One God?

[ElvisFan42]

I hope this is the correct forum for this.

The worlds three largest religions all worship the same God and are considered monotheistic. For Christians and Jews, scripture says "I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other God's before me". For Muslims, there is "there is no God worthy to be worshipped but Allah, and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah"

What does this mean? Is this God recognizing that other God's exist, but that they are all second rate? I know there are other passages that warn of false God's, but those seem more related to some others representing themselves as God falsely.

Thoughts?

 

[daveleau]

Scripture is talking about man-made gods. Muslims state they worship the same God as we do, yet their beleif system is completely different. They get this link because initially, under Muhammad, Islam was linked to Judaism and Christianity. They originally prayed toward Jerusalem (even after the Hijira), called themselves decendents of Abraham through Isaac, and the initial "revelations" of Muhammad were strictly limited to basic Scriptural ideas (revelations before the Hijira). Then came the search for plunder and murder of caravans to get said money (all shortly after the Hijira). They turned to greed, changed their holy place to the polytheistic Mecca where rock worship was prevelant and there were over 360 gods wroshipped, claimed a new descendant in Ishmael, and their "revelations" from Muhammad became more convenient and completely different from Jewish and Christian beliefs. Thus, they strayed away from their original intent, and are not worshipping God, but a god with wholly different characteristics than God as He consistently describes Himself through the 40+ authors of Scripture.

The gods Scripture are talking about are not actual deities, but man-made items to represent made-up deities, such as Baal and Asherah/Ashteroth. There is no other God than that of Scripture. God is recognizing that man has made other gods out of wood, gold, marble, etc, but He never mentions them as being anything other than the inanimate objects from which man made them. Simply stated, there is not other God but Jehovah, and He is a tripartate being of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

In Him,
Dave