Jews, Muslims, and Christians Let's Talk About God

By Kimberly Glomb

As Jews, Christians, and Muslims, we all worship the same God. Yes, our languages are different, Yahweh, God, and Allah, but our roots are in the same place. This book is my understanding of God, people, prophets, concepts, and beings shared by fellow believers (Jews, Christians, and Muslims). The Biblical and Arabic names are used to show that

• Language: English
• Publisher: Authors' Tranquility Press
• Release date: Mar 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781957546902

Book preview

My Life

You may wonder what hydrography has to do with knowing God. It is all about how God has guided my life and continues to do so. As a child, I never thought I would become a hydrographer, but that is how God guided my life.

I was born Atlantic City, New Jersey, and raised in Brigantine, New Jersey. My parents brought up my brother and me in the Roman Catholic faith. That is where I started to know God. I only went to public schools, but during the middle school years, my brother and I would attend CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) once a week to learn about the Roman Catholic faith and its beliefs as well as preparation for the sacraments of reconciliation, communion, and confirmation. Of course, I would attend a Roman Catholic Church (Mass) over the weekend.

It was during my high school years that I started going to the Brigantine Bible Church and accepted Jesus as my savior. I also wanted to be baptized again. My parents would not allow it. As a Roman Catholic, I was baptized as a baby. This is one of the many differences between the Roman Catholic faith and other Christian faiths. I graduated from Atlantic City High School in 1998.

When I went to the Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine, for college, that is where God changed my direction in life. My original interest was marine biology, and that is what I thought I was going to study there (yes, marine biology is offered now but not then in 1998). Instead, I was in an oceanography major (Corning School of Ocean Studies then), which I liked better as there were more sciences involved. For worship, I went to United Methodist Church in Castine as there was no Baptist church there (another change in churches). I had started reading the Bible through from beginning to end and would read a short section each evening. It was during my fifth year (I had to reduce the number of required courses as the pace was too intense) that a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Corps officer (I cannot remember his name) visited with a presentation. I was able to get an interview with him. I was not interested in doing NOAA Corps, but he told me how to apply for an assistant hydrographic survey technician position. In May 2003, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Science. A few months after graduation in 2003, I applied for the job.

At first, I was enjoying my time at my parents’ house after graduation. After about eight months, I started to pray to God differently about my life and what He wanted me to do. About two weeks later (it was a few days before Christmas 2003), the Chief Survey Technician on the NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson called me. Long story short, I got the job!

Let us start with the International Hydrographic Organization’s (IHO) definition of hydrography: the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes, and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary purpose of safety of navigation and in support of all other marine activities, including economic development, security and defense, scientific research, and environmental protection.

I did find a hydrographic reference in the Bible.

On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep (36.5 meters). A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet (27.4 meters) deep. Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. (Acts 27:27–29)

To get soundings in those days, a measured line with a weight (stone, lead) on the end would have been used for acquiring soundings. Not to mention it would have been raised and lowered by hand. These days, multibeam sonar is most commonly used, and a computer does the math.

I spent fourteen years on the NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson conducting hydrographic survey for the purpose of updating nautical charts. During those fourteen years, I had not been going to church even when the ship was in port. I did go to a Presbyterian Church once. Although I prayed to God every night, I had gotten distant from Him. It was a few years ago that God started to make his presence known in my life and wanted me to learn more about him. It started when I was watching the news, and there was a segment about a Qur’an burning. I asked myself what is it about the Qur’an that makes people want to burn it. When the ship was in port, I went to a bookstore and bought an inexpensive Qur’an so I could read it. Of course, it is my understanding that the Qur’an is best read in Arabic, but I cannot read Arabic, so an English translation it was. That Qur’an was written in an old English style similar to the writing in the King James version of the Bible. That Qur’an went missing after a dry dock period. I was only about seventy-five pages into it at that time. I bought another inexpensive Qur’an, this one in modern English so I could continue reading and better understand it (I still have it). Reading it made me realize how much we have in common as believers. I consider the Qur’an an extension of the Bible. Over the last few years, God has been giving me ideas for writing a book with all the history and beliefs we share.

On the ship in different years, there was a general Bible study as well as Wired Word. To the Bible study, I would also bring the Qur’an and look up some related verses. One of the topics was repentance. The Qur’an also has verses about repentance.

God put me on a ship for a reason. On the ship, I developed a relationship with him without the influence of others. When I was reading the Qur’an, I found verses that dealt with ships on the ocean. Of course, the Qur’an was written before the days of diesel-powered ships. Some of them are below.

Say: Who is it that delivers you from the dangers of the land and the sea (when) you call upon Him (openly) humiliating yourselves, and in secret: If He delivers us from this, we should certainly be of the grateful ones. (6:63)

And He it is Who has made the stars for you that you might follow the right way thereby in the darkness of the land and the sea; truly We have made plain the communications for a people who know. (6:97)

God has given us celestial navigation. The ship used man made satellites.

And among His signs are the ships in the sea like mountains. If He pleases, He causes the wind to become still so that they lie motionless on its back; most surely there are signs in this for every patient, grateful one, Or He may make them founder for what they have earned, and (even then) pardon most. (42:32–34)

Even though the ship is diesel-powered, She would sometimes have trouble fighting strong currents. When transiting south some years ago off the coast of Cape Hatteras, the strong wind and current made for very slow going. I can relate to surah 6 ayat 63 above in that being out in storms has made my faith in God stronger. On rough days, I would pray and read from the Bible or Qur’an. Being on a hydrographic survey ship, the air bubbles from rough seas would get under the transducers and cause blowouts (loss of data). We avoided being in very strong storms for this reason. If you were wondering, there are those that would get seasick. If you ask me, Seasick, what’s that?

I had planned to write this book in my retirement years. It seems God had other plans for me as personality conflicts and perimenopause symptoms ended my days on the ship. God had already given me the outline for writing this book, and once I knew I was not returning to the ship, I started reading the Qur’an and Bible through again.

God (Allah)

The Christian prayer the Apostles Creed (Nicene Creed) begins We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth of all that is seen and unseen. Below are verses from the Bible and Qur’an that tell us more about God and his nature. Just read through and think about each one before moving on.

There is no compulsion in religion; truly the right way has become clearly distinct from error; therefore whoever disbelieves in Satan and believes in God, he indeed has laid hold on the firmest handle, which shall not break off, and God is Hearing, Knowing. (2:256)

God, (there is) no god but He, the Everliving, the Self-subsisting by Whom all things subsist. He has revealed to you the Book with truth, verifying that which is before it, and He revealed the Torah and the Gospel aforetime, a guidance for the people, and He sent the Qur’an. (3:2–3)

God is He on Whom all depend. (112:2)

God bears witness that there is no god but He, and (so do) the angels and those possessed of knowledge, maintaining His creation with justice; there is no god but He, the Mighty, the Wise. (3:18)

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord" (Lamentations 3:25–26)

And He is God, there is no god but He! All praise is due to Him in this (life) and the hereafter, and He is the judgment, and to Him you shall be brought back. (28:70).

So know that there is no god but God, and, ask protection for your fault and for the believing men and the believing women; and God knows the place of your returning and the place of your abiding. (47:19)

The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good. (Proverbs 15:3)

Am I only a God nearby, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:23–24)

A man’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way? (Proverbs 20:24)

He it is who shapes you in the wombs as He likes; there is no god but He, the Mighty, the Wise. He it is Who revealed the Book to you; some of its verses are decisive, they are the basis of the book, and others are allegorical; then as for those in whose hearts there is perversity, they follow the part of it which is allegorical, seeking to mislead, and seeking to give it (their own) interpretation, but none knows its interpretation except God, and those who are firmly rooted in knowledge say: We believe in it, it is all from our Lord; and none do mind except those having understanding. (3:6–7)

With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:6–8)

Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 26:1)

Why do the nations say, Where is their God? Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. O house of Israel, trust in the Lord-he is their help and shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord-he is their help and shield. You who fear him, trust in the Lord-he is their help and shield. The Lord remembers us and will bless us: He will bless the house of Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron, he will bless those who fear the Lord-small and great alike. (Psalm 115:2–13)

You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:22–24)

This is of what your Lord has revealed to you of wisdom, and do not associate any other god with God lest you should be thrown into hell, blamed, cast away. (17:39)

And God’s is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and God has power over all things. Most surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day there are signs for men who understand. (3:189–190)

God is He Who made the earth a resting-place for you and the heaven a canopy, and He formed you, then made goodly your forms, and He provided you with goodly things; that is God, your Lord; blessed then is God, the Lord of the worlds. He is the Living, there is no god but He, therefore call on Him, being sincere to Him in obedience; (all) praise is due to God, the Lord of the worlds. (40:64–65)

And one of His signs is that He created mates for you from yourselves that you may find rest in them, and He put between you love and compassion; most surely there are signs in this for a people who reflect. And one of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your tongues and colors; most surely there are signs in this for the learned. (30:21– 22)

And whoever obeys God and the Apostle, these are with those upon whom God has bestowed favors from among the prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good, and a goodly company are they! (4:69)

But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction. (Job 36:15)

Whatever benefits comes to you (O man!), it is from God, and whatever misfortune befalls you, it is from yourself; and We have sent you (O Prophet!), to mankind as an apostle; and God is sufficient as a witness. (4:79)

O you who believe! believe in God and His Apostle and the Book which He has revealed to His Apostle and the Book which He revealed before; and whoever disbelieves in God and His angels and His apostles and the last day, he indeed strays off into a remote error. (4:136)

Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. (Exodus 29:45–46)

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:4–5)

But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath. Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created man on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other. From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his presence and his great strength, to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today. Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time. (Deuteronomy 4:29–40)

But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. (1 Chronicles 28:9)

The Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded (prophet of God). He went out to meet Asa (king of Judah) and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded. When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple. (2 Chronicles 15:1–8)

O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in-behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. (Psalm 139:1–6)

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve. (Jeremiah 17:9–10)

The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him. (Deuteronomy 7:7– 10)

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. (1 John 4:16–17)

Do you know that God–His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; He chastises whom He pleases; and forgives whom He pleases and God has power over all things. (5:40)

And We have revealed to you the Book with the truth, verifying what is before it of the Book and a guardian over it, therefore judge between them by what God has revealed, and do not follow their low desires (to turn away) from the truth that has come to you; for every one of you did We appoint a law and a way, and if God had pleased He would have made you (all) a single people, but that He might try you in what He gave you, therefore strive with one another to hasten to virtuous deeds; to God is your return, of all (of you), so He will let you know that in which you differed. (5:48)

And He it is Who has created the heavens and the earth with truth; and on the day He says: Be, it is. His word is the truth, and His is the kingdom on the day when the trumpet shall be blown; the Knower of the unseen and the seen; and He is the Wise, the Aware. (6:73)

That is God, your Lord, there is no god but He; the Creator of all things, therefore serve Him, and He has charge of all things. (6:102)

Surely your Lord is God, Who created the heavens and the earth in six periods of time, and He is firm in power; He throws the veil of night over the day, which it pursues incessantly; and (He created) the sun and the moon and the stars, made subservient by His command; surely His is the creation and the command; blessed is God, the Lord of the worlds. (7:54)

He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. (Revelation 21:6)

He is the First and the Last and the Ascendant (over all) and the Knower of hidden things, and He is Cognizant of all things. He it is who created the heavens and the earth in six periods, and He is firm in power; He knows that which goes deep down into the earth and that which comes forth out of it, and that which comes down from the heaven and that which goes up into it, and He is with you wherever you are; and God sees what you do. His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; and to God are (all) affairs returned. He causes the night to enter in upon the day, and causes the day to enter in upon the night, and He is Cognizant of what is in the hearts. (57:3–6)

And if God please He would certainly make you a single nation, but He causes to err whom He pleases and guides whom He pleases; and most certainly you will be questioned as to what you did. (16:93)

And they ask you to hasten on the punishment, and God will by no means fail in His promise, and surely a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of what you number. (22:47).

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8–9)

He regulates the affair from the heaven to the earth; then shall it ascend to Him in a day the measure of which is a thousand years of what you count. (32:5)

The Knower of the unseen and the seen, so may He be exalted above what they associate (with Him). (23:92)

Do you not see that God drives along the clouds, then gathers them together, then piles them up, so that you see the rain coming forth from their midst? And He sends down of the clouds that are (like) mountains wherein is hail, afflicting therewith whom He pleases and turning it away from whom He pleases; the flash of His lightning almost takes away the sight. (24:43)

Surely God is He with Whom is the knowledge of the hour, and He sends down the rain and He knows what is in the wombs; and no one knows what he shall earn on the morrow; and no one knows in what land he shall die; surely God is Knowing, Aware. (31:34)

Turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. (Proverbs 2:2–8)

And whatever things you have been given are only a provision of this world’s life and its adornment, and whatever is with God is better and more lasting; do you not then understand? (28:60)

He has created you from a single being, then made its mate of the same (kind), and He has made for you eight of the cattle in pairs. He creates you in the wombs of your mothers-a creation after a creation-in triple darkness; that is God your Lord, His is the kingdom; there is no god but He; whence are you then turned away? (39:6)

The forgiver of the faults and the Acceptor of repentance, Severe to punish, Lord of bounty; there is no god but He; to Him is the eventual coming. (40:30).

The prophet Moses was different in that God would speak to him directly and be seen by him.

When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? (Numbers 12:6–8)

And it is not for any mortal that God should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger and revealing by His permission what He pleases; surely He is High, Wise. And thus did We reveal to you an inspired book by Our command. You did not know what the Book was, nor (what) the faith (was), but We made it a light, guiding thereby whom We please of Our servants; and most surely you show the way to the right path: The path of God, Whose is whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth; now surely to God do all affairs eventually come. (42:51–53).

Verse 42:52 above is similar to a verse in the Bible. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path (Psalm 119:105).

It may be that God will bring about friendship between you and those whom you hold to be your enemies among them; and God is Powerful; and God is

Forgiving, Merciful. God does not forbid you respecting those who have not made war against you on account of (your) religion, and have not driven you forth from your homes, that you show them kindness and deal with them justly; surely God loves the doers of justice. (60:7–8)

Read and your Lord is Most Honorable, Who taught (to write) with the pen, Taught man what he knew not. (96:3–5)

And none is like Him. (112:4)

The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. (Jeremiah 31:31–34)

The Abraham section of this book contains more information about the old and new covenants.

And certainly God made a covenant with the children of Israel, and We raised up among them twelve chieftains; and God said: Surely I am with you; if you keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate and believe in My apostles and assist them and offer to God a goodly gift, I will most certainly cover your evil deeds, and I will most certainly cause you to enter into gardens beneath which rivers flow, but whoever disbelieves from among you after that, he indeed shall lose the right way. (5:12)

Creation

We know that God created the universe and all that is in it. The Qur’an also reveals some of its workings. It is of note that the book of Enoch goes into detail as to some of God’s workings on the earth such as making the wind blow. That book was rejected or banned or forbidden from the Bible.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day. And God said, Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water. So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse sky. And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day. And God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear. And it was so. God called the dry ground land, and the gathered waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning-the third day. And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years and let them be lights in the expanse of