Do We All Serve the Same God? (Part 1)

Exodus 20:3

Introduction.

  1. Surely you have heard this phrase before: “We all serve the same God.”

    1. This is usually spoken by someone in a denomination whenever discussing differences between the denominations.

    2. I have heard others say this concerning our God and the god of Islam.

    3. I have even heard a Hindu say, “We worship Jesus, too.”

    4. Is that true? Do we really worship the same God?

  2. This lesson will be broken up into two parts.

    1. The first one will consider the nature of God.

    2. The second part next week will consider what God commands.

  3. The four religions we will discuss today all have the wrong idea concerning the nature of God, therefore we cannot all serve the same God.

    1. Hinduism.

    2. Islam.

    3. Mormonism.

    4. Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Body.

  1. Hinduism.

    1. History.

      1. It is unlikely that most of you will encounter a bona fide Hindu, but I present it here as an extreme case to help prove my point.

      2. This is perhaps the oldest religion in the world that people still adhere to.

      3. But it is ever-changing, added on to (as we’ll soon see).

      4. There are only a very small handful of beliefs that they all (mostly) hold.

      5. There are parts of India, where this religion is the most prominent, that are friendly toward Christians, and some that are violent against us.

      6. It is so bad, that India ranks as the 10th least friendly nation to Christians in the world according to Open Doors 2020 World Watch List.

      7. Many Hindus have a hatred for the proselytizing/evangelism we do as Christians.

      8. Of course, we are commanded to evangelize, and we want others to experience the good news of Jesus as we have.

      9. We evangelize out of love, but they see it as an attack on who they are.

    2. Hindu nature of god.

      1. They have a multiplicity of gods in their pantheon, millions in fact.

      2. The biggest one is Brahman (some say the only one), which actually forms some kind of trinity called a Trimurti.

      3. Brahma is the creator, Shiva the destroyer, Vishnu the preserver.

      4. In Trinidad I saw bumper stickers that praised Shiva. While he is the destroyer, he is considered in some traditions to be the supreme being with no evil connotations.

      5. Brahman is the supreme reality, the essence of the universe, the force which is in everything and is everything.

      6. If you’re a Star Wars fan and think that sounds familiar, it’s because George Lucas based the Force and the Jedi off of Hinduism.

    3. Hindu Jesus.

      1. Jesus is recognized by some Hindu traditions, showing how Hinduism continually changes and evolves.

      2. He is believed to have gone to India in His 20s to learn about Hinduism.

      3. He came back to Palestine and began preaching.

      4. He escaped His crucifixion with the help of His disciples and lived out the rest of His life in India.

      5. So He is revered in some Hindu circles—or at least a version of Him.

    4. Are they the same?

      1. Tell me, does this sound like the same God? The same Jesus?

      2. No, this is a god and a Jesus of their own creation, not the God I serve!

      3. Our God is a jealous God, and would not permit the worship of other deities in addition to worshiping Him (Exo. 34:14).

      4. Jesus died for our sins on the cross and rose again—without that Christianiy is meaningless (1 Cor. 1:18; 15:17-19).

      5. We will see this is true for the others as well.

  2. Islam.

    1. History.

      1. Islam began in the 7th century by a man named Mohammad in an Arabian town called Mecca.

      2. He would often go to a cave to meditate. One day he convulsed and thought he was being demon-possessed.

      3. Later his wife convinced him this was a message from God.

      4. The Arabic word for God is Allah, so even Arabic Christians call Him the same thing—for simplicity’s sake, I will refer to the Muslim god as Allah since that is his proper name.

      5. From then on, Mohammad received 114 revelations from Allah put into what is called the Quran.

      6. Conveniently enough, these revelations gave to Mohammad whatever he wished, even allowing him to break a vow, to marry his adopted son’s wife, and to have more wives than his previous revelations allowed.

      7. Many Muslims also follow the example of Mohammad in the Sunna and the Hadiths, traditions detailing the life of Mohammad, believing him to be the perfect example of human behavior.

    2. Islamic nature of god.

      1. Muslims flatly deny the Trinity, mostly because they misunderstand it to mean we believe in three gods, claiming we are really polytheists.

      2. Mohammad himself believed the Christian Trinity consisted of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and … Mary mother of Jesus.

      3. We explain to them what the Trinity is: Father, Son, Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14); they come back and say this concept is illogical or that the Jews don’t have this concept.

      4. Their ignorance them becomes wilfull.

      5. They hold to a god that is one in every sense.

      6. Muslims have to say something called the Shahada in order to convert. This must be said in Arabic before several witnesses: “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger.”

      7. This bakes into the very nature of Allah that of Muhammad.

      8. Allah does not love sinners and the true God does—enough to send His Son to die for us (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8).

    3. Islamic Jesus.

      1. Muslims do believe in a person called Jesus, son of the virgin Mary.

      2. But they believe He was just a man, no trace of Deity in Him.

      3. A Muslim imam I spoke with said that Jesus was perfectly sinless, yet Mohammad was prefered, having done only tiny, small sins.

      4. They do not believe He died on the cross, because God would not allow that to happen to one of His prophets.

      5. They believe one of His disciples, likely Judas Iscariot, volunteered himself to die on the cross in His stead—wreaks of Gnosticism.

      6. They do not believe one can die for the sins of another, no idea of the self-sacrifice of Jesus for us, no idea of His love.

    4. Are they the same?

      1. Most of these have the wrong idea on the nature of God.

      2. If they have the wrong idea, then can he be the same God?

      3. The true God is the three in one—naming him Allah and calling him one person does not make him so.

      4. Only the truth is true, and it is up to us to understand it through His revealed word.

      5. There are so many other problems with Islam, and while there are some similarities with the Islamic Jesus and the true Jesus, they are not the same at all.

  3. Mormonism.

    1. History.

      1. This began in the 1830s by a “former” con-man, Joseph Smith, Jr.

      2. The origins of this faith are rather similar to Islam.

      3. A so-called prophet claims to receive revelations from God to him alone, and they all serve him and his carnal needs (namely polygamy, even polyandry).

      4. The difference is that Smith, after praying, claimed to find some golden plates with a strange unknown language on them.

      5. He miraculously was able to translate them into the Book of Mormon, using speech that an uneducated 19th century man thought sounded pious and holy, namely using (and misusing) King James English.

      6. The Book of Mormon is about a Jewish family that made its way to the Americas, and about them becoming the Native Americans. So Mormons believe Native Americans are Jews.

      7. The last of the lighter skinned Nephites (Moroni) died in a war with the darker skinned Lamanites, and buried the golden tablets.

      8. Of course, there is absolutely no historical or archaeological evidence for this, not to mention the anachronisms found in the book.

    2. Mormon nature of god.

      1. Smith didn’t stop there—he invented a whole new idea of God.

      2. These are thing the Mormons who visit you will either deny or not know about.

      3. The God that we think of as God the Father is named Elohim (which is really just “God” in Hebrew).

      4. He was just like us, until he obtained godhood by living a devout Mormon life.

      5. He had many children, including his eldest sons, Jesus and Lucifer, living on the planet Kolob.

      6. He also had many spirit children that he sent to Earth.

      7. Lucifer wanted to be their savior and force everyone to be good Mormons.

      8. Jesus disagreed, wanting to give everyone free will.

      9. The quorum of gods on Kolob voted and agreed with Jesus, and Lucifer started a war over it.

      10. The spirit children on Lucifer’s side became demons, the neutral ones were given dark skin, and the ones who fought for Jesus were given light skin.

      11. If you are a good Mormon, you have the opportunity to become the god of your own world as Elohim was to this one.

      12. So Mormonism is really polytheistic, though they don’t worship all the other gods.

    3. Mormon Jesus.

      1. The Mormon Jesus came to Earth in a physical body, being born of a carnal relationship between Elohim and Mary, so they deny the virgin birth.

      2. He was also born in Jerusalem, according to the Book of Mormon, not Bethlehem where the Bible says.

      3. Jesus is a literal son of God, not the Son of God.

      4. He was married to Mary, Martha, and Mary Magdalene and fathered many children.

      5. He was crucified, but his sacrifice was not enough to forgive you of all your sins. Some sins were so heinous you had to atone for these sins by sacrificing your own life, though it could not be enforced except in a theocracy.

      6. After his resurrection, he visited the Americas, established his church here, but it disappeared when the Nephites were destroyed.

      7. At Judgment, you will be judged not just by Elohim, but by Jesus and Joseph Smith, too.

    4. Are they the same?

      1. They deny there is one God, let alone one in Three Persons (Deut. 6:4).

      2. They think we have the potential to become gods—is that not blasphemy?

      3. They deny the virgin birth of Jesus—even Muslims believe in that! (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23; Luke 1:26ff).

      4. While the words of Jesus are to judge us, it is the Father that we will stand before, while Christ is our Advocate and propitiation (1 John 2:1-2).

      5. Just like the Hindus, they tack on a bunch of stuff they think Jesus did, but this is based on their doctrines.

      6. At least they think Jesus died on the cross, but the blood of the true Jesus can cleanse any sin, wash away any stain (1 John 1:7, 9; Mark 3:28).

  4. Jehovah’s Witnesses.

    1. History.

      1. This religion was begun by Charles Taze Russell in the 1870s.

      2. He became prominent with his adventism, certain that Jesus was coming soon, even giving dates (1874, 1916).

      3. Russell spread his ideas through what later became the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

      4. In 1961 they published the complete New World Translation of the Bible.

      5. If you read it, it’s a terrible translation, literal in the extreme, except where it affects their doctrine.

      6. You don’t want a translation that’s too literal, otherwise it becomes nearly unintelligible in English.

    2. JW nature of god.

      1. Like Islam, they believe that God is one.

      2. We’ll talk about Jesus later, but they believe that the Holy Spirit is just God’s force on this earth—not a Person as we see Him, similar to Mormonism.

    3. JW Jesus.

      1. They hold to something similar to an old heresy called Arianism that was fairly popular in the 3rd and 4th centuries.

      2. It states that Jesus is not God, but He was created by God (Col. 1:15).

      3. Their NWT manipulates Scripture to make this true in almost every case.

      4. When they find something they missed, they come out with a new edition to “fix” it.

      5. Jesus was not crucified on a cross, but on a “torture stake” – stake being a secondary definition of this word in the NT. Historically understood what this was.

      6. Jesus is not worthy of worship as a created being (Luke 4:7-8).

      7. Jesus was not bodily resurrected, but was preserved or dissolved, raised as a spirit.

    4. Are they the same?

      1. As stated before, if the natures are different, how can they be the same God?

      2. Jesus was not just a god, He was and is God (John 1:1-2).

      3. If we keep reading, He created all things (John 1:3; Col. 1:16-17).

      4. He is firstborn, not in that He was born (created), but that He was born (raised again) so that He would have the preeminence (Col. 1:18).

      5. The angels worship Him (Heb. 1:6).

      6. God calls the son YHWH (Heb. 1:5, 8, 10; cf. Psa. 102:25).

      7. If He were not bodily resurrected, our hope would be lost (1 Cor. 15:17-19).

      8. If He were not bodily resurrected, it would make Jesus a liar and a false prophet, or the Apostle John is a liar (John 2:19-22).

Conclusion.

  1. There are so many other things wrong I could point out about each of these religions.

    1. The point here is to show that we do not serve the same God at all.

    2. He is different by His very nature.

    3. Their conceptions of Jesus are different as well.

    4. We make that point by showing you what the Scriptures say so we are not led so easily astray.

    5. They don’t make known these false teachings at first because, at least for some, they know how silly or heretical they sound.

  2. We could include other groups here, such as Oneness Pentecostals, but I think the point is made.

  3. Let’s serve the true God and Lord of all Creation—become a Christian today!