I am writing a paper on the similarities and differences between Islam and Christianity. If the "core value" of Islam is submission, what is the "core value" of Christianity?
My working hypothesis is love, but I'm seeking suggestions (preferably before my paper's due date, a week from tomorrow :-), but if you have an idea later, feel free to post it for our edification!)
7 comments:
What about grace? I have heard once that grace was what defined Christianity as different from the other religions, for the following reasons:
a) Most other religions require works to be saved--God gave us grace(how many "do's" and "do not's" are there in Islam again?(pray five times a day, recite the "creed", fast, give alms, ...?).
b) It is grace that Jesus died on the cross in our place; I once heard an amusing acronym--GRACE=God's Riches At Christ's Expense(never heard of Muhammad dying for the saving of his people).
c) It is God's grace to all people on earth that we are still on this earth and not swept to heaven, for we can spread the gospel(good news) to all who do not yet believe; letting them know of the eternal life and joy in Christ they may have should they trust in God's gift of amazing grace, Jesus Christ(as far as I know, in Islam, there is no grace like that).
d) The gift of the Holy Spirit is grace too: instead of just leaving us to try and spread the gospel on our own(which Allah told his disciples to do through Muhammad), God gave the Counselor to us for our growth and for aiding us in our weakness. Also, for when our faith dwindles, the Holy Spirit is our knowledge that we are "sealed for the day of redemption".
e) By grace we are adopted as sons and daughters, and are given the same inheritance as those in God's family. Instead of being subservient to God as master, we respect Him as children adopted by grace.
And.....that is all I got for now. I might come up with more later, but I hope this helps for now!
--Josiah C.
Funny-I chose love for many of the same reasons you chose grace!
a) God's love for us is the main difference between our religion and others' (certainly between Christianity and Islam!)
FYI, there are 5 pillars of Islam-praying 5 times/day, pilgrimage, gifts to the needy, profession of faith and fasting (in no particular order).
b) "It is grace that Jesus died on the cross in our place;" -true, but he died there for (because of) love!
c) (I hadn't thought of this one specifically)
d-e) Again-grace because of love
Love is the motivation behind God's gifts of grace! :-)
Hahaha, yes indeed. 'Tis true that grace is because of love. You have a great working hypothesis; why would you need suggestions? :)
Seriously, though, what differences are we looking for? That would change our perspective.....for example: if we were tracing behavioral differences, then we would look to our reactions to God versus Islam's reactions. In which case, love would be perfect, as our God responds to us with love, unlike Allah--who requires subservience. But if we were tracing doctrine differences, we would look to how our truth is different than Islam. So for that: we live according to the law of grace, not works. And if we were tracing the nature of God versus Allah; God came down to earth, made himself a man, and continues to lead and protect His people. On the other hand, Muslims consider it tantamount to sacrilege to think that God could condescend, and their thought line follows more of the "God left us here with His rules, and if we follow them on our own power we can meet Him in heaven".
But do you see what I mean? If we change the parameters of "core value", then the main differences also change. I say that if love is what you thought of, it is quite correct and you are right in pursuing it as a main difference. But another thing you could do is show a couple main differences and why each of them makes Christianity markedly different than Islam. Do whatever you think is best, though--I am sure your paper will turn out fine. :)
--Josiah C.
P.S. Ah, that was the pillar I missed--the pilgrimage. I took the World Religions CLEP test not so long ago, but I forgot that one already....:)
Basically, if you could say/summarize Islam in one word, it would be submission. If you could "say" Christianity in one word, what would it be?
The one definite benefit of using grace over love is it is less likely to be misunderstood. "Love" has so many connotations these days :-(. I did define it, though, which helps (I hope!).
'Tis true, love is a loose term lately--it is good that you defined it. But I guess that love is probably the best term that "summarizes" Christianity. I always have trouble with summarizing, I have to have the complete(ish) definition, so I would have far too many words. God, predestination, love, grace, mercy, sacrifice, faith, sanctification, glorification, perfection, eternity, shekhinah(presence of God). All those come to my head at once when I think of "summarizing", and I cannot seem to prioritize too well....because all are true(though some are less central than others); however you could write a paper on many. For example, if we picked "sacrifice", we could go on the thesis that Jesus sacrificed Himself for us, which brought about the law of grace, and is technically(I say technically, not realistically) when Christianity began--and as a result of His sacrifice, we out of joy present ourselves as living sacrifices before Him. But if we are going for complete roots, our entire religion is there only because God loved us enough to send His Son to die for us. So, all that said, I think that radically(at the roots), your thesis is the most correct.
Well, whatever. Like I said: "Do whatever you think is best, though--I am sure your paper will turn out fine." :)
I hope you do well on your paper!
--Josiah C.
P.S. I forgot already if I put my name on my comment above(your next latest post), but that comment is mine. Then again, that should be pretty obvious--the writing style is mine, and I have commented on almost all of your posts. :)
I think you are right in pursuing "love" as the core of Christianity. It was love that motivated God to start the wonderful story, and it is love on our part that motivates us to obey and imitate him.
That is motivation, but I think, if you're looking for the practicality of what Christianity looks like on the outside, I would say it is Service. That is, Christ came not to be served, but to serve (motivated by love), and we now imitate Christ by serving others (through love). So everything goes back to love, but I think one of the main "pillars" of Christianity is Service. And this is not the "go stack chairs and do children's ministry and be at every church event possible" service. This is the service that we do out of love for God. Our aim is to imitate Christ, and he was the ultimate servant. So we're not to busy ourselves with /doing/ service, but we are to change our perspective so that we LOVE other people. Thus, we put other people's interests in front of our own (the definition of love), and we are to serve them in any way that would benefit them. In this way would we most imitate Christ.
How did this paper go, by the way? And what did you go for(thesis-wise)?
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