While it is common for the more fundamentalist believers to believe that following their religion (or even their variant) is the only way to be saved, more liberal believers tend to claim that Judaism, Christianity and Islam worship basically the same god, that they are just varying interpretations of the same deity, and of the same “truth”.
I beg to differ.
Yes, the three main monotheistic religions have the same historical origins. Both Christianity and Islam claim to be extensions of Judaism, revere the same patriarchs (such as Moses or Abraham), but then add new claims, and refuse some of the original ones. I am not disputing this fact. Even the two newer religions’ holy books either include parts of the old one, or are inspired by it.
But having the same historical origin doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re the same religion, or that they worship the same god. Not when they claim that their god has completely different attributes — sometimes even opposing ones.
Think about it. Is God a being who needed the blood of his son (which is also himself) in order to forgive humanity for their sins? One religion says yes, the other two say no. And whether the answer is yes or no, it means God has a completely different character than he would have otherwise. Does he need blood, suffering and sacrifice in order to forgive? Or can he do it on his own? Is he the kind of being who believes that guilt can be passed from those responsible to an innocent, or is he not?
I can argue that a god who wants and needs a bloody sacrifice is very different from one who doesn’t. Unless God is schizophrenic, one can’t rationally argue that it’s the same god. Either he wants that, or he doesn’t — to say that he wants it from some of his believers and not from others is far too ridiculous. In other words, if Christianity is right about that facet of God, then Judaism and Islam must necessarily be wrong — and vice-versa.
It’s easy to find more examples. Take hell, for instance. To me, with my human imagination, I cannot imagine something worse, more terrible, than the idea of eternal punishment. Can you even grasp the meaning of “eternal”? Human minds can’t quite conceive of it. Even eternal boredom, without any actual, active torture, would be a fate infinitely worse than any kind of finite torture inflicted on Earth by the worst imaginable sadist. It also follows that there can be possibly no crime — even hypothetically — that warrants such a punishment. No finite action, no finite crime or “sin” is ever deserving of an eternal anything — much less eternal torture. It follows that a god who does inflict such a fate on even one sentient being would be more unjust, more sadistic, more evil than our minds can conceive of.
Yet, of the three monotheisms, two say God is that evil. The other one says otherwise (there is no hell in Judaism, and the Old Testament says several times that death is final). Can “more evil than we can conceive” be the same as otherwise? Either God is the ultimate sadist, or he isn’t; it’s absurd to claim that Jewish sinners die a final death, but Christians and Muslims go to a lake of fire and burn for eternity. If that was so, then either God was insane, or we’d have to be talking about two very different gods.
I could go on. Does God have a favorite group, a “chosen people”? One religion says he does, and therefore doesn’t actively attempt to recruit outside of it. The other two say differently.
I’m not claiming that there are three different gods, each one worshipped by its own religion. In fact, I don’t believe that even one exists (what with being an atheist and all). My point is that the three monotheisms worship vastly different gods, with vastly different personalities and desires. They can’t all be right, of course. In fact, even if one was right, the other two would have to be abysmally wrong — worshipping not just a slightly different variant of the same god, but one with completely different (and often opposite) traits. Despite the historical origins, whatever the three main religions worship these days can’t possibly be considered the same god — unless, of course, God is the ultimate case of multiple personality disorder.
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As a liberal protestant myself, I think there’s a distinction that needs to be raised. To affirm that we worship one God is not to say that our conceptions of God are the same in all three religions. But my conceptions are not God. So yes concepts vary, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, but that doesn’t bear on the question of one God. And since being monotheists we have to affirm there is one God, but a Muslim God or a Christian God, etc.
Sorry for the typo. But as a monotheist I affirm there is one God, not a Christian God, not a Muslim God, but God. But the way I speak about God is through the Christian tradition..it’s my vantage point, community, tradition from which I speak of such a reality. But the reality is more than a given tradition’s language, including my own.
as monotheist i affirm there is one God. God who cteated us and universe, who prepare reward and punishment to us as He is very just. He give freedom to us to choose our faith and understandings. He explained the truth through his last messenger Muhammad p b o h. This book, Quran is the latest updated version of His guidance and instruction to us. tq
At last – someone who pays attention when the brainwashed god-botherers say ‘Allah’ and ‘Jehovah’ – they’re NOT the same sky fairy at all – the Hebrews used to worship Eloah/Allah, too – then everything changed. And as for the non-existent son of the easter bunny and the crock of crap that is Islam – haven’t these people learbned the lesson of the morons who follow the angel Moroni?
Heck, I can make up a much more plausible regional lie. So can you – it just takes blind fanaticism and egocentrism coupled with nepotistic racism. Simle.
See http://newilluminati.blog-city.com
http://hermetic.blog.com
http://centraxis.blogspot.com
Ps – pardon the keyboard errors – it’s one of these tiny portable things owned by a friend.
I think what most of these liberals believe is this:
There is one God, which all three religions worship. However, some of these religions, if not all, had made mistakes as to the nature and actions of this God. They disagree on what He did and had done, and what he is like.
As an analogy, imagine I meet up with two friends. One of them says Barrack Obama is a Muslim and bad for America, another says he is a Christian and able to lead the nation, and I say while I am hesitant to support a Christian he seems like the best candidate. Now, we all disagree on the nature of Obama, how he might act, etc. Some of us are right, and some are wrong. But we are all still talking about the same person.
I think this is the same as with how these individuals feel about God.