Are Allah and the Christian God the same?

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Expand view Topic review: Are Allah and the Christian God the same?

Re: Are Allah and the Christian God the same?

Post by jimwalton » Tue Sep 26, 2023 5:32 am

The God of the Bible. They have left the Qur'an behind as false revelation.

Re: Are Allah and the Christian God the same?

Post by Nifty » Thu Sep 14, 2023 7:00 pm

Which one do they believe is the God of Abraham?

Re: Are Allah and the Christian God the same?

Post by jimwalton » Thu Sep 14, 2023 3:51 pm

> Jews and Christians might share scripture, but they also interpret it very different.

Agreed. A very good friend of mine is a rabbi, and we have had many deep conversations about the Bible. Our views are as different as night and day, and it's quite fascinating to discuss it. We had a one time decided to write a book together, but our views were so disparate we had to desert the project.

> But my point is just that the trinitarian deity isn't found in the Hebrew Bible

I mostly agree, but the Trinity is hinted at quite strongly, especially in Psalm 110.1 and Isaiah 53, along with a few others. Once again, those have very different interpretations from the rabbis, I know.

> I don't see how we can lump the Jewish and Christian conceptions together so easily

Only that Christians and Jews share together the recognition of the Tanakh as inspired by God and therefore carrying divine authority. The theological divisions between Christians and Muslims is far wider. Though the Qur'an migrated many Old Testament stories to the Qur'an, with only subtle or greater changes, depending on the story, our theological differences with Muslims are great.

Because I teach a Bible class in Bangladesh every week by Zoom, I interact with MBBs and Hindu-background believers on a regular basis, and I have spent some considerable time studying what Muslims and Hindus believe, so that I can add that to my teaching and so that I'm not buffoonish in discussion afterwards. It's quite fascinating, and I'm on a stiff learning curve. But I have a reasonable measure of understanding of the vast gulf that separates these religions and their theologies.

Re: Are Allah and the Christian God the same?

Post by Yacneh » Thu Sep 14, 2023 3:41 pm

Jews and Christians might share scripture, but they also interpret it very different. Many Christians think it was Jesus who wrestled Jacob, or stood in the fiery furnace with Daniel's friends. They think Isaiah's prophecy about Hezekiah's defense of Jerusalem is a prophecy about the virgin birth of the divine messiah. They think the self-reflective "us" in the Genesis creation story refers to the trinity. Most aren't concerned with the pork prohibition and none are concerned with strict monotheism, which are both important in Islam despite them deriving these beliefs from a different text.

But my point is just that the trinitarian deity isn't found in the Hebrew Bible, leaving aside the debate over whether this conception of divinity is really found in the New Testament. Therefore they have different attributes: for a Jew, God is not three persons, he did not incarnate as a human, he did not impregnate Mary, he did not die or resurrect. Certainly Jews share many of these beliefs with Islam, so I see your point that Allah and the Trinitarian God are not the same deity, but I don't see how we can lump the Jewish and Christian conceptions together so easily if we're using similar metrics to disqualify Allah.

Re: Are Allah and the Christian God the same?

Post by jimwalton » Thu Sep 14, 2023 3:37 pm

I was not dishonest on purpose; I wasn't dishonest at all. Though the Muslim-background believers (MBB) use the term "Allah" to reference God, they do not believe that Allah of Islam and "Allah" of Christianity are the same deity. When they come to Christ, MBBs reject the false revelation of Allah in the Qur'an and accept the revelation of "Allah" in the Bible because the two revelations contradict and they can't possibly both be true. Though they use the same generic term for God, they do not recognize the two religions as pointing to the same God.

Re: Are Allah and the Christian God the same?

Post by Nifty » Thu Sep 14, 2023 3:36 pm

So you were dishonest on purpose? Why?

Re: Are Allah and the Christian God the same?

Post by jimwalton » Thu Sep 14, 2023 3:31 pm

I did says that Jews are not trinitarian.

In a sense that's true ("we could say the same about..."), but in another sense it's not. It's different from the situation between Muslims and Christians. Christians recognize the authority of the Tanakh (we call it the Old Testament) in accord with Jews' recognition of it as authoritative. But neither Christians nor Jews recognize the authority of the Qur'an, and Muslims do not recognize the authority of the Tanakh/OT, except for the books of Moses and the Psalms.

Re: Are Allah and the Christian God the same?

Post by Yacneh » Thu Sep 14, 2023 3:28 pm

We could say the same about the trinitarian deity of Christian tradition and the God of the Hebrew Bible. In fact Jews do say that, and it's why they're not trinitarians.

Re: Are Allah and the Christian God the same?

Post by jimwalton » Thu Sep 14, 2023 3:03 pm

I'm well aware of that. I have spent time in Bangladesh, and the Muslim-background believers use "Allah" as their reference to the Christian God. But Allah of Islam and YHWH of Christianity have different attributes and can't be the same entity.

Re: Are Allah and the Christian God the same?

Post by Nifty » Thu Sep 14, 2023 3:03 pm

"Allah" is the Arabic word for God. Arabic-speaking Christians use that word.

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