What I want to know is if we serve the same God why does "our" God tells Muslims to kill christians and why they have to convert Christians to Islam?
The argument on whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God centers on the following issues:
The doctrine of Trinity ------ Islam specifically rejects this doctrine. Hence, some Muslims do not understand the position of Jesus as God or the three Persons in one God. They regard Christians as Polytheists who supposedly believe in and worship separate “gods”. We know this is untrue but we appear to them as such.
The Fatherhood of God ------ Islam rejects the concept of Jesus Christ being the begotten Son of God. Some Muslims do not understand that personal relationship we have with God, the Father. That, God – son loving relationship Jesus unveiled to us and the Holy Spirit continues to teach us.
The Incarnation: ----- the belief that the Word of God, which is God Himself, was made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. Islam rejects the doctrine that Jesus is fully God and fully human.
With these facts, some Christians believe and argue that, since the concept of God in Christianity is different from the concept of God in Islam, we do not serve the same God. This argument is in contrast with St Paul’s position in Acts 17:16 - 31
We should call to remembrance that, the God Almighty, which Jesus called Father, whom he revealed to us, though, in a different light, is the same God that:
1. created heaven and earth and everything in them including the whole of mankind. (Genesis 1 and 2)
2. brought Abraham out of his country to give him an inheritance in a promised land (Genesis 12:1; 15:7)
3. promised Abraham that his seeds shall be as numerous as stars of heaven and in his seed shall all nations be blessed (Genesis 26:4)
4. heard the cry of the child, Ismael in the wilderness of Beersheba at the time his father, Abraham sent him out of the house with the mother, Hagar, at the prompting of Sarah (Genesis 21:17)
5. sent an angel to Hagar to inform her to fear not, for God has heard the voice of her child where he was, to arise, lift him up and hold him in her hand for I will make him a great nation. And God was with the child and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness.(Genesis 21: 18 -19)
6. appeared to Moses and led the Israelites of old out of Egypt by the hand of Moses (Exodus 3)
7. called Abraham His friend and imputed righteousness unto him as a result of his faith. (Isaiah 41:8:; Genesis 15:6)
8. commanded .Abraham to walk before Him and be perfect.(Genesis 17:1)
9. gave us the ten commandments of the bible through Moses.
This is the same God Muslims pray to and worship as the only God Almighty, Eternal, Omnipotent, Omniscient and Creator of the Universe. Moreover, God said to Moses at Mount Horeb, “Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent you unto them, this is my name for ever and this is my memorial unto all generations.”(Exodus 3: 15). So, Christians and Muslims worship the same God of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob. God is the same yesterday, today and for evermore.
Our Lord Jesus brought to mankind a higher knowledge and understanding of the Godhead. Some Muslims reject this understanding. Christians accept the knowledge but like Jesus said of the Scribes and Pharisees, majority are still seating on Moses seat. They say, they believe but their hearts are far from God and His begotten Son. I do not know which one is better than the other. One says, I do not believe and the other says, I believe but works against that believe in deeds, thus, offering the language of the hypocrite which is an abomination to God. I see no difference. After all Jesus said in 1John 2:4, “he that says I know Him (God) and keeps not His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.
God took David from his father’s sheepfolds, from tending the sheep to make him ruler over His people Israel because He saw a man after His own heart. He redeemed Jacob from all the filthiness of the flesh because he prepared his heart for God and continually walked with Him in faith. Do I need to mention Abraham whom He called His friend in view of his unalloyed faith in Him? Like in the days of these Patriarchs, in every generation, nation, religion, in all corners of the earth, today and continually, God is still searching the hearts of men for integrity and faithfulness; a willing heart fully prepared for Him; a heart that will walk before Him and be perfect. In every nation, he that fears God and walks righteously is accepted with Him. (Acts 10:35). God accepts all that worship Him in sincerity and truth and then guides them to salvation irrespective of religion or race
Jesus said in John 6: 44 – 46, “No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draws him and I will raise him up the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard and has learned of the Father comes to me. Not that any man has seen the Father, save he which is of God, he has seen the Father”. It follows that when we, (Christians and non-Christians alike) seek God with all our hearts in sincerity and truth and open up ourselves in faith to Him in prayers or worship, He receives us and then directs us to His Son, Jesus Christ for better appreciation and understanding of Him whom we seek, if the knowledge is not yet imbibed.
It is written, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Everybody, not just Christians. This is the case of Cornelius, the Centurion who was sent to Peter and the Ethiopian Eunuch whom the Spirit directed Philip to expatiate the gospel to him. The same thing happens in our own time too. God alone knows the heart of man. It is not right for us to judge.
Prior to Cornelius meeting Peter, the bible recorded that his prayers and good works were heard and received by God. The argument that non-Christians do not serve the God of Christians had already condemned him, even when the same God of Christians had accepted him, after all, Judaism and paganism reject the concept of a Triune God. Was it in Christianity his prayers were heard? The answer is No.
Within the Christian fold, there is a subset, the non-Trinitarians who do not believe in the doctrine of Trinity. We brand them non-Christians. We hear some Christians say that, all Roman Catholics will go to hell because of their religious practices. Who are you to judge, oh man? Who knows the heart of man but God? Let us stop this judgement and “holier than thou” attitude and pray instead that we all should come to the knowledge of the Truth and walk before God and be perfect.
We know that Atheists do not believe in the existence of God. To us, this does not void the fact that God exists. Likewise, if people do not understand the divinity or deity of Jesus Christ, it does not void the truth. Therefore, when they pray and their prayers and worship ascend unto God, the Son is equally present to take them from the Father’s hand and raise them up to walk before God and be perfect.
I better stop here.