of course.
I myself did not believe for a long time because I did not trust man, and even in everyday matters what people say and write should often be tested. A person has to be open to wanting to know God and Christ in order to know Him/them. That doesn’t mean being open either to anything or to blind faith, just a desire to live, love, and know the truth. That may sound kind-of silly (the words are too common), I guess, but once Jesus came to me it became very apparent that God is indeed all those things and I was unaware of how little I knew of any of them (I was tired of living at the time). So Jesus is not a prophet; He has the power of salvation, which belongs to God. Prophets, real prophets, speak of God and events that God wants known. They aren’t God and don’t save souls/allow them into heaven. Again, thank you.
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Amazing site you’ve right here
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Thank you!
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