Affirm the Trinity and Work forSocial Justice

___________________________

this is where the graphic would be

If I could use a picture of Mohamed.
____________________________




The reason I used such a strange broken title is differentiate my article from the dozen or so entitled they way I was going to do it, "Do Christians and Muslims have the same God." Down the row on Google,v same title again and again. The reason  so amny are writing on this because doings at Evangelical Wheaton college have made it a hot topic.

Larycia Hawkins, a professor at Wheaton College in Illinois, decided to wear a headscarf during the Advent season as a gesture of solidarity with Muslims. In doing so, Hawkins quoted Pope Francis, saying that Christians and Muslims "worship the same God."But some evangelical Christians disagree — and Wheaton, a Christian school, responded by putting the political science professor on paid administrative leave. The college says it needs time to review whether her statement puts her at odds with the faith perspective required of those who work there.[1]

The controversy pits liberals and ecumenists who are concerned about not seeming to attack Islam and not wanting to oppress the refugee against evangelicals and conservatives who fear the drift away from Trinitarian doctrine. Both sides are being alarmist. We can support refugees (I am all for that) and not be at at with Islam and still affirm the Trinity. I support all three of those things, To answer the question we have3 t do dome unpacking snd examine the nature of the question,

First, technically the God of the Quran is supposed to be the God of Abraham and Issac and Jascob. This is stated in the Quran:

Zeki Saritoprak, a professor of Islamic studies at John Carroll University in Cleveland, points out that in the Quran there's the Biblical story of Jacob asking his sons whom they'll worship after his death."Jacob's sons replied, 'We will worship the God of your fathers' — Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac. He is the God," Saritoprak says. "So this God that Jacob worshipped, this God that Abraham, Isaac worshipped, is the same God that Muslims worship today."[2]

Of course the real dividing line is the notion of Trinity. We really can't deny that as Christians we worship the God of Abraham. Jesus prayed to him and called him father. As I pointed out last time there are points of contact between God in OT and Triune God of Greek based Trinitarian doctrine.

But Christians themselves differ on this question. The Second Vatican Council, speaking to Catholics back in 1964, affirmed that Muslims "together with us adore the one, merciful God." And Amy Plantinga Pauw, a professor of Christian theology at Louisville Seminary, says Christians can have their own definition of God while still seeing commonality with Muslims and Jews."To say that we worship the same God is not the same as insisting that we have an agreed and shared understanding of God,"[3]

 Technically Mohamed made reference to God of Bible and was dealing with tht view of God but Islam has developed such a cultural palemcest over that truth that they no longer do deal with the same God. Of course that can  be said of some kinds of Christians, that does not mean that we can water down the Trinity. We can protect the rights of Muslim Americas  and work with them for social justice without abandoning the Trinity. That is imperative.

We just got through Christmas and that should remind us, truly God and Truly mean, core of the faith.


what do you think? I want commemts





[1] Tom G Jelten do Christians and Muslims worship the same God NPR, Updated December 21, 20156:40 AM ET Published December 20, 2015 RA website
http://www.npr.org/2015/12/20/460480698/do-christians-and-muslims-worship-the-same-god

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid