Having looked at Hinduism & Buddhism and the New Age, we come to the great monotheistic religions. Islam was founded by the Prophet Mohammed during the early part of the 7th century. A reaction to idolatry and rampant immorality, Islam was born amidst war and violence. The Prophet himself ordered the destruction of his enemies and united the Arab people into a vast army to spread the new faith in the name of Allah. While Muslims do accept the Torah of Moses, the Psalms and a Gospel of Jesus, the Koran takes precedence. They believe those earlier scriptures were somehow corrupted and are no longer perfectly accurate. In the Islamic tradition, Allah is a righteous judge. Jesus is a prophet but definitely of less importance than Mohammed. Unlike the Christian notion of salvation through the grace of God’s love, Islam teaches that God has no love for the sinner. Everyone must work out his or her own salvation through acts of the will.[i]
So, we can see so far that there are vast differences in the way the various religions view the world. There are many points of disagreement just among the eastern religions. Once we consider the claims of Monotheism we will see that logic cannot support the notion that all religions lead to the same place. However, on the surface at least there seem to be some points of convergence between the great monotheistic faith systems. While we will see that they all disagree on the nature of the person of Christ, the question we may ask is: Is Allah of Islam the same as the Father worshipped by Jews and Christians. Muslims see themselves as part of the same heritage. They are ‘People of the Book’.
But in his article, ‘Is the Father of Jesus the God of Mohammad?’ Dr. Timothy George points out that “the way the Koran functions in Islam is radically different from the way the Bible functions in Christianity.” He continues, “in some ways [it] is more comparable to the way Christians see Jesus Christ – the express image of God, the Word (Logos) of God.” For that reason, the orthodox Islamic belief is that the Koran cannot be translated out of the original Arabic. Any translation does not carry the authority of the original. This reinforces the unapproachable nature of God, something held to by believing Muslims. This is in stark contrast to the message of the Bible; the universal love of God for all of mankind.
One reason for this contrasting view of God lies in the perception of just who He is. Just as is the case with Christianity and Judaism, Islam recognizes the fact that God is one. But the Muslim view is that Christians believe in three gods. The Koran makes this clear in Sura 5:76. Of course this is not the Christian belief what so ever.
As Christians, we believe that before the creation, before time, God existed in a community of love. If love is the supreme virtue, if God is truly love, then love must be inherent in His very being. Love demands an object. We see the operation of the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, beginning with the creation act itself. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2) Elsewhere in the Old Testament we see the Scriptures speaking of the Son of God. In the New Testament it is spelled out so much more clearly. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) John is speaking of the Son, the promised Messiah. That same Jesus later promised us the Spirit, the Comforter, who will proceed from the Father and the Son. Again, turning to the words of Dr. George, “God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a God who has forever known himself as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” This is the same God that came to earth to dwell among us, to set us free from our sin.
Now the Koran is known to have 99 names for the person of God. Not one of those connotes the notion of fatherhood. So translated into Arabic, the notion that Jesus is the Son of Allah is nothing less than blasphemy. Sura 19:88 is a direct denial of even a possibility of any connection with the Christian faith. It reads, “Those who say the Lord of mercy has begotten a Son preach a monstrous falsehood, at which the very heavens might crack, the earth break asunder, and the mountains crumble to dust. That they should ascribe a Son to the merciful, when it did not become Him to beget one.” And without that notion of fatherhood, so prevalent in the Christian concept of God, the concept of love becomes somewhat deficient. It is no wonder that the God of Mohammed is a God of judgement who hates those who do wrong. See the contrast. Jesus was the personification of God’s love, entering human history. He brought not only the message of that love and the resultant forgiveness available to all, but He brought the message of himself. He was the expression of God’s love; the love of the One God, living in holy community for all time; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.[ii]
Despite claims to the contrary, the Allah of Islam is not the same god worshipped as Father by Christians and Jews. In fact, Mohammed chose Allah, (originally Alilah), from a pantheon of gods worshipped in Arabia. Alilah, was considered to be the chief god, the creator, at the temple of Kabla. In fact, the god Alilah has ties to the polytheism of ancient India. There can be found in ancient Sanskrit, chants and praises dedicated to this god. Further, according to the Koran itself, Allah does not resemble the Christian God of love. While Christians know that God loves even the sinner, Allah is said to hate those who do evil. And instead of calling for repentance and offering forgiveness, the Koran calls for war against the unbeliever. Sura 8:68 states, “It is not for any prophet to have prisoners until he has made wide slaughter in the land.” And in Sura 66:9 we read, “Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal sternly with them.” The Christian concept of a loving, forgiving God can in no way be reconciled with the Islamic notion of Allah.
Just as the identity of Jesus Christ is the stumbling block to unity between Muslims and Christians, so it is with Jews and believers in Christ. Though it is true that Judaism does not recognize the Trinity, and finds salvation within the Law; except for Jesus, there is agreement on many essential matters. Christianity, it must be remembered, had its origin in the Jewish faith. Both profess a belief in a holy, just and righteous God. Both accept the Mosaic Law and the authority of the Old Testament Scriptures. Those scriptures have much to say about the expected Messiah. Devout Jews are waiting for the fulfillment of the promises they find there. It is the Christian position that they already have been fulfilled. In fact, we see a ‘type,’ or model of this fulfillment in many of the Scriptures and practices found in Judaism.
In viewing the Bible in its entirety, Old and New Testaments, we find a unity of subject and purpose. The message of the Old Testament is, ‘the Messiah is coming’. The theme of the New Testament is, ‘He is here.’ Here are a few examples. In Micah 5:2 we read, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from the days of eternity.” This is a passage that is pregnant with meaning. First, there is the obvious, the prediction that the Messiah would be born in the town of Bethlehem. We must remember that Joseph and Mary were not from that region. It took what one must see as almost a historical contrivance, a census, to take them there just at the time that Mary was giving birth.
Secondly, there is that last line, “whose origins are from the days of eternity.” This is speaking of the existence of Christ before the creation of the world. Proverbs 30:4 confirms this notion of the Messiah being the eternal Son of God, “Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son?” Christ explicitly stakes his claim of eternal Sonship when He announces in John 8:58, “before Abraham was I am.” The ‘I am’ in the Hebrew means Yaweh, the name of God. It carries with it the notion, of the self-existent, an essential and defining attribute of God.
Finally, there is the meaning of the word Bethlehem itself. In the original Hebrew it means ‘house of bread.’ So now we can see that there is both purpose and significance when Jesus speaks of himself as “the bread of life.” In John 6:51 while teaching in Capernaum Jesus says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” The significance of this is the connection with the Passover bread.
In fact, if we look at Isaiah 53:7 we find the meaning of the entire sacrificial system of the Old Testament and its fulfillment through the role of the Messiah’s own sacrificial death. “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter.” Here was the sacrificial lamb of the Old Testament, the perfect lamb of the Passover sacrifice. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, John the Baptist recognized this when he saw Jesus coming and cried out, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) Under the Old Covenant, the priests continued the sacrifices every day, trying to reconcile man with God. But Jesus is the Lamb of God. And Hebrews 10:10 tells us “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
As Christians, we realize that the shedding of Christ’s blood, the Lamb of God, is the reason for our celebration. So, it is at the ancient Jewish feast of Passover. As the blood of the lamb protected the first born of the ancient Israelites when God visited the final plague on the Egyptians, so the blood of Christ protects those who believe in him, from the just punishment for their sins. In ancient times the sins of the people were laid on the sacrificial animals. Christ too has taken our sins on himself. The unleavened bread eaten during Passover represents the flesh of that sacrificial lamb. That bread symbolizes a new beginning, again much like the new birth that Jesus demands of his followers. “I am the bread of life,” Jesus had said. And at his last meal, a Passover supper with his disciples, as He passed that Passover bread He told them, “Take and eat, this; this is my body.”
Now one of the cups of wine served at the Passover Feast is the cup of redemption. Taking wine, Jesus said to them, “Drink from it all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28) The parallels between the concepts and fulfillment of the Old and New Testaments are uncanny. This is just a small example of the commonality of themes that is present throughout. Yet the stumbling block remains. It is Jesus. Without the acceptance of Jesus as Messiah, no other commonality is significant. Jesus said, “I am the way.” Judaism says ‘He is not.’
So, we return to the original question. Is it arrogant and intolerant for Jesus to claim that He is the only way to God? Do not all paths converge at the same ultimate divine reality? No, all paths do not converge. The truths espoused are not just different. They blatantly contradict each other. No amount of deeply felt sincerity, no strained attempt to reconcile, can bridge that chasm. With each tradition making essential claims that contradict the essential claims of another tradition, there is no logical way to be theologically inclusive. It is in their essential defining elements that we find no consistency. These are systems that cannot be reconciled. The source of their respective reality is different. And that starting point makes a critical difference. How you view the great moral issues of life will necessarily be affected. If truth is relative, if reality is an illusion, if you seek the divine within yourself, or recognize no divinity at all you will get one set of answers. If you look to an All Powerful, Loving, Lawgiver, Creator God, you will have an entirely different set of answers.
This is especially true of Christianity where the message is the person of Jesus. Among all the founders of the world’s major religions, Jesus is the only one to have claimed divine status. He says, “I am the way, and the truth.” Peter said of him, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) The claim is exclusive. It must be. Truth is exclusive. It was, as we have seen, a claim backed up by the fulfillment of prophecy. It was a title asserted through public miracles and healings. It was a truth ultimately affirmed by his own resurrection from the dead. The message is this. Man is lost and in need of salvation. All other religions can offer only the route of personal responsibility, self-effort and personal will as the means of that salvation. The message of Christ is much bigger than that. He offers the love of God. We are human and fatally flawed. Our efforts to reconcile with God can only fail. We know the truth. We know the law. But we cannot, and do not follow it. So, God sent his only Son to pay the price we could not pay for our sins. He is the only way. And, “whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Whoever believes! The offer is open to all. That is the intolerance of the Gospel.
Yes, the Gospel is exclusive. It claims there is only one way. You cannot come by sincerity. You cannot come by good works. You cannot find God through religion, not even some form of the Christian religion. You can only come through the person of Jesus Christ. He is the expression of the Father’s love. He is the truth. And the truth demands a response. It demands more than just intellectual assent. The Bible tells us that even the demons give intellectual assent to the person of Jesus. They know He is God. The truth demands more than that. It demands action. It demands belief. It calls us to a radical, life transforming commitment to Christ. It offers eternity with God to all that accept Him. That is the intolerance of the Gospel.
[i] Fritz Ridenour, So What’s the Difference, Regal Books, Ventura, 2001, Pg 79-86
[ii] Timothy George, Is the Father of Jesus The God of Muhammed?, Breakpoint, October 23, 2001
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