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 Answer
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The presence of Pluralism and False gods are not new with our
generation. Paul refers to issues such as this taking place in his day (1 Cor 8).
The Bible is clear when it comes to these subjects, and leaves no room
for discussion. "..there is NO GOD BUT ONE. For even if there are
so-called
gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many
"gods" and
many "lords"), yet for us there is but ONE GOD..." (1 Cor
8:4-6) The "TRUE"
God who is referred to here is the God of Creation, the "Father,
from whom
all things came and for whom we live." This is the God of the Bible
(the
Christian God) All other religions worship false "gods" which
Paul
describes as "nothing at all".
Muslims claim to be "children of Abraham" and claim to pray to
the "God of
Abraham", but are unjustified in both. In Gal 3:29, we read
"If you belong
to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the
promise."
Since, Muslims do not belong to Christ, though they may be the physical
descendants of Abraham, they are NOT the true children of Abraham. Rom
4:12
states "And he [Abraham] is also the the father of the circumcised
who not
only are circumcised but who also walk IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE FAITH
that
our father Abraham had before he was circumcised." Concerning the
worship
of God, since Muslims do not acknowledge Christ as risen Messiah, they
do
not possess spiritual life, and therefore they do not know the true God.
In
the same way, that idolaters of the Old Testament and New Testament
worshipped idols of wood, stone, etc., calling them the True God, and
bowing
down before them in prayer as if to a True God, but in reality it was
"nothing at all"; in the SAME way those of any religion
outside of
Christianity worship gods that are nothing, and do not know or worship
the
true God.
How do we know the one true God hasn't revealed himself in different
ways to
different peoples in different parts of the world? 1 Cor 8:6 states
"yet
for us there is but ONE GOD, the Father, from whom all things came and
for
whom we life..." This ONE GOD is described in this passage as the
Creator
God. The question still remains "but how do we know he hasn't
revealed
himself thru Mohammed, Budda, etc.?" 1 Cor 8:6 goes on to say
"... and
there is but ONE LORD, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and
through whom we live." This means there is NOT spiritual life
outside of
Christ. There is also ONLY one lord. As Matthew Henry puts it
"There is to
us but one lord, one mediator between God and men, even Jesus
Christ...and
thus He is the only lord, and only mediator, that Christians
acknowledge,
the only person who comes between God and sinners, administers the
world's
affairs under God, and mediates for men with God. All the Lords of this
sort among heathens are merely imaginary ones." Concerning
syncretism,
Paul addresses this issue in 1 Cor 10:18-22. God makes it clear in the
first
commandment (Ex 20:1-3) "And God spoke all these words: I am the
Lord
your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of Slavery. You
shall have NO OTHER GODS before me."
Bottom Line: The Christian God is DIFFERENT from the gods all other
religions worship. We are to worship the True and Living God and him
ONLY.
ALL other gods are "nothing". When it comes to
interfaith dialogue and
worship, we are NOT to follow what is being suggested by many today, but
should follow Paul's example in Acts 23 where he "reasoned with
them",
"advocated a different God", and "brought a new
teaching". In other words,
Christians who KNOW the TRUE God as revealed through Christ are NOT to
"give
any appearance" or "play games" as if God may be found in
any other. We are
to make the most of every opportunity for Christ, to love both God and
man
(including those of different faiths), but in the end, the exercise of
love
will be to lead them to and challenge them with the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
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