Replying to a message of Jeff Snyder to Bob Ackley:

 JS> On 04/16/09, Jeff Snyder quoted Bob Ackley: Christians And Jews.

 BA>> FWIW, all monotheistic religions - including Judaism, Christianity
 BA>> and Islam - are by definition worshipping the same entity.  The only
 BA>> difference is in the name each religion uses, rituals and
 BA>> traditions.

 JS> Hello Bob. Thanks for visiting this echo, but... :)

 JS> And exactly whose definition would that be?

A simple one:  A monotheistic religion holds that there is only one deity.  If there
is only one such deity then *all* monotheistic religions must be
worshipping that one,
Logic 101.  And as I noted, the differences between them are in their rituals and
traditions, not the basic belief.

 JS> If you take the time to read some of my previous messages in this
 JS> echo, or more carefully study Judaism, Christianity and Islam, you
 JS> will quickly discover that there are some very fundamental
 JS> differences between these three faiths, the main one being that they
 JS> all view Jesus Christ very differently.

I didn't say there were no differences between them, I said they were worshipping
the same deity.

 JS> As you undoubtedly already know, in the Christian faith, we embrace
 JS> Jesus as the only-begotten Son of God who died on the Cross for the
 JS> sins of the world.

Two = actually three - different individuals comprising the same god.  A physical
and logical absurdity.  And yes, I know millions of people have swallowed it.

 JS> In the Jewish faith, there motto is "God is one". Not only do they
 JS> reject the idea of God having a son, but they fully reject the
 JS> Divinity of Jesus Christ. In fact, many Jews don't even believe that
 JS> Jesus ever existed, while others spit upon hearing His name.

There are historical records other than the Bible that refer to Jesus.

 JS> The Muslims are in the middle. They clearly accept Jesus as a real
 JS> historical person, and they do honor Him as a Prophet in the Qur'an.
 JS> However, like the Jews, they reject the idea that God has a son, and
 JS> they reject the idea that Jesus is the promised Messiah. In fact,
 JS> they are convinced that Mohammad is greater than Jesus.

 JS> Now, Bob, as I asked in previous posts, if our three religions are
 JS> truly worshipping the same god as you claim, how is it, and why is
 JS> it, that this god is so contradictory, and so confusing, insofar as
 JS> what He has taught us concerning the true nature of Jesus Christ?

As I said, the differences are in the rituals and traditions.  Organized religions
are made by men, different men with different backgrounds.  There has been an
ongoing discussion of Mormonism in another echo.  Mormonism is a subset of
Christianity (as are Methodism, Lutheranism, the Baptists and Catholicism - among
others).  All of the abovementioned flavors of 'Christianity' have the same basic
beliefs but differ in the details - rituals and traditions.

 JS> Is
 JS> this god just playing games with us on purpose, and getting a laugh
 JS> out of our confusion and bickering?

Possibly.  Maybe even probably.

 JS> I think not. The simple obvious answer is that we do not worship the
 JS> same god. At one time, millennia ago, the descendants of Abraham --
 JS> that is, Isaac and Ishmael -- did worship the same God, but then
 JS> something terrible happened: jealousy, family feuds, etc. The Arab
 JS> nations became the enemies of the Israelites, and they adopted other
 JS> gods, false gods. Then in the 7th century, we of course have the
 JS> arrival of the false prophet Mohammad, who taught that God has no
 JS> Son, and that Jesus is only a prophet.

 JS> And, of course, you already know the story with the Jews. Jesus
 JS> arrived, they outright rejected Him, and plotted His murder at Roman
 JS> hands. Of course, not all Jews rejected Jesus; after all, if they
 JS> had, then we might not have our Christian faith today. Thank God that
 JS> some of them were wise enough to recognize the Messiah for who He was
 JS> and still is.

 JS> Anyway, that is why I personally refuse to accept that these three
 JS> religions worship the same god. He would give the same story to all
 JS> three religions, but that certainly is not the case, so two of them
 JS> must be false.

How can that be.  All three are worshipping the same deity.

Decades ago I asked a question of one of the priests that taught in the Catholic
HS I graduated from.  I've forgotten the question but not his response: 
"It's a 
mystery."

Quite frankly, IMO a deity that inflicts harm (Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot,
Nero, Caligula and hundreds of other examples) on its creations is on the same

--- FleetStreet 1.19+