It’s a little too pat say that Christians and Muslims “understand God differently.” Well, of course they do, but there’s a huge difference between not having enough information–ignorance, basically–and flat-out rejecting the information that’s available. Christians and Muslims, if they are faithful to their sacred writings, don’t just “understand God differently.” They reject the fundamental truths about God that the other religion asserts. This is not at its root a problem of understanding, but of disagreement.
And it’s not wrong to say this. If we truly desire to respect the other person, we need to take his beliefs seriously and not try to gloss over them or shoehorn them into our categories. I think it’s fair to say he isn’t doing that for us–nor should he.
About Stan Guthrie
Stan Guthrie is an editor at large for Christianity Today magazine and for the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. His latest book is God's Story in 66 Verses. He also is author of All that Jesus Asks: How His Questions Can Teach and Transform Us, Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century, and A Concise Guide to Bible Prophecy. He is co-author of The Sacrament of Evangelism. Besides authoring, writing, and editing books, Stan is a literary agent, bringing together good authors, good books, and good publishers.
Stan writes the monthly Priorities colum for BreakPoint.org. He has appeared on National Public Radio's Tell Me More, WGN's Milt Rosenberg program, and many Christian shows, including The Eric Metaxas Show and Moody Radio's New Day Florida. A licensed minister and an inspirational speaker, he served as moderator for the Christian Book Expo panel discussion, Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?
