Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?

Domenico Fetti The Sacrifice of Elijah
Before the Priests of Baal

It’s quite clear in scripture there is one God. The apostles saw Him in Christ. If one believes in God, though I prefer ‘if one knows God’, then that is all the same God. Jesus said “He who sees me sees Him who sent Me”, and “He who has seen me has seen the Father”. The disciples, and others, saw “Him” eventually.

What prompted this are Christians not using discernment and seeing Allah and God as one in the same. I see “Allah” much as the ancient prophets saw false gods. In 1^st Kings, there’s the showdown between Ahab and Elijah. Elijah had Ahab get all the people of Israel together with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah. Elijah stood before all these and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!’ But the people were completely silent.”  

Muslims claim Allah and the Christian God are the same because both are descendants of Abraham. Think of this. Did Allah have a Son? God provided his only begotten Son. Did Allah sacrifice any part of himself for our salvation? Allah only sent a prophet, Mohammad.

Jesus was sacrificed. Painfully, and for a specific purpose. This sacrifice is not recognized in the Koran. Jesus is only a human prophet to Muslims.

Muslims can turn to God, to Jesus Christ for salvation. They have an option, “if the Lord is God, follow Him!’ Allah is as much a false god as Baal. Don't think Christians would want to take the option of turning to a false god. 

Question is, if Muslims think it okay to slaughter Christians, to force them to worship their false god, how is it possible that god is the same as the Christian God? The apostles, the prostitutes, the tax collector and others that saw Christ, saw Him for what He is, and did not need to be forced. It is revealed. And we can see Christ revealed to this day, because he is a living Christ. And please Atheists, Secularists and anti-Christian bigots, don’t go back hundreds of years and say stuff about those Christians that forced people to convert to Christianity. You have a problem if you have to go way into the past to prove a point. The people that did that went against scripture, the Word of God. That was then, this is now. Christianity experienced a reformation, and have an improved understanding of scripture since then. Islam is stuck in the 6^th century. No reformation.

Christians must make a distinction between the false god Allah, and the true God, manifested in Jesus Christ, who sacrificed Himself for our salvation. And we must talk and teach this, and be clear, so Muslims, Secularists, Atheists and anti-Christian bigots have this revealed to them, as Elijah revealed Baal and Asherah as false gods to the people of Israel. 

Beauty of Mathematics

I struggle with Math, but this is a beautiful thing. Almost magical.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h60r2HPsiuM

God Alone is Enough

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you. (Matt 6:33)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVdGEPA-Nxc

Magnificent ~ God's Creation

The Question of Suffering

The great discussion about suffering is most popularized by Rabbi Harold Kushner in his book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People". I've read it a couple times, not recently, and found it unfulfilling. I came away with the sense that Rabbi Kushner thought suffering happened because God is not all powerful, that He can't stop it. A frightening thought to me.

I've been though a lot, have suffered a lot. Way less though, than most people on this planet. Leading up to WWII, there was an American Jesuit priest, Walter Ciszek, that ended up in the Soviet gulag. He was arrested by the Soviets in 1941 for being a spy, and spent five years in Lubianka prison. Then he was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor in Siberia. He got back to the US in 1963.

Some of his thoughts on God's Will:

"God's will for us was the twenty-four hours of each day: the people, the places, the circumstances he set before us in that time. Those were the things God knew were important to him and to us at that moment, and those were the things upon which he wanted us to act, not out of any abstract principle or out of any subjective desire to 'do the will of God'. No, these things, the twenty-four hours of this day, were his will; we had to learn to recognize his will in the reality of the situation.

"The plain and simple truth is that his will is what he actually wills to send us each day, in the way of circumstances, places, people, and problems. The trick is to learn to see that- not just in theory, or not just occasionally in a flash of insight granted by God's grace, but every day. Each of us has no need to wonder about what God's will must be for us; his will for us is clearly revealed in every situation of every day, if only we could learn to view all things as he sees them and sends them to us."

Linking God's Will to Suffering and Pain. I'm thinking now that I'll have to go back and re-read CS Lewis' "The Problem of Pain". I doubt God wants us to suffer. There is, on balance, more grace, love and joy in the course of my life, than there is suffering and pain. I suffer too, when I see suffering. Other's suffering grieves me deeply.

Often when we see friends and loved ones suffering, we're at a loss for words. Then we say some things, often not helpful, sometimes hurtful. I like this though: A mother, who's son was suffering horribly from the results of a car accident. The mother asked, "Where the hell is God?" Her priest answered "I think God is devastated. Like the God who groans with loss in Isiah, and like Jesus who weeps at his best friend's tomb, God was not standing outside our pain, but was a companion within it, holding us in his arms, sharing our grief and pain."

Being a Christian, or believer in God, does not mean we will not suffer. We are all suffering some hardship, some more than others, but it's a lot about how we handle it. I like the line I read, in of all places, one of the books of Henry Miller; he said that the most Godlike thing about God is that he entered into his own creation.

God suffered all the human suffering, then the ultimate pain and suffering. He still suffers with us. I take comfort in that. I know too that suffering takes us in unexpected directions. I didn't really get involved with helping and supporting cancer victims until I lost a close friend. Now I've lost two close friends, and have several friends that are cancer survivors. How many of you didn't pay attention to something until you suffered from it, or knew someone who suffered? I can only Accept, know God shares my suffering, and shares the pain, all of it, of everyone.

Is there an answer to why we suffer? Not really. We can know, that the suffering is shared; by God, by friends and loved ones. There's comfort in that, and that's the most we can have, at least for now.

Allah, God, and the 'Religion of Peace'

Christian churches have been firebombed and Christians attacked in Malaysia because they use "Allah" when referring to and praising God.

Last Sunday, January 10, three Christian churches were bombed, several other churches and a convent school were defaced by Islamofascists. Islamists say only the followers of Mohammed can use "Allah". The problem is that Christians in the Holy Land were using the name, Allah, long before Mohammed and Islam came along.

Islam is doing what it has always done. It attacks and destroys what exists and builds on top of it. Al-Aqsa Mosque, "Dome of the Rock", was built on the top of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Hagia Sophia in 1453 was turned into a mosque when Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror captured Constantinople. Now it's a museum with a mosque inside. Christians are banished. Islamists are beginning to appear successful turning Europe into an Islamic State.

Now in Malaysia they are trying to control language. Oppress non-Muslims. Full article here.

Office of Readings – OOR {A Discovery for Me}

I'm a main stream Protestant in my religious practice. I do have, and have read much of, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and "Crossing the Threshold of Hope" by John Paul II. I attended my first Mass about three years ago I think, and have been to a couple since. It's a good thing. Sometimes I do feel Catholic, which is almost a nonsensical statement, but just let the concept wash over you.

I've recently discovered the Office of Readings, which is or includes four volumes of Liturgy of the Hours. I'm not certain yet what all this is. There are web sites one can go to for daily readings.

I just wanted to share this beautiful passage I found, that seeped through me, embraced me, washed over me, comforted me. All of us have these incredible struggles, and when I lift my eyes to Him, open my heart to Him, I feel better for it. This passage is written by the Benedictine Abbot Saint Columban. Not knowing the structure, I think this is a reading and a response.

"How blessed, how fortunate, are those servants whom the Lord will find watchful when he comes. Blessed is the time of waiting when we stay awake for the Lord, the Creator, who fills all things and transcends all things.

How I wish he would awaken me, his humble servant, from the sleep of slothfulness, even though I am of little worth. How I wish he would enkindle me with that fire of divine love. The flames of his love burn beyond the stars; the longing for his overwhelming delights and the divine fire ever burn within me!

How I wish I might deserve to have my lantern always burning at night in the temple of my Lord, to give light to all who enter the house of my God. … Give your light to my lantern, I beg you, my Jesus, so that by its light I may see that holy of holies which receives you as the eternal priest entering among the columns of your great temple. May I ever see you only, look on you, long for you; may I gaze with love on you alone, and have my lantern shining and burning always in your presence."

This is a prayer or response to it:

"The sun shall no longer be your light by day,
nor shall the brightness of the moon shine on you at night.
–The Lord shall be your everlasting light,
and your God shall be your glory.

Your sun shall never set,
nor shall your moon withdraw.
–The Lord shall be your everlasting light,
and your God shall be your glory."

Does God Exist? (vid)

A Child of God (pic)

A child of God, expressing joy in His Presence.

When Scientists Have Solved Everything

A thousand years from now when scientists have solved all the questions that plague humanity, they are finally ready for the ultimate challenge. They elect a representative to address God.

"God, " says the scientist in charge. "You are no longer needed. You served a function in you day, but that day is gone. We can do everything that You can do, so goodbye."

There's is a moment of silence. God asks, "Everything?"

"Yes" answer the scientist, "everything".

"Can you make a human being from dust?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay," lets see it."

The scientist reaches down and digs his hands into the earth.

"Oh no," God says, "Get your own dust."

A Thought for Those That Say ONLY Mind and Reason Exist

Astrophysicist Robert Jastrow: "At this moment it seems as though science will never be able to raise the curtain on the mystery of creation. For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."

Stephen Hawking, writing about the possibility of discovering a unified theory, in "A Brief History of Time": "Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason-for then we would know the mind of God."

More poetically, from Annie Dillard (if you haven't read her, you're in for a treat. Highly recommend "Pilgrimage at Tinker Creek", a very influential book in my life.)
This is from "Teaching a Stone to Talk":

"Now we are no longer primitive. Now the whole world seems not holy...We as a people have moved from pantheism to pan-atheism...It is difficult to undo our own damage and to recall to our presence that which we have asked to leave. It is hard to desecrate a grove and change your mind. We doused the burning bush and cannot rekindle it. We are lighting matches in vain under every green tree. Did the wind used to cry and the hills shout forth praise? Now speech has perished from among the lifeless things of the earth, and living things say very little to very few...And yet it could be that wherever there is motion there is noise, as when a whale breaches and smacks the water, and wherever there is stillness there is the small, still voice, God's speaking from the whirlwind, nature's old song and dance, the show we drove from town...What have we been doing all these centuries but trying to call God back to the mountain, or, failing that, raise a peep out of anything that isn't us? What is the difference between a cathedral and a physics lab? Are they not both saying: Hello?"

If there is no more to existence than existing, do my atheist and rationalist friends contend that there is no meaning in life? If that's true, why do any act of love or compassion? Why isn't murder and destruction just as acceptable as an act of mercy? I ask them, why are humans the only life that is self aware? The rational mind being omnipotent, they should be able to explain this, and our existence.

Sunday Morning Thoughts

"The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other Voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in, all day." C S Lewis

Take a minute or two each morning, and listen to God. First thing when I sit up in the morning, I say the Lord's prayer. It opens the heart and ears to God's plan, and love, for us that day.

That way you're in tuned all day. I like being aware of His presence throughout the day.
From the hymns:

"I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear falling on my ear,
The Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells m I am His own.
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known." -Charles Miles



"He lives, He lives! Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me
Along life's narrow way.
He lives! He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart." -Alfred Ackley

The Seed and the Universe

We have UFO's and Aliens. We have science fiction with all kinds of beings and monsters. I ponder this, and have for years. I have only hearsay evidence that we have been visited by aliens, and the math for other cosmic outlying beings and civilizations speak against it. The number of binary stars vs single stars that could support life etc. There's an equal number of math equations that argue for other life too. I just need to see and experience it myself; or hear a damn good argument. The physics that have to exist to create and support life have to be just so. I've advocated for years that we, humans on this planet, may be the seed for all civilizations to come. All the aliens and civilizations in science fiction, life following art, will come from us, eventually.

O' good heavens, here we go again, the earth is the center of the universe argument again. Well, not exactly. The Copernican revolution (earth revolves around the sun) is taught that it was revolutionary because Christians thought the universe revolved around the earth. Like most everything taught or believed about Christianity (even among Christians) is incorrect. There is nothing scriptural, nothing in the Bible, that states or infers that the earth is the center of anything.

What is true, is that we humans are a very unique and have a special place in creation. I think God created all the perfect balances to create us, in this unique section of the Milky Way, in this unique solar system, on this unique planet. I don't think it's a matter of serendipity. Think of this; the laws of physics have to be just so to us to exist. The force of gravity has to be at a just so pull. The Big Bang had to be at just a precise moment in time at a particular, exact force. Air has to be at a precise mixture, water has to be just so to be water. One thing different, and we don't exist. Stephen Hawking: "If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million, the universe would have re-collapsed before it even reached its present size."

All of the heavens, infinite to us; billions of stars, millions of galaxies, infinite nothingness. Yet here we are. "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament show His handiwork." (Psalms 19). The apostle Paul wrote: ""For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and the Godhead, so that they are without excuse". We have mostly nothingness in between particles, yet we see particles behaving in the most strange way. What causes them to act in such a way? To do what we identify as physical laws, when there are so few particles in relation to nothingness, all that space. Even the things we see and bump into is mostly space, nothingness. Yet things are orderly. That takes us behind the physical creation, because those same physical laws that form our existence, contain the moral laws that inform and maintain our human existence, our relationships, how we think, how we perceive. It just builds, doesn't it? This singular, unique creation comes from one Source. Not an accident. I'm convinced we are the seed of all to come. The we are God's special, unique, singular creation, here for a special, unique, singular purpose.

Romance

I had removed myself the last two weeks of this past year from news and analysis, even from my favorite blogs. I called it a detox from the world, and it was. Nearly four weeks have gone by. I’ve just recently started again watching and thinking about the conflicts, lies and hatred that is constantly washing over nearly everything we experience. I missed church too the past couple Sundays, and choir practice, because my back spasms were so bad that often I couldn’t stand up straight, and the pain was intense. The past few days the results of the media detox became apparent, and I felt overwhelming Love, the Love of God. In church today I was so full of His Spirit I felt I was vibrating. I felt so much of His Love for all in the church, and most especially for my fellow singers in the choir. The joy was inexpressible. The source of this is the Romance of God, knowing that he loves me ever so much, that he loves us all so incredibly. That Romance comes out of this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all you soul, with all your mind”, and I do. Acting on that “…and your neighbor as yourself”. Here’s a realization that God has come to us, he’s asking us for our love. This is a matter of the Heart. God is touching our Heart. He romances us, not us him. “So long as we imagine it is we who have to look for God, we must often lose heart. But it is the other way about-He is looking for us.” (Simon Tugwell) I have so many times not recognized this love,or responded to it. God so loves me, and when I recognize it and accept; I so much more love others. Here’s the thing; as many times as I’ve gotten caught up in activities that distracted me, God still pursued me. The whole of what Simon Tugwell said: “So long as we imagine that it is we who have to look for God, we must often lose heart. But it is the other way about; He is looking for us. And so we can afford to recognize that very often we are not looking for God; far from it, we are in full flight from him, in high rebellion against him. And He knows that and has taken it into account. He has followed us into our own darkness; there where we thought finally to escape him, we run straight into his arms. So we do not have to erect a false piety for ourselves, to give us the hope of salvation. Our hope is in his determination to save us and he will not give in.” What came out of my weeks of media detox, and busyness, was this recognition of God’s Love. It’s a Romance. It’s sacred. There was courtship. He was patient. I was in my mid-40’s when I re-joined the Church and got baptized. The last fifteen years of that courtship, I spurned Him, and He loved me still, and was there. Since that time, the Romance has grown and matured. I get distracted sometimes, and lose sight of Him. But I turn and He’s there to comfort and support me. All of us God has romanced. Since before time he loved us. He loves us all for who we are and not what we do. Think of the time you were in love, (and for the fortunate few that fell in love and remained in love), how you felt (feel) toward that person. Your heart sang. God’s heart sings for us. We just need to hear the song.

God's Smile

Observations After Several Days Away

After the election I took a hiatus from the news and politics for about two weeks. I spent three days in Van Nuys at the 'Church on the Way' and heard several pastors/theologians speak on the "Kingdom of God", which I much prefer living in. Our world is upside down, and the changes promised by the pretender to the throne are no changes at all, but a rejection of traditional western values, Christianity and its freedom from the State, and divers other beliefs. I'm back to the news now, and ready again to be a warrior for free minds and free markets. Here is some of what I'm seeing after nearly two weeks of disassociating from politics and news:

Sarah Palin is still getting attacked, all of it based on lies. She didn't buy a bunch of clothes and force people to put the charges their personal credit cards. She knows Africa is a continent. She knows the difference between a city and a state. The list is long. One of the things we must do is kick out the 'rinos' (Republicans In Name Only), and that includes McCain and his staff. Good grief, Palin was on the loosing team, she's gone back to her state, and 'rino's' are still lying and attacking; being cowardly about it too…they won't even step up and be identified.

Prop 8 in California. Overwhelmingly passed by the people, a second time, for a constitutional amendment to state that marriage is between a man and a woman. Gays have civil unions, which give them all the legal rights of married people. They started out saying that's all they wanted. Their purpose though is to destroy the foundation of civilization, which is the family; a male and female joining together, becoming one flesh, producing and rearing children. For us religious people, this is a sacred commission, formed and supported by God. The gay response is not, like civilized, tolerant citizens, to work through the democratic process, accept their loss and make the best of it, but to be intolerant, destructive, vile, hateful, and barbaric. Some examples of their behavior: Protesters shoved aside a sixty-nine year old woman bearing a cross, reportedly spit on her and stomped on her cross. They then aligned themselves in a human barricade, blocking the media from getting to or interviewing the elderly woman (I've seen the video). Calvary Chapel Chino Hills was spray painted by vandals, after they learned that the church served as an official collection point for Prop 8 petitions. Letters containing white powder (obviously mimicking anthrax) were sent to the Los Angeles headquarters of the Mormon Church and to a temple in the Salt Lake City.
(Thankfully, the FBI said the substance tested nontoxic.) A 25-year veteran artistic director for the California Musical Theatre, who also happens to be a Mormon, was muscled to resign because of his $1,000 donation to the campaign to ban gay marriage in California. A pro-homosexual, pro-anarchy organization named Bash Back marched into the middle of a church service, flinging flyers and condoms to the congregants and hanging a banner from the balcony that featured two lesbians in provocative positions at the pulpit. Nice. But then again, all those Republicans, conservatives, and evangelicals taking to the streets after the election, destroying property and hurting people were over the top too.

To my Leftist friends: you won. You have your choice for President; both houses of Congress, and the judiciary, are controlled by the Left. You control education from K-University. You control the main stream media. You control entertainment. You have the support and adoration of every totalitarian government, terrorist organization, and non-democratic socialist state. Yet you still destroy, bully, intimidate and protest. This is why I'm a warrior for traditional values, for Christianity, for the Constitution. I believe these things all support and improve the human condition. The Left is set to destroy it. I support those things that made the most amount of people materially comfortable and spiritually fulfilled. I will do my best to stop the destruction. I will start with 'rino's'. They've been happily complicit.

Two Views: Sacred and Secular

Two Creation stories. Does it matter which one is true? You can decide...

The Secular Account: "You are the descendant of a tiny cell of primordial protoplasm washed up on an empty beach three and a half billion years ago. You are the blind and arbitrary product of time, chance, and natural forces. You are a mere grab-bag of atomic particles, a conglomeration of genetic substance. You exist on a tiny planet in a minute solar system in an empty corner of a meaningless universe. You are a purely biological entity, different only in degree but not in kind from a microbe, virus, or amoeba. You have no essence beyond your body, and at death you will cease to exist entirely. In short, you came from nothing and are going nowhere."

The Christian View: "You are the special creation of a good and all-powerful God. You are created in His image, with capacities to think, feel, and worship that set you above all other life forms. You differ from the animals not simply in degree but in kind. Not only is your kind unique, but you are unique among your kind. Your Creator loves you so much and so intensely desires your companionship and affection that He has a perfect Plan for your life. In addition, God gave the life of His only Son that you might spend eternity with Him. If your are willing to accept the gift of salvation, you can become a child of God." --Reverend Randy Alcorn

God's View of Government

“God’s view of government dictates that it carries out a specified and limited role in human affairs. The church and civil government are made necessary by the same thing (sin), but do not have identical responsibilities (Matthew 22:15-21). The humanist view of the role of government is to perfect mankind. The Scriptural view of the role of government is to protect mankind. Throughout Scripture, God is clear that civil government is charged with a limited responsibility and that good leaders decide to take a Scriptural view of government’s role. We also see in Scripture that God has a welfare plan—people are to look to the family, then the church, then the community (1 Timothy 5:3-16, Leviticus 19:9, 10, 23:22). The humanistic plan is publicly funded, coercive, and creates cycles of dependency. God’s plan is community-oriented, voluntary, and empowers people.” —Nathan Tabor

Tao te Ching II

"Do you want to improve the world?
I don't think it can be done.

The world is sacred.
It can't be improved.
If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.
If you treat it like an an object, you'll lose it.

There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
a time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle." -Tao te Ching

The Sabbath mind relates to improving the world, from Genesis:

"Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living thing."

Man has indeed tampered with God's creation, and has done some ruining to be sure. I'm struck by the Ecclesiastes "a time for". I'm struck too that it didn't rain, that the water misted over and watered the ground. Even though we faltered at the beginning, and continue to do so, God did create us in His image; moral, intelligent, with a soul, perception, and the capacity to take these things and use our God given abilities and talents to improve God's creation to more of what He intended. We should strive for that, to improve things on this earth, and improve things about ourselves too. He entrusted us with His image. Think on that for a while. He's given us all we need, all of Him. For God's blue earth that we can turn back to fulfill His vision, and for each of us individually, that we can turn back to fulfill his vision of us. To do any less...
I think too on the word 'good'. What God created He saw as good. What He created was perfect. There is perfection in goodness. Some mornings, when greeting people, and they ask "how are ya?", and I say 'good', it's sometimes thought that I'm not my usual exuberant self. When I say 'good', to me, at that moment, I am feeling God's perfection within, that I am perfect in His eyes, and am grateful for that. Very grateful.