And now I ask the Imam to say the blessing...

Laura and I are grateful you're here. Thank you for coming. We wish you a blessed Ramadan. And now I ask the Imam to say the blessing...

-President Bush at the Islamic iftar celebration held at the White House Thursday evening, October 4, 2007.)

(Tim) Since in the past I've said I believe President Bush has a sincere Christian faith, I must acknowledge that this White House interview recently granted to Al Arabiya's correspondent, Elie Nakouzi, reduces our President's Christian profession to a shambles. No matter his office, every Christian has a choice whether or not to invite idolaters to bless the food on his table, and whether or not to deny that Jesus Christ is the only way to God the Father. By inviting an Imam to bless his food and by saying things such as, "I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God," President Bush has betrayed the precious Name of Jesus Christ. Here's the full interview containing even more disheartening statements. (Thanks, Jeff.)

Comments

[Carmon Friedrich]

He said the same things (about Muslims and Christians worshipping the same god) in 2002. Notice that he boasts about hosting an Iftaar dinner every year he has been president.

Don't forget that he also worshipped at a Shinto shrine in Japan, something that appalled Japanese and Korean Christians. Rather than excusing him because he's not "theologian-in-chief," Christian men like Richard Land ought to be reminding him of the Second Commandment prohibition of bowing down to other gods. Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep my commandments."

[Kamilla]

Odd, the moments the President chooses to be "dimplomatic", isn't it?

Kamilla

[Tim Varner]

Hasn't President Bush been consistent on this point? Was there a point in his presidency that he wasn't at home with syncretism? I can't think of one.

[Tim Bayly]

Well, I guess I was clueless.

[Keith LaMothe]

I've known about the syncretistic stuff for a while, but it is still saddening to see continuing evidence of it.

To echo something Doug Wilson said a while ago, what of those evangelicals who have the president's ear?

Have either of the Grahams tried to correct him? It's the sort of thing which ought to be done privately at first, but either repentence or rebuke would presumably be public by now.

Or am I off-base in thinking that President Bush's pastor(s)/shepherd(s) should have brought this to a head by now?

To put it another way, would church discipline be an appropriate response if the church in question practiced it? (maybe it does, I dunno)

[Dave Sarafolean]

This is not surprising given the president's denominational affiliation: The United Methodist Church. Certainly in the last 100 years it has slipped and cannot be considered a bastion of theological depth.

Church discipline? The UMC has less than a stellar track record concerning church discipline too.

I think that the president means well but doesn't realize how far afield he has gone. Is this not the fruit of Wesley and prevenient grace?

[Keith LaMothe]

Right, I should have remembered he was UMC. Definitely a mixed bag.

I once asked a UMC pastor what Wesley would think of the denomination. She said that he'd turn over in his grave.

[Dave Sarafolean]

Cal Thomas has weighed in on this issue with an editorial under the title of "Same God" found at this link:

www.townhall.com/Columnists/CalThomas/

[Keith G]

Personally, I'm just glad that I'm not a politician, because I think pretending that everyone is right is an integral part of the job.

[Kamilla]

I've been thinking about this. I've long wondered if President Bush isn't basically naive, theologically and about the nature of evil. Anyone who could say what he did after his first meeting with Putin has to be naive or incredibly cunning. I lean toward naive because he seems to have such a simple yet profound faith in Christ.

Kamilla

[David Gray]

>I've been thinking about this. I've long wondered if President Bush isn't basically naive, theologically and about the nature of evil.

I tend to think that Christians are naive about the nature of President Bush.

[Saleem Siddiqui]

http://www.hotconflict.com/blog/2007/10/allah-the-god-o.html

There seems to be a lot of debate here in the United States. Many people are trying to suggest that the God Allah of the Muslims is not the same God of the other monotheistic religions. This is a very serious misunderstanding of Islam and I am surprised it is so common in this society. The very essence of the message of Islam is that there is no other God than Allah. The God of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad.

[Matt N]

No, the God of Jesus and the God of Mohammad are not the same God. Jesus clearly did not consider himself just another succesive prophet of God.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." John 8:58

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me...Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." John 14:6,9

Consider Galatians 1:8 "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed." The battle lines were drawn long ago.

[David Curell]

Saleem

You could not be more wrong.
The claim of Jesus Christ is that He Himself is the God of Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses.

(John 8:54-59)
54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’;
55 and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word.
56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
57 So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
59 Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

(John 14:9)
9 Jesus *said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

(John 10:30)
30 “I and the Father are one.”

Jesus’ apostles also recognized Him as God.

(John 1:1)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
(Philippians 2:5-7)
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
(Titus 2:11-13)
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,
13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,
(2 Peter 1:1)
1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

These exclusive claims (claims never made by Mohammad) are certainly honored by all authentic Christians. If true, these claims would certainly make Jesus Christ the God of everyone else as well, Mohammad included. Do the Muslims recognize Jesus Christ, the Christian God, as their God? I am not aware that they do.

After visiting your website and seeing that you are a student of religion, I must conclude that you are aware of all the claims outlined above. Knowing this, your conclusion that the Muslim and Christian God’s are one and the same necessitates that you have either denied one of the essential claims of Christianity, Christ’s deity, or you have denied one of the essential claims of Islam, Christ’s non-deity.

Saleem, You are stumbling over Jesus Christ. Reckoning with Him is what you must do.

(John 6:28, 29)
28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

David Curell

[David L.]

Saleem,

Any basic search on the Internet about the differences between Christian theology and Islamic theology should be enough to disabuse you of the notion that the two religions worship the same God. While it makes a neat slogan to warm the hearts of those who hate conflict and distinctions (let alone truth itself), the idea represents nothing but a commitment not to think.

Believing that the false god of Islam is the same as the true Triune God revealed in the Bible and in Christ is like thinking that two guys with the same name must share the same character traits.

[Ron Hardaway]

Great post, Tim, and lots of good comments. But I must say that I'm surprised to see you speaking out. Many Christians, and Christian leaders, even pastors and theologians, regularly assert that Jews and Christians worship the same god, and yet I don't recall you (or others) speaking out about that.

If Jesus is God, Jews neither believe in the God of the Bible nor worship him. If Jews do believe in and worship the God of the Bible despite their denial of Jesus Christ, it's very hard to understand how the same isn't true of Muslims.

Why do pastors and teachers speak out against the new, and much rarer heresy, while they keep silent on the older and far more common one?

[Dan Gelok]

Ron,

As one who sat under Tim's preaching for several years while attending school in Bloomington, I can say that he has indeed spoken out against the falsehood you mention. I can recall him teaching (during sermons and small groups) the centrality of Jesus Christ and the necessity of the Jew to believe in his promised messiah.

To answer your question, I'll just copy what Tim had told us on one of those occasions. The reason that evangelicals don't oppose this heresy (and actually preach it!) is because of the Holocaust. It is now HORRIBLY insensitive and un-P.C. to say anything negative at all about the Jews. To suggest that they, like the rest of mankind, need to embrace Jesus or receive the wrath of God as just punishment for their sins is public suicide.

So they either avoid it because
1) they are afraid of men, and what they will say against God's messenger, or
2) they throw away the truth of God in favor of a misdirected (and, I might add, damning) compassion. Instead of pointing the way to the true mercy of God in Jesus, they choose instead to spare the Jews any discomfort they might experience by being told to repent and embrace Jesus.