Christian Response To Islam
01/31/08 - GodVoter.org
responds to "A Common Word" from Muslim leaders
In 2007, 137 Muslim clerics issued to Christians
"A Common Word Between Us And You,"
claiming that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. Below is our response
to the Muslim clerics that explains the difference between the God of the Bible and Allah
of the Qur'an. A copy of the original
A Common Word
with the quotes below highlighted is
here, and
here
is the reply from the Muslim clerics to our response below.
If you are a Christian leader and wish to join the co-signatories below, please
click here and include your church or other Christian affiliation.
Greetings in the name of the Lord God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In your letter issued to Christian
s titled,
A Common Word, you
claimed
"love of the One God and love of the neighbour"
to be
"the very foundational principles" of Islam
and Christian
ity, and called for
"freedom of religion"
and
"peace" between our two
religions,
warning
: "with
the terrible weaponry of the modern world; with Muslims and Christians
intertwined everywhere as never before, no side can unilaterally win a conflict
between more than half of the world’s inhabitants."
Considering the profiles of the 137 signatories of
A Common Word,
some may raise questions about such an erudite group claiming
that Christian
s and Muslims love
"the One God,"
and wonder if
A Common Word isn't a fake olive
branch offered to draw a rejection, which can then be used to portray Christian
s
unfavorably.
Those even more skeptical may cite your references to
"the terrible weaponry of the modern world"
and consider
A Common Word to be a veiled threat from
a religion whose militant elements expect to gain access to weapons of mass
destruction in the foreseeable future.
We, however, accept
A Common Word as a sincere
expression of your peaceful intentions, thank you for it, and respond as follows:
I. We reject your claim that Christian
s and Muslims love
"the One God."
II. We accept your call for peace and freedom of religion.
III. We propose a joint declaration to affirm our mutual sincerity.
I. We reject your claim that Christians and Muslims love
"the One God."
The Bible and the Qur'an instruct love for God, but the two
books refer to fundamentally different deity. The God of the Bible is One who
manifests Himself in three persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ)
and God the Holy Spirit.
While the notion of God manifesting Himself in three persons isn't easy for mere
mortals to fully comprehend, this is precisely what the Bible declares. Consider the following examples.
In the Old Testament, prophet Isaiah calls Jesus (God the Son),
"Mighty God":
"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a
Son is given; and
the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (
Isaiah 9:6)
In the New Testament, the
Gospel of John opens with the declaration that Jesus
Christ "was God" who "became flesh and dwelt among us":
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without
Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light
of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not
comprehend it... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth... And of His fullness we have all received, and
grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came
through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son,
who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." (
John 1:1-5, 14, 16-18)
After His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus is once again declared to be
"Go
d":
"Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not
with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have
seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the
nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His
side, I will not believe.” And after eight days His disciples were again inside,
and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst,
and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and
look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be
unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and
my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have
believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
(
John 20:24-29)
With respect to Go
d the Holy Spirit, the Bible describes Him as someone who speaks:
"Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain
prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene,
Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they
ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me
Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." (
Acts
13:1-2)
And the Bible identifies the Holy Spirit as "Go
d":
"But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife,
sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being
aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But
Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie
to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the
land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was
sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your
heart? You have not lied to men but to God." (
Acts 5:1-4)
Islam's Allah is not only exclusive of God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the
Holy Spirit, but also differs from the Christian God in the role played to save
us from our sins on the Day of Judgment,
which you stated,
"matters the most":
"The Fatihah, recited at least seventeen times daily by Muslims in the canonical
prayers, reminds us of the praise and gratitude due to God for His Attributes of
Infinite Goodness and All-Mercifulness, not merely for His Goodness and Mercy to
us in this life but ultimately, on the Day of Judgement when it matters the
most and when we hope to be forgiven for our sins."
To be forgiven for our sins, you asserted,
"It thus ends with prayers for grace and
guidance, so that we might attain—through what begins with praise and gratitude—
salvation and love, for God says in the Holy Qur’an: Lo! those who believe and
do good works, the Infinitely Good will appoint for them love. (Maryam, 19:96)"
and added,
"By engaging everything in our souls—the
faculties of knowledge, will, and love—we may come to be purified and attain
ultimate success."
Your assertion contradicts the Bible, which declares that no human being can
live up to God's laws, which exist to convict us of that fact. And the
penalty for "sin" - the failure to live up to His Holy laws - "is death":
"There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who
understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they
have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one...
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin... For the wages of sin is death."
(
Romans 3:10-12, 19-20,
6:23)
The Gospel - the "Good News" is that God so loved us that instead of executing
all of us as we deserve, God the Son (Jesus Christ) took the death penalty in our place. To be saved from our sins
and have everlasting life, we must sincerely believe Jesus Christ
chose to suffer death on the cross to save us and rose from the dead to
prove His deity:
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
(
John 3:16)
"For by Him [Jesus Christ] all things were created that are
in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and
for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is
the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father
that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to
Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace
through the blood of His cross." (
Colossians 1:16-20)
"Now on the first day of the week, very early in the
morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the
spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the
tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it
happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood
by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to
the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is
not here, but is risen!... So they [two other disciples] rose up that very hour
and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them
gathered together, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to
Simon!” And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He
was known to them in the breaking of bread. Now as they said these things, Jesus
Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” But they
were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said
to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold
My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does
not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” When He had said this, He showed
them His hands and His feet. But while they still did not believe for joy, and
marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” So they gave Him a piece of
a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence."
(
Luke 24:1-6, 33-43)
This does not mean we should not do
"good works," seek
"knowledge" and
"love." The Bible commands us to do
them, not because they save us from our sins, but to honor, thank and obey God
who saved us. Lest there be any doubt, Jesus affirmed that
believing in Him is the only way to heaven:
"Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me."
(
John 14:6)
II. We accept your call for peace and freedom of religion.
You proposed,
"So let our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with
each other only in righteousness and good works. Let us respect each other, be
fair, just and kind to another and live in sincere peace, harmony and mutual
goodwill."
And you avowed,
"Let there be no compulsion in religion," that
"justice and freedom of religion are a crucial part of love of the neighbour,"
and that we should
"sincerely make every effort to
make peace and come together in harmony."
We agree wholeheartedly. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and
good works, respect each other, be fair, just and kind to another and
come together in harmony to engage in truthful, sincere and respectful dialogue
about the Bible and the
Qur'an. And let us love the neighbor by respecting their
freedom of religion, including the Christians' freedom to choose Islam and
the Muslims' freedom to choose Christianity.
III. We propose a joint declaration to affirm our mutual sincerity.
To express our mutual sincerity and to take a concrete step forward, we propose
the following joint declaration:
1. We respect Muslims' freedom to gather in peace and safety to worship Allah,
including the freedom to build mosques, in both Muslim and
Christian areas. Likewise, we respect
Christians' freedom to gather in peace and safety to worship the God of the
Bible, including the freedom to build churches, in both Christian and Muslim areas.
2. We respect Muslims' freedom to print, import and distribute the Qur'an to
Christians, and Christians' freedom to access and read the Qur'an. Likewise, we
respect Christians' freedom to print, import and distribute Bibles to
Muslims, and Muslims' freedom to access and read the Bible.
3. We respect Christians' freedom to convert to Islam, and we respect Muslims'
freedom to convert to Christianity.
We look forward to your response.
GodVoter.org
Dr. John Frame - Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy, Reformed
Theological Seminary (RTS) Orlando, Florida
Pastor J. Harold Davis - Immanuel Baptist Church, Bowling Green, Florida
Pastor Nick Di Domenico - Faith Baptist Church, State College, Pennsylvania
Pastor Keith Doster - Grace Fellowship Church, Pine Grove Mills, Pennsylvania
Pastor Tony Felich - Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Overland Park, Kansas
Pastor Mark Gillespie - Foothills Fellowship, Anchorage, Alaska
Pastor Bruce Hobbs - Northbrook Alliance Church, Brooklyn Center, Minnesota
Pastor David Zane Jones - Heritage Reformed Baptist Church, South Indianapolis, IN
Pastor Kenneth M. Kalinich - East Bay Baptist Church, Panama City, Florida
Pastor Tedd Lewellen - Cornerstone International Church, Oakton, Virginia
Pastor Ramon Osorio - Highview Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky
Pastor Philip Richards - Trinity Reformed Baptist Church, Bartlett, Tennessee
Pastor John H. Roark - Buford Presbyterian Church, Buford, Georgia
Senior Minister James D. Wells - Island Pond Baptist Church, Hampstead, NH
(
Here
is the update, including an email from the Muslim clerics to
GodVoter.org.)