There has been discussion about whether the
Biblical God of Abraham is the same as the Christian God. I know many think He
is the same, but I think there is some confusion and the argument depends on
perspective. I would like to present my thoughts. I think what I will say is
also applicable to the argument that “we all have the same God.”
First we have to keep straight whether by the
term “God” we are referring to the ultimately true (Catholic) God or to the
concept of God within each human.
Catholics believe the Trinitarian God is and
always has been God of all. Our Catholic God is the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, three Persons and one Essence (CCC 253). But the other perspective of “god” would
be from a human person's point of view: what that person considers as his or her
spiritual creator and/or controller of him/herself and surroundings and
therefore worships. We know of examples of ancient Romans, Greeks or Native
Americans who believed in multiple gods, some of which supposedly created then
others who controlled fertility, rain, etc. Yet we Christians believe our
Trinitarian God was ultimately their God because He was the one who really
created and sustained their lives even though they didn’t know or worship Him
as He is. We don't consider their concept of God to be correct and therefore
from our perspective they worshipped false gods. Catholics believe humans are
affected by fallen nature and deception is part of that. Perhaps some of these
groups had inklings of the true God but others carried on with the false ones.
They may have even had interactions with demons through this false worship.
Ancient Jewish people worshiped one God, and
some still do, in the sense of one Person, the Father. When Moses asked His name, God answered “I am who I am” (Exodus
3:14), and said this would be his name forever (and He is 3 in one forever).
They believed “The Lord our God is One God” (Deuteronomy 6:4). I believe that
from the current Christian perspective, the God that interacted with Abraham
and Moses and the Old Testament Israelites before Christ came to Earth was the
true God, our God. I believe because of the revelation of the Bible which is
the inspired book of my faith and because the Father had an especially close
relationship with the Israelites since Christ was born from that people. On the
other hand, our true God allowed the Israelites at that time to think of Him as
one Person, which was not fully complete. He acts with His own purpose and the
time had not come to fully reveal Himself. In the belief of the people, He was
a different God than ours, even though there were references to the Spirit and
the Messiah in the Old Testament. Even though they pictured Him differently
from what He really is, I don't think He would have considered them worshiping
a false God since it is what He told them and probably knew they would not
understand the concept of 3 in one at that time. Later, however, God speaks
of a New Covenant with His people, which is repeated by Christ in His last
supper: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you”
(Luke 22:20).
I believe since Christ came, whoever hears of Him is to worship the true God as a Trinitarian God and in no other way. Though we will never understand God fully, we believe He has revealed His nature and made it plain He wants all of us to believe in Jesus Christ as a Person of the Trinitarian God, our Savior from our sins. We still suffer from the fallen nature. From the Christian perspective, to worship God as only one Person is wrong. The human who holds that belief rejects two equally important Divine Persons who have one Essence. And therefore after a human person hears about Christ, to worship the Father alone is, from the perspective of the person who is worshiping him in that way, worshiping a different God than Christians are. To Christians, Jesus Christ is a Person of God. To non-Christians, He is not God.
This is why I also say that we can’t just let it
go at “we all have the same God.” Though the true God is ultimately the same,
what matters to each of our souls is that we declare Who our God is.
I think battles occur in the spiritual realm and
correct human belief and worship of God are very fundamental to these battles.
These days, human belief seems unimportant to many people. But I hold that what
ultimately matters to each human being is Who or what we believe and in turn
how we worship and speak.
