"God is bigger than Allah"

[The Viceroy]

Thats exactly what im talking about Ned, the complication of the trinity.

As an aside, I will say I agree with you. The God i believe in, is the God that my wife a Hindu worships, and that my muslim friends call Allah ..

As for which God is biggest, are they not both infinite ? a bit difficult to measure that one up really

[Az]

We overmix two things: the theological discussion, and the historical discussion about the evolution of dieties.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by The diplomat
Furthermore, they teach radically different things. The God of the Bible teaches salvation through grace. Allah teaches salvation through works. If they are the same deity then why do they teach radically different ways to salvation?

I suggest you reread your bible. It's not very consistent on how man is saved.

Can't remember the verses....

[JCG]

Even if you can trace them back to polytheistic origins in both Islam and Judaism, the current "version" of their deities, so to speak, is still the "one true god", the only god that has ever existed (at least for firm believers of those religions).

Since Muslims believe that they are following the "true" and most recent revelation, as opposed to Jews and Christians (just as Christians claim something similar over the Jews) who have "imperfect" ones, in essence there's just been a lot of co-opting and "retconning" going on....not really 3 different "Gods"...since none of them contemplates that.

Rather, there's 3 very different interpretations and traditions with a few similar points, who have come to believe in 1 single deity and accept a certain amount of shared history/historical relationship with it, common to all 3 (again, mostly retroactively co-opted, but viewed as "true").

[The Viceroy]

Actually, if im correct, was not the first "One true God", the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten, who set himself up as the first monothiestic God, and was quickly overthrown.

His famous son, Tutankhamun, was actually originally named Tutanakhnaten, but the priests renamed him after his fathers death.

Aparently, there have been writings found about Akhnaten which mirror the psalms of david almost word for word .. interesting.

[Az]

This is very interesting. I wonder if it is true, and if so, what is the underlying story.

[The Viceroy]

This link doesn't have the psalm stuff in it, but does give some background

http://www.heptune.com/Akhnaten.html

ahh Ive found one with reference to Psalm 104.

http://www.angelfire.com/ny/akhenaten/bio.html (part way down).

[Chemical Ollie]

The short monotheistic period in ancient Egypt co-incides with the time of Moses and the Exodus. Some researchers believes the switch to monotheism was triggered by a huge volcano eruption in Greece, which ash cloud and tsunami waves caused all the Egyptian catastrophies we can read about in the bible.

[Imran Siddiqui]

WTF are you guys arguing about? The God we are all talking about is the God who created the heavens and the earth. How can this be two different Gods?

You did notice the '' right?

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse

I suggest you reread your bible. It's not very consistent on how man is saved.

Can't remember the verses....

Well, I have studied the Bible for years. So, I think I know the Bible pretty well.

Both the OT and NT teaches salvation by grace. In the OT, God asked for sacrifices and offerings as symbols of repentance, but salvation came from God not human works. Psalms is very clear that salvation is a gift from God. And in the NT, the Apostle Paul vehemently taught salvation by grace alone. So, I think that the Bible is rather consistant that salvation comes from God not human works.

[Az]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
The short monotheistic period in ancient Egypt co-incides with the time of Moses and the Exodus. Some researchers believes the switch to monotheism was triggered by a huge volcano eruption in Greece, which ash cloud and tsunami waves caused all the Egyptian catastrophies we can read about in the bible.

That theory explains a lot of stuff, like that pillar of smoke and fire. That's why everyone is so in love with it.

[Imran Siddiqui]

So, I think that the Bible is rather consistant that salvation comes from God not human works.

The Catholic Church sure disagrees.

[The Viceroy]

Im a great believer that akhenaten started the global trend to Monothiesm, and that it started as a political venture, which he ended up feeling comftable with shades of Stargate here .. setting yourself up as a God, so maintain power and influence.

But this had a huge impact on the early characters in the bible (moses, joseph), and spawned the God of the jews.

[Evil Knevil]

Originally posted by The diplomat


Well, I have studied the Bible for years. So, I think I know the Bible pretty well.

Both the OT and NT teaches salvation by grace. In the OT, God asked for sacrifices and offerings as symbols of repentance, but salvation came from God not human works. Psalms is very clear that salvation is a gift from God. And in the NT, the Apostle Paul vehemently taught salvation by grace alone. So, I think that the Bible is rather consistant that salvation comes from God not human works.

Yes, well the world's fastest growing religion may have some issue with your justification by grace. 1517 and all that

The majority of muslims would follow a semi-Lutherian line that faith saves, but that great works are important also. Besides, Mohammed and the Koran seek to "tack" themselves onto the great monotheist tradition. We are all the sons of Ibrahim, the Jews were (allegedly) shown the light by the 2nd greatest prophet, Jesus miraculously born of a virgin. However the Christians ran with the idea too far, and now deny the unity of God. Hence Mohammed.

Edit: SP, Imran beat me to the Catholic thing.

[Hueij]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
The short monotheistic period in ancient Egypt co-incides with the time of Moses and the Exodus. Some researchers believes the switch to monotheism was triggered by a huge volcano eruption in Greece, which ash cloud and tsunami waves caused all the Egyptian catastrophies we can read about in the bible.

This is about the biggest BS I read for a long time in the OT (aside from everything Ned has posted).