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Statement A: The author made insulting comments about "Muhammad's God"

Statement B: Muslims, Jews and Christians worship the same God

Statement C: The author has made insulting comments about the Christian and Jewish God.

It's you're Statement B that makes the argument invalid. It's not only not necessarily true, but it also hinges entirely on what you mean by "the same God".

Let me put it this way... do you believe that both Baptists and the Jonestown Cult worship "the same Christ"?

Muslims have "99 beautiful names" for Allah, and each one describes his characteristics. "Love" is absent from this list of names. The Qur'an describes him in terms of judgment than by grace, and in terms of power rather than mercy.

This isn't to say that Allah doesn't love. He loves those who do good (good as in, doing good deeds, adhering to the required daily practices of the Five Pillars and so forth), but Allah doesn't love the person whose bad deeds outweigh the good things he/she/it has done.

The attribute of love is a huge difference between Allah and the God of Christianity. That's why it is incorrect to believe that Allah and God are the same deity but are simply known by two different names, depending on whether you're sitting in a mosque or a church. But this isn't like calling a couch by alternative names such as divan, sofa, davenport, or loveseat. Allah of the Qur'an only loves those he deems to be good; the God of the Bible loves all of humanity, none of whom are basically good.

George Houssney wrote in the book What Is Allah Like? that humans can never know Allah. They may know about him, but they do not have personal, experiential knowledge of him. Muslims reject the Christian concept that God is immanent (His presence and activity are within the world and human nature, and that the characteristics of God can be seen in the world around us). Muslims are also offended by the Christian concept that humans can establish a personal relationship with God.

There's also the concept of the Trinity. Muslims believe in the unity of Allah, meaning that he could have no son nor partner. Muslims sometimes makes the mistake in calling Christians evil due to the misunderstanding of so-called polytheism. There is no Arabic word for "threefold" so it is understandable that a language barrier creates a difficulty in understanding the Trinity. But it stretches out a little more than just a linguistic hurdle; the Qur'an specifically attacks the concept stating "They are unbelievers who say, 'God is the Third of Three.' No god is there but one God."

[pants]

Statement A: The author made insulting comments about "Muhammad's God"

Statement B: Muslims, Jews and Christians worship the same God

Statement C: The author has made insulting comments about the Christian and Jewish God.

It's you're Statement B that makes the argument invalid. It's not only not necessarily true, but it also hinges entirely on what you mean by "the same God".

Let me put it this way... do you believe that both Baptists and the Jonestown Cult worship "the same Christ"?

Jonestown?? I have no idea what those crazy smurfs worshipped (Jim Jones, maybe?)

Both Islam and Christianity originated in Judaism. They share many holy texts and prophets (Islam recognizes Christ as a prophet). It seems they have an awful lot in common.

Both Islam and Christianity originated in Judaism. They share many holy texts and prophets (Islam recognizes Christ as a prophet). It seems they have an awful lot in common.

About as much in common as a tank and Ford Fiesta.

After all, both have engines in them.

Yet all three religions use the Old Testament.

Statement A: The author made insulting comments about "Muhammad's God"

Statement B: Muslims, Jews and Christians worship the same God

Statement C: The author has made insulting comments about the Christian and Jewish God.

It's you're Statement B that makes the argument invalid. It's not only not necessarily true, but it also hinges entirely on what you mean by "the same God".

Let me put it this way... do you believe that both Baptists and the Jonestown Cult worship "the same Christ"?

Jonestown?? I have no idea what those crazy booboo worshipped (Jim Jones, maybe?)

Both Islam and Christianity originated in Judaism. They share many holy texts and prophets (Islam recognizes Christ as a prophet). It seems they have an awful lot in common.

They do have much in common (which is why I say yes), but Islam is a refutation of both christianity and Judaism (which is why I say no).
The kuran states that the original prophets were all muslims and preached muslim teachings, but that the jews and christians twisted all the sayings and tales for which they are condemned as hypocrites and pigs . i.e. the kuran mentions Jesus but says that he wasn't crucified, that somene else was crucified in his place.

Yet all three religions use the Old Testament.

...sort of like Mac OSX, FreeBSD and Linux all have the same underpinnings, but are all distinctly different?

 
Phydeaux, you are either a raving mad idiot or an unparalled genius.
I'm copying that one down to my quote file...

Yet all three religions use the Old Testament.

...sort of like Mac OSX, FreeBSD and Linux all have the same underpinnings, but are all distinctly different?

Good analogy....

Phydeaux - Stop it!! Stop it!!

Everlong - I agree with you completely so far. Yes, the religions have a great deal of common ground, and yes they can be friendlier to eachother because of it.

It's ironic, I suppose, that the common ground also gives cause for some dispute. What I mean to say is that both Muslims and Christians generally look back at what they share with the Jews and feel that they have moved onward while the Jews have corrupted the original intentions of the One God. Jews see both Muslims and Christians as major departures from the truth that was given.

Yet all three religions use the Old Testament.

...sort of like Mac OSX, FreeBSD and Linux all have the same underpinnings, but are all distinctly different?

So, to use your bizarre operating system analogy, the Old Testament has hidden code that distinguishes between different Gods, and not just one?

I'd say it's a step further, and not something in the code.

The God of each individual religion is the actual computer itself, executing the programs.

For hilarity's sake, we'll just refer to them as Quadra, Tandy and Wang.

The hole in the analogy is, however, that a computer can't write it's own and then run an Operating System. No matter how powerful or brilliantly designed it is.

Thus going so far as our inability as human beings to grasp the concepts of God in order to emulate Him.

But nothing is hidden or cryptic in the OT, IMHO.

Yes, the religions have a great deal of common ground, and yes they can be friendlier to eachother because of it.

They never will.  The reason is because they are too similar.  Both Christianity and Islam is...
1. Monotheistic - One God
But, the Moslems and Christians worship completely different Gods.
2. Exclusivistic - Their religion is the ONLY way.
They can't believe in both religions at once.
3. Revelatory - Their authority is an inspired book from their God.
But, the Bible was written over a span of 2,000+ years by 40-44 different human authors each writing a consistent message of God.
The Koran was written by one man, Mohammed.  It was told to him by the Angel Gabriel, sent by Allah.  He saw this vision on Mt. Hira.

Christians and Islams have been clashing since 622AD, when Islam was born.

Yet all three religions use the Old Testament.

...sort of like Mac OSX, FreeBSD and Linux all have the same underpinnings, but are all distinctly different?

Good analogy....

Islam is more like a form of Unix that has similar terms as those in unix but described completely differently and with different functions (in other words Unix in name only). Further this unix would call all previous unixes bastardizations and reject earlier Unix commands as incorrect and false and the creators of the earlier Unixes hypocrites and liars. Also, this unix would not be open source....