Spiritual Direction: God consistent in all 3 faiths

I am completely in favor of dialogue between Christian and Muslim brothers and sisters in God that starts with establishing the firm and broad areas where there is complete agreement between the religions. The “differences” become much smaller when one understands why both religions serve God’s will.

Muslims are understandably confused by Christian denominations that seem to have forgotten God, replacing him entirely with the figure of Jesus. Muslims learn in the Qur’an that Jesus was born of Mary through the Holy Spirit, that he was blessed and empowered by God, and that he ascended into heaven. In some ways devout Muslims have a more reverent view of Jesus than many secularized Christians who totally forget about God and who “good buddy” Jesus and his teachings away from the discipline of faith and observance to God’s will. So I’d like to quote from Pope Benedict’s book “Jesus of Nazareth” as a reminder to Christians that Jesus always pointed AWAY from himself and toward God. Everything that Jesus said and did was to point people toward God, and not toward worshipping Jesus. There is no place in the Gospels that Jesus expressed desire to be the focus of worship; in fact, he would be horrified at that notion. He prayed to God, was illuminated and sustained by God, and tirelessly taught his followers about God, even teaching them how to pray to God. Here is what Pope Benedict wrote:

“The great question that will be with us throughout this entire book: What did Jesus actually bring, if not world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world? What has he brought? The answer is very simple: God. He has brought God. He has brought the God who formerly unveiled his countenance gradually, first to Abraham, then to Moses and the Prophets, and then in the Wisdom Literature-the God who revealed his face only in Israel, even though he was also honored among the pagans in various shadowy guises…He has brought God, and now we know his face, now we can call upon him. Now we know the path that we human beings have to take in this world. Jesus has brought God and with God the truth about our origin and destiny: faith, hope, and love.”

If you read the Gospels you will see that virtually everything Jesus says is to shed light and honor upon God. Even the sacraments, such as the Holy Eucharist, are continuations of honoring and worshiping God in their New Covenant form, the bloodless sacrifice to God. The sacrifice and the worship are always properly directed by Jesus toward God. Jesus as Messiah became Redeemer and the bloodless sacrifice, replacing the rituals and animal sacrifices that had become corrupted (as illustrated by the money changers in the Temple and by the prevalent belief that the poor and ill deserved their afflictions). Jesus did not institute ritual and worship of him that detracted from full honor and worship of God. So this needs to be understood by both Muslims and many Christians that Jesus never intended the worship of the faithful to stray from God. [I’m often distressed with some Christian denominations and non-denominationals for this reason. One hardly ever hears of the mention of the one God, almost as if God has vanished.]

Now, having established and reassured Muslims that Jesus did not come in order to take worship from God to himself (and to the contrary, always pointed toward God the Father) one can ask why would God send the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) if God had sent Jesus to show God’s true face? Most Christians do not believe that God (Allah) inspired the Prophet Muhammad for this reason. They wonder why God would raise any Prophet after Jesus himself came from God to redeem and lead all to God. Likewise, Muslims suspect that the rejection of Jesus as Messiah by the majority of Jews indicated a failure of mission that God decided to remedy through final and explicit teaching in the Qur’an through Muhammad. Muslims conclude from their study of the Qur’an that it was God’s will that people did not believe Jesus and that Christianity became flawed.

The heart to understanding this seeming contradiction is to be more open to understanding that God does not have to operate in an “either or” manner. God is the ultimate expert in human nature. He knows that it is vital to humankind’s very survival that humans understand the true nature of the one God. This is why God has repeatedly raised up Prophets during the Old Testament times to continually shepherd, and force where necessary, people away from paganism and polytheism and back to understanding and knowing that there is only one God and that God is the God of Abraham, father of the three faiths, Jewish, Christian and Islam.

God’s message never changes. From Moses to Jesus, and also to Muhammad God reiterates over and over who he is, how humankind and the world was created, the consequences of sin, and the reality of eternal life, either in God’s presence in heaven, or in eternal suffering in hell. In the Old Testament the Messiah was predicted and promised. In the New Testament the Messiah arrived, taught, created the New Covenant, and ascended to heaven. There is the same God throughout. But God understands and sees that people believe or do not, stay faithful or stray and sin. It is not as though Muhammad received a message that denied Jesus and taught something anew. To the contrary, Muhammad actually received some information about Mary and Jesus that is beyond what is recorded in the Bible, so the role of Jesus is not depleted in the least. Likewise the early fathers, such as Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, the Prophets, and the Kings, such as David, are reiterated, not denied or modified. So it is clear to anyone reading the Qur’an that the same God is speaking who speaks throughout the Bible. What is notable is that Muslims are given a special charge and mission and that is to protect and affirm the knowledge of the One God alone with a special zeal and vigor against historic and future paganism, polytheism and secular denial that degrades morality in God’s sight. Muslims were not led by Muhammad away from God any more than Jesus wanted personal worship to replace worship of God. Through both the Messiah, Jesus, and through the raising up of a prophet centuries after Jesus, God was and is continually stating the same identity, the same morality by which humans must abide, and the same explanation of faith and the consequences of sin. God gives Muslims, however, the special charge and exhortation to be, if necessary, the last bastion of proclamation of One God now and always. This was in anticipation of the corroding effects of modernization and secularization, plus the constant temptations of humans to be pagan throwbacks who worship gratification over God, going so far as to deny God at all. This is why God raised up the Prophet Muhammad even though God had made his will absolutely clear and manifest through Jesus as Messiah and bringer of the New Covenant.

Much more can be written about this but I hope this is helpful as the essential fundamental comprehension about the consistency of God that must be understood in these dire times.