We're told that the FBI now classifies Allah and the Judaeo-Christian God as the same Being.
Wrong.
Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? Since the devastating
attacks of 9/11—when the world saw afresh that religion has
geo-political consequences, and that Islam is the most volatile religion
on the world’s stage—more and more Christians have been asking this
question.
Yale theologian Miroslav Volf answers the question in a recent book (Allah: A Christian Response) with a nuanced but insistent Yes: Christians and Muslims do indeed worship the same God. In a review
of Volf’s book, Baylor historian Thomas Kidd faults Volf for
sidestepping the question of salvation—and therefore the question of true worship—and for not being critical enough in his evaluation of the identity of the God or gods of these two religions.
Kidd is quite right; indeed, there are deeper problems with Volf’s
thesis. His argument for the identity of the Muslim and Christian Gods
collapses under its own weight. Volf’s own logic underscores what the
Qur’an itself suggests—that the God of the Qur’an is radically different
from the God Christians worship.
The short (linked) essay doesn't even mention the Trinity. Allah is not a Trinity--which is why Belloc categorized Muhammedanism as a 'great heresy.' However, one can infer 'the missing Trinity' from the brief essay.
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I think the answer has to depend on how you arrive at your idea of God. If you're just believing that there is some entity named "Allah" who is an individual of a sort, with certain characteristics mentioned in the stories of the Koran, then no -- it's quite a different sort of god from the God of the Bible.
On the other hand, if you're doing what Avicenna was doing, or what Averroes was doing, it's the same God. There can only be one first principle (a point Avicenna himself makes quite convincingly), so if we are seeking that principle through reason and philosophy as well as prayerful reflection on the world He has made, we're all going to be pointed in the same direction. If you're learning about God from his works, you must be learning about the God who really made the works.
Allah is not a Trinity
Just curious: How does the Judeo part of "Judeo-Christian" feel about the Trinity" part? Being the "same" God and all?
And why would the FBI have any reason to opine on this subject?
Catechism section 841 says of Muslims that "together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."
Catechism or no, B-16's takedown of Muhammedanism (Regensburg) was thorough.
And they do NOT believe in the Trinity. So Avicenna/Averroes' study, while undoubtedly fruitful, did not bring them to the full reality of God.
And there's been no progress since, either.
Dad's part Muzzie and just now's finding out...buy more Korans.
We really shouldn't be using the term "Judeo-Christian", either,an oxymoron if ever there was one. Our Jewish friends reject the Trinity just as completely as do the Muslims.
That is why we pray for the conversion of these two misguided, unbaptized people, especially on Good Friday.
They have to say "Judeo-Christian" even though they know that Jews don't actually believe in the same Triune God because, you know, Israel and all.
The Trinitarian mystery was mentioned in the OT. Not all Jews picked it up, but it's there.
Not all Jews picked it up? Which ones believe in the Triune God?
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