Monday, May 7, 2007
Do Jews, Muslims, and Christians Worship the Same God?
2) Polytheism (i.e. Hinduism, perhaps Mormonism). Belief in many gods. Often times these gods are at war with each other. They can lie and deceive other gods. They can get with godesses and give birth to other gods. They can even destroy other gods. They are very much like humans.
3) Monotheism
a) Unitarian Monotheism (i.e. Islam, modern day Judaism, Oneness Pentecostals, Unitarians). Belief in only one god, but that he is unitarian, or only one person.
b) Triune Monotheism (i.e. Christianity). Belief in only one God, but God is trinitarian, meaning God is three persons. Unlike polytheism, these three persons are in perfect harmony, fellowship, and relationship with each other. They don't fight against each other or anything like that. Missing any of those three persons would make God non-existent. All three persons must be present, otherwise there would be no god.
Modern day Israel does not worship the true God, but they worship a false god. Without Jesus and the Holy Spirit, there god is an idol. A popular question is: Do Muslims, Christians, and Jews worship the same God? The answer is no. We all aim towards the same God, but the Muslims and Jews have a corrupted version of God, and thus their god is no god at all.
This principle only applies to essential doctrines. In other words, if two Christians dispute over whether God approves of tattoos or not, is the one who is wrong worshipping a false god? By no means. Both Christians worship the same God, they just have a different interpretations based on scripture on whether God approves of tattoos or not.
First John 2:22-23 says, "Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also" (NKJV). The Apostle John was saying that he who denies the Father and the Son is antichrist. He then goes on to clarify that to deny the Son is to not have the Father either. Therefore, you either have both the Father and the Son, or you have neither of Them. You can't have just the Father or just the Son. Therefore the Jews and Muslims do not have the Father nor the Son and are thus antichrist and are idolaters; worshippers of a false god.
Here is another good point: if Christians worship three gods, then that scripture above wouldn't make as much sense. If you reject one of the gods, you could still accept the other two gods. If you reject the son god, you could still accept the father god. However, because the one true God consists of three persons, all three persons must be accepted in order to have a right relationship with the one true God. It is only in the understanding that God is trinitarian in nature that the scripture above can make sense.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
What did God do before creation?
Followers of Judaism and followers of Islam believe God is unitarian, while genuine Christians know God is trinitarian.
If God was unitarian, just one person, then what did He do during the eternity before He created anything? He must have been very lonely. He would be like a human on solitary confinement? He would be a loner. He would have nobody to talk to and nobody to love but Himself. Doesn't that sound kind of strange? Maybe not to everyone, but it sure does to me.
The Bible teaches that God is trinitarian, that God is three persons -- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is more logical. What did God do during the eternity before creating angels and humans? Now that question is very simple to answer and fits the character of God as taught in the Bible. The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit talked to each other, loved each other, and enjoyed each other, way before the moment They decided to create angels, and later humans. God as revealed in the Bible was never a loner, with nobody to talk to and nobody to love.
God is social and is all about relationships. The divine being of modern day Judaism and the divine being of Islam didn't have any relationships until the creation of angels and humans.
We as humans were made for the purpose of having relationships with both God and other humans. That is a vertical relationship as well as horizontal relationships. The God who creates us all is not a unitarian being, but a trinitarian being. God is three persons, not one person. God was all about relationships from the beginning, unlike the God of modern day Jews and of Muslims who had no relationships until the creation of angels and humans.
Which God do you serve? The god who was a loner in the beginning, or the God who has never been alone?