Can Islamic and Christian Theological Concepts of God be reconciled?

[Dawnofhope]

This question is mostly for adherents of Abrahamic Faiths though I have left it open for all to answer and put it in the general debate section to enable us to discuss freely and frankly.

I would consider the answer to be yes, no, or maybe

'Yes' if we are prepared to see God as transcendant above man made concepts. I see God is an unknowable essence. His essence can never be understood by man, anymore than the fetus can conceive of life outside the womb. God wants us to know and worship Him, so He reveals Himself through the likes of Christ and Muhammad. Man listens, thinks he's understood, then creates a theology he sincerely believes is founded on the words God has revealed, but in reality his comprehension is veiled by his vain imaginations.

'No' if we believe that scholars and religious leaders of each religion have faithfully contructed the best theology to represent the true spirit and intent of their founder. If that were true then it would be impossible for the contradictions within Islam and Christianity to be resolved. Either one or the other or both would be false.

I lean strongly towards yes. There is just One God and He has revealed Himself through both Jesus and Muhammad.

Questions, comments, discussion and debate as you will.

 

[Estro Felino]

One question: why do you expect Christians to accept precepts from other religions?
(voted I don't know)

Honestly...I don't care what other religions say; if some religion considers Jesus a holy figure, this surely pleases me but nothing more.

One thing to underline: we call Jesus God.

 

[stvdv]

29 jun 2018 stvdv 014 06

I lean strongly towards yes. There is just One God and He has revealed Himself through both Jesus and Muhammad.

I believe religions can only meet if they drop the "my way is the highway" arrogance
Arrogance is known to blind the people. 2000 years of arrogance is "stone-blind"

This "my way is the highway" is the cause of many wars. Now we have more bombs
than ever. So if those 2 extinguish each other I think they can be reconciled
If not, I have to see it to believe it. I am not such a blind believer

So I choose for Possibly "if they extinguish each other"
Which mentally they do already for so many years
But I pray to God to open their eyes and stop doing that

 

[Dawnofhope]

One question: why do you expect Christians to accept precepts from other religions?
(voted I don't know)

Honestly...I don't care what other religions say; if some religion considers Jesus a holy figure, this surely pleases me but nothing more.

One thing to underline: we call Jesus God.

I have learned to take people as they are and not expect too much of others. On the other hand as human we have an 'us and them' tendancy where we can see ourselves as superior and others inferior. Historically religion as been a doubled edged sword. On the one hand it can bring out the best in people. On the other it can turn us into religious bigots. Adherents of both Islam and Christianity have a long history of demonising or dispraging the other and that causes conflict that can affect us all.

The Dinivity of Christ is an excellent example of a key theological difference between Islam and Christianity.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

One question: why do you expect Christians to accept precepts from other religions?
(voted I don't know)

Honestly...I don't care what other religions say; if some religion considers Jesus a holy figure, this surely pleases me but nothing more.

One thing to underline: we call Jesus God.

One of the keys of knowledge is knowing things beyond what you know. In other words I think its quite beneficial to see the opinions of others in relation to our own theological beliefs.

 

[wizanda]

There is just One God and He has revealed Himself through both Jesus and Muhammad.

See this is a start to the reasons they can't be reconciled...

Yeshua was an avatar of the Arch Angel Yahavah, and Muhammad was a man who got informed by an angel working for the God Most High (El Elyon).

Baha'i, & Islam like Judaism instigated, follows the ideas of no Divine Council with Elohim (Arch Angels) who come down here to help mankind.

Like it can be fixed tho... If everyone recognized their own theological ideas are wrong:

• Islam accepts Allah as the God Most High, who is beyond reality, and is the Source of reality... Yet they need to accept the Divine Council, and that Yeshua was a prophesied incarnation; not only a man. That originally the Elohim (Arch Angels) were called the sons of the God Most High.
  
  
• Christianity already has this in their texts, yet need to stop listening to the broken Judaic religious ideas. In Revelation there is one God Almighty (El Shaddai), 24 elders, and one Lamb, which is the Divine Council repeated from the ancient understandings, that Judaism removed after the Babylonian exile.
  
  
• Baha'i needs to question the authenticity of what has come before it, and stop being so naive to assume that religious constructs were right to begin with.
  
  
• Judaism needs to accept the God Most High (El Elyon) is a distinct reference to the Source of reality, 'and' YHVH is the chief of the Elohim, as originally was believed by the Israelites. That Yeshua was their Lord, who is clearly prophesied in Hebrew in their texts.

In my opinion.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

This question is mostly for adherents of Abrahamic Faiths though I have left it open for all to answer and put it in the general debate section to enable us to discuss freely and frankly.

I would consider the answer to be yes, no, or maybe

'Yes' if we are prepared to see God as transcendant above man made concepts. I see God is an unknowable essence. His essence can never be understood by man, anymore than the fetus can conceive of life outside the womb. God wants us to know and worship Him, so He reveals Himself through the likes of Christ and Muhammad. Man listens, thinks he's understood, then creates a theology he sincerely believes is founded on the words God has revealed, but in reality his comprehension is veiled by his vain imaginations.

'No' if we believe that scholars and religious leaders of each religion have faithfully contructed the best theology to represent the true spirit and intent of their founder. If that were true then it would be impossible for the contradictions within Islam and Christianity to be resolved. Either one or the other or both would be false.

I lean strongly towards yes. There is just One God and He has revealed Himself through both Jesus and Muhammad.

Questions, comments, discussion and debate as you will.

I would like to say yes and no but this is a matter of individual sectarian beliefs as opposed to general Christian beliefs. I think so long as there is a deification of Jesus, Islamophobia and negative stereotypes against Islam, and dogmatisms, there can be no reconciliation. I think the reconciliation can only be done through scholarly work not through the religiosity among the masses of people.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

This question is mostly for adherents of Abrahamic Faiths though I have left it open for all to answer and put it in the general debate section to enable us to discuss freely and frankly.

I would consider the answer to be yes, no, or maybe

'Yes' if we are prepared to see God as transcendant above man made concepts. I see God is an unknowable essence. His essence can never be understood by man, anymore than the fetus can conceive of life outside the womb. God wants us to know and worship Him, so He reveals Himself through the likes of Christ and Muhammad. Man listens, thinks he's understood, then creates a theology he sincerely believes is founded on the words God has revealed, but in reality his comprehension is veiled by his vain imaginations.

'No' if we believe that scholars and religious leaders of each religion have faithfully contructed the best theology to represent the true spirit and intent of their founder. If that were true then it would be impossible for the contradictions within Islam and Christianity to be resolved. Either one or the other or both would be false.

I lean strongly towards yes. There is just One God and He has revealed Himself through both Jesus and Muhammad.

Questions, comments, discussion and debate as you will.

I would like to say yes and no but this is a matter of individual sectarian beliefs as opposed to general Christian beliefs. I think so long as there is a deification of Jesus, Islamophobia and negative stereotypes against Islam, and dogmatisms, there can be no reconciliation. I think the reconciliation can only be done through scholarly work not through the religiosity among the masses of people.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

See this is a start to the reasons they can't be reconciled...

Yeshua was an avatar of the Arch Angel Yahavah, and Muhammad was a man who got informed by an angel working for the God Most High (El Elyon).
In my opinion.

Exactly which is why you are the only one that shares this opinion because there is nothing scholarly about what you just wrote. By scholarly, I'm referring to any research evidence that supports your claim from other Christian scholars concerning core Christian beliefs in relation to Islam or Baha'i.

 

[John53]

I said no because Christians and Muslims can't even reconcile amongst themselves.

 

[Estro Felino]

I have learned to take people as they are and not expect too much of others.

The right attitude is to promote the respect of all religions, without discussing their content.

Lately I've seen threads of Christians trying to convince Jews to embrace Jesus. I don't like that attitude.

If that can reassure you, I don't think Christianity has the monopoly on truth.

 

[Dawnofhope]

I would like to say yes and no but this is a matter of individual sectarian beliefs as opposed to general Christian beliefs. I think so long as there is a deification of Jesus, Islamophobia and negative stereotypes against Islam, and dogmatisms, there can be no reconciliation. I think the reconciliation can only be done through scholarly work not through the religiosity among the masses of people.

You place a great deal of faith in religious scholars. Caiaphas on interviewing Jesus had no hesitation in rejecting His claims to be the Jewish Messiah. One the other hand there were many uneducated people who recognised Christ.

 

[Dawnofhope]

I believe religions can only meet if they drop the "my way is the highway" arrogance
Arrogance is known to blind the people. 2000 years of arrogance is "stone-blind"

This "my way is the highway" is the cause of many wars. Now we have more bombs
than ever. So if those 2 extinguish each other I think they can reconciled
If not, I have to see it to believe it. I am not such a blind believer

So I choose for Possibly "if they extinguish each other"
Which mentally they do already for so many years
But I pray to God to open their eyes and stop doing that

I agree.

The meeting place starts with individuals such as you and I who are willing to have an open discussion about the nature of reality. The person we are most able to change is ourselves. In starting this thread I'm wanting to learn more about Islam and Christianity.

I have also been concerned since 9/11 about escalating tensions between Chritsians and Muslims. I'm no less concerned about it now as I was then.

 

[Jumi]

I think individuals can reconcile the two with effort, but the problem is that they won't compromise their beliefs just to reconcile with one another.

 

[wizanda]

The Dinivity of Christ is an excellent example of a key theological difference between Islam and Christianity.

Because the question can only be solved by the prophetic statements that came before it in Hebrew, as this is the source of the problem.

The Tanakh prophesied who Yeshua was, and yet people don't have the intelligence to understand it properly.

H3444 (Yeshua) + H1961 (To become) = Exodus 15:2-3, Psalms 118:14-21, Isaiah 12:2 (2 Samuel 10:11 David Vs Ammon) +5 Verses Isaiah
H3444 (Yeshua) + H7200 (To see) = Exodus 14:13, Psalms 98:3, Isaiah 52:10 (2 Chronicles 20:17 Jehoshaphat Vs Ammon)

Exactly which is why you are the only one that shares this opinion because there is nothing scholarly about what you just wrote.

Just shown in text how this is clearly prophesied, and could explain it in so much detail to someone who is scholarly enough to listen & understand the text properly.

By scholarly, I'm referring to any research evidence that supports your claim from other Christian scholars concerning core Christian beliefs in relation to Islam or Baha'i.

The prophecies state the whole world is to be deceived by this (Isaiah 29:9-14), that it is to be a Snare to come upon the nations, and since you've got an Arch Angel on a forum explaining it; thinking we'll find scholarly support is ludicrous.

In my opinion.

 

[Dawnofhope]

I said no because Christians and Muslims can't even reconcile amongst themselves.

Christians and Muslims live in peace as neighbours and in the work place in many countries. Perhaps avoiding talking about their differences is one way of dealing with the differences, especially if it can't be done in a respectful manner.

 

[Frater Sisyphus]

I voted no, on the emphasis of "Theological concepts" as Islam and Christianity from the the offset have very distinct views on certain things such as the 'Trinity' of Christianity vs 'there is no God but God' of Islam, the 'Jesus is God incarnate' vs "Jesus is just a prophet'.
I think Islam reconciles much better with Judaism (in a solely Abrahamic context), given that Christianity is the odd one out on many theological and cosmological matters.


Personally, as part "Muslim", I find it to reconcile very well with Hinduism and Thelema, as a Sufi mystic myself, discussion of this I'll leave for another thread though.....

 

[Frater Sisyphus]

I should add, Christianity in it's orthodox forms (seeing how Christian mysticism opens more doors regarding all of this, so I'll leave out Christian mysticism as it dodges the bullet that orthodoxy creates, which happens to be relevant to this thread)

 

[Epic Beard Man]

You place a great deal of faith in religious scholars. Caiaphas on interviewing Jesus had no hesitation in rejecting His claims to be the Jewish Messiah. One the other hand there were many uneducated people who recognised Christ.

"Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the night and the day; in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the benefit of mankind; in the rain which Allah Sends down from the skies, and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; in the change of the winds, and the clouds which they trail like their slaves between the sky and the earth -- (Here) indeed are Signs for a people that are wise." (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:164)"

One of the things I liked about studying the Qur'an in conjunction with studying the Ikwan Al-Safa, is that it is mandatory that adherents of faith (as well as others outside the faith) examine the known world. Most people of faith today with no advanced education really study the science of their faith. Many often believe in their religion without contemplating some of the meanings behind certain theological concepts. With that being said, academic scholars in religious discipline are always studying various concepts in relation to the ever changing world. It is because of this very discipline that I can admire many academic scholars and their critique and commentary in religious text.

 

[Dawnofhope]

Man worships the theology of his own creation and then assumes it to be the ultimate authority. The orthodox in each religion seem to be the ones least likely to see the wood for the trees. Its the mystics that most easily gain perspective. Another approach is to take time out or explore another faith.

The question isn't 'Can Christians and Muslims be reconciled?'. I don't think they can as they are too attached to their respective theologies. The question is do 'we' personally see the underlying unity within different religions.