The Same God

Prideth · Post by **Prideth** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:48

This is something I've been thinking about a fair bit lately because of the upsurge of violence between the 3 main one god religions over the last 10, 20, 30 years or more.

I know almost all violence claimed to be in the name of God actually isn't, and is much more wrapped up in power and politics, but when it all comes down to it, how can any group claim to be killing members of another in the name of god, when they all worship the same god?

Jews, Christians and Muslims all worship the god of Abraham, that means they all worship the same god. Wouldn't that mean if, for example, a Christian killed a Muslim in the name of god, that they are actually killing a fellow worshiper of their own god, and under the rules laid down in the bible, going to hell for it?

I'm an atheist, so don't pretend to understand the relationship between the religions perfectly, but can't understand why any member of these three religions can stand up and scream for the deaths of members of the other two in the name of god, when both are worshiping the same one.

Ancsur2002 · Post by **Ancsur2002** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 19:33

Well, from my researches it seems, that each nation has its own god... there are many legends and myths that mention 'oh god of *insert a nation here* help us'... I think this means that the 'gods' are not really the same.

Chillum · Post by **Chillum** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 20:08

AFAIK, it's not true that muslims and christians shares the same god.. Christians and Jews does, but not the muslims. They have Allah, and the christians and jews god is just named God...

Am I wrong?

Schmidter · Post by **Schmidter** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 23:20

Also The jehowas widnesses have the same god! The just call him Jehova, or jahwe or something like that

Because they say in the old bibel (their bibel) gods name is Jawhe! Or somthing

eMTe · Post by **eMTe** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 23:22

Well, the main question is not if Christians and Muslims believe in the same God, they THINK they believe in different gods, even if Muslims consider Jesus as the prophet. Both followers believe that there's only on god - God for Christians and Allah for Muslims. So the question is what do you believe and if you believe at all do you think they share the same belief, but they dont even know about it. And that's what Prideth meant if I understand correctly...

Prideth · Post by **Prideth** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 23:38

Allah is just the arabic word for god. It isn't a name as such.

It is the same god, as all three religions worship the god of Abraham, the same Abraham each time. He was only one man, and he only believed in one god. Jesus is in the koran, so is moses and many others from the bible. The Muslims don't dispute Jesus existed and was a prophet, but they don't believe he was the son of god or anything like that, and of course they consider him much, much less important than Mohommad.

Someone on OG said that Abraham had 2 sons by different women. The son by his wife became king of the Jews, the son by his slave became king of the Arabs or something like that. The Muslims hold Abraham in very high esteem. The most holy place in the Muslim religion, the cloth covered rock in Mecca, is the place Abraham acended to heaven, or something like that.

The main point is though, if members of all three religions believe in and worship the same god, then how can they kill each other in the name of that god, and expect to be rewarded for it by a spot in heaven?

eMTe · Post by **eMTe** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 23:58

You forget one thing. Maybe they believe in the same God, but they read different holy books. God is one, but what he says to Christians and Muslims is totally different. Christians believe that Jesus was God's son, Muslims not. There is also lots of other differences between Bible and Koran. So, if you are a Christian you cant accept Muslims and if you are a Muslim you cant accept Christians. Same God, almost or exactly the same prophets before Jesus (dont remember exactly, but Muslims accept some of the prophecies from Old Testament afair), but totally different words and orders from main prophets. That's why both religions cant coexist peacefully, they may follow same God (probably unconsciously for majority of them) but follow different religions. So it's not the problem of God itself as an uberbeing, it's problem of religions and their rules...

I had a short contact with Pentecostal sect, so I have a good view on some issues and believe me, evangelical christians (not the catholics) dont believe that Muslims worship the same God.

Ancsur2002 · Post by **Ancsur2002** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 10:21

'holy' books are written by human beings. The Bible too. And as it was translated to other languages (and even the 'original' version is a translation) we can by no means know what was REALLY written in it.
anyway, I think that you cannot kill anyone in the name of God, since therefore you put the crime of killing on God. If you kill someone, the whole responsibility is yours regarless if you ever get to prison for it or not.

mistergreen77 · Post by **mistergreen77** » Sat May 20, 2006 23:45

I am posting this quote because I think it offers the best answer to this question. No-one believes in the 'same God'.

Is it possible that there are people who say 'God' and suppose that this is something one can have in common? - Just look at two school children: one of them buys a knife, and his neighbour buys one just like it, on the very same day. And a week later they compare their two knives, and by now they are barely similar: so differently have they developed in different hands. (Sure, says the mother of one boy, if you always get everything to look used right away!) I see: Is it possible to believe than one can have a god without using him?

Rilke