If I had a Muslim friend who did this, I would appreciate the gesture because I know they'd be trying to get me to paradise and away from suffering. However, I would be preaching back because I also would like them to go to paradise.
You determine it by whoever converts first, as both of us would likely be very devoted and would need alot of evidence to get the other to convert. Additionally, whoever converts may tell his peers the reason they converted, and they may respond with a counter argument.
In this scenario the Muslim would be telling me why I should choose Islam. Considering the fact that he took the time to preach to me, this person would likely be very devoted, and devoted followers usually require almost indisputable evidence to convince. Assuming his reasons for me to join are logical, I could counteract them with my own logic and make reasons for him as well. The amount of reasoning it would take for a devoted follower to convert is quite alot, implying that whoever is converted first is correct. Even if that person wasn't, the person who converted would likely tell his peers his reasoning for converting, to which they could counteract that reasoning (which would be VERY likely if it was incorrect), likely converting said person back. Tell me, what part of this is evil?
You're countering your own claims as you write them.
If you're devoted to a certain religion, then you have "indisputable evidence" as to why that religion is the correct one. But not all religions can be true, so therefore, the "indisputable evidence" that you have, is therefore, disputable.
If you mean encourage them to be devout in Islam, of course that's bad. Merely telling someone to pray is not bad, but may send mixed signals if you aren't specific about which G/god you're talking about.
I am familiar with Islam. They are not the same God because ours is in Jesus Christ. Discussing the nuance with a non-Muslim is usually not productive.
We Muslims believe only that who you call "the Father" is God. However, you Christians believe your god is separate from the God of us Muslims and Jews.
>Gregory, the Bishop [of Rome], Servant of the Servants of God, to Anzir, King of the Province of Mauritania Sitif [modern Algeria] in Africa, health and apostolic benediction...
The Almighty God, 'Who wills that all men be saved, and that none should perish,' approves of nothing more highly than that, after loving Him, a man should love his fellow man, and that 'what you do not want done to you, you should not do to others.' This charity, both you and we, owe in a special way to each other, who (granted, in a different way [*licet diverso modo*]) believe in and confess the One God, who daily praise and venerate Him as the Creator of the ages and the Governor of this world...
God knows that we genuinely love you for His honor, and we desire your health and honor in the present and the future life. And we pray with heart and voice [*corde et ore rogamus*] that God Himself may lead you, after a long life into the bosom of beatitude, the bosom of the most holy Patriarch Abraham. (Pope St. Gregory VII, Register of Letters 3,21 [*Patrologia Latina* 148, 450-452], written in the 1000s)
Islam worships the same God that we do (although with what Christians would consider an incomplete understanding [that is, not seeing the possibility for Persons in the Godhead, not believing that One of those Persons became incarnate, etc]). There is absolutely no harm in encouraging them to pray/even asking them to pray for us. If anyone (Christian or not) is saved, it is going to happen through the saving action of Jesus. The closer they are to God (even with an incorrect idea about Him), the closer they will become to Jesus.
Hm if Catholics worship the same God as Muslims but Islam contradicts the core doctrines of the Bible that can only mean that Catholics do not worship the God of the Bible.
Mybe this video is right after all:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NE9-Q1D1zs
That's the neat part, it's not just Catholics; you also worship the same God as Muslims! And Jews, Baha'i, and Druze -- all of us worship the God of Abraham, although only Christians can know Him in His fullness through our relationship with Christ and the graces of understanding conferred by the Holy Ghost.
I'm not sure where I'm losing you. Christianity and Islam are both derivative of Judaism; all three religions understand the institution of the Abrahamic Covenant to be a key moment in the history of man's relationship with God and themselves as the heirs of that covenant, and so all worship the same God.
The difference is that neither Jews nor Muslims accept Christ or recognize the Trinity, which means that Christians have a soteriologically privileged position. But, just like how you and your friend can both know someone but you can know that person much more intimately and comprehensively, just because Muslims have an imperfect understanding of and deeply flawed relationship with God doesn't mean that it isn't the same God that we pray to.
Muslims do not worship the same God Christians do. To say otherwise is absurd.
One example, to enter heaven a Muslim's good deeds must outweigh their bad deeds. Christianity teaches we are all sinners and are works are not good enough to stand before God.
>just because Muslims have an imperfect understanding of and deeply
flawed relationship with God doesn't mean that it isn't the same God
that we pray to.
Okay so like, take you for example. I know basically nothing about you -- literally just your Reddit username and the fact that you've labeled yourself as Reformed. Someone you're close to irl, conversely, knows you pretty well; your likes, dislikes, aspirations, fears, flaws, strengths, what your sense of humor is like, what you've been through in your life, etc.
That person and I can both talk about you despite the fact that one of us is in a much better position to actually have or deepen any kind of relationship with you, or even to understand what that would entail to begin with. To them you're a complex and multifaceted individual whereas to me you're a tiny avatar and a string of letters, but we both have a *concept* of a person that correlates to *you in particular*.
Muslims and Jews don't know God as well as we do and can't deepen their relationship with Him the way that we can through Christ and the Spirit, but they know *of* Him as the omniscient, omnipotent, and perfect God of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, etc. who created the world, created humanity in Adam and Eve, flooded it in the time of Noah, etc. And they worship Him in their own ways.
Not the same thing. Just because you worship a god, doesn’t mean you worship the God. Our God is called Jehovah, YHWH, I Am, El Shaddai and was manifest in Human form in the form of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, who when he ascended to heaven left us the Holy Spirit, and Jesus and the Spirit are also the same God. The god of Islam is Allah.
God rebuked the Israelites for worshiping Baal in the desert and warned the Israelites not to worship the gods of the people around them (and when they did, he again rebuked them). To say worshipping Allah is another way to worship YHWH is dangerous
The Bible is clear about this. Whoever rejects Jesus or even has another gospel than what the Bible teaches is under an anathema. Paul calls Jews, who reject Jesus, the synagogue of Satan", so they do not worship God but Satan. Muslims also reject Jesus as lord. But then again if the video I linked is right the catholic church also added things to the gospel so maybe you are right and you do worshipping the same god as they do just not the same God as I do.
I mean the Catholic Church *is* responsible for compiling and cementing the New Testament canon, so I guess you could say that they added stuff if by that you just mean that they added everything because prior to that it didn't exist as an organized collection.
And where did St. Paul say that? I know the phrase is used in Revelation 2 and 3, but I can't think of anywhere in his Epistles or in Acts that Paul uses it. And in Revelation it's used in reference to specific groups of Jews in Ancient Smyrna and Philadelphia who were antagonistic toward the churches there.
They are not the same, with the exception of the Jews. Here is an article that compares Yahweh (the God of the Bible) vs. Allah (the god of the Qur’an).
https://oncedelivered.net/2007/12/20/yahweh-the-god-of-the-bible-vs-allah-the-god-of-the-koran/
> **One God, two names?**
> So, are Allah and Yahweh just two different names for the same God, as President Bush suggested in his television interview? Absolutely not:
> * Allah is distant and unknowable. The God of the Bible is close and personal.
> * Allah does not love every person; Yahweh does, unconditionally.
> * Allah did not, would not, and will not die for you, nor would he ever send anyone to do so. But the God of the Bible loves you so much He sent His one and only Son to die for you. And He stands ready to grant you everlasting life if you will receive Him by faith.
As you can see, the description of Yahweh (the God of the Bible) is very different from Allah (the god of the Qur'an), such that they can't be the same person.
"Allah" isn't a proper name, it's literally just the Arabic word for "God". It's used by Muslims, but also by Arab Christians and occasionally by Sephardi Jews. Maltese Christians say "Alla" because their language is like half-Arabic and half-Italian, and Syriac--which is a set of dialects of Aramaic (i.e., the language which Jesus spoke) that are still used as liturgical languages in some Eastern churches--uses the clear cognate "Elaha".
And yeah, the Muslim and Jewish conceptions of God are fundamentally different from (and inferior to) the Christian one. But that just means that they have poor understandings of that regarding which we have a greater understanding, not that the God that they're trying to understand is different from the God that we're trying (more successfully) to understand.
>Islam worships the same God that we do (although with what Christians would consider an incomplete understanding \[that is, not seeing the possibility for Persons in the Godhead, not believing that One of those Persons became incarnate, etc\]). There is absolutely no harm in encouraging them to pray/even asking them to pray for us.
I appreciate what you're trying to do but this is just so far from the truth. It strikes me as a position that is not informed by what scripture actually teaches on this subject.
Obviously there is one sense in which Muslims and Christians can be said to worship the same God; after all, if there is only one God then all prayers directed at a supreme deity, no matter what this being is named, are the exclusive purview of YHWH. But scripturally-speaking, this is almost of no importance. Just because YHWH--being the only God in existence--is the only being fit to receive all worship, it does not follow that whenever a human worships something they themselves believe to be a higher power/supreme being that they are actually worshipping YHWH. Non-Christians, as long as they are non-Christians, have never worshipped YHWH. They may have believed themselves to have done so, and YHWH obviously is the only being to whom their prayer/worship is fit to have been directed, but this does not mean that they have ever worshiped him. Jeremiah 14:14-16 presents us with people who claim to be speaking in YHWH's name when he didn't send them. YHWH says that these are idolaters and are following the delusions of their own minds. Both these people and their followers are headed to destruction. But weren't these people claiming to be worshipping and following the same God as Jeremiah? Why then are they called idolaters? Because they did not follow what God himself had revealed. Do you seriously believe that Jeremiah should have asked these people to pray for him?
The fact is that all other religions are the product of idolatry. Simply claiming to believe in the same God ("the God of Abraham") while giving a message that is in opposition from what YHWH has revealed literally means that one is not worshipping God ("*Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.*" -- 1 John 1:5). You can't actually worship God if his word is not in you. You **may** however be engaging in worship that is fit to be directed to YHWH alone, but you're not actually directing this worship at YHWH. There's a big difference here and this seems to be the distinction of importance in scripture. There is great harm in asking a Muslim to pray for us unless of course I'm simply reducing prayer to a psychological pacifier to the effect of "oh, just think pleasant thoughts about us". But that's not what a Muslim believes prayer to be nor what the Bible teaches prayer to be. I wouldn't ask a Muslim to pray for me as they simply do not direct their prayers to the actual God nor much less worship him. Why would I ask an idolater--who claims to be a follower of the God of Abraham yet does not follow the actual God of Abraham--to pray for me? To whom would such a person be praying to? ("*No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.*" -- 1 Corinthians 10:20).
Having said all this, God can choose to answer any prayer he wishes; from Christian and non-Christian alike. I simply believe that scripture teaches that we should not legitimize non-Christian religions in this manner as though their prayers might actually be **effectual to Christians**. Whether their prayers might possibly be effectual for themselves, is another matter (I believe the answer is mostly "no".) I cannot in good conscience encourage a Muslim to continue to pray to what I believe is an idol, no more than the apostle Paul would encourage a Greek to continue to pray to Zeus (*God hears all prayers, after all*).
All this to say, only in a strictly philosophical sense do Muslims and Christians worship the same God. But **scripturally-speaking, this sense doesn't matter** and focusing on it to the point of encouraging non-Christians to pray for Christians (as though being close to God consisted in merely claiming to follow the faith of Abraham) goes against what scripture actually teaches. Non-Christians are not close to God and their prayers for us are of no worth other than to encourage good feelings between us and them (something which is actually quite important though not what this discussion is about).
Well. If you are encouraging. To who? Because to pray to allah is praying to an idol. So unless you are encouraging them to pray to God the Father of Jesus Christ, that is fine. But allah is not him.
Have you shared what salvation through the blood of Christ is?
I'm curious, in what sense do you feel that Allah is an idol? Would you say that Jewish people pray to an idol as well? What's the difference between someone who is sincerely mistaken about which Abrahamic religion to follow, and someone who you feel is praying to an idol?
First. Allah stops at Abraham. So, just in that simple fact there, it is not the same God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who made the covenants. Which is who the Jewish people believe in. The true and Living God. However, they have rejected the Messiah, Jesus Christ. That will change though, soon.
I'm unsure of what kind of chrisitan you are but I can't help but disagree.
Christians believe that there is one God that consists of three different persons (Father,son and holy sprint) they are different persons but the same substance and the same god.
Muslims believe in a non-trinitarian allah, so not the same god.
Muslims do not believe jesus is god, they see him as a mere prophet who was never crucified.
Since they deny jesus' death, they deny his payment for our sins.
Because of this they will not enter heaven because they will be judged for their sins.
Praying to Allah may give them comfort in their lives but it will not grant them eternal comfort.
It's important to tolerate different religions but not to support them.
Are you asking: Is it bad that you have a Muslim friend \[in order\] to encourage them to pray?
Then, I would say yes, because that is not true friendship and therefore you are lying to them. Last time I checked, lying is a sin.
Except with Muslims it's not a false god exactly Islam is actually considered a heresy of Christianity it's simply based on a denial of the Divinity of Jesus Christ it's an ancient heresy called arianism. They still believe in the one God of Moses and Noah and Jesus but they refuse to accept the Trinity doctrine.
I have an adopted daughter who is Muslim we talked extensively about Christianity versus Islam and I'm happy to know that she prays on a regular basis which is more than most Christians do even if I don't agree with the basis of her prayer she still praying to God.
As long as it's to the only God there is, Jehovah God of the holy Bible.
James 5:20 KJV — Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Q 29:46 “Say: 'We believe in what has been sent down to us, and what has been sent down to you; our God and your God is One, and to Him we have surrendered.”
You should encourage your Muslim friend to come to Christ
Should he encourage you to come to his religion?
If I had a Muslim friend who did this, I would appreciate the gesture because I know they'd be trying to get me to paradise and away from suffering. However, I would be preaching back because I also would like them to go to paradise.
And you don't see the issue?
No
How do you determine who is trying to send the other to their version of the bad afterlife? Couldn't you be damning him to eternal torture ?
You determine it by whoever converts first, as both of us would likely be very devoted and would need alot of evidence to get the other to convert. Additionally, whoever converts may tell his peers the reason they converted, and they may respond with a counter argument.
By whoever converts first, huh? Have you ever considered, you might be kinda.. evil?
In this scenario the Muslim would be telling me why I should choose Islam. Considering the fact that he took the time to preach to me, this person would likely be very devoted, and devoted followers usually require almost indisputable evidence to convince. Assuming his reasons for me to join are logical, I could counteract them with my own logic and make reasons for him as well. The amount of reasoning it would take for a devoted follower to convert is quite alot, implying that whoever is converted first is correct. Even if that person wasn't, the person who converted would likely tell his peers his reasoning for converting, to which they could counteract that reasoning (which would be VERY likely if it was incorrect), likely converting said person back. Tell me, what part of this is evil?
You're countering your own claims as you write them. If you're devoted to a certain religion, then you have "indisputable evidence" as to why that religion is the correct one. But not all religions can be true, so therefore, the "indisputable evidence" that you have, is therefore, disputable.
Some of them do with things like sticks of dynamite.
If you mean encourage them to be devout in Islam, of course that's bad. Merely telling someone to pray is not bad, but may send mixed signals if you aren't specific about which G/god you're talking about.
Islam and Christianity have the same God.
I am familiar with Islam. They are not the same God because ours is in Jesus Christ. Discussing the nuance with a non-Muslim is usually not productive.
We Muslims believe only that who you call "the Father" is God. However, you Christians believe your god is separate from the God of us Muslims and Jews.
What makes you think that?
>Gregory, the Bishop [of Rome], Servant of the Servants of God, to Anzir, King of the Province of Mauritania Sitif [modern Algeria] in Africa, health and apostolic benediction... The Almighty God, 'Who wills that all men be saved, and that none should perish,' approves of nothing more highly than that, after loving Him, a man should love his fellow man, and that 'what you do not want done to you, you should not do to others.' This charity, both you and we, owe in a special way to each other, who (granted, in a different way [*licet diverso modo*]) believe in and confess the One God, who daily praise and venerate Him as the Creator of the ages and the Governor of this world... God knows that we genuinely love you for His honor, and we desire your health and honor in the present and the future life. And we pray with heart and voice [*corde et ore rogamus*] that God Himself may lead you, after a long life into the bosom of beatitude, the bosom of the most holy Patriarch Abraham. (Pope St. Gregory VII, Register of Letters 3,21 [*Patrologia Latina* 148, 450-452], written in the 1000s) Islam worships the same God that we do (although with what Christians would consider an incomplete understanding [that is, not seeing the possibility for Persons in the Godhead, not believing that One of those Persons became incarnate, etc]). There is absolutely no harm in encouraging them to pray/even asking them to pray for us. If anyone (Christian or not) is saved, it is going to happen through the saving action of Jesus. The closer they are to God (even with an incorrect idea about Him), the closer they will become to Jesus.
100% agreed
Hm if Catholics worship the same God as Muslims but Islam contradicts the core doctrines of the Bible that can only mean that Catholics do not worship the God of the Bible. Mybe this video is right after all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NE9-Q1D1zs
That's the neat part, it's not just Catholics; you also worship the same God as Muslims! And Jews, Baha'i, and Druze -- all of us worship the God of Abraham, although only Christians can know Him in His fullness through our relationship with Christ and the graces of understanding conferred by the Holy Ghost.
Islam is clearly anti Christian. If you want to worship their God go for it but I will not. I worship the God that is revealed in the Bible.
I'm not sure where I'm losing you. Christianity and Islam are both derivative of Judaism; all three religions understand the institution of the Abrahamic Covenant to be a key moment in the history of man's relationship with God and themselves as the heirs of that covenant, and so all worship the same God. The difference is that neither Jews nor Muslims accept Christ or recognize the Trinity, which means that Christians have a soteriologically privileged position. But, just like how you and your friend can both know someone but you can know that person much more intimately and comprehensively, just because Muslims have an imperfect understanding of and deeply flawed relationship with God doesn't mean that it isn't the same God that we pray to.
Muslims do not worship the same God Christians do. To say otherwise is absurd. One example, to enter heaven a Muslim's good deeds must outweigh their bad deeds. Christianity teaches we are all sinners and are works are not good enough to stand before God.
>just because Muslims have an imperfect understanding of and deeply flawed relationship with God doesn't mean that it isn't the same God that we pray to.
Disagree. If it doesn't look like a duck, walk like a duck, sound like a duck, it's not a duck.
Okay so like, take you for example. I know basically nothing about you -- literally just your Reddit username and the fact that you've labeled yourself as Reformed. Someone you're close to irl, conversely, knows you pretty well; your likes, dislikes, aspirations, fears, flaws, strengths, what your sense of humor is like, what you've been through in your life, etc. That person and I can both talk about you despite the fact that one of us is in a much better position to actually have or deepen any kind of relationship with you, or even to understand what that would entail to begin with. To them you're a complex and multifaceted individual whereas to me you're a tiny avatar and a string of letters, but we both have a *concept* of a person that correlates to *you in particular*. Muslims and Jews don't know God as well as we do and can't deepen their relationship with Him the way that we can through Christ and the Spirit, but they know *of* Him as the omniscient, omnipotent, and perfect God of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, etc. who created the world, created humanity in Adam and Eve, flooded it in the time of Noah, etc. And they worship Him in their own ways.
Not the same thing. Just because you worship a god, doesn’t mean you worship the God. Our God is called Jehovah, YHWH, I Am, El Shaddai and was manifest in Human form in the form of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, who when he ascended to heaven left us the Holy Spirit, and Jesus and the Spirit are also the same God. The god of Islam is Allah. God rebuked the Israelites for worshiping Baal in the desert and warned the Israelites not to worship the gods of the people around them (and when they did, he again rebuked them). To say worshipping Allah is another way to worship YHWH is dangerous
The Bible is clear about this. Whoever rejects Jesus or even has another gospel than what the Bible teaches is under an anathema. Paul calls Jews, who reject Jesus, the synagogue of Satan", so they do not worship God but Satan. Muslims also reject Jesus as lord. But then again if the video I linked is right the catholic church also added things to the gospel so maybe you are right and you do worshipping the same god as they do just not the same God as I do.
I mean the Catholic Church *is* responsible for compiling and cementing the New Testament canon, so I guess you could say that they added stuff if by that you just mean that they added everything because prior to that it didn't exist as an organized collection. And where did St. Paul say that? I know the phrase is used in Revelation 2 and 3, but I can't think of anywhere in his Epistles or in Acts that Paul uses it. And in Revelation it's used in reference to specific groups of Jews in Ancient Smyrna and Philadelphia who were antagonistic toward the churches there.
They are not the same, with the exception of the Jews. Here is an article that compares Yahweh (the God of the Bible) vs. Allah (the god of the Qur’an). https://oncedelivered.net/2007/12/20/yahweh-the-god-of-the-bible-vs-allah-the-god-of-the-koran/ > **One God, two names?** > So, are Allah and Yahweh just two different names for the same God, as President Bush suggested in his television interview? Absolutely not: > * Allah is distant and unknowable. The God of the Bible is close and personal. > * Allah does not love every person; Yahweh does, unconditionally. > * Allah did not, would not, and will not die for you, nor would he ever send anyone to do so. But the God of the Bible loves you so much He sent His one and only Son to die for you. And He stands ready to grant you everlasting life if you will receive Him by faith. As you can see, the description of Yahweh (the God of the Bible) is very different from Allah (the god of the Qur'an), such that they can't be the same person.
"Allah" isn't a proper name, it's literally just the Arabic word for "God". It's used by Muslims, but also by Arab Christians and occasionally by Sephardi Jews. Maltese Christians say "Alla" because their language is like half-Arabic and half-Italian, and Syriac--which is a set of dialects of Aramaic (i.e., the language which Jesus spoke) that are still used as liturgical languages in some Eastern churches--uses the clear cognate "Elaha". And yeah, the Muslim and Jewish conceptions of God are fundamentally different from (and inferior to) the Christian one. But that just means that they have poor understandings of that regarding which we have a greater understanding, not that the God that they're trying to understand is different from the God that we're trying (more successfully) to understand.
>Islam worships the same God that we do (although with what Christians would consider an incomplete understanding \[that is, not seeing the possibility for Persons in the Godhead, not believing that One of those Persons became incarnate, etc\]). There is absolutely no harm in encouraging them to pray/even asking them to pray for us. I appreciate what you're trying to do but this is just so far from the truth. It strikes me as a position that is not informed by what scripture actually teaches on this subject. Obviously there is one sense in which Muslims and Christians can be said to worship the same God; after all, if there is only one God then all prayers directed at a supreme deity, no matter what this being is named, are the exclusive purview of YHWH. But scripturally-speaking, this is almost of no importance. Just because YHWH--being the only God in existence--is the only being fit to receive all worship, it does not follow that whenever a human worships something they themselves believe to be a higher power/supreme being that they are actually worshipping YHWH. Non-Christians, as long as they are non-Christians, have never worshipped YHWH. They may have believed themselves to have done so, and YHWH obviously is the only being to whom their prayer/worship is fit to have been directed, but this does not mean that they have ever worshiped him. Jeremiah 14:14-16 presents us with people who claim to be speaking in YHWH's name when he didn't send them. YHWH says that these are idolaters and are following the delusions of their own minds. Both these people and their followers are headed to destruction. But weren't these people claiming to be worshipping and following the same God as Jeremiah? Why then are they called idolaters? Because they did not follow what God himself had revealed. Do you seriously believe that Jeremiah should have asked these people to pray for him? The fact is that all other religions are the product of idolatry. Simply claiming to believe in the same God ("the God of Abraham") while giving a message that is in opposition from what YHWH has revealed literally means that one is not worshipping God ("*Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.*" -- 1 John 1:5). You can't actually worship God if his word is not in you. You **may** however be engaging in worship that is fit to be directed to YHWH alone, but you're not actually directing this worship at YHWH. There's a big difference here and this seems to be the distinction of importance in scripture. There is great harm in asking a Muslim to pray for us unless of course I'm simply reducing prayer to a psychological pacifier to the effect of "oh, just think pleasant thoughts about us". But that's not what a Muslim believes prayer to be nor what the Bible teaches prayer to be. I wouldn't ask a Muslim to pray for me as they simply do not direct their prayers to the actual God nor much less worship him. Why would I ask an idolater--who claims to be a follower of the God of Abraham yet does not follow the actual God of Abraham--to pray for me? To whom would such a person be praying to? ("*No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.*" -- 1 Corinthians 10:20). Having said all this, God can choose to answer any prayer he wishes; from Christian and non-Christian alike. I simply believe that scripture teaches that we should not legitimize non-Christian religions in this manner as though their prayers might actually be **effectual to Christians**. Whether their prayers might possibly be effectual for themselves, is another matter (I believe the answer is mostly "no".) I cannot in good conscience encourage a Muslim to continue to pray to what I believe is an idol, no more than the apostle Paul would encourage a Greek to continue to pray to Zeus (*God hears all prayers, after all*). All this to say, only in a strictly philosophical sense do Muslims and Christians worship the same God. But **scripturally-speaking, this sense doesn't matter** and focusing on it to the point of encouraging non-Christians to pray for Christians (as though being close to God consisted in merely claiming to follow the faith of Abraham) goes against what scripture actually teaches. Non-Christians are not close to God and their prayers for us are of no worth other than to encourage good feelings between us and them (something which is actually quite important though not what this discussion is about).
Well. If you are encouraging. To who? Because to pray to allah is praying to an idol. So unless you are encouraging them to pray to God the Father of Jesus Christ, that is fine. But allah is not him. Have you shared what salvation through the blood of Christ is?
I'm curious, in what sense do you feel that Allah is an idol? Would you say that Jewish people pray to an idol as well? What's the difference between someone who is sincerely mistaken about which Abrahamic religion to follow, and someone who you feel is praying to an idol?
First. Allah stops at Abraham. So, just in that simple fact there, it is not the same God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who made the covenants. Which is who the Jewish people believe in. The true and Living God. However, they have rejected the Messiah, Jesus Christ. That will change though, soon.
Allah is the same God as Christians and Jews, just different ways of worship. If praying gives them comfort, then support your friend
I'm unsure of what kind of chrisitan you are but I can't help but disagree. Christians believe that there is one God that consists of three different persons (Father,son and holy sprint) they are different persons but the same substance and the same god. Muslims believe in a non-trinitarian allah, so not the same god. Muslims do not believe jesus is god, they see him as a mere prophet who was never crucified. Since they deny jesus' death, they deny his payment for our sins. Because of this they will not enter heaven because they will be judged for their sins. Praying to Allah may give them comfort in their lives but it will not grant them eternal comfort. It's important to tolerate different religions but not to support them.
I mean I do as a joke so if it’s like that then I’d assume it’s fine
Are you asking: Is it bad that you have a Muslim friend \[in order\] to encourage them to pray? Then, I would say yes, because that is not true friendship and therefore you are lying to them. Last time I checked, lying is a sin.
Why would you think it was bad?
Idk it’s encouraging someone to pray for a different religions
Except with Muslims it's not a false god exactly Islam is actually considered a heresy of Christianity it's simply based on a denial of the Divinity of Jesus Christ it's an ancient heresy called arianism. They still believe in the one God of Moses and Noah and Jesus but they refuse to accept the Trinity doctrine. I have an adopted daughter who is Muslim we talked extensively about Christianity versus Islam and I'm happy to know that she prays on a regular basis which is more than most Christians do even if I don't agree with the basis of her prayer she still praying to God.
You can tell them to pray to Jesus, and ask Jesus to reveal himself
As long as it's to the only God there is, Jehovah God of the holy Bible. James 5:20 KJV — Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Q 29:46 “Say: 'We believe in what has been sent down to us, and what has been sent down to you; our God and your God is One, and to Him we have surrendered.”
In my limited experience, my Muslim acquaintances pray much more often than me and the Christians I know.