During these challenging times, many many people are searching for God and inner peace. How do we connect our soul to God? The Bible says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13. Additionally, the Bible says there is only one God, “I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.” Isaiah 45:5. The fundamental premise that God uses to reveal himself to humanity is that he is the only one true God.
Additionally, God does not change. He says, “For I the Lord do not change;” Malachi 3:6. God does not change, and he does not lie, “in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.” Titus 1:2.
Perhaps the most potentially explosive dichotomy in the world today, is the opposing religious views of Christianity and Islam. Muslims consider the Quran the only uncorrupted book in the world and that it has been perfectly preserved. They claim that they recognize the Bible as “The Books of God” and the Quran speaks highly of the Torah, Psalms and Gospels as Scriptures given to Moses, David and Jesus, while at the same time they assert that the Bible has become so corrupted by translating and copying, that the original Scriptures must be considered “lost.” Muslims believe that Allah is God and Muhammed is his messenger.
Islam teaches that the Gospel is simply Scripture revealed to Jesus rather than his life story and they carry these preconceptions forward if or when they do read the New Testament, and their expectations are very different than what they actually experience, leaving the only explanation for discrepancies that the text must be corrupted. Islam also teaches that Christians turned the prophet Jesus into a God and so blasphemed Allah, so Allah sent Muhammed and Islam as the final message for mankind. To accept Jesus as God would be the assurance of condemnation to hell for Muslims.
Recently, Pope Francis and Imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb signed “A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” which intends to foster peace between nations, religions and ethnic groups while combating extremism and violence. Promoting peace is one thing but selling out God in the process is unacceptable for a Christian entity like the establishment of the Church. The language of the agreement is vague and essentially equates God with Allah and intimates that God allows for hundreds of different religions that are all equally valid. In 2016, Pope Francis declared that all world religions “are seeking God or meeting God in different ways.
The Second Vatican Council teaches that Muslims ‘adore the one God, living and subsisting in himself, merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to humans. They take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even God’s inscrutable decrees.’” Jesuit Father Tom Michel adds that, “Islam and Christianity are two different religions and have different teachings, and God is able to save both Muslim and Christian if they faithfully follow their respective paths.” These statements are contrary to what God says about himself in the Bible. The questions begging to be asked are, what rationale is being used to draw these conclusions and is our perception of God correct?
Jesus makes it clear that, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” John 14:6. Christ would never had said this if another prophet was to come after him that would be greater than him or would provide a different salvation other than that of the gospel.
Muslims assert that Jesus never claimed to be God. This is a very weak argument and the gospel accounts make it quite clear that when he said “I and the Father are one” and “before Abraham was born “I AM,” the Pharisees understood this to be blasphemy and immediately made plans to kill him. If Jesus never claimed to be God, he never would have been crucified.
Christ admitted that he was the Messiah and that he was God. It is important to be cognizant of the fact that Christ’s audience was Jewish and the Jewish understanding of who God was, what his attributes are and the names he called himself throughout the old testament were well understood when he spoke. Jesus made it very clear when Philip asked him to show them the Father. “Jesus answered, ‘Don’t you know me Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say. ‘show us the Father’?”
Consider the purity of God. He alone is holy and pure. Isaiah said, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;” Isaiah 64:6. We cannot even begin to compare ourselves with God’s righteousness. Jesus paints a portrait of the purity of God when he speaks to the crowds in what is known as the Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 5). His eloquence and precepts in this sermon clearly demonstrate that God and Allah are not even cut from the same cloth, let alone the same in spirit.
Muslims believe that heaven can be attained when their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds. Jesus said that whoever believes in him will have everlasting life. Christianity is based upon faith alone since salvation is a gift from God.
Christianity stands alone as the one true belief system. It cannot even be called a religion. It is rather, a conviction that professes faith in Christ and not rules or ritual to be saved. All other {religions} include seeking God, living to please God and payment for sins, however Christianity alone provides forgiveness of sins plus redemption through the free grace that God offers in Christ. It is not salvation gained through works as many religions teach. Christianity shouldn’t be confused with old testament Jewish theology which was an array of laws and sacrificing to appease God for sin. No matter how you slice it, Christianity is vitally different and unique, and hinges on a relationship with the living Christ. To define God in any other way than what he has revealed himself to be, in the pages of the Bible, is to make God out to be much less than that which he is and constitutes idolatry.
While God is sovereign, all-powerful and able to save whoever he wants, however he wants, God is also perfect and would never lead anyone down the path of Jihad or terrorism. The attributes of Allah are not the attributes of God. Islam proves itself to be a counterfeit religion and Muhammed a false prophet. The Quran testifies against Islam and illustrates that Allah and God are not the same at all. They are simply not interchangeable.
For those who are sincerely seeking the God of the universe, and want to know him intimately, Jesus is the only true way. This is so much more than just a rational debate. Our very souls are at stake. If we concede that Allah is God, then the entire New Testament is a sham and Jesus died for nothing. Ultimately, the last word belongs to God and the irrefutable proof that the Bible is true means it is the word of God.
