Abrahamic religions

Its the same with SOME Protestants and Catholics in NI and Scotland and they all believe/think they are christians .Religion is acurse on the world.Man made to cause division and keep the masses under control

I remember thinking this way back when I was a little girl. Obviously, nothing changes. It's sad but also infuriating.

Taking Ireland as an example of religious divisions, the indigenous Irish understandably want a united Ireland, which has always made perfect sense to me, but ironically under the auspices of catholicism, a religion that has had an iron grip on the population for so long now thankfully their influence dwindling, having held them back for years. As with the other Abrahamic religions, what they have in common is a patriarchy to keep women in their place. Christianity and Islam have both had schisms and developed separate branches which seems enough to make adherents to hate and want to kill each other depending on where they happen to live. It always comes across as tribalism to me and using the concept of "their" version of God to justify violence and suppression. God is an abstract concept, having been brought up a catholic, I hope such an entity exists but as I don't have a blind faith I don't expect anything from God as far a divine intervention is concerned. History tells us that religion is often a smokescreen, skirmishes have happened since the beginning of time for a multitude of reasons, land grabs, to want others' natural resources, intolerance about otherness, domination the desire to expand a civilisation and to be the ruling class.

Don't forget the Spanish inquisition! The Catholic vs protestant battles freel like Sunni vs Shi'ite battles. If only people could see the similarities rather than focusing on often very minor differences the world would be a better, saner place.

So much pain and suffering in the name of religion.

Aveline

Don't forget the Spanish inquisition! The Catholic vs protestant battles freel like Sunni vs Shi'ite battles. If only people could see the similarities rather than focusing on often very minor differences the world would be a better, saner place.

It was almost as bad during the Tudor period in Britain- and in many families until not that long ago.

Its not catholics in Ireland who are stopping reunification its the settled Protestant loyalists ..they believe they are still "British" hundreds of years of inbred bigotry down the line .Protestants have lived happily side by side with catholics in the Republic for over 100 years .I know this because I have protestant relatives there

The God described in the Bible is not the same as the God shown in the Qur’an. E g the Bible says, ‘For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3.16). But the Qur’an says, ‘Allah does not love the unbelievers’ (3.32).

The Qur’an and the Bible contradict each other, so they cannot be inspired by the same God. The Bible says that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin for those who trust in him, that he rose from the dead, and that he is Lord and God. The Qur’an says that Jesus did not die on the cross, did not rise from the dead and is not God.

So Jews, Christians and Muslims do not believe in the same God.

More info in this book, which has 4.5 stars on Amazon.
www.amazon.co.uk/Muslims-Christians-Worship-Same-God/dp/1789742293?tag=gransnetforum-21

Ishmael was a son of Abraham as was Isaac. Different mothers but the same father. So on that sense the faiths are related. It is in the Bible. What is happening now has all been predicted and it won’t end well.

The more I started reading about the Catholic Church and its dark history, the more I realised how misrepresented he, Christ was. His teachings were all about, tolerance and forgiveness, simplicity and turning the other cheek and not being judgemental. The essence of all those teachings were lost in the man made construct his adherents set up in his name, it does make me wonder if, the powers that were ever contemplated their worst excesses, they were so contrary to everything he stood for.

I’ve often thought that religion is just a convenient excuse for one set of people to hate another set.

Before we had established religions, I'm pretty sure tribal people such as the Celts, whilst trading with neighbours also probably set about them from time to time. Recorded history tells us this is the case, Greek/Persian wars for example. Evidence of primitive cultures suggest that they kill their enemies, religion can't be used as an excuse, the head hunters of New Guinea for example. I'm not sure when we read about current atrocities, that mankind has evolved that much. It's often less about religion, more about land grab, suppression and injustice, with innocent people caught up in the midst. I always think of that Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "When Two Tribes Go To War" the simplistic picture of two leaders slugging it out without innocents being used as collateral If we believe in an omnipotent deity why would that presence put us on this earth to fight and kill each other simply because our definition of God is not the same.

When I was teaching classes of largely young male Omanis (Muslim speakers of Arabic) the question of religion would occasionally crop up, though we did try to avoid it. They did once ask me whether I went to church (there were churches to go to, it wasn’t like Saudi Arabia ) so I fibbed that I did, because otherwise I knew they’d be upset and think I’d go to hell as an unbeliever.

They were very anxious to tell me that (presumably because of such great similarities between the Quran and the Old Testament) that Islam and Christianity were, ‘Same, same!’

That's interesting Witzend, I have read that Jesus Christ is revered as a prophet in Islam. Still no churches in many Muslim countries, or if there are in Pakistan for example, Christians are a persecuted minority.

I found the same in Bangladesh Witzend. Huge similarities between Christianity and Islam.

Witzend

When I was teaching classes of largely young male Omanis (Muslim speakers of Arabic) the question of religion would occasionally crop up, though we did try to avoid it. They did once ask me whether I went to church (there were churches to go to, it wasn’t like Saudi Arabia ) so I fibbed that I did, because otherwise I knew they’d be upset and think I’d go to hell as an unbeliever.

They were very anxious to tell me that (presumably because of such great similarities between the Quran and the Old Testament) that Islam and Christianity were, ‘Same, same!’

There do seem to be some similarities between the Qur’an and the Old Testament. I had a look online and was interested to read this article by Dr David Wood, ‘Five Differences between Sharia and Old Testament Law’.
www.equip.org/articles/five-differences-sharia-old-testament-law/

Summary

SIMILARITIES

//Both sharia and the Law of Moses prescribe harsh penalties for violating moral decrees (e.g., stoning for adultery). Both were delivered by men claiming to have received revelations from God. Both resulted in the formation of theocratic governments charged with enforcing God’s commands.//

DIFFERENCES

1. Mosaic Law Followed Redemption

[Mosaic law is the commands given to Moses in the Old Testament.]

//In the Old Testament, God gives the Mosaic Law to the children of Israel after delivering them from their bondage in Egypt... This foreshadows the gospel: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).4 Biblical obedience to God is a result of God’s love, not a prerequisite for God’s love.//

//Sharia should therefore be viewed as the “way” or “path” to earning Allah’s love (a concept completely foreign to the Bible).//

2. Mosaic Law Was Accompanied by Miracles

//God provided miracles before, during, and after His revelation of the Law (e.g., judgments on the Egyptians, the parting of the Red Sea, water pouring from a rock, manna falling from heaven, etc.)

By contrast, the Qur’an repeatedly denies that Muhammad’s revelations were accompanied by any miracle other than the Qur’an itself.//

3. Mosaic Law Promoted Fairness towards Everyone

“you shall love your neighbour as yourself; I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18) vs “Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are severe against disbelievers, and merciful among themselves” (48:29). The Qur’an calls Jews and Christians “the worst of creatures” (3:110).

4. Mosaic Law Was Geographically Limited

//The Jews were never commanded to march on the world and enforce Mosaic Law on non-Jewish populations… Sharia, however, is to be imposed on the entire world.//

5. Mosaic Law Was Not the Final Message

//The Mosaic covenant was for the children of Israel, not for the rest of the world. Indeed, even in the Old Testament, God announces that a new covenant is coming… (Jeremiah. 31:31–32).//

Whereas in the Qur’an, Mohammed is said to be “the last of the prophets” (33:40).

//Muhammad agrees, saying, “There will be no prophet after me.”9 Allah’s final marching orders for Muslims, it seems, involve beheadings, killing apostates, the oppression of women, and the violent subjugation of the entire world to sharia.//

CONCLUSION

Dr Wood concludes,

//… there are many other differences between Mosaic Law and sharia (we would have to go command by command to explore them all 10)… the similarities between the Law of Moses and the Law of Muhammad are superficial. [My emphasis.]//

struck me only recently that The NI situation is christians at war with each other, now that is really crazy.

If god cannot stop evil ,then it is not all powerful,if god can prevent evil but does not,then god is not good.If god is all powerful and good,then evil would not exist,evil does exist,so there is no god- epicurus

When I asked someone why God allowed evil the reply was that God gave us free will - He is not there to stop evil He is there to give us the strength to overcome it.

Religious people feel safer belonging to an identifiable set of other people. Some people feel safer when they belong to the same nationality , and some feel safer when they belong to the same religion. I usually find that people who describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious" are more friendly and less likely to take offense.

Religious people are sometimes under the sway of politicians who claim to be religious people.

God does not permit evil to happen , evil simply happens and God cannot prevent it.

Becket, nobody has the strength to overcome the war in Gaza unless you believe in miracles.

Witzend, that is very interesting and I believe your response was the best possible. These students of yours were admirable however like many others they lacked the lexical framework to compare religions.

Terribull, I agree about a united Ireland. shared nationality would unite Irish people.

Skye17 wrote" The God described in the Bible is not the same as the God shown in the Qur’an. E g the Bible says, ‘For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3.16). But the Qur’an says, ‘Allah does not love the unbelievers’ (3.32).

The Qur’an and the Bible contradict each other, so they cannot be inspired by the same God. The Bible says that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin for those who trust in him, that he rose from the dead, and that he is Lord and God. The Qur’an says that Jesus did not die on the cross, did not rise from the dead and is not God.

So Jews, Christians and Muslims do not believe in the same God."

That would depend on whether or not you believe God as described by any religious authority exists. Me I try to think for myself.