They all worship the one true God but they are as different as night from day. There are three different people of God. It began with Israel and its people called the Jews whose father Abraham had a special relationship with God. God made a covenant with him and his successors, that He would be their God and they would be His people.
We all know that Christ, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, was a Jew. He founded the Christian religion. It is said that the Arabs are the descendants of Ishmael, the first born of Abraham, and the religion called Islam was founded by their prophet Mohammed, who converted them to that faith by fire and sword. The Jewish faith followed the teachings of the prophets, beginning with Moses. Their Holy Book is the Torah, which contains most of the Old Testament of the Christians’ Holy Bible and, the Koran written by Mohammed is the Holy Book of Islam. So. The Christians, the Jews and the Moslems are all people of God, but only the Christians believe in the Triune God or the Blessed Trinity.
Isn’t it strange that the three people of God should have different beliefs? Not strange at all when there are so many Christian sects with different doctrines of faith. Yet, the difference between Christians and the other two is far greater than between Christians and Christians.
The difference between the Jewish faith and Islam is not significant. In fact, a lot of the Koran is a reflection of the Torah and the Old Testament. It would be far easier for the Arabs and the Jews to reconcile their faiths. Their problem is territorial. Israel has been re-established on land which had become part of Palestine. The deeper difference is the nature and traditions of the Arabs, whose traditions are based on tribal quarrels over land and water rights and especially over their propensity for vengeance. The Koran and its laws of retribution reinforce their tribal customs. It is doubtful whether someone who preached a gospel of love would have changed the Arab temperament. Could a Christian understand why a man would prefer to have his daughter join the harem of a great sheik where she would be pampered and protected, instead of having her marry someone of little means or prospects where she may suffer deprivation? Islam suits the Arab culture, temperament and tradition, and, perhaps, that is why it was chosen for them. Still, the Koran and the Torah are not incompatible and is God’s grand design they may yet be reconciled.
But what about God’s “chosen people”? It was foretold from Isaiah to Malachi that a virgin would give birth to the Son of God who would fulfill the scriptures. Will they come to the realization one day that the event has already taken place and convert to Christianity? That would not be the proper order of things. Islam and the Torah will first have to be reconciled. Nothing is impossible to God, the Most High.
What about the Christians, which were once one church – “one flock and one shepherd”? It is difficult to conceive since, every now and then, it becomes more divided. In the beginning, there were fundamental differences, like the first breakaway group insisting that God was one person, not three. Since then, there has been fragmentation over a group of prelates insisting that we are saved by grace alone. After that, the deletion of a single word in a verse in the Bible thus: Christ said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” A prelate decided to delete “not,” thus a new religious sect was born, etc. etc. Will these divisions ever come together? Yes, they will. Nothing is impossible to God, the Most High.
Three things all the Christian religious sects agree upon. Christ, the only Son of God, was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And so, all of us celebrate Christmas with festive joy. And, we are all agreed that He suffered and died on a cross on Good Friday, when we are properly somber and solemn. And, finally, we know that He arose on the third day, so, this coming Sunday, we, the people of God who are called Christians, will celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Happy Easter to all and to all, a good night.