This is the third installment of my series on Faith and Families. These weekly videos are generally based on the lectionary passages for the upcoming Sunday and seek to find ways families can discuss passage, along with providing a family activity that relates to the message. This week we are going off lectionary to explore Christianity and Islam’s view of God.
Who is God?
Christianity and Islam have different, but not opposing, answers. In this video and in the text below, I explore the essence of their answers.
God in Christianity
There is a verse in the New Testament that claims “God is love.” It’s one of only two passages in the New Testament that define God. The other passage states, “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.”
Love is how Christianity defines God. For the New Testament, God’s love is universal. As Jesus says, it extends even to those we call our enemies.
God is defined as love in the New Testament, but how does the New Testament define love? If you’ve ever been to a wedding, you’ve heard 1 Corinthians 13. It goes like this:
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
A Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice: 