Question first
appeared on July 25, 2004
Can
you provide a brief comparison between Christianity and Islam?
Christianity
teaches that God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) created everything out of
nothing and placed man, who is made in “God’s image,” in dominion over
all. Man, however, disobeyed God
and brought death upon all of creation. God
determined to redeem His creation through the act of the Son becoming
incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus,
being both divine and human, redeems mankind by experiencing everything
including death. He is raised from
the dead and reigns with His Father in heaven.
Man can be saved by being united to the Father through union with the
Son in baptism by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.
This is accomplished through life in the Church established by Jesus
Christ to redeem the fallen world.
Islam
teaches that the “one” God (Allah) has spoken to humanity through his
prophets as recorded in the Jewish scriptures.
Finally, God sent Jesus, the Son of God, to show humanity the correct
way. Jesus’ mission failed when
the Jews and Romans tried to crucify Him.
God rescued Jesus, taking him to heaven and replacing him with another
to be crucified in his place. God
finally sent his last prophet, Mohammed, to lead mankind to the worship of the
one true God, Allah. Islam teaches
that Jews and Christians are “People of the Book,” the Old and New
Testaments of the Bible. But they
are not among the faithful, the Jews for not recognizing God’s son, Jesus,
and the Christians for incorrectly believing that God’s Son was crucified
and died.
Two
books that I recommend are: Answering Islam, by N. L. Geisler and Abdul
Saleeb; The Sword of the Prophet: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam,
by Serge Trifkovic. Both are
available through our bookstore.
©Very
Rev. Fr. Olof Scott, Sunday Bulletin, July 25, 2004
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