What a Let Down.

I almost hate to do this because I had made a commitment to myself yesterday to try to be positive on my blog today. Well, tomorrow is positive day, today I have to address something else...sorry.

As anyone who knows me can attest, I am an avid supporter of our president, George W. Bush. However, I read a quote from him that has really disappointed me. In an interview with an Arabic news service, President Bush recently said:


Well, first of all, I believe in an Almighty God, and I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God. That's what I believe. I believe that Islam is a great religion that preaches peace. And I believe people who murder the innocent to achieve political objectives aren't religious people, whether they be a Christian who does that – we had a person blow up our – blow up a federal building in Oklahoma City who professed to be a Christian, but that's not a Christian act to kill innocent people.

I believe we can all agree that it is not a Christian act to commit terrorism. It is also true that there are many Muslims around the world who are not actively involved in terrorism and who do not support it as a tenet of their faith. However, it is incomprehensible to suggest that Christians and Muslims (or Bhuddists, Hindus, etc...) pray to the same God. Even if we did not get into the theological concerns for such a claim for Christians, it is insulting to Muslims to believe that their God is the same as the God of Christianity.

But, why can I say with such certainty that we worship a wholly different God than Allah of Islam? For the same reason that I can say we worship a God different than the God of Judaism. God, YAHWEH God has made himself known in this world and has shown us the way to know and worship him. Jesus, one member of the Christian Trinity, specifically showed that to know him is to know God. He went so far as to say that he, Jesus, was the way the truth and the life and was the only pathway to God.

President Bush is right, a man who professes Christianity should not blow up a building. However, a man who professes to be a Christian should not reduce the Triune God of Christianity to being less than he has revealed himself to be in the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.