Islam's Allah is NOT the same as the Christianity's God with a different story

[harbl_the_cat]

Thought I'd add as well there are some other major related differences between The Bible and the Koran.

One is the story of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah.

The Bible describes Abraham sending away Hagar (the Egyptian slave to Sarah, who Sarah had instructed Abraham to impregnate as she was barren) with her son Ishmael. Whereas the Koran implies that he sent away Sarah and her son Isaac.

According to the Bible, while Ishmael was to be blessed and to have a great nation, it was not through him that God's covenant with Abraham would be fulfilled to bless all nations (as Christians we believe is through his seed, Jesus), rather, the Bible describes that he would constantly quarrel with his brothers, the descendants of Isaac (the Jews).

I believe Islamic tradition holds that Ishmael is the father of the Arab nations, while Isaac is the father of the Jews - which is ironic, because given that the story was set 3800 years ago much of that time, especially to the past few centuries, has been characterized by quarrels between the Jews and Arabs.

There are some broader, theological implications to this story I'm sure I'm missing - but one thing that is encouraging is that the scriptures both affirm the fact that modern day Arabs, the large majority of whom are Muslims, are actually "brothers" of the Jews, and to thus brothers to those of us who believe in the Holy Trinity and are adopted children of God through the divine nature of Christ.

Honey, I too am quite sceptical of "organized religions" more so due to my distrust of large, entrenched institutional organizations period. For me, the stories in the Bible are utterly fascinating (and incredibly entertaining). I find it funny when there's a stereotype of Christians as the prudish, passive, goody-two-shoes, when the scriptures are chalk full of stories of destruction, violence, sex, betrayal, sorrow, joy, and ultimately victory and triumph of good over evil.

Oddly enough, I think one of the most accurate portrayals of a "Christian" who lives by Scripture is that of Shepard Book from the TV show Firefly (even though that's not entirely accurate and opening up a huge can of worms).