Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?

the BDI wanted to get to your take on this question Miroslav wolf an eminent theologian Yale Divinity School published a book ala Christian response when she argues that you can be both 100% Muslim and 100% Christian and also argues that Christians and Muslims worship the same God how would you respond well you know I appreciate professor wolf appreciate his work a very thoughtful man in so many ways I just not knowing his spiritual background my visceral reaction is he's probably never been a Muslim if he has he would understand just how unworkable that that position is so I'd love to use this illustration when I was converted from Islam to faith in Christ there would be another two years after my conversion where the Quran would hold a vaulted place and in my home I wasn't reading it and if you'd asked me if I thought it was you know in Scripture and I told you no but the tentacles of Islam and the practices of Islam and assumptions of Islam we're still wrapped around me and in very tight ways I just sort of in this octopus with all eight arms just clutching onto me mom it is not it is not possible to be a Muslim and a Christian at the same time we can come to the question of is the same God joining us it has no but but even in the practices of the religion it's not possible and I think when people make that that kind of claim they fail to understand how much of Islam is the forms is is the ritual is is is all these things that they're saying you can be inside of but not a part of it it's just it's just unworkable and I fear that you you actually wind up hurting people more in that way of things then you are saving them from things as a concern for persecution and ostracism and all those kinds of things well let's talk about the question of do they worship the same God because a key part of dr. voles argument is that Calvinists Armenians have different views of God and yet they believe they worship the same God Christians and Jews have very different views and yet a lot of Christians would certainly say that they worship the same God as the Jews do so if they understand there can be differences and still worship the same God then what's the difference between Christians and Muslims worship being different guy well thank God it seems to me that that's a significant category mistake in it so a difference between a reform or Calvinist Christian and Armenian Christian their view of God isn't a difference about the nature of God it might be a difference about how God works providentially or how his sovereignty plays out in in salvation that's a that's a difference about the workings of God not about the nature of God if we're talking Jews and Christians the Christian would at least argue that part of what God is doing in the progression of Revelation is revealing more about himself and that self revelation climaxes in Christ and in the Trinity so in that sense we would see differences based upon where you're sort of standing in the stream of Revelation if you will and even having said that we would look at Hebrews and other places and see how how Jewish people are reading their scriptures as Christians and seeing their glimpses of you know God as he reveals himself only in Christ those those that's a different category of discussion then then trying to say God is one and has no partners and trying to at the same time say God is one and exists in three persons no Muslim makes the claim if he's been honest so he is being honest that that's the same God that you can be both Trinitarian and Unitarian at the same time in the same way what it what if though as I travel would argue the Muslim understandings of the Trinity are not accurate and that if we just clarified our views of the Trinity than Muslims would would see it differently that they're reacting to perversions of the Christian doctrine of the trend I think that's partly true you know in my experience in both the Muslim world and Arab Muslim world and in the Western world in talking with Muslims even when you clarify the many misconceptions about the Trinity it is abhorrent to Islam that that God should exist in three persons it is it is most Muslims will tell you that's illogical and inevitably what you're doing is committing the highest blasphemy of making partners with God and then go back to the go back to the cardinal confession that there's but one God and that God is one and so I don't think at the at the level of concept we're talking simply about misunderstandings we're talking about irreconcilable conceptions of who God is and and Muslims are very clear they do not understand Christ to be God the Son of God God the Son would not hold to a view even though their own scriptures mentioned the Spirit of God some 11 times we're not hold to a view that that's in fact God the Holy Spirit um and at that point you know you see that you see the tensions and contradictions God thank you for answering no thank you

Channel: The Gospel Coalition

Views: 73,323

Rating: 4.5057473 out of 5

Keywords: minister, teaching, Christianity, evangelical, pastor, Holy Spirit, faith, reformation, reformed, God, preacher, coalition, church, Christ, Jesus, pastors, churches, preaching, bible, ministry, gospel, the gospel coalition, Christian, spiritual, spirit, biblical

Id: Iq2hf8kieog

Length: 5min 39sec (339 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 24 2014