Do Muslims Worship The True God?
Some time ago I wrote a blog in which I remarked that only Christians worship the true God, that is, the Trinitarian God who is composed of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; God as three divine Persons: creator, saviour and sanctifier. This led to an exchange of emails with a reader of the blog in which we discussed the Muslim idea of God. He thought Muslims worshipped the same God as Christians; I thought they didn’t. He referred me to the philosopher Peter Geach’s book God and the Soul (1969) and specifically to his chapter “On Worshipping the Right God”.
In this chapter, Geach does not specifically refer to the Muslim idea of God but he does make a number of interesting statements. For instance, he writes, “A sufficiently erroneous thought of a God will simply fail to relate to the true and living God at all. Where the line is to be drawn God only knows…” He also comments, “ For Christians, “God” is not a proper name like “Woden”, but a descriptive term, true of the Blessed Trinity and not true of Woden.” In another place he writes, “Only by turning to the true God can a man win grace and forgiveness.”
So do Muslims worship “the true and living God?” For the [writer’s] answer, click here
Comment:
It has been commonplace for years now, to hear popes, priests and teachers claim that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Here’s Pope Francis: “Our relationship with the followers of Islam has taken on great importance, since they are now significantly present in many traditionally Christian countries, where they can freely worship and become fully a part of society. We must never forget that they “profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, who will judge humanity on the last day”. [emphasis added].
Nobody ever quotes the words of Christ Himself in the matter of so-called “Abrahamic faith”: “Before Abraham was made, I am.”
Still, if the Pope thinks Muslims and Christians worship the same God, that must be true … mustn’t it?
Comments (16)
No, no and a million times NO! Muslims worship a false god of their own (or rather, Mohamed’s) making. https://www.thereligionofpeace.com Plenty of evidence on that site.
I’ve always felt that the warning in Galatians 1-8 “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema” was specifically forewarning us of the threat of Islam, a false new gospel allegedly preached by an ‘angel from heaven’ to Mohamed.
Francis Philips’ opinion is not to be trusted. She has praised the WAF approach to Fatima in the Herald on more than one occasion. As for Francis Philip’s quote about the 1987 CTS booklet on Islam, I wouldn’t trust ANYTHING that comes from the CTS (with the exception of the out-of-print pre-conciliar pamphlets).
I have a fantastic book called ‘For God and the Pope’, from the old ‘Catholic Book Club’ series written some time in 1950’s or maybe even before. I forget the name of the author although I’m fairly sure it is a priest. The section on Mohammedanism is excellent and all Catholics should memorise its main arguments to heart. If I can scan the section into a pdf file, I could send it to Editor to post up somewhere? Is that possible Ed? It is well worth reading, and not too long.
WF,
Well said.
Do send me the pdf and I will try to post it – it’s easier if it comes to me as a link, but if not, I can try to post it online myself and then link it here.
I’m no fan of Francis Philip, but I think she was trying to be smart by quoting the CTS pamphlet for “balance” because she did finish by remarking that she could not see how we could be worshipping the same God – but she did so in a typically modernist way. Instead of asserting the truth about God as an infallibly revealed dogma, she writes:
Nonetheless, although I am neither a philosopher nor theologian and so assume my understanding of these matters is defective, the question still puzzles me: are you worshipping the one true God if you don’t accept the Blessed Trinity? And following on from this, not to know the love of Christ, whose life, death and Resurrection Christians will celebrate at Easter, nor the continuing life-giving activity of the Holy Spirit in the world, is surely a loss greater than we can possibly imagine? Emphasis added.
It’s clear that she doesn’t realise that we don’t have to be “philosophers or theologians” to understand the nature of divinely revealed teachings, which – obviously – we must accept as coming from God. The critics of the Q & A formula of our school catechisms should take note: we knew the Faith, even if at time of learning by heart, we didn’t immediately grasp it. A bit like our arithmetic tables; they were very useful in later life…
The confusion in this article is not untypical of Francis Philip’s writings, as you’ve intimated. Thank you for your clear and very helpful comment.
You don’t need to be a philosopher to know God which Jesus tells us in many ways. Even without a degree, we are able to know Evil when we see it with a well-formed conscience. It’s quite clear to me that [Muslims do not worship the true God] even if most of them don’t realize that; they can’t because they are forbidden by the devil from reasoning about their tenets of “faith”.
You and my “lyin'” eyes are much more reliable than any “philosopher”.
Editor: this kind of comment is neither intelligent nor helpful. Those born into Islam are not, thereby, “evil” any more than those of us born into Catholicism are saints. If only! Please try to write rationally.
By the way, I paid a visit to your site and wonder if you realise that Eye of the Tiber, to which you link, is a satirical site – that is, the “reports” are made-up to poke fun. You do realise that, I take it?
This ignorant bilge begs a couple of questions:
1. What is the purpose and mission of the Catholic Herald? Is it to teach the Faith or to undermine it? Judging from this column, I’d vote for the latter.
2. If this Francis Phillips is confused about a basic tenet of the Faith, why then is she being given column space to spread her confusion?
This column displays – albeit quite ineptly – the modernist strategy I call “nuancing the Faith into extinction.” That is, one avoids direct attacks, using only indirect attacks to sow doubt. For example:
-Sub-headline, “The question is more complicated than you may think.” Wrong. The question is quite simple, and all a Catholic has to do is to consult the Act of Faith to figure it out. “Oh my God, I firmly believe that Thou art One God in Three Divine Persons….” The false religion of Islam rejects the true definition of God, which is why it is a false religion. End of.
-Notice the clever and incomplete definition of God given by this shyster Fr. Burridge in order to justify his blatant lie: “…the one God who created the world and brings his [sic] creatures to perfection.” Miss Philips conveniently fails to notice that Fr. Burridge immediately contradicts himself when he “list[s] the ways in which Islam differs from Christianity, principally the doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Christ.”
-“Geach doesn’t mention Islam in this chapter.” In this chapter? Does that mean not at all, or is this just another clever half-truth?
-“Nonetheless, although I am neither a philosopher nor theologian and so assume my understanding of these matters is defective, the question still puzzles me: are you worshipping the one true God if you don’t accept the Blessed Trinity?”
Why does that question puzzle you, Miss Phillips? The answer is because you do not know – or you pretend not to know, which is even worse – the Catholic Faith. And that being the case, I repeat my question #2 above: why are you being given column space to spread your ignorance and confusion, instead of teaching the Faith?
This technique, by the way, is being repeated before our eyes in the run-up to the “Youth Synod”: the technique of using ignoramuses, liars, propagandists, and liberal ideologues to represent the Faith and speak for it. It is completely despicable and worthy of nothing but contempt.
RCA Victor,
Unfortunately, there is no doubt that the so-called Catholic press does not see itself as charged with teaching the Faith. It seems to be keen to be recognised as “balanced” journalism – looking at the alleged various sides of an argument. In other words, as true and fully-fledged modernists, they consider truth to be relative. No such thing as objective truth. Any of these so-called Catholic editors and journalists could just as easily work for the Glasgow Herald, whose journalists equally don’t have a clue.
No, they don’t believe in the true God. Remember the words of Our Lord
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also: and from henceforth you shall know him, and you have seen him. Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?”
If Muslims, and Jews, reject Christ they reject the Father. One cannot believe in God but reject the Trinity.
Petrus,
Got it in one. No – got it in One, Two, Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity!
As usual Francis pandered to the Political Ideology of Islam when he said Moslems can Worship freely in Christian Countries. It would have been a lot better had he stated why Catholics cannot Worship or even pray or wear a Cross or Crucifixe in The Heathen Countries. And that’s what Islam is a Bunch of Heathens trying to bring us all to Heel . Do we Believe in the same God . Never .
FOOF,
I can’t comprehend what you think that comment adds to the debate.
While it’s true that “sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me”, I can’t see why you would want to write in a way which, while it may be technically accurate, is open to misinterpretation and accusations of causing offence. When that happens, we end up going round in circles trying to explain that we didn’t mean to be personal, blah blah, or, worse, go round in circles causing more animosity by repeating the perceived insults and doing no good at all. Is that what you want? You’d like any Muslims reading this to sign out of the blog, with their possibly already negative perception of Catholics reinforced – by you? Is that what you want?
Your opening observation is true and the truth has its own power. Christians are not allowed to worship freely in Muslim countries – why not just make the point without name-calling? What good does it do to call people a “bunch of…” anything?
You really are an… [insert preferred noun, with or without an adjective]… See what I mean? 😀
Francis Philips is certainly not to be trusted. Far better to read Hilaire Belloc’s book, The Great Heresies. He wrote about five heresies, of which Mohammedanism or Islam is the second one.
He says, “Mohammedanism (Islam) was a heresy – It began as a heresy, not as a new religion”.
“It was a perversion of Christian doctrine”.
Mohammed taught that Our Lord was a great prophet, but still only a prophet. This rejects Our Lord as the Second Person of the Trinity.
For anyone wanting to try obtaining a copy of The Great Heresies ISBN: 0-89555-475-5 might try the likes of Amazon. The book seems to have been republished in 1991 by TAN Books and Publishes, Inc.
Theresa Rose,
Some time ago, I published something of Belloc’s essay on Islam. I must refresh my memory, and read it again. Thank you for the reminder.
Reading this article on Breitbart, I can’t help wondering how long we’ll be able to hold theological discussions like this one about Muslim and Christian belief in God?
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/03/23/police-scotland-create-hate-crime-files-900-young-teens-one-year/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=daily&utm_content=links&utm_campaign=20180323
Fidelis,
Very interesting indeed. With the Scottish Government rolling out the Named Person Scheme – effectively spying and imposing their will on families – despite it not yet being legal, and with all the violence rife in Scotland, you’d think the cops had more to do with their precious time than waste it on this sort of nonsense.
Reminder…
I’ll be closing the blog to comments later tonight, for the duration of Holy Week.
Reminder…
Clocks in the UK go forward one hour tonight
“Do Muslims Worship The True God?”
Certainly not!
Comments are closed.