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Jensen tells of Islam-Christian split
A SYDNEY church leader has used a Good Friday address to tell his congregation that Christianity and Islam cannot both lead to God.Compare with the Catholic view "NOSTRA AETATE" 3. The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth,(5) who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting. Since in the course of centuries not a few quarrels and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Moslems, this sacred synod urges all to forget the past and to work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom. Anglican Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen told a service at St Andrew's Cathedral that Islam denies some of the Christian beliefs about Jesus. Islam views Jesus as a prophet but does not believe he was the son of God who died on Good Friday to save humanity from its sins and was resurrected on Easter Sunday. "Now that Islam has become more common in our society, you need to know the difference between Christianity and Islam," he said. "For the Koran, and therefore Islam, denies that Christ dies." But Dean Jensen said that the two religions cannot both be right. "Either both are wrong or one is right and the other is wrong," hw said. "But both of them cannot be right." Bishop of South Sydney Robert Forsyth said the comments were in no way inflammatory towards Muslims, but instead were an attack on the naive who believed all religion was the same. "What he was attacking was not Muslims," Archbishop Forsyth said. "The thing he was attacking was the unwise who people think that all religions are part of the same thing so he was attacking the seculars." Posted by: tipper 2006-04-14 |
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