What do Islam and Christianity Have in Common?

In this regular feature Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call.Here is this week’s question:Dear Dave and Tom, I got into a discussion with a group of people the other day, most of who profess to be Christians.They were talking about how wonderful it was that so many Christian churches were bringing in Muslim religious leaders to talk about how much Islam has in common with the Bible and Christianity.When I said I thought there were some critical differences, they said I was being intolerant, and that my views create the same kinds of problems that many people are blaming the Islamic fundamentalists for.I thought I was just being reasonable and biblical.

Tom:

Dave, we’ve gotten some letters where pastors have stood up and explained to their congregation the differences between Islam and biblical Christianity and word got out in the community and they were picketed.  I’m not saying by Muslims, but people were just upset over the “intolerance” that a church was demonstrating, at least in their mind.

Dave:

Tom, this idea of being tolerant is abused, let’s put it that way as gently as I can.  Would you want a policeman to be tolerant of crime?  Should we now be tolerant of Anthrax?  

Tom:

Or the doctors are going to be tolerant of a disease?

Dave:

Let’s not get upset—you’re being very intolerant when you suggest that you are going to go out and try to find those guys, whoever they are, who are spreading Anthrax.  You’re going to try to develop antibiotics and you’re going to try and protect America from Anthrax?That is very intolerant.  I think that United Airlines is very intolerant; they won’t let me on an airplane unless I buy a ticket—that’s terribly intolerant.  And, it’s very intolerant for those referees at an NFL or an NBA game—who are they to be so intolerant?

Tom:

Throw those flags.

Dave:

Yeah.  Say somebody slams somebody to the ground—so, come on now, intolerant, what do we mean by that?  It’s a word that is abused and is improperly used.  Now, as a mathematician I think you should be intolerant.  I mean, the school teachers are very intolerant when the little boy in the first grade says 2+3=7, and gives him a bad grade.  No! There are differences that are so significant between Islam and Christianity.  It is not being intolerant, it is being rational to recognize them.  For example, Islam says that Jesus is not God; he is not the Son of God.  Allah is not a father and he has no son, therefore, Allah is not the God of the Bible, Allah is the moon god.  I mean we have gone into this before.  He doesn’t have a son but he has three daughters, which are well known and were known for centuries before Mohammed was born.  Jesus didn’t die in our place, someone died in his place.  He didn’t die for our sins, he was taken alive to heaven and has to come back and die some day.  Now, I think that’s a big difference.  When Jesus said that he came to seek and to save the lost, he came to give his life a ransom for this world.  And, when John the Baptist hails Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world.”  And then a Muslim says but it isn’t true—Jesus is not who the Bible claims he is, he is not who he claimed that he is, he is not the Savior of sinners—that pulls the rug totally out from under the Bible and Christianity.  But, we must be tolerant.  Now, let’s try to find some common denominators.  Well, Jesus said, “If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink.”  Mohammed said, “You either submit to Allah, you either confess there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet or we take your head off!”  I think that’s a big difference.  You can’t force someone to believe.  A person forced to say he believes, in fact, that’s all you have to do.  All you have to do in Islam is make this confession:  There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet and even at the point of a sword they are satisfied, you have made that confession.  But in Christianity, the Ethiopian said to Philip, “Here’s water, what hinders me from being baptized?”  Philip says, “Well, I will put a sword to your throat and you will be baptized or else.”  No!  Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart you may.”  I mean, we don’t have time to go on about more differences, I mean, the differences are so significant between Christianity and Islam you couldn’t possibly even begin to talk about commonalities and if there are some commonalities they are of no significance.

Tom:

Yeah.  Dave, bringing this right to today with regard to being intolerant, Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Church in the Chicago, Illinois area, he has a Muslim cleric right there with him, before his congregation, discussing differences and similarities.  And, you know, the cleric says, “well I love Jesus, I may love Jesus more than you love Jesus” and of course, you know, Bill wasn’t going for that, but the point was nobody straightened anybody out because that would be seen as being intolerant.  Here you have two people trying, supposedly trying to explain each other’s religion, yet it didn’t come down to, well, here is a major difference and this is a critical difference and so on and so forth because that’s not what they are there for.  They are there to bring a unity, a tolerance, but not to do that is intolerant.

Dave:

Okay, if you want to talk about intolerance? Islam is the most intolerant religion that there ever was.  Mohammed converted Arabia at the point of a sword.  When he died the Arabians, these are Arabs, thought they were home free and they abandoned the Korash in Mecca, abandoned it and Abu Bakr, the successors, and followers of Mohammed killed tens of thousands of Muslims, former Muslims, forcing Arabia back into Islam.  Every Jew was killed by Mohammed, absolutely forbidden that there would ever be a Jew in Arabia, and in Saudi Arabia today it is forbidden for a Jew to enter that country.  Talk about tolerance and intolerance and for them to say they are tolerant?Tom, I’m sorry, I get a little bit angry.  How can people possibly embrace these lies and how can you possibly say, Islam is a peace loving religion?  On what basis did it obtain that reputation?

Tom:

Now Dave, if people out there are upset by what we are saying—

Dave:

We are only telling them the facts, Tom!

Tom:

Let them do their own—all you have to do is look to the history books, look to the writings of the Islamic scholars.They will tell you these things.  So, we are not being intolerant, we are trying to encourage people to be Bereans, to search things out, to get to the truth of what we are talking about.  Going back to what Jesus said, I mentioned it in the earlier segment, Jesus said, “If you abide in my Word you are my disciples indeed and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”