Friday 8 February 2008

A Common Word Between Us?

A few months ago come leading Muslim scholars published a document called 'A Common Word Between Us and You.' This document seemed to encourage world peace through greater Christian and Muslim dialogue. However this document only acknowledges the wrongs done by Christians to Muslims, including the crusades and the harm done to Muslims in the present as a result on the War on Terror. While the crusades were horrific, the Roman Catholic Church initially was not the aggressor but intended to protect itself from the spread of Islam, (Islam was spread with the sword and was threatening a full scale European invasion). The document does not acknowledge the persecution of Christians by Muslims in Muslim majority communities or its own guilt with regard to the crusades and so is unrepentant.
More to the point, the document also seemed to imply that we are united under a common belief in God. However even in this the document was urging Christians to embrace an Islamic understanding of Monotheism which excludes the trinity. As the Qur’an sees Jesus as nothing more than a prophet and rejects the idea of His deity and His Sonship there can be no common word between us. John 3: 36 says: ‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.' Belief in the Son is essential for eternal life because there is 'no other name given under heaven by which we may be saved’. Islam acknowledges Jesus as a great prophet, but Jesus is much more than a prophet he is the eternal word of God, who was with God and is himself God. Christ is also the revelation of God, and the redeemer, it is only through His death that our sins are atoned for. There is no common word between Christians and Muslims.
How sad then, that the most senior clergyman in The UK, the Rev Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Anglican Communion has reportedly said that Britain should embrace Islamic law alongside existing law. Liberal clergy seem to have no idea that radical Islam does not share its views on tolerance. Evangelicals should be tolerant towards those of other religions, and encourage religious freedom and the right to critise other religions and the freedom to convert. Sharia law discourages this. Christians and Jews are regarded as second class citizens in Muslim countries; conversion from Islam can still result in the death penalty. Other religions are not allowed at all, radical Islam certainly doesn't share the Archbishop's liberal agenda.

8 comments:

David R Kirk said...

Everythings kicking off again! Good to read your post, but I don't think that's exactly what Rev Williams said...Furthermore, I'm not sure that you can possibly say there is no common word between Muslims and Christians. For example, we hold significant portions of Scripture in common. I have friends who are engaging in respectful dialogue with Muslims as to the identity of Jesus amongst other things. In a society where atheistic philosophy brings significant pressures, I think it's important to be able to differentiate the positions held by theists. See you next week!

Reformed Renegade said...

Great post! Islam is very concerning to me as I truly believe it is the greatest enemy of Christianity. Mr Kirk is incorrect. (He attends HTC? That's scary.) Then exactly what did Williams say? Christianity and Islam have nothing in common. Your friends can dialogue all they wish but hopefully it is in an effort to evangelize rather than to come to a common understanding of the identity of Jesus. Sounds like a bunch of liberal clap trap.

Stephen said...

David,
We do not hold a signifcant portion of Scripture for two reasons: One the Qu'ranic doctrine of abbrogation is interpreted to mean that the Jewish and Christian Scriptures are now obsolete. More commonly they are held to be corrupt because they contradict the Qu'ran.

Shalom
Stephen

Stephen said...

Russ,

Rowan Williams said that some form of Sharia law should be allowed in the UK for the Muslim community.Thankfully the government disagreed. I think the real danger for Williams and co is that they think everybody holds to their liberal tolerance which simply isn't the case.

Reformed Renegade said...

Stephen - I knew what Wiliams said. I was attempting to get David to support his statement.

David R Kirk said...

Just to clarify:
1. For Reformed Renegade's benefit: I'm an elder in a Reformed Presbyterian denomination, married with two children. Hello! Grace and peace to you in Jesus Christ.
2. The Archbishop was arguing that consideration should be given to further elements of sharia being incorporated into the UK legislative framework. For the record, I would argue strongly that he is wrong on this. However, provision is already made within the UK legislative framework for elements of sharia (e.g mortgages, some types of arbitration).
3. Again I say that to try to argue that Islam and Christianity have nothing in common is plainly untenable. OK, so it's not as much as with Judaism, but both are monotheistic, both share significant historical events (eg Abraham, prophets), our OT scriptures have currency (I take your point about their subordination to the Qur'an). To label cross-cultural mission as liberal clap-trap is mistaken - why assume they are seeking a common understanding? They are proclaiming the deity and lordship of Jesus as God's Messiah.
4. Islam the greatest enemy of Christianity? That would be a difficult thesis to defend from a Reformed position. In Scripture, the greatest threat to the covenant people comes from within -for Jesus versus the Pharisees, it manifested itself in unwillingness to reach out with God's grace to 'outsiders'. If you're looking for serious external threats, try materialist secularism, or global capitalism.

Jason Nota said...

Muslims seem to view themselves always as victims never seem to see the wrong they have done. The crusades were Christians using the methods of Islam.

Stephen said...

Thanks for stopping by Jason, you have a good image (goatie, bald head its a good look). I agree it bothers me that both the US and Uk governments seem to buy into that. Of course sometimes they are victims and we should defend them at those times.
God Bkess
Stephen