Who is God?

Christians, Muslims and Jews believe in the existence of God, in His oneness, that the whole universe and all living things were created by Him, and that people must regulate their lives according to His revelations.

(After that, comes the free-for-all!) :wink:

Well...it is true. It's all the same god. The first skirmish was between Jews and Christians, and Jesus' split from the Jewish faith. The next skirmish was with the Muslim faith, who claimed through Old Testament tales that their prophet was the son of Hagar, Abraham's servant, who was impregnated by Abraham on his wife, Sarah's permission, as she was barren. Then, god granted Sarah a child, and Sarah was jealous of Hagar, and she was cast out into the desert, presumably to die. Apparently she didn't, and gave birth to the Mohammed, and Islamics have held a grudge ever since against Jews. Personally, I think it's all crap, but if the evidence is to be believed, all three religions trace back to Judaism, and the Jews are amongst the most hated people on earth. Go figure. Each religion made their own gods, based on the original model. Why we all can't get along still eludes me.

I thought Who was on first!

Excuse me, but I don't believe Jesus ever split from the Jewish faith. Jesus died as so-called 'King of the Jews'. Some 70 years after his death, several men began writing the bible and calling themselves Christians, yes, but please do respond as to Jesus the man.

Thank you.

What?

and so, cavfancier, I googled and found:

"In every respect, therefore, Jesus was a Jew, and was not ashamed to call himself one:

"we know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews" (John 4.22)

from

http://www.leaderu.com/theology/jesusjew.html"

What say ye?

The question at the head of this thread is: Who is God?

I responded: "I thought Who was on first!"


(Think Abbott and Costello!)

The joke's on you, my agnostic compadre!

I was playing into the Abbott-Costello routine... .

Men! :wink:

So, am I correct in interpreting the above to mean that -- first there were Jews, then Christians separated themselves from the Jews to become Christians--while still believing in Jehovah as the supreme being, then about 600 years later some more of the Jews separated themselves to become Muslims while still believing in Jehovah as the supreme being?

Is this the way it happened?

Well, I always thought of it more like a dysfunctional family, but, hey, that's just me. From the viewpoint of an agnostic Jew, here is a wonderful source on the history...but, please do note it is indeed a Jewish viewpoint. Enjoy!

http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/History/timeline.html#trans

Damn!

Suzette rocks...

The early history surrounding Judaism and Christianity is pretty complex and obscure. Judaism was pretty diverse at this time. There were various sects, and groups, many with political leanings, within Judaism including the Sadducees, Essenes, Pharisees, Zealots, and various others, and there was considerable infighting between these groups. Christianity was a later addition to this mix with the appearance of Yesua (Jesus). The Pharisees were Talmudic scholars, and centered their beliefs on the Torah of Moses as interpreted through Halakah, the legal portion of the Talmud. The Sadducees were the aristocratic priests of the Temple. They were more of a social/political class. They rejected the authority of Halakah; largely for those reasons, they were at odds with the Pharisees. The Essenes were an ascetic group who rejected the Sadducees as corrupt, as did many other Jews, and therefore rejected (especially the Qumran [Dead Sea Scrolls] Essenes) the Temple through their authority. The Zealots were more of a nationalistic political group who are traceable to the Maccabean revolt in the second century C.E., and who by this time turned their energies towards an anti-Roman agenda. It was their activities that sparked the war against the Romans. The Judaic schism occurred after the Great War and destruction of the Second Temple c.70 C.E. The Essenes disappeared some time after the destruction, possibly through persecution by the Romans. The Sadducees disappeared with the destruction of the Temple. The Pharisees moved quickly to regroup and assume control of the Jewish populations that were cast from Jerusalem by the Romans, and those populations that remained in Judea. It was during this time that the Pharisees began a purge of extra-Pharisaical elements in Judaism and among the Jewry. The Christians, who by that time consisted largely of Jews, but with a great influx of Goyim, were ostracized from Judaism. It was at this point that Judaism and Christianity diverged into radically different paths. Pharisaic Judaism was the precursor to modern Rabbinical Judaism.

The Gods of Islam and Christianity are evolutionary offshoots of the God of Judaism, but are basically the same deity.

An important difference is that most (but not all) Christians believe that God is a Trinity composed of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Hagar's son was Ishmael, not Muhammad. Arabs. including Muhammad, claim heredity from Abraham through his first-born son Ishmael.

The early history surrounding Judaism and Christianity is pretty complex and obscure. Judaism was pretty diverse at this time. There were various sects, and groups, many with political leanings, within Judaism including the Sadducees, Essenes, Pharisees, Zealots, and various others, and there was considerable infighting between these groups. Christianity was a later addition to this mix with the appearance of Yesua (Jesus). The Pharisees were Talmudic scholars, and centered their beliefs on the Torah of Moses as interpreted through Halakah, the legal portion of the Talmud. The Sadducees were the aristocratic priests of the Temple. They were more of a social/political class. They rejected the authority of Halakah; largely for those reasons, they were at odds with the Pharisees. The Essenes were an ascetic group who rejected the Sadducees as corrupt, as did many other Jews, and therefore rejected (especially the Qumran [Dead Sea Scrolls] Essenes) the Temple through their authority. The Zealots were more of a nationalistic political group who are traceable to the Maccabean revolt in the second century C.E., and who by this time turned their energies towards an anti-Roman agenda. It was their activities that sparked the war against the Romans. The Judaic schism occurred after the Great War and destruction of the Second Temple c.70 C.E. The Essenes disappeared some time after the destruction, possibly through persecution by the Romans. The Sadducees disappeared with the destruction of the Temple. The Pharisees moved quickly to regroup and assume control of the Jewish populations that were cast from Jerusalem by the Romans, and those populations that remained in Judea. It was during this time that the Pharisees began a purge of extra-Pharisaical elements in Judaism and among the Jewry. The Christians, who by that time consisted largely of Jews, but with a great influx of Goyim, were ostracized from Judaism. It was at this point that Judaism and Christianity diverged into radically different paths. Pharisaic Judaism was the precursor to modern Rabbinical Judaism.



OK, so the Jews and the Christians worship the same god--that who identified himself to Abraham as Jehovah, but how about the Muslims? Do they worship the same diety as the Jews and Christians albiet by another name?

Oops, Terry...big brainfart on my part. Thanks for reminding me there.

Redhawk, Muslims not only worship the same God but incorporate stories from the Bible into the Qur'an, including the birth of Jesus whom they consider to be a prophet.

reading along

Thanks, that is what I thought.

I was told recently that they (muslims) did not worship the same god as Jews and Christians.

This issue came up as a byproduct of another argument about the General who, in making a speech to a Christian church, stated that some criminal in Somalia had a god that was inferior to our (the Christian) god. I took the statement to mean that the criminal was worshiping the gods of greed and avarice, but my friend took it as a statement against Islam. When I pointed out that the Christian god, IS the muslim god, he said that I was wrong, so I thought I would ask you guys here since you are more up to speed on things like this.

Thanks again.