Renji
Well-Known Member
I've bought this fascinating book written by George Dardess entitled: "Do We Worship the Same God? (comparing the Bible and the Qur'an)"
I would like to take note of these lines from the intro: "Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? The question seems moot. Didn't the Second Vatican Council answer it once and for all with a resounding "yes"? For example, Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church) proclaimed that:"... the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place among these are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and Merciful God, who on the last day will judge humankind."
"Also on Vatican II document, Nostra Aetate: Upon the Muslims, too, the Church looks with esteem. They adore one God, living and enduring, merciful and all powerful, Maker of heaven and earth and Speaker to humanity. They strive to submit wholeheartedly even to His inscrutable decrees, just as did Abraham, with whom Islamic faith is pleased to associate itself. Though they not acknowledge as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin mother; at times they call her, too, with devotion. In addition they await the judgment day when God will give each person his due after raising him up. Consequently, they prize the moral life, and give worship to God, especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting."
" Nostra Aetate directly said what Lumen Gentium did not: that Muslims do not worship Jesus as God. Yet in centuries before Vatican II, that admission is a resounding "no!" to this question, and to cause it to condemn Muslims as schismatics. (That's why Dante in Divine Comedy puts Muhammad to gruesome torment in one of the lowest circles of hell) Vatican II reversed that negative perspective completely. Nostra Aetate put the Muslim and Catholic difference of belief about Jesus into a subordinate clause as if the difference of belief, while still very significant, did not outweigh what Muslims and Christians have in common. According to Nostra Aetate, the fact that Christians believe that Jesus is God wile Muslims don't did not affect the council's judgment that we do in fact worship the same God."
---> Now, the deal with this is that the book purely used the RC doctrine. I want to know how other Christians, Catholics and Muslims think about this. And the more good thing about this book is that it does not assert an answer to the OP, but rather, it throws out questions and allows it's readers to formulate their own answers. So, what do you think, do we worship the same God?
I would like to take note of these lines from the intro: "Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? The question seems moot. Didn't the Second Vatican Council answer it once and for all with a resounding "yes"? For example, Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church) proclaimed that:"... the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place among these are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and Merciful God, who on the last day will judge humankind."
"Also on Vatican II document, Nostra Aetate: Upon the Muslims, too, the Church looks with esteem. They adore one God, living and enduring, merciful and all powerful, Maker of heaven and earth and Speaker to humanity. They strive to submit wholeheartedly even to His inscrutable decrees, just as did Abraham, with whom Islamic faith is pleased to associate itself. Though they not acknowledge as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin mother; at times they call her, too, with devotion. In addition they await the judgment day when God will give each person his due after raising him up. Consequently, they prize the moral life, and give worship to God, especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting."
" Nostra Aetate directly said what Lumen Gentium did not: that Muslims do not worship Jesus as God. Yet in centuries before Vatican II, that admission is a resounding "no!" to this question, and to cause it to condemn Muslims as schismatics. (That's why Dante in Divine Comedy puts Muhammad to gruesome torment in one of the lowest circles of hell) Vatican II reversed that negative perspective completely. Nostra Aetate put the Muslim and Catholic difference of belief about Jesus into a subordinate clause as if the difference of belief, while still very significant, did not outweigh what Muslims and Christians have in common. According to Nostra Aetate, the fact that Christians believe that Jesus is God wile Muslims don't did not affect the council's judgment that we do in fact worship the same God."
---> Now, the deal with this is that the book purely used the RC doctrine. I want to know how other Christians, Catholics and Muslims think about this. And the more good thing about this book is that it does not assert an answer to the OP, but rather, it throws out questions and allows it's readers to formulate their own answers. So, what do you think, do we worship the same God?
