The Cabana Chronicles Conversations About God Islam and Christianity: The Cabana Chronicles

By John B. Bartholomew

The religions of Islam and Christianity are discussed by a group of retirees meeting each week under a cabana on the beach at South Padre Island, Texas. This book is one of a number of books comprising The Cabana Chronicles series of books on comparative religion and Christian apologetics, the systematic and logical defense of the Christian religion. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: MacLean Publshers
• Release date: Dec 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386688693

Book preview

MacLean Publishers

Copyright 2021 by John B. Bartholomew

––––––––

The Cabana Chronicles

Conversations about God

Islam and Christianity

By John B. Bartholomew

Printed in the United States of America

EBook ISBN: 9781386688693

All rights reserved solely by the author. The author guarantees all contents are original and do not infringe upon the legal rights of any other person or work. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the author. The views expressed in this book are not necessarily those of the publisher.

Quotes from the Qur’an were taken from Pickthall’s translation, The Glorious Qur’an, First English translation 2000, published by Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, Inc., Elmhurst, New York.

www.the-cabana-chronicles.com

Acknowledgments

This book would not have been possible without the input from all of my pastors, teachers, church elders and Christian friends, who have faithfully communicated the truth to me through their sermons, seminars, and classes. Dr. R. C. Sproul, Dr. A. Bernard Kuiper, Dr. Robert Branden, Dr. Voddie Baucham, Dr. Peter Kreeft, and Dr. Bill Waddell, I would not have been able to complete this project without the knowledge you imparted. I also thank Dr. Nabeel Jabbour and Dr.James Dretke for their explanation of the Islamic religion. I thank my Facebook Cabana Chronicles discussion group members  Pax Rodriguez, Rick Roos, Charles Leopardo, and Charlie Harris, and my discussions with Facebook Islamic discussion group members Emanuel Ciurariu, Oyediran Moses, Lahx Hussan, Omar Adam Muhammad, Muhammad Al azim, Vinit Swamy, Kaly Addi, Alfani Sumaili, Bandr Shargabi, Hany Mohamed Allam, Seidu Mohammed, Oluwagbemija Adeniji, Gatsheni Lobi, and Abubakar Isa, and Ismail Onaolapo Salihu Otukoko for our many discussions on Islam and Christianity.  

Last but not least, I thank my loving wife, Patti Lee Bartholomew, whose patience, suggestions and loyalty to the cause have served to support me in my endeavor to complete this project over the past ten years.

Book Contents

––––––––

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction to the Cabana Chronicles Series

Week One

Introduction of participants

Purpose of discussions

Rules of engagement

Religion and Theology

Agnosticism

Purpose of the Law

Spirituality

Secular Humanism

The Big Questions Introduced

Legalism

Sources of Knowledge

Apologetics

Role of Tradition in Belief

Week Two

Aristotle’s Levels of Awareness

Types of Evidence

The Role of Faith

History of Islam

Sin, Repentance, Redemption, Messiah

Works-Based or Grace-Based Religion

Week Three

Introduction of Islamic Doctrine

Fatalism

Basis of Islamic Commentaries

Shari’a Law

Relativism

Concept of jihad

The Doctrine of Abrogation

Women’s Rights in Islam

Week Four

Who is Muhammad?

Islam’s Elephant in the Room

Terrorism and jihad

Introduction to the Tests of Truth

The Spirituality of the West

Reasons for Terrorism

Derivation of the Qur’an

The Essence of Islam

Knowing Allah

World Domination

Week Five

Muhammad’s background

Causes of Terrorism

Role of Moderate Muslims

Jews: God’s Chosen

Jewish Concept of the Messiah

Muhammad compared to Christ

The impact of Shari’a Law

Week Six

The Crusades

World Domination through Terrorism

Characteristics of Allah

Man-centered Belief System

Christ’s Death and Resurrection

The Meaning of Suffering

Sin

What do Islam and Christianity have in common?

The Value of Good Works

How do we make the world better?

Characteristics of God: Grace and Mercy

What the Three Monotheisms Share

Essential Differences

Relationship with Allah

Relationship with Yahweh

The Value of Good Works

Week Seven

What is Heaven Like?

Muslim Opinion of the Bible

How Do We Witness to Muslims?

How Does Presuppositional Apologetics Work?

Prayer

The Doctrine of Abrogation, another fail safe in Islam

Week Eight

Summary Comments on Islam

The Role of the Holy Spirit

Islam’s Historical Contribution

Reason for Belief

The Importance of Doctrine

The Application of Doctrine

The Base Instincts of Fallen Man

The Basis for our Moral Code

Absolutes versus Relativism

The Role of Faith in Belief

The Role of Reason in Belief

The Character of the Prophet Muhammad

Discussion of the Pillars of Faith

Week Nine

The Baha’i Religion

The Covenants of the Bible

Week Ten

Review of Baha’i Religion

Core Principles

God’s Covenants

What Doesn’t Make Sense About Islam?

The Sufi Concept of jihad

Women’s Rights in Islam and Christianity

Comparison with Secular Humanism

Application of Tests of Truth

Preface

"It seems to me that a man must be a

believer or seek some belief, otherwise

his life is empty, empty....To live and

not know why the cranes fly, why

children are born, why there are stars

in the sky....Either he knows what he

is living for, or it’s all nonsense, waste."

From Chekhov’s Three Sisters

Aristotle, the man considered to be the father of philosophy, said there are three different ways to judge a person’s mode of living. Each mode differs in the degree of awareness of the experience of life.

The lowest level consists of people who are most easily satisfied with a life of mere day to day enjoyment. Often by necessity, they focus primarily on their own basic survival. Aristotle believed that the majority of people on earth are living at this level. He called the second level the life of active citizenship. People living at this level are satisfied with the pursuit of career, money, fame, honor and pride. He called the highest level of living the life of contemplation. This is the level requiring the most mental commitment. It is only at this level that we are motivated to really think about the real purpose of our lives. Socrates said the unexamined life isn’t worth living.

This distinction of the three modes of living is of course, by its very nature, subjective. There are no arbitrary boundaries in place which separate them. And there are no restrictions to prevent people from moving from one level to another depending on the circumstances. It is therefore possible for a person to move up the ladder of mental involvement from one mode to another and many people do accomplish this feat as they mature in life. This is a welcome improvement to those people who recognize that something is missing in their lives, and they want to fill the perceived void.

We humans are religious by nature, and everyone has a set of beliefs that collectively make up what they call their religion. Most of us though don’t give what we believe much thought. Surveys indicate that there are many people who confess that they may be living a life that falls somewhat short of their potential, but claim they just don’t have the time or the inclination to do anything about it. Few of us take the time to think through what we believe and whether our beliefs can be supported and are worth retaining or whether they should be discarded for some other belief.

The ability of people to think introspectively, to lead a self-examined life, is a lost art in this day and age. People are content to settle for progress in the material sense but don’t understand that only by questioning where we all stand on more important issues, do we truly move forward. We must accept that our basic need is for real fulfillment in our lives and that to achieve this completeness, we need to recognize that we should engage in discussions of the more important issues in our lives. Living without thought is actually one of the greatest errors men make.

How can we integrate the knowledge of others into our own without exchanging ideas and opinions with others? We need to use our good minds to formulate opinions about important matters, test the support of these opinions and discover the limitations of our fallible knowledge. Solomon tells us in Proverbs 27:17 that As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. We need to get out of that rut we are in and begin to prioritize living a life of contemplation. We need to crave knowledge and clarity.

Philosophy has been characterized as a great conversation, and the same description would apply to theology, the father of philosophy. Valuable spiritual experiences can often come out of conversations revolving around these two important disciplines. Philosopher, John Stuart Mill once said Estimate the proportion of men and women who are selfish, sensual, frivolous, idle, absolutely common place and wrapped up in the smallest of petty routines, and consider how far the freest of free discussion is likely to improve them. Indeed this is exactly what I believe happened when we formed our little discussion group of Winter Texans. We retirees met under a beach cabana on South Padre Island, Texas each season for three years to discuss philosophy, theology, and religion. .

Most of us had had successful business careers which required our attention during those earning years so we had to wait until our retirement for the additional time to enable us to pursue that life of contemplation. We seemed to have reached that point in our lives when we had the time and the inclination to know more about what we believed, and how our beliefs compared to the doctrines of other religions. Believing that no day is lost on which some spiritual truth becomes clearer, we were motivated to meet on a regular basis to calibrate our spiritual compasses and put the priorities of life in proper order. We discovered that we now have that time to focus on the mental and the spiritual aspects of our lives. We understood that this is the very age when new horizons should be appearing and new doors opening. It almost seems as though our entire lives have led up to this point in time. We are motivated to once again pull those books off the shelf which address liberal arts subjects like theology, religion, philosophy, history, literature, and psychology and read them again, as though for the first time.

In our discussions of philosophy, religion, politics and theology, we discovered that we really enjoyed the experience of meeting together to discuss and debate such weighty subjects. Theology is important because it’s important to understand what we believe. In fact, Christian apologist, C. S. Lewis, once said that he found the study of theology and doctrine more helpful in devotion than the devotional books. He said that many who find that ‘nothing happens’ when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.

Introduction to the Cabana Chronicles Series

––––––––

The Cabana Chronicles is a series of books addressing the subject of apologetics, the systematic and logical defense of the Christian religion as it is compared to several other world religions. This book compares Islam to Christianity.*

So, why is apologetics important? The Apostle Peter believed defending his religion was important when he tells us to always make sure Christians have an adequate explanation of why we believe what we believe. What was important in the first century is even more important now in this day and age. Dr. Peter Kreeft, in his introduction to his book, Handbook of Christian Apologetics, surmised that our civilization today is in social crisis, intellectual crisis, and spiritual crisis. We do apologetics not to save the church but to save the world. Dr. Kreeft listed three reasons for the study of apologetics: It leads to faith for unbelievers; it builds up faith and aids love for Christianity for believers; and it engages in spiritual warfare.   

Apologist Cornelius Van Til once said that apologetics begins with dialogue. It is not a one way form of communication or a simple matter of proclamation. Since The Cabana Chronicles series is a record of the dialogue in our weekly debates, I believe the books in this series exemplifies what Van Til meant. As it was for Socrates, the argument is all. Indeed, throughout history, the dialogue literary style has proven to be a most effective learning tool because it translates thought-provoking concepts into the vernacular and encourages the reader to vicariously participate in the discussion taking place. It also allows for the expression of a variety of opinions in whatever is being discussed. Dr. Kreeft states that he loves the dialogue format. He tells us an argument is valid if the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises. If all the terms in an argument are clear, and if all the premises are true, and if the argument is free from logical fallacy, then the conclusion must be true.

Philosophers who study epistemology, the study of how knowledge is obtained, tell us the three sources of man’s knowledge are faith, tradition and reason. While each one of these sources is certainly utilized in the formulation of a person’s beliefs to one degree or another, depending on the religion, one source of knowledge is typically emphasized over the other two. The religion of Islam is basically inseparable from its culture and so tradition is its primary source of knowledge.

*Other books in the series: The Cabana Chronicles: Book One, Book Two, Book Three, The Foundation of Belief, The Religions of Secular Humanism and Christianity, Judaism and Christianity, Mormonism and Christianity, Comparing Christian Denominations, and Catholicism and Protestantism.

Although some of the content presented in these fictional dialogues is based on actual conversations, The Cabana Chronicles is a work of fiction. With the exception of myself, the characters in the books in the series are fictitious and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Charles Chuck Brookins.

The Cabana Chronicles

Islam and Christianity

"Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit,

according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles

of the world, and not according to Christ."

Colossians 2:8

You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.

Mark 7:8

Week One

––––––––

Bobby:  Gentlemen, this is the season we take up our discussion of Islam. It’s good to see our original group return this year. We’re joined by two of my Padre Island friends, Ben and Ahmed. Ben used to be a high school teacher in New York City and now owns a clothing store on the Island. Ahmed is officially retired from his real estate sales career in Chicago and has now begun to obsessively pursue the art of surf fishing. Ben is an orthodox Jew and Ahmed is a Muslim. Ahmed and Ben, meet Darrel, Daniel, Peter and John. Darrel used to own a John Deere dealership in the Midwest; he identifies with the Christian religion. Daniel used to be a Christian missionary and is now working as a part time guidance counselor for the Port Isabel School District. Peter is a retired biochemist; he used to work with the FDA in Denver; and John is a retired real estate appraiser from Colorado. John’s also a Christian, and is the author of a number of books based on our discussions each year

John: Thanks for the plug, Bobby. I actually want to write a book comparing Christianity to Islam and Judaism too so I’m glad Ben joined us this season. I call my series The Cabana Chronicles, Conversations about God. So, if you new guys don’t object, what we talk about this season will be published as another book in the series. That’s why I brought along this recorder.

Ahmed: I would be flattered to be included in a book.

Bobby: And, as he did last year, John also prepared an outline for us on what we hope to cover in our discussions this season. We found it to be helpful in keeping us on track. I have a copy for each of you.

Ben: You actually have prepared an outline for these discussions? You guys are organized.

Bobby: Yeah, and we also have certain rules of engagement for our discussions. Last year, I was appointed discussion leader, and my job is to keep us on schedule and enforce our rules.

Ben: What are the rules?

Bobby: Everyone knows politics and religious discussions can get out of hand, so we need to remember to keep these discussions civil. We need to always keep our cool. We don’t want to emulate those O’Reilly Factor discussions where talking heads keep interrupting each other; no dialogue of the deaf for us.

Ahmed: What’s that?

John: It’s when one guy, person A, talks about his religion with another guy, person B, who doesn’t share his belief and offends him by berating his religion so that person B doesn’t listen to what person A is saying and simply waits for his turn to talk about his religion Neither party listens to the other; no information is exchanged, and it’s all just a waste of time. We want to avoid that, of course.

Ahmed: Yes, obviously that situation is to be avoided. But I think you guys can understand why I am sensitive to people talking about Islam when they know nothing about it but what these fanatics have represented it to be.

Daniel: Yes, Ahmed, we need to keep an open mind. Whenever possible, we should support our argument with expert opinion and facts; we need to try to use quotes from only people considered to be nationally recognized in their field of expertise.

John: A good example of someone like this would be a person like C. S. Lewis, Oxford professor and author of many books on Christianity. As he said in God in the Dock, we’re not to assume, without discussion, the other guy is wrong, and then distract his attention from the issue by busily explaining how he became so silly.

Darrel: Another example would be the economist J. K. Galbraith, who once stated: Faced with a choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy with the proof. Tolstoy once said that The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.

Bobby: And we need to always define our terms so that everyone understands what a person means.

John: For our definitions, we use both the Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms by Donald K. McKim and Webster’s Dictionary. We can also refer to Zondervan’s Bible Dictionary when necessary. Lastly, although we have our outline to guide us, we need to remember that these discussions are supposed to be informal and open ended. In sum, I guess you could say that we need to focus on being reasonable, civil and truthful.

Peter: The motto of our discussions is Just make sense.

Darrel: Proverbs 14:15 says that The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thoughts to his steps.

John: Good quote, Darrel. I should also mention we all need to be honest with ourselves and with each other. We should refrain from deliberately ignoring the truth when it seems to threaten what we think we believe. Theologians call this vincible ignorance.

Darrel: We’re supposed to learn from one another. Solomon tells us in Proverbs 27:17 that As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Daniel: Yes, we can learn so much more in a group discussion than we can on our own. I think we proved that last year.

Ben: Yeah, maybe I can learn something that I can pass onto someone else or just sound smarter at my next cocktail party.

John: You’ve brought up a good point, Ben. Do we pursue wisdom to pass onto loved ones and friends? Do we want to learn stuff to impress others with our wisdom? Of course, when we’re talking about theology and religion, we know these are most serious subjects because they address the serious business of life. It’s important to understand what we believe.  Correct understanding is critical because it should give us the confidence our belief is based on a firm foundation of truth.  But, we aren’t just learning for our own edification. Theology is defined as the study of God and it’s a practical discipline, especially in this day and age. I say this because everyone has a belief and, for most of us, that belief involves God. Most educated people read and many more people are having discussions like the one we’re having about this subject. If we don’t know very much about God, we can be confused and misled by bad theology. And, most importantly, we must remember that what we know, what we do here, and what we say here counts forever. 

Darrel: Yeah, you’re right about theology being practical. The correct theology serves as our guidebook for living this life. But it’s all about being aware, and, unfortunately, most folks don’t choose to lead a self-examined life.

Ahmed: What exactly is an examined life?

John: It all has to do with our degree of awareness or consciousness. People who live an examined life are most acutely aware of every aspect involved in living out this life. They live introspectively. They aren’t functioning on autopilot.

We know Satan works best through our ignorance of God and him. I think we can conclude from experience that many people generally don’t seem to care about acquiring knowledge, particularly knowledge of God. And they don’t care about our opinion unless it agrees with theirs and are therefore usually unwilling to engage in conversation about religion. So, unless we’re fortunate enough to be in the teaching profession, or we write a book someone actually reads, we won’t be able to share with others what we know, nor can we receive feedback from them.

Bobby: Life seems fruitless in that regard.

John: Oh, I’m not suggesting that conclusion. I was just trying to say that life’s mostly about teaching ourselves. What we learn from reading, particularly from reading Scripture, and also from what we hope to learn from those infrequent discussions with others is beneficial to us because knowledge gives us the power we need to defeat Satan’s intentions to tempt us to fall from God’s grace. That’s what life’s all about.

Bobby: It’s a kind of test, eh? Is there a final exam?

Darrel: Yeah, it’s called Judgment Day, Bobby.

Ben: Who do you think would be interested in knowing what a bunch of retired, old farts thinks about anything anyway? That’s ironic, isn’t it? We’re supposed to have accumulated more wisdom at this stage of our lives, right? That’s probably the only good thing about getting old. We’ve already learned a lot of stuff, and we continue to learn. And, I think the most charitable thing a person can do is to give out good, well thought out advice based on what we know. But it seems we’re never asked.

Darrel: Yeah, most people in the next generation don’t solicit advice; nor do they volunteer it. And, when they get it, they don’t take it.

Bobby: What we have here, (‘Cool hand’) Luke, is a failure to communicate.

John: Yeah, that was a great movie. Anyway, these days, thanks to technology, there are more distractions for our kids and their kids. They all seem to have their heads so buried in their various electronic devices, they miss out on interacting with other people. The experts tell us development of their social skills is stifled. And social skills are important for communication. And there are over five billion people in the world today, and it’s important to understand how to get along with each other.

Ben: What’s the matter with kids today? Why can’t they be like we were, perfect in every way? Isn’t that the way that old song goes on Bye, Bye Birdie? Kids don’t listen and they don’t mind, right? Since the beginning of time, every parent has said this about every kid.

Darrel: You can joke about it, Ben, but it’s sad that the younger generation just doesn’t seem to be taking life seriously enough. Life’s all about making choices, and everyone needs all the help they can get to avoid making the mistakes those providing the advice have made. These days, apathy seems to reign supreme. People don’t seem to care as much about what the other guy has to say. And, since most people are followers, there’s this herd instinct built into us; we want to fit in, to relate to others and not be seen as an outcast by expressing a different opinion from the herd. Yes, the pursuit of truth is important, but so is remaining part of a tribe. While these two instincts can work together, they can also conflict.

John: I remember what the great poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, had to say about life in A Psalm of Life. Life is real, life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; dust thou art, to dust returnest, was not spoken of the soul. Let us, then, be up and doing, with a heart for any fate; still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labor and to wait. We’re still achieving in the sense we are hopefully learning our lives cannot be just about us. The less we focus on us, the more we get out of life. We understand that everything we do involves choices and counts both for now and for eternity. So we pursue knowledge to help us make good decisions every day of our life. But we should of course recognize our inability to do this without help. Christians know we must rely on God’s help. We’re to go to Him in prayer, and, as Paul says in Philippians 4: 5-7: The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Ben: All these years I’ve known you, Bobby, and I’ve never known your religion.

Bobby: That’s because I don’t have one. I used to be a Catholic, now I’m an agnostic.

Ben: Everyone has a religion, whether they know what it is or not. What’s your religion, Peter?

Peter: Secular humanism. I’m essentially an atheist. I believe in God but only as our creator. Like philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, I believe we were created, we were expected. I found myself admitting to being a deist in last year’s discussions because I found pure atheism to be logically untenable. A deist is a person who believes in the creator God of the philosophers. I don’t believe in the personal God your various holy books describe. God created us and then let us be. We’re to fend for ourselves. I’m not a religious person, and I take intellectual pride in saying that.

If you really are interested in knowing more about what I believe, buy a copy of John’s book called The Religions of Secular Humanism and Christianity.

Ahmed: There’s no pride in Islam. Muhammad was a humble servant. In surah 46:9, he expressed doubt about his role. I am no new thing, among the messengers of Allah, nor know I what will be done with me or with you. I do but follow what is inspired in me, and I am but a plain warner.

Darrel: Or he was a very confused person. Look, the way I see it is that it’s obvious Muhammad was intent on setting up a religion regardless of whether he saw himself as a prophet or a plain warner, whatever that is. He designed a religion by plagiarizing from the Bible what he liked and left the rest. He corrupted many of the famous biblical stories, but most importantly, corrupted the gospel accounts, just as Thomas Jefferson corrupted them in compiling his Jefferson Bible by literally cutting out all the verbiage that referred to Christ as the Messiah, as being God, the Son equal to the Father, the second member of the trinity. Obviously, such a self-proclaimed prophet didn’t want to share the limelight. He wanted to be the big chief of his own religion.

Ahmed: Muhammad was a peaceful man. Islam is a religion of peace.

Darrel: Yeah, at the point of a sword. Muhammad was a military warrior, head of his own army. He had charisma and mesmerized his followers. And there’s pride in his followers too.

Daniel: As a former missionary to Muslims, I have many stories to tell about Islam’s traditions. I could always tell how fanatic a Muslim was by the mark on their foreheads. My friend and I would call them single bumpers or triple bumpers. They get this bump on their forehead from hitting the floor in their prayer time. This is like the Jewish Pharisees wearing their prayer boxes in public to demonstrate how religious they were. It’s tradition, and it’s prideful. 

Darrel: But pride can be a good thing. The Apostle Paul says that it’s good to be proud of your knowledge of Christ. So, I’m proud to call myself religious. 

You know that only a generation or so ago, most people in America were religious, and we’re proud of it. Now, of course, in our pop culture, being religious has a negative connotation. Religious people are thought of as being narrow-minded and judgmental. A religious person is believed to be a person who’s intellect is stifled by their faith in God, a person who’s focused on being devout, someone who goes to church on a regular basis, says grace over their meal, and so on. Devout Christians in particular are mocked by unbelievers. But, anthropologists tell us we’re all religious by nature and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud says we’re all inclined to worship someone or something. So, we’re all religious to some extent, it’s just that these days, for an increasing number of people, that something we worship is not the God of the Bible. We’re living in post-Christianity America. Secular humanism has become the reigning religion in the West.

John: We all want to know the truth, and everyone has a set of beliefs that collectively make up what they call their religion to pursue that truth. When we define what the word religion really means, we see that religion is a term with a variety of definitions. McKim defines religion as including ritual, social and ethical elements combined with a belief in an unseen world and often in a deity. Atheists, agnostics or people who say they’re believers but don’t read their Bibles or go to a church may not think of themselves as being religious, but, the term can be generally applied to all of us because, as Darrel just said, all humans are religious by nature. They may not have thought about what they believe, but they have a belief. What we believe and why we believe it becomes the most relevant question to ask ourselves. That’s why we’re meeting here.

Darrel: Webster’s definition of religion tells us religion involves worship, the service of praise and adoration or admiration for something. Surveys indicate that something is usually God. Christians look to God for the truth. All other religions look to man. Christians worship the God of the Bible. All other religions worship a God of their own design. Pantheists worship nature, eastern religions worship a man as God, Buddha or the Emperor. Atheistic religions like secular humanism worship man’s intellect. Scientists worship science. Think about it, Pete, in relying on science for your truth and in expressing your admiration for the scientific method, aren’t you meeting the definition of being religious? I think you’re more religious than you think you are.

Peter: I never thought of my admiration of the scientific method as being a religious act, but, applying your definition of religion, I suppose you have a point.

Bobby: I’m not religious, but I do consider myself to be spiritual. I don’t worship anything.

John: Well, my friend, as I say, Sigmund Freud postulated we all worship something; it’s in our nature to worship. Calvin called humans, idol-worshiping factories.

Of course, it’s not always a conscious thing. Most people aren’t always aware their admiration for something is really like worship. Psychologists tell us most people are narcissistic to some degree and sometimes their worship of self can become so strong, it’s classified as a behavioral disorder. So we see that such forms of worship can be practiced with the same commitment as a person they call religious worships God by going to church, saying grace at meals and reading the Bible or even the Qur’an. A person can rebel against God and focus on man and the material world with as much zeal as any believer in God can express. While the intensity can be the same, the object of worship differs. And the consequences differ depending on whom you worship. In focusing on himself, man can become self-indulgent and narcissistic. When Christians encounter the living, true, holy, sovereign, triune God of the universe, we become humble and are motivated to express our thankfulness to God for His blessings. We’re also inclined to serve others. As Reverend Jason Helopoulos says, Worship is a foretaste of heaven to come, the greatest longing of our soul, and the very purpose for our creation.

Peter: I know at times I am passionate about my unbelief. This is particularly true when I encounter self-righteous, religious people.

John: Like self-indulgence, self-righteousness can be a sign of narcissism too. A Christian with true saving faith should never appear to be self-righteous. We should be religious for God’s sake, not ours. We should avoid acting like the Pharisees.  

Peter: Yes, McKim’s definition of religion goes on to say Beliefs may be expressed through myths or doctrines. You God-believers have your myths, we have our doctrine.

John: Regardless, Peter, you know theology can’t be ignored. It plays an important role in the life of anyone who leads an examined life. The Bible tells us that everyone must at least acknowledge a creator of the creation. We differ of course on our concept of God and His position in his creation and in our lives.

I think we really have just three choices on how we approach theology: 1. There are those who try to deny God exists. These people are the pure atheists. Besides being illogical because every effect implies a cause, it’s only natural to believe in something other than us.  2. Then there are those who concede logically there must be a creator of the creation. This is the God of the philosophers, and that’s you, Peter. 3. And finally there are those who believe in a personal God. This means they believe God has a personality and cares about everything in his creation. The first two choices represent bad theology.

Darrel: And then there are guys like Bobby here who chooses none of the above.

Ahmed: What exactly is an agnostic, Bobby? Is that a religion?

Bobby: Not really. I really don’t have a religion. Agnostics don’t believe God can be known.

Ahmed: Muslims believe God is basically unknowable.

Darrel: Then how can you call your religion a theology? Theology means study of God.

Ahmed: Islam is theology; we want to know Allah but recognize that we can’t really know God.  What we know about him has been revealed by our Prophet Muhammad in the Qur’an, our holy book which records the sayings and teachings of Muhammad.

We have our 99 names for Allah, and these names refer to one of Allah’s characteristics. The Qur’an lists at least 16 characteristics of Allah, and, when you compare what our respective holy books say about him, you will see that the descriptions of him are very similar. The Qur’an, like the Bible, tells us God is exceedingly passionate and merciful, eternal and self-sufficient, immutable and infinite, eternal and absolute, self-sufficient, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise, holy and pure, utterly just, the truth, good, and the light. We refer to verses in the Qur’an as surahs, and I might add that God is also referred to as Creator in surah 6:101-102, as our Guardian, ever watchful (89:14); God is Lord of all (41:9); God is the Sustainer (7:54); God is worthy of worship (20:14). In sum, we believe as Jews and Christians believe; God is personal, and he governs his creation with mercy.

Daniel: In hearing your list of divine characteristics, I don’t hear you say that love is one of Allah’s characteristics. The God of the Bible is described with one word: Love.

Ahmed: You can see that mercy and beneficence are listed; they relate to Allah’s love for us.

Daniel: Yes, in fact, all the other virtues are the result of God’s love for us. That’s what the Apostle Paul is telling us in 1 Corinthians 13 when he tells us the greatest of all the virtues is love. And the ability to love is God’s most important gift to us as He has made us in His image. Love motivates us to express every other virtue. But the Qur’an doesn’t actually focus on love as one of God’s characteristics, does it? I can say this because the word love is only mentioned a dozen times in the index of my Qur’an.

Ahmed: Allah is exceedingly merciful, beneficent, gracious. Allah is eternal, absolute, all-embracing, omniscient, omnipresent, all powerful, everlasting.

Darrel: Sure, you’ve said that his mercy would indicate love and the Qur’an indirectly refers to Allah’s ability to love his creatures, but the Bible just comes right out and says that God IS love. And, when we review the Concordance at the end of most Bibles, we see the word love is expressed hundreds of times in both the Old and New Testaments, and Christ summarizes Mosaic Law by saying we are to love God and love one another.

John: In fact, according to Strong’s Concordance, there over 650 references to the word love in the Bible, as opposed to about 20 in the Qur’an. And, when we look at the other virtues Paul lists, we see there are over 300 references in the Bible to joy, 23 for kindness, 11 for goodness, 59 for faithfulness, 6 for gentleness, and 17 for self-control; There is no mention of any of these virtues in the Index of my Qur’an. There are over 100 references to peace compared to 26 in the Qur’an. The only virtue mentioned more often in the Qur’an than in the Bible is the virtue of patience. 

Ahmed: Yes, yes, you Christians talk about God being love and Jesus teaching you to love one another and to love God, but then in another section of the gospel accounts, Jesus is teaching you to hate every member of your family, even the father and mother. Can’t you see the contradiction here?

John: You seem to know those passages in the Bible you believe you can use against us, don’t you, Ahmed. I assume you’re referring to Luke 14:26. Here the Greek translation refers to hate being to love less, and indeed Jesus is comparing the love they are to have for Him in comparison to the love we have for our family. See Genesis 29:31, 33 and Deuteronomy 21:15-17 where unloved translates a word meaning hatred. The point here is that discipleship means loving the Master so much that all other loves are less.

Ahmed: We don’t presume to know what Allah expects of us other than obedience. He prefers to remain unknowable.

Peter: Yeah, but you have your 99 names for Allah, and you’ve assigned these characteristics to him, right? He must be knowable to some extent.

Ahmed: But, of course.

Darrel: This doesn’t make Allah personal to you though. These names and various characteristics assigned to him don’t indicate a personal relationship. The Qur’an reveals Allah’s will that is to be obeyed and little else. This, I think, is quite telling, and it represents a major difference in the way we understand God’s character and purpose

Ahmed: Yes, I will admit we don’t relate to Allah on a personal level like Christians do.

Darrel: How would you describe your relationship to Allah, Ahmed? If it’s not on a personal level like with us, then what level would you say it is?

Ahmed: Allah is not like us, and we are in awe and fear of him. We certainly don’t believe we can be in a personal relationship with him. It demeans him, and it is blasphemy to think we could be as intimate with him as you people proclaim to be with the God of the Bible. 

Darrel: Right. As I may have indicated before, I’ve read the Qur’an from cover to cover, and I have never found a passage that indicates Allah desires to relate to his people in the intimate way our triune God relates to us.

Ahmed: As I said before, we are primarily a religion of law, and we are to submit to that law because this is what Allah wills for us to do. We don’t see ourselves as members of Allah’s family or him as being our father; we are subservient to his will.

Darrel: He’s more like a very authoritative, dictatorial boss than a father.

Ahmed: Yes, but that’s a good thing. In our focus on submission to Allah’s law, we are guided to live in peace with our fellow man and pursue a state of wholeness and balance which results from having all of our priorities in order. We call this salam. It’s like the Jewish word shalom. When we pursue salam in relation to God, it means attributing what belongs to God to him and to him alone. This actually is the meaning of Islam.

Daniel: It seems that with Christians, the more God is studied, the more He can be known, and the more obvious it becomes He wants us to be in a close relationship with Him. Close is good, and the closer, the better. Fathers care more about their children than bosses care about their employees.

John: Ahmed, you say you’re to relate to Allah by understanding what is his and his alone. And that’s a good start. But, as we said before, Christians go much, much further than that in explaining our relationship with our triune God. We understand what God desires the depth of that relationship with Him to be. He tells us Himself in His Word. We live out our lives in coram deo, before the face of God.

Daniel: Yes, the Bible tells us the Lord takes pleasure in his people. After He made us, He was proud of His creation and called it good. We know He has chosen to find His pleasure and joy in His people. That’s what the psalmist tells us in Psalm 149:4. And we in turn are to find joy in Him.

John: Author, pastor, theologian John Piper emphasizes enjoying God. And another theologian, Charles Spurgeon writes that God would have His people happy and, by His Grace, He makes them so! We rejoice in our King because He makes us rejoice...Blessed religion, in which happiness has become a duty!

Ahmed: We Muslims don’t feel comfortable with intimacy with God. We regard, respect, and yes, we even fear Allah. Doesn’t the Bible say God wants and deserves our respect, and that we should fear someone who has the power to send us to hell? This is why we have a high regard for his will and power. We don’t believe Allah wants to be treated in any other way. Muhammad was quite clear on that subject.

John: Sure, I understand what you’re saying. You brought up a good point because I think the way we understand our relationship with God defines the huge difference between our two religions. We see God as love, and love motivates a close relationship, by definition. Islam minimizes this virtue, and I think this is why they cannot know him very well, nor can he really be trusted because his will can be masked and manipulated by people with their own agenda, as we have seen. Our love of God motivates us to focus on loving each other, just as Christ said when he summarized the Ten Commandments into loving God and loving our neighbor.

Although we know God well, that doesn’t mean we don’t respect His power. Because He has the power, we know we can trust in Him for all our needs, and our prayers to Him are very personal and reflect that intimacy. Of course, we also know we are to be aware that He has the power to send us to hell, and have a healthy fear of retribution for our sin. But, that said, God tells us in His Word that He is our God and we are His people, and we are to love Him as He loves us.

Darrel: Don’t you see, Ahmed, how this all fits together and makes sense? God is love; he expresses that love by being intimate with us, and we love him