Differences between Islam and Christianity (disciples, hell, myth, Muslims)

[TexasNick]

Saw a lot of posts and confusion about this, so I decided to make a new thread and post it in simple terms. Let me know if this helps some of you:

Islam is the second largest world religion, just behind Christianity. It has about 1.2 billion followers worldwide. Islam was founded by a man named Mohammad living in Arabia about 600 years after Christ. Mohammad was very upset about the polytheism that his people were practicing at the time, so he wanted to switch them over to "one god" because he believed that there is "no god, but God". So, Mohammad is the messenger of Allah.

So, can we say that Christians and muslims alike both believe in the same God? Yes, we can. Islam is an offshoot of the Judea Christian tradition. Mohammad was aware of Jews and Christians living in and around Arabia at the time and he admired these Christians because they were "people of the Book", he said. The Christians were monotheistic. Mohammad was in disagreement with the polytheistic beliefs of the Arab tribes that he lived with. He wanted to affirm, along with the Jews and CHristians, that there is only one God. SO, Islam is an offshoot of the Christian religion and is one of the great monotheistic religions in the world today.

So what is the relationship between "Allah" and "God"?

"Allah" is just the Arabic word for "God". In the Arabic New Testament, the word for "God" used in the New Testament by Christians is "Allah", as well. Verbally, it's the same word.

Muslims and Christians alike believe that God is a personal being who created the universe. He is all powerful, all knowing, all presence, eternal and holy and that all persons are responsible to God and that we all stand on the same footing. However. despite these areas of commonality, there are some radical differences, as well. One of the most important of these is that Islam is a form of unitarianism. Unitarianism is the belief that God is one person. By contrast with this concept, Christianity is trinitarianism--we believe that God is three persons-the Father (God), the Son(God in human form, aka Jesus), and the Holy Spirit(spirit).

It is also important to remember that Christianity was established immediately AFTER the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The disciples of Jesus, after seeing him rise from the dead, were so convinced that Jesus was God that they started the Christian movement. So, in other words, Christianity is sprang forth as a result of the disciples seeing evidence.

These are the main differences between Islam and Christianity.

Interesting fact: Asia contains the world's largest number of Christians today. I often hear people say things like "how is it fair that God will send people to hell for never hearing the Gospel?" The truth is is that today, more than ever in history, the proportion of people who have heard or will hear the Word of God from the Christian perspective is higher than ever in the history of mankind. Plus, with advent of the Internet, TV, print, media, etc the word spreads even faster. It's hard to find anyone in this world who is not aware of the Gospel. By the way, the Bible does not say that if you never hear the Gospel that you will go to hell. Another myth.