Do Jews, Muslims, and Christians Worship the Same God? An Orthodox Case for Saying No

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• − opinion#355 65 likes at the source

  Mormonism is pure heresy. I grew up in that faith but eventually escaped during a semester abroad in Russia, where I encountered Eastern Orthodoxy — partly through reading Dostoevsky. In my view, Joseph Smith and Mohammed both believed they had met an angel of God, but it was really some kind of demon whose aim was to pull people away from the King of kings through these deceptive, false religions. ☦️
• − opinion#363 17 likes at the source

  Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? No. Galatians 1:8 — even if we or an angel from heaven preaches a gospel different from the one we preached, let him be accursed! Christians hold the Holy Trinity to be the one true God; Muslims believe in the oneness of Allah. Therefore, we do not worship the same God.
• − opinion#356 11 likes at the source

  St. John of Damascus saw Islam as a heretical offshoot of Christianity, but truthfully Islam's foundations are a blend of Judaism, Nestorian Christianity, and Arabic paganism. It's really worship of the old Arabic pagan moon deity. The Baha'i faith is essentially a universalized Islam, like Sufism pushed even further.
• − opinion#357 10 likes at the source

  The dogmatic constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium 16, from Vatican II, states: the plan of salvation includes those who acknowledge the Creator, first among them the Muslims, who profess the faith of Abraham and together with us adore the one, merciful God, judge of mankind on the last day. According to the Roman Catechism, adoration corresponds to the Greek λατρεία (latria), the highest worship given to God alone as the infinitely perfect Creator and Lord. So the Latins claim they worship the same god as Muslims alongside them. That's far worse than the filioque: Muslims deny the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Kyrie eleison.
• − opinion#365 10 likes at the source

  It's amusing watching people engage in this kind of ecumenism. Yes, we're Abrahamic religions (descended from Abraham), but we don't share one faith, nor do we worship the same god. Different formulations of who God is mean we have ontologically different Gods.
• − opinion#367 6 likes at the source

  We worship the same divine essence. But without faith in Christ, Muslims and Jews are damned.
• − opinion#358 3 likes at the source

  Were the Arians wrong about Christ? This is a basic logical point about how reference works. To claim "X is wrong about Y," the Y must be a shared referent. Saying the Arians were wrong about Christ (i.e., heretics) means they point to the same Christ you do. Likewise, to say Judaism or Islam are wrong about God, they must be referring to that same referent.
• − opinion#369 3 likes at the source

  If you worship one god in trinity, you're worshipping a non-Biblical, pagan-influenced Greco-Roman construct. The Athanasian Creed underpins Christendom's triune godhead, yet it appears nowhere in Scripture and didn't exist until the First Council of Constantinople in 381 CE. Every author of what we call the Bible was Hebrew — not Greek, and certainly not Roman.
• − opinion#370 3 likes at the source

  CHRISTIANITY: "Three-in-One": A rock is a single being, but it has no personhood inside that being. Personhood means the capacity to think, reason, and be consciously aware of yourself. A rock has no reference point, no center of consciousness to do any of that — it's like "zero persons in one being." A man is one being with one personhood: one reference point, one center of consciousness for thinking, reasoning, and self-awareness — "one person in one being." God is one Being containing three distinct Personhoods — three reference points, three Centers of Consciousness within Himself — making Him "three Persons in one Being." * In all of existence, God alone is unlike anything else. Everything else is either rock-like (one being, zero personhood) or man-like (one being, one personhood). Satan, angels, humans, Allah, demons, birds, fish — all of us are like the man: a single reference point within ourselves. * God alone has three Personhoods within His Oneness — He alone is "Three-Persons-in-One-Being." Over 2,000 years ago, the "Word of God," Himself one of the three Persons, took on human flesh through the Virgin Mary and walked among us. The New Testament writers put it this way: "We saw Him — the One who existed with God before creation; we touched Him; we ate with Him. His glory surpassed every human who ever lived or will live. He died for our sins, and three days later…
• − opinion#364 2 likes at the source

  As a Catholic Christian who believes the God of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam is the same God, I disagree. You claimed these religions don't worship the same God, that rejecting the Son means rejecting the Father, that rabbinic Judaism and Islam were both invented in the 600s, that Allah has a shin and two right hands, and that the Trinity is the only way to worship the God of Abraham. Your argument fails — not because I'm a Muslim or Jew, I'm Catholic — but because the logic doesn't hold. First, you equivocate on "same God," treating it as "same theology about God." Those differ: two people can refer to the same person while disagreeing about his attributes. If I say Lincoln was tall and you say short, it's still the same Lincoln. So you've shown Jews and Muslims have a different understanding of God, not a different God. Second, you beg the question: quoting 1 John 2:22-23 assumes the Trinitarian definition is correct, but Jews and Muslims don't accept it as authoritative. You're using Christian premises to prove a Christian conclusion — circular. Third, a false dilemma: defining "same God" so only Trinitarians qualify is gatekeeping, a No True Scotsman move, not an argument. Fourth, a genetic fallacy: origin dates don't determine whether religions refer to the same God — Christianity also emerged after Judaism, so by that logic it too wouldn't worship the God of…
• − opinion#371 1 likes at the source

  There is nothing like Him; He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. Allah—Glory and Exaltation be to Him—is neither a body nor matter; whatever you imagine, Allah is unlike that. You cannot hold Islam as a whole accountable for the erroneous ideas held by certain Islamic groups. Just as I cannot judge Christianity based on the doctrines of the Mormon or Protestant churches.
• − opinion#374 1 likes at the source

  I am a Muslim, a follower of the final prophet, Muhammad. The Torah, the Psalms (Zabur), the Gospel (Injil), and the Quran are the words of Allah. Muslims worship the same God as Abraham did. Surah Al-Ikhlas [112]: In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. 1. Say, "He is Allah, [who is] One, 2. Allah, the Eternal Refuge. 3. He neither begets nor is born, 4. Nor is there to Him any equivalent." Jesus, son of Mary, is a prophet. He was born of a virgin mother. He was not crucified — God raised him to His side. He will return, and he is the Messiah. Surah An-Nisa [4]: 156. and for their denial and outrageous accusation against Mary, 157. and for boasting, "We killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of Allah." But they neither killed nor crucified him — it was only made to appear so. Those who argue for the 'crucifixion' are in doubt. They have no real knowledge — only assumptions. They certainly did not kill him. 158. Rather, Allah raised him up to Himself. And Allah is Almighty, All-Wise. 159. Every one of the People of the Book will definitely believe in him before his death. And on the Day of Judgment Jesus will be a witness against them.
• − opinion#375 1 likes at the source

  Only as a referent, never in essence. Someone can refer to God yet fail to grasp the fullness of His essence, which leaves them without comprehension of true divine revelation. This is the official Catholic position. Muslims, in a sense, do not worship the same God — but that has nothing to do with the referent. The same applies to the Jews. Don't mistake us for claiming we worship the same God in sense or in essence. Moreover, because they reject God in essence and lack the fullness of truth, their salvation and souls are at risk. St John of Damascus, De Haeresibus (PG 94, 767); Pope Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, 72 (1937); St Robert Bellarmine, Controversies of the Christian Faith, Book 3, On the Interpretation of the Word of God, ch. 10, p 207; St Augustine, De Vera Religione, IX (PL 34, 127); St Gregory of Nyssa, De Spiritu Sancto Adversus Pneumatomachos Mecedonianos, 15 (PG 45, 1319); Romans 1:19-21, 1 Corinthians 10:16-21, Acts 17:38 (Open for Dialogue)
• − opinion#359

  🤦‍♂️ There's a concept running throughout the Bible that most Christians rarely know or teach: the Hebraic practice of "shlichut" (agency). The "Angel of the Lord" was a designated agent (a "shaliach") of God and could be called by the sender's name (God) without literally being God. Christ points to this repeatedly in John's Gospel. The Hebrew verb "to send" is "shalach," so every time Christ says he was SENT, he's declaring himself a shaliach of God. John 12:44: "Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in HIM WHO SENT ME." John 4:34: "My food is to do the will of THE ONE WHO SENT ME." John 8:42: "I have not come from myself, but THAT ONE SENT ME." John 5:30: "I can do nothing from myself... I do not seek my own will but the will of THE ONE WHO SENT ME." John 7:16: "MY TEACHING IS NOT MINE but HIS WHO SENT ME." John 12:49: "The Father himself who SENT me has commanded me what to say."
• − opinion#360

  Why would Jews be the most unworthy people? Unless I'm mistaken, the Mother of God, the Theotokos, was Jewish, as was St. John the Baptist, plus so many saints and prophets. How can they be the most unworthy given all these hugely important and holy figures?
• − opinion#361

  All Christians who believe Jesus Christ is literally God should really meditate on Christ's words here: Matthew 7:21-23 (CEB) — "Not everybody who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven. ONLY THOSE WHO DO THE WILL OF MY FATHER IN HEAVEN WILL ENTER. On Judgment Day many will say, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, expel demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?' Then I'll tell them, 'I never knew you. Get away from me, you who do wrong.'"
• − opinion#362

  If they say they worship the same "God" as Muslims and Jews, who am I to deny it? But if they do worship the same God as Muslims and Jews, then they cannot be worshipping the One True God.
• − opinion#366

  Watch what you preach, brother — does this post really serve Christ? What do you hope to accomplish by posting it? To humiliate others? Ask yourself what's driving you: pride and vainglory, or Christ? Be careful, because you and MANY others can lead inquirers and catechumens astray, ultimately working against the Church.
• − opinion#368

  So modern Jews worship a different god than ancient Jews, and the ancient Jews worshipped the same God, but today's Jews think they're worshipping the original version while actually following a skewed one. Does that mean they're worshipping a skewed version, or are they making an idol?
• − opinion#372

  All three Abrahamic religions do worship the same God, yet each has its own separate and distinct covenant. Beyond the covenants differing from one another, each community also has its own distinct history of preserving and interpreting its scriptures and traditions. Unfortunately, every one of them has also been damaged by manmade politics along the way… 😔
• − opinion#373

  In my personal view, ecumenism is the heresy of our era and genuinely a sign of the end times. In the past, at least people disagreed with one another for the sake of what is true — truth and falsehood were clearly divided. Now it's all about unity at the expense of truth.
• − opinion#376

  Muslims worship the same God as Christians in object, not in concept. Before you call it a quantifier shift fallacy — it would only be one if multiple One True Gods actually existed, and since they don't, the fallacy doesn't apply. Jay once tried to demonstrate it was a quantifier shift fallacy with an example: you have a mother, I have a mother, therefore we share the same mother. The flaw in that, as I said, is that many mothers really do exist, so the fallacy works there — but not with the One True God, of whom there is only one. Nobody is claiming Muslims have salvation, or that they have the Father without the Son. They are, however, first in THE PLAN of salvation: they already believe God is One and is the God of Abraham, which puts them closer to salvation than, say, an atheist.