(We are discussing excerpts from Peter Kreefts new book, “Between Allah & Jesus.  Another excerpt has been posted.  (I invite you to take ten minutes and read it here) Feel free to join the conversation that I’m having with fellow beliefnet blogger Aziz Poonwalla)

Aziz,
We have a long excerpt covering a number of topics. The first item that stood out to me was the exchange about Christians, Jews and Muslims having the same God.  Here’s a couple of quotes.

“But if the God of the Christians is the God of the Jews, then the God of Muslims is the God of the Christians because he is also the God of the Jews.  If two things are both equal to the common third thing, they are equal to each other.  That is a basic rule of logic.”

and

“Because both Christians and Muslims learned who God was from the Jews, from the people of Abraham.  Both received the truth about God from the same source.  Even though they disagreed about many things later, they still have that common source.  If a river forks into two or three streams downstream, it’s still the same water.”

As Christians this is not something that we think about often and, when we do, it makes us a bit uncomfortable.  I think the reason is that we are caught up in the differences that have arisen between our two religions that to admit a common source feels like we are conceding our differences.
Aziz, Do these quotes accurately convey the way you view things–that even though we have differences, we still have a common source?  Is that why Muslims call Christians “Associators?”
(Be sure to check this blog and Aziz’s blog, City of Brass often to participate in our dialogue)
More from Beliefnet and our partners
Close Ad