Many of them cling to presuppositions such as these:
- They believe that God approves of waging war to defend their beliefs.
- Though their faith has spread throughout the world, they believe that one culture is divinely inspired.
- They see God’s will as unalterably predestined.
- They oppose theological interpretations that disagree with the established commentaries.
And so do many Muslims.
Nice post! 🙂
I see no Christian, even among those who adhere to the war in Iraq, who subscribes to #1. They may believe in waging war but not to defend ones beliefs. The rest is such overgeneralizaed, stereotypical hogwash it deosn’t deserve any response.
1. Actually, xians do not believe this. While they believe that nations can establish justice via just wars, they do not believe that the faith can be spread through war or intimidation. Islam believe the latter, so they are not similar.
2. Christians don’t believe that any one culture is inspired, but that the scriptures, and the truths within them, are inspired. In fact, they believe that truth transforms a culture, not by westernizing it, but by affecting more basic things like male/female relationships, basic virtues, and the end of fear-based spiritualism. Islam, however, makes no distinction between truth and culture, or between faith and state.
3. Actually, within Christianity, there are two ideas in balance – predestination and free will. While xians believe that events have been predicted and are in some sense unalterable, that does not lead to fatalism or lack of free will. On this point, Islam and xianity may be more similar, but even modern quantum theory is leaning towards a conclusion that free will does not exist. Does that make them terrorists? I don’t think this similarity is important.
4. They do what? And who determines what is “established?” There are a variety of opinions on what scripture means, and you can’t believe them all. If you mean that they reject liberal higher criticism, some do, and with some good reason. You don’t have to be a fundamentalist to disagree with some liberal scholar who doubts the historicity of documents that are obviously written as historical narratives.
I recommend that you check out What are the main differences between Islam and Christianity? I think these are more critical than the similarities.
So much to think about, I believe I will respond in a separate post.
the scary thing in all this, as i look at both christianity and islam, is that at this point in time islam appears to be the more stable of the two…. they have more absolutes…christians don’t seem to be able to agree on anything…. and if anything, have a history of tearing one another to shreads…. it’s really not right…. who wants to be a part of that??? it breaks my heart, because i am christian, and i love Jesus Christ with all my heart, with my very inner most being….my mind needs to get focused…. but for real,it just resounds over and over again in my heart to “love one another…” even “love your enemies”…. “be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect…” (perfect meaning complete.) He is complete because He is love. if you love someone, really really love, you will not hurt, or will do your best not to hurt them.
it all just really makes me think.
In The name of Allah
Islam and Chritianity are two revealed religions, and have many things in common,including moral values. Their origin goes back to Abraham who taughted people of his age to worship one true God. If we notice the worldview which is taughted by the Bible and Quran, we will see that it is the same worldview in bouth: One God has created the world and Man and has sent many prophets towards man. And finally all humankinds will be judged by Him, this maens that every humankind is responsible for what he or she does in this world. God has bestowed us with reason and ability to talk with each other and declare ourselves and this mean that we do not need to fight with each other, but we need to speak and we can speak logically, as the prophets were doing so. They didn’t begin to fight but they were talking and talking. I believe that if they fought it was because that they “had to defend” themselves agaist the invasions of the enemies. God bless you. thanks, ansaripour