Christianity and Islam: Differences Simplified

The above two tables were adapted from a Canadian web site named Religious Tolerance.org. That site shows marked bias favoring Islam. Many of its characterizations of Christian and Islamic faith are in error. Corrections have been made where appropriate. It would be instructive to look at that site to see how badly Christianity is represented, and how Islam is favored.)

Yes, there are similarities. But many characteristics that appear to be similarities are really differences:

For example...

Muslims believe in the same God. A similarity? Not if the god had no son, whose helper is Muhammad and not the Holy Spirit, and not a god whose primary attribute is love instead of submission, deception, and conquest.

Muslims believe in Christ. A similarity? Not if he is only believed to be a prophet and not a Savior. Not if He never died on the cross. Not if He is just below Muhammad in importance.

Both Christianity and Islam are 'religions of peace'. A similarity? Not if Islamic "peace" is only achieved when all non-Muslims submit to Islam.

Both Christianity and Islam respect the rule of law. A similarity? Not if the legal system Islam promotes (Sharia) as the basis for laws is entirely different. Regarding democracy, the Islamic Prime Minister of Turkey recently proclaimed: "You ride it until you arrive at your destination, then you step off."

"End Times" differences:

The Islamic "Mahdi" and the Christian "Anti-Christ"

Chilling and ominous. From a religious perspective, from either side, both the Islamic as well as the Christian viewpoints, there is clear evidence from the texts of both religions: The Christian "savior" (Messiah) is the Islamic anti-Christ, and the Islamic savior (Mahdi) is the Christian anti-Christ.

Why is this just now being understood? Until now, prevailing end times interpretations focused on the evils of the Holy Roman Empire - often focused on the medieval corruption within the Catholic church. The predominant Euro-centrism of Bible scholars is the best explanation, along with their reliance on theologians coming out of the reformation and looking for Biblical justification to discredit the Catholic Church. End times interpretation historically had the anti-Christ coming out of that corrupt millieu. Western civilizations maintained westernized interpretations of Christianity.

These interpretations ignored the obvious significance of the Middle East in matters of eschatology - the study of end times prophecies. Since all three major world religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - originated in the middle east, in retrospect this was not the most brilliant approach.

We now have the rising of an ideological movement cloaked as a "religion" that by comparison, makes the medieival Catholic church appear as pure as Girl Scouts. One Bible and Islamic scholar, Joel Richardson (a pen name acquired after death threats from Muslims) finally made the connection. His review of both Christian and Islamic scriptures results in an eschatological paradigm shift from a Euro-centric to a Midde-east-centered basis of interpreation, where it belongs - and where the pieces fit together much more rationally.

Richardson's two books on the topic "Anti-Christ: Islam's Awaited Messiah" and the updated version "The Islamic Anti-Christ" provide a full and compelling analysis supporting this revision of our age-old model for understanding end times. Both Christians and Muslims will gain much from reading Richardson's study.

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