Grace Institute: Relating to You World: Relating to Theists

Relating to Theists Relating To Your World Spring 2007

A look at the beliefs and perspective of Islam and Judaism. How can we best communicate with people with this worldview?

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Islam

Statement of Islamic Beliefs

History of Islam

• In AD 610 Muhammad began receiving messages from God. These were recorded in the Koran.
• Muhammad called on all Arabs to unite under the worship of one God, Allah.
• Muhammad conquered those tribes who disagreed with his message.
• By 750 AD the Muslim empire spread from Spain to India. This was the “golden age” of Islam.
• By the 19 th century, European nations had largely colonized the Arab world.
• After World War II, Muslim countries gained political independence. The discovery of oil resulted in economic independence as well.

Current Status of Islam

Branches of Islam

• The Sunnis comprise 90% of all Muslims. Proper Muslim conduct includes obedience to the Koran and the “Sunna,” or example of Muhammad and the early Muslim community.
• The Shi'ites comprise 10% of all Muslims. Shi'ites believe the leaders of Islam must be descendents of Ali, Muhammad's son-in-law.
• The Sufis, who are both Sunni and Shi'ite, seek a mystical experience of God and have a number of superstitious practices.

Modern Trends in Islam

• Accommodation and adjustment to modern ways of life. Example: Turkey
• Return to the traditional approach to Islamic life and a rejection of modern life.

Basic Beliefs of Islam

• There is no God but Allah.
• The belief in Angels and Jinn.
• Allah's Holy Books: The Law given to Moses, the Psalms given to David, the Gospel given to Jesus, and the Koran given to Muhammad.
• Allah's Prophets: Prophets include Adam, Noah, Moses and Jesus. The final and most important prophet is Muhammad.
• Allah is absolutely sovereign and has predestined all things.
• There will be a final resurrection and final judgment.

Basic Practices of Islam

• Recitation of the creed: There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet.
• Regular practice of prayers.
• Almsgiving.
• Fasting during the month of Ramadan.
• The Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca.
• The Jihad.

Evaluation of Islamic Beliefs

A Religion of Peace?

• George Bush: “Islam is a religion of peace. The terrorists hijacked the beautiful religion of Islam.”
• Salman Rushdie: “Islam is paranoid of the west, blaming us for all the ills of Muslim society.”
• Osama bin Laden: “It is the duty of every Muslim to kill the Americans and their allies.”

Positives

• One absolute and transcendent God.
• Man is the culmination of God's creation.
• Jesus is one of the most important of God's prophets.
• The Bible is a holy book.
• Similar beliefs in angels, a day of judgment, and other things.

Critique of Islamic beliefs

Islam sees itself as the completion or the fulfillment of Judaism and Christianity. The continuity of Judaism to Christianity to Islam is a key point where we can engage Muslims.

Islamic perceptions of Christianity

• The Muslims perception of Christianity is seen through the Koran's representation of Christianity. Often this representation is incorrect. (e.g. The Trinity)
• Muslims believe the Bible predicted the coming of Muhammad. (Deut 18:15, John 14:16)
• Muslims believe the Bible has been corrupted by Christians and Jews.

Discontinuity between Islam and Christianity

Judaism

Statement of Judaic Beliefs

Judaism defined

• Judaism is a religion. Yet over half of all Jews do not believe in God or the tenants of Judaism.
• Most Jews share a common ancestry. Yet one can convert to Judaism.
• Jews share some common culture. Yet there is much diversity within that culture.
• Jews are a nation or a people.
• Israel was created to provide a homeland for the Jewish people. Yet, Israel is a secular state that has religious and ethnic diversity.

History of Judaism

• 2000 BC: Abraham is the father of the Jews. God promised to make him the father of a great nation and give him land, offspring, and blessing.
• 1500 BC: God uses Moses to rescue the Jews from slavery in Egypt. God gives the Torah (the Law) to him. They return to their homeland.
• 1000 BC: King David rules over the Jews during a time of political, economic and religious stability.
• 500 BC: The Jews are carried from their homeland to captivity by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Some return after 70 years in Babylon.
• 150 BC: The Maccabeus lead the Jews political independence after a brutal war with the Greeks.
• 60 BC: The Romans conquer the Jews. In 70 AD they put down a Jewish uprising, leading to the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem. The Jews are scattered from their homeland.
• 600 AD: Jewish rabbis in Babylonia write down the oral traditions and commentaries of the Torah in a book called the Talmud.
• 1944 AD: Nazi Germany exterminates 5.7 million Jews in the holocaust.
• 1948 AD: The state of Israel is formed in the ancient homeland to provide a home for the Jewish people.

Current Status of Judaism

• There are approximately 13 million Jews. 5 million live in the United States. 5 million live in Israel. The rest are scattered throughout Europe, Russia, and the rest of the world.
• The Orthodox Jews comprise 10% of Jews. They believe that God gave the Torah. The Torah and the Talmud are binding upon Jews today.
• The Reform Jews comprise 20% of Jews. They do not believe the Torah was written by God, but try to retain the values and ethics of represented by the Torah.
• The Conservative Jews comprise 20% of Jews. They believe the Torah is written by God, but needs to adapt to modern culture.
• The Secular Jews comprise 50% of Jews. They do not believe in God or the Torah, but will often retain the cultural elements of the religion.

Basic Beliefs of Judaism

• There is one, unique, incorporeal and eternal God.
• Prayer and worship is to be directed to God alone.
• Moses was the greatest of the prophets.
• The written Torah and the Oral Torah (the Talmud) were given to Moses from God.
• There will be no other Torah.
• God knows the thoughts and deeds of men.
• God will reward the good and punish the wicked.
• The Messiah will come.
• The dead will be resurrected.

Basic Practices of Judaism

• Orthodox Jews attempt to the keep laws outlined in the Torah and Talmud.
• Jews strive to keep their homes kosher (or clean) through strict dietary and cleaning laws.
• Jews keep the Sabbath by avoiding work on Saturdays.
• Rabbis are designated teachers and leaders of the synagogue. They are not priests.
• Jewish high holidays include Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), Passover and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).
• The practice of sacrifices ended with the destruction of the temple. However, Jews continue to track the ancestry of the priests and Levites for the day the temple will be rebuilt.

Evaluation of Judaic Beliefs

Theologically, the primary difference between Christianity and Judaism is the belief that Jesus is the promised Jewish Messiah . All other differences begin and end with this one distinction. The holocaust , however, is perhaps a greater barrier between Christianity and Judaism.

The Holocaust

• Many Jews see the holocaust as the ultimate persecution in a long line of persecution by Christians against the Jews (e.g. the crusades, the inquisition).
• The Holocaust is the major factor in the dominance of atheism amongst Jews today. (“If we are God's chosen people, where was God in the holocaust?”)
• The Holocaust has caused other Jews to reconsider God's omnipotence (Rabbi Kushner's “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”)
• Rabbi Clifford Librach: “Because of the Holocaust, the entire world does now and will always owe the Jewish people an ethnic hypersensitivity.”

Jesus the Messiah

Evidence Against

• Christians have misinterpreted the Old Testament prophecies regarding the Messiah or have contrived the life of Jesus to fit these prophecies.
• The genealogies in Matthew and Luke are contradictory and do not prove Jesus descended from King David.
• The Messiah is a military leader and a king. Jesus was neither.
• The Messiah will bring a time of peace and prosperity to the world. Jesus did neither.
• The trinity and the incarnation are blasphemous doctrines.
• Christians deny the eternal relevance of the Torah.

Evidence For

• The Messiah is shown not only as a king but also as a humble servant.
• Isaiah 53: The Messiah was predicted to be one who would die for the sins of the world.
• Daniel 9:24-27: The Messiah is predicted to be “cut off” before Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed.
• This points to two appearances of the Messiah. In the first, the Messiah is the suffering servant. In the second, the Messiah is the triumphant King.

Bibliography

Islam

Rick Rood, What Is Islam? http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/islam.html

Kevin James Bywater, Islam as the ‘End' of Christianity: Assessing the Arguments for Abrogation http://www.answering-islam.org.uk/Intro/replacing.hmtl

Samuel P. Schlorff, Theological and Apologetical Dimensions of Muslim Evangelization , http://www.answering-islam.org.uk/Christians/schlorff1_t.html

Charles D. Egal, Ministering to Muslims , http://www.leaderu.com/isot/docs/minmuslim.html

James A. Beverley, “Is Islam a Religion of Peace,” Christianity Today , January 7, 2002, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/001/1.32.html

Judaism

Tracey Rich, Judaism 101 , http://www.jewfaq.org/

“Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus” Ask the Rabbi , http://www.ohr.org.il/ask/ask00j.htm

Larry Brandt, “First Things First,” Jews for Jesus , http://jewsforjesus.org/library/issues/05-08/firstthings.htm

Clifford E. Librach, “The Fragmented Faith of American Jews,” First Things , February 1997, http://leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9702/opinion/librach.html

Elliot Abrams, “Judaism or Jewishness,” First Things , June/July 1997, http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9706/articles/abrams.html