Question
Hello Gramps,
I am deeply struggling with my belief. I am very confused as to who should I worship. I read in Quran that we need to only worship God and that God has no partners (it is also written in the 10 commandments). I am just wondering why do we worship Jesus and consider Jesus as part of the Godhead? Couldn’t God the Father have done everything on his own since He has all power? Can He be both just and merciful? Why does Jesus have to be in the middle of our salvation?
Sari
Answer
Sari,
First of all, I’d like to honor you for expanding your horizons by looking into other religions and seeing what other beliefs there are out there.
There are many similarities between virtually all religions. Primarily, a belief in a supreme being or “state of being” and a code of ethics. But if you believe they are all able to harmonize perfectly (e.g., Islam and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) then you’re saying that all religions are really one big religion. As much as I’d like to welcome people from all faiths to worship with us, I’m afraid the idea that the two faiths are compatible in a single belief system, simply cannot be.
Islam requires that all people proclaim that “there is no Lord but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.” This requirement alone should separate Islam from every other faith on the planet. No Jew, no Christian, and to be honest, no one outside of Islam (that I’m aware of) would say that Muhammad was a prophet divinely instructed to write the Quran as the primary work of scripture from God to man. And when you go into Christianity, Jesus is not just a prophet. He is the Son of God — even God, himself. This is a difference that cannot be reconciled.
So, what can we reconcile? You asked about the power of God being so great that he could just come up with something else? The answer to that is: apparently not. But he can’t do some things in Islam either.
What makes something right or wrong? God simply says so? Can’t he just say that there is no wrong? There is no sin? Why declare anything evil at all? If he’s all powerful, can’t he just let us do whatever we want and have it all be okay? Why must we worship him or even acknowledge him? Can’t he be perfectly happy without our worship? Can’t we become everything good and holy without having to worship him? Can’t he save us in complete ignorance? Why even bother declaring that he is God? Why can’t we believe everything is God and we are all gods? This is blasphemy in Islam. Why? Isn’t he all powerful? Can’t he declare it to NOT be blasphemy?
But we know in our very natures that there is a right. There is a wrong. Some things are changeable for the circumstance. And some things are eternal. As mortal beings we simply do not see enough to be able to determine on our own what can be changed and what is eternal. If we depend on man’s wisdom, there is no logic that cannot be countered by someone else’s logic. That is why we must depend on God to tell us the very nature of these fundamental truths. And we find these truths in scriptures, in prayer, and from his living oracles.
In Christianity there are things that are sins. And sins separate us from God. And if we are separate from Him, He cannot help us. A mediator is one who is NOT separated from God, and he is not separated from us either. So, he can help us become reconciled to God. Once reconciled, justice and mercy are balanced. And that is exactly what Jesus was.
To learn more about the doctrine of the Atonement of Christ would take much more time than is appropriate for a typical article. But you’re welcome to continue asking about various aspects of the doctrine. And I’ll try my best to answer them.
Gramps
