Biblical Christianity and Islam: Plural Monotheism versus Monolithic Monotheism
Posted on June 7, 2007
Filed Under Islam & Biblical Christianity |
“Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.” Psalm 145:3
Much of our understanding of who God is did not arrive immediately with His first revelations to us. The whole of the Bible is a continual unfolding, a progression of revelations that opens the lens a little more or removes a filter, making things a little clearer. Sometimes it brought a large leap in understanding; sometimes it was barely the faintest of a new clue.
That could not be more true that the revelations concerning the internal social nature of God. Beginning with only a strong hint, the revelations of this aspect of God are sparse throughout the rest of the Old Testament. They are there, but more in the form of clues rather that bold declarations. It is not until the New Testament that we get a burst of revelation through Jesus and then through the apostles.
But it is this aspect of God’s character and nature that provides the fundamental differences between biblical Christianity and Islam. Both are fiercely monotheistic. Both believe that there is one true God. However, the view of who that God is, His nature, His being and His character, is vastly different. The most discriminating aspect, however, is this single notion: that the one God is either pluralistic in His inner nature or He is not.
Islam is monolithic in its monotheism. Biblical Christianity is triune in its monotheism. Allah is monolithically one; Jehovah is triunely one. We are going to take some time and examine how this single difference provides the basis for understanding much of what separates Islam from biblical Christianity.
We will attempt to do this with an on-going series. I hope to do so every Thursday, if the Lord will allow. I will not begin each of these with a nice introduction, summary of where we have been, and end with a well-crafted conclusion. That will use up precious word space. We will just begin each blog where we left off the previous Thursday and we will end each of them wherever it seems to make sense. Now, I don’t know if this is allowed in Blogsville—whether or not that is within the confines of Blog-law and Blog-practices. I am too much of a Blog-neophyte to know. But that is what we will do.
My ongoing premise, and it is one from which I always teach, is that all truth is consistent with and emanates from the very character and nature of God. Psalm 19 says that the “heavens declare the glory of God”. Romans 1 says that the invisible attributes of God are clearly seen from what He has made. Job 12 enjoins us to look at the animals, the birds, the fish and even the earth itself to be taught these things.
So, we will do just that. We are going to look at the two basic sources of truth God has given to us that reveal His nature and character: His Word and His creation. Will we find evidence that supports monolithic monotheism or triune monotheism?
I look forward to joining you in this quest.
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4 Responses to “Biblical Christianity and Islam: Plural Monotheism versus Monolithic Monotheism”
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Dr. Del Tackett is president of the Focus on the Family Institute and Senior Vice President to Focus on the Family. He is also the architect and chief spokesperson for Focus on the Family's The Truth Project--a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ.
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Good for you Dr. Tackett (re your proposed Thursday format that continues the previous thoughts). We have been so delighted to visit you via your blog after getting to know you (so well it seems) in The Truth Project. (We have now enjoyed it about 5 times :o)
We pray that you are gaining health & energy — you are needed!
This is a good topic and I look forward to following it.
So far my distinction of YHWH and Allah centers around the nature of virtue found in Islam vs. Judaism and Christianity.
A basic starting point in this is Socrates’ discussion with Euthyphro. However, Socrates only considered two alternatives; I think he overlooked a third possibility which defines Judeo/Christian virtue.
Judeo/Christian virtue is defined by YHWH’s intrinsic, personal, eternal, and unchanging nature. Thus, YHWH is knowable, wants to be known, and delights to make and keep his promises. Scripture says or implies in several places that God cannot lie.
Islamic virtue seems to be defined by the word of Allah, which he is free to change. Allah is fundamentally unknowable and may be capricious. There is at least one incident where Allah lied to Mohammad (about the size of an enemy army) and later justified his lie. This is divine command theory and one of the alternatives Socrates considered.
Satan is a lier and the father of lies; so to me Allah’s character seems to match up to Satan, not YHWH.
However, I haven’t considered the possibility that “it is this aspect [the internal social nature] of God’s character and nature that provides the fundamental differences between biblical Christianity and Islam.” This will be very interesting indeed, and I look forward to your thoughts on this. Thanks!
Dr. Tackett,
I look forward to these future blogs concerning Islam. I just returned from a short-term mission trip to a Muslim country and saw how God is working amongst Muslims to show them that they need Jesus just like us. We had the joy of seeing God use a physical miracle to draw a family to faith in Jesus while we were there! God is truly amazing!
Now that I am back home I will be able to finish going through the rest of the Truth Project so I am ready to lead a group in the fall.
Thank you for all that you are doing to spread the Truth.
In Him,
Andy
I have to admit I was a little thrown off from this post at first because there were a lot of BIG words in there : )
After actually reading the post,however, I look forward to it and to learning more concretely what those differences are.
P.S. If you speak to anyone involved with the Focus on the Family radio broadcast, please let them know that even though Dr. MacArthur’s message seemed a bit “off topic” for a Christian family radio show, that it was a message that was greatly needed.