I would like
to address another one (actually two) of Catholic apologist John Martignoni’s
newsletter articles, namely:
Newsletter
#496 (Part 1) which can be found here:
And #497 (Part
2) which is here:
Now John, as
a faithful son of the Catholic Church, is in the unenviable position of having
to do what I would call damage control for the Church. I’ve seen Catholic apologists like John and
others who struggle on the front lines in the apologetics war to try and
reconcile what the Church is saying when it is not so clear in its official
teachings.
Case in
point is paragraph #841 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“The Church’s relationship with the
Muslims. ‘The plan of salvation also
includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are
the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us
they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.’” (CCC# 841)
Ok, so John
Martignoni takes us on somewhat of a rollercoaster ride – at times seemingly defending
the spiritual status of the Muslims and at other times, questioning it.
In Part 1,
John quotes paragraph #841 and then states:
“In other
words, the Church teaches – at least in the Catechism – that Muslims do indeed
worship the same God as Christians.
However, that is not a doctrinal
teaching of the Church…” (Emphasis added)
Not a
doctrinal teaching? That’s a strange
thing to say for a Catholic apologist. If
it comes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, I would think that it is indeed doctrine. On what basis does John Martignoni say such a
thing? Why would paragraph #841 NOT be a
doctrine of the Catholic Church?
In at least
one Catholic Answers article, it
explains:
“In general,
doctrine is all Church teaching in matters of faith and morals.”
See here:
https://www.catholic.com/qa/what-is-the-difference-between-doctrine-and-dogma
And I think
that this is the general consensus of the Catholic Church.
So, does
this mean that the salvation referred to in paragraph #841 is NOT about faith
and morals? What about the
“acknowledging the Creator” part, or the “faith of Abraham,” or the “mankind’s
judge” part? Aren’t these obviously about
faith and morals? I would think yes,
absolutely!
By Whose Authority?
So, who has
given John Martignoni the authority to declare that this paragraph in the
Catechism is not about matters of
faith and morals? I’m pretty sure that
the Catholic Magisterium (Church leaders) would disagree with him.
Then John
goes on to state, “… it is my belief that Muslims do indeed worship the same
God as Catholics. However, they
obviously have serious misunderstandings about the God they worship. But a misunderstanding about the nature of
God does not constitute worshipping a false god… Just because they have
erroneous beliefs about God, it doesn’t mean they are actually worshipping a different
God.”
So, in other
words, John is saying that the Muslims do indeed worship the true God of the
Bible, but they are just doing it in an incomplete and deficient way, like the
Samaritan woman in John 4:22.
Martignoni’s Dilemma
A little
later in this newsletter, John Martignoni says that the Muslims “profess” to
hold the faith of Abraham, but he then says, “Just because they claim it,
doesn’t make it true.” I would agree
wholeheartedly with John here. But (in
spite of what the Catechism says) he seems to be doubting the Muslims’ relationship
with God here. The language used in Paragraph
#841 in the Catechism seems to strongly indicate that Muslims are indeed
“brothers” with Catholics – for example, they “adore” the same God as the
Catholic Church does.
To further
demonstrate this idea, here is a quote from former pope John Paul II:
“As I have
often said in other meetings with Muslims, your God and ours is one and the
same, and we are brothers and sisters in the faith of Abraham. Thus it is natural that we have much to
discuss concerning true holiness in obedience and worship to God.” (Address of
Pope John Paul II to the participants in the Colloquium on “Holiness in Christianity and Islam” in Rome,
Thursday 9 May 1985)
And again,
Pope John Paul II later states:
“Today I
would like to repeat what I said to young Muslims some years ago in Casablanca:
‘We believe in the same God, the one God, the living God, the God who created
the world and brings his creatures to their perfection.’” (John Paul II to a
general audience, Wednesday 5, May 1999)
So, if
Catholics and Muslims are “brothers and sisters” and if you both believe in and
adore “the same God,” “the one God,” “the living God,” then according to the
former pope AND the Catechism, you (Catholics and Muslims) must both be believers and both in right standing with God, right,
John?
But I don’t
think that John is comfortable with that idea. I agree with him that Muslims are not in right
standing with God, but doesn’t he have to comply with his Church and isn’t he
obligated to agree with its doctrines?
John is
correct to suggest that Muslim teaching does not line up with the (biblical)
faith of Abraham. It’s tough when the
Church puts you on the spot, isn’t it John?
In doing this, the Church is setting up its apologists for failure. You shouldn’t have to clean up their mess. But regretfully, John, you still choose to
remain with the Catholic Church.
The Plan of Salvation
But then
John Martignoni is forced to nuance paragraph #841 by stating:
“Saying that
the Muslims are included in the plan of salvation is not the same thing as
saying the Muslims are saved.”
And he goes
on to mention (as examples) the Assyrians capturing the northern tribes of
Israel, the Egyptians enslaving the Israelites, and the scribes and Pharisees
arranging Jesus’ crucifixion. He says
this to prove that none of these were godly, yet even these guys were included
in the “plan of salvation” in the sense that they helped bring about the
ultimate plan of God.
Come on,
John, you can do better than that! First, I already demonstrated that the
language of paragraph #841 and the language of Pope John Paul II is clear that
you Catholics and the Muslims are “brothers and sisters.”
Secondly,
saying that the “plan of salvation” includes all these people that you
mentioned does nothing to prove your case.
If you want to go that route, we could say that every human on earth is part of the “plan of salvation,” since
Jesus (because of OUR sin) had to die for ALL OF US. We all played a part in it – according to
Scripture, we have all sinned (Romans 3:23), so, in a sense, we
all had a part in Calvary – it’s just that we humans played a very negative and
embarrassing part! So your argument is
meaningless, John. It reduces your
definition of the “plan of salvation” to nonsense.
I agree that
Muslims are not “brothers” with Christians, but you have a dilemma in defending
your Church. Both the Catechism and the
former pope are teaching Catholic
doctrine because they are both addressing faith and morals.
Times of Ignorance
In the
second newsletter mentioned (Part 2), John Martignoni asks:
“So the Jews
of the Old Testament did not worship the real God? It wasn’t the real God that gave the Jews the
Old Testament Scriptures? It wasn’t the
real God that divided the Red Sea? It
wasn’t the real God that fed them in the desert with manna from Heaven? It wasn’t the real God that created Adam and
Eve along with the rest of the universe?”
To answer
John’s question, of course it was the real God, the biblical God, who did all
those things in the Old Testament.
Although the Jews truly worshipped the real God as best they could, they
could only do so with a limited understanding (John 4:21-24). But once they met the Savior (who is the very
image of the Father), they could then begin to know and understand the Father
much better.
But before
Jesus came to earth, they didn’t know the exact identity of the Savior of
mankind. They had many passages in the
Old Testament that pointed to this Messiah, but they weren’t expected to know
what we know today from the New Testament.
All they had was the “faith of Abraham,” which looked forward to the
promise of the Jewish Messiah.
But the Jews
of the Old Testament were allowed to
worship the real God while in a certain amount of ignorance:
“And the times of this
ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.” (Acts
17:30)
But all we (i.e.,
all mankind) have no excuse today! The gospel of Jesus Christ has pretty much
been spread throughout the world, with very few exceptions, I think. So the Jew, the Muslim, the Zoroastrian, the
Sikh, the Buddhist, the Hindu, the witch doctor in the deepest and darkest part
of Africa – everyone who is searching for spiritual truth – now has possible access
to the gospel of Jesus Christ. God
promises that if you humbly and truly reach out to Him, He will make a way for
you to find Him (Acts 17: 27; Romans 1:18-20).
So this gives no one an excuse to wrongly worship Him today, Muslim or
otherwise.
Misunderstood God or False God?
In Part 2, John
also made this statement:
“Even if the
worship of Muslims, and Jews, is not pleasing to God, that still doesn’t mean
those whose worship is not pleasing to Him are somehow worshipping some other
God. It simply means, again, that their
worship is deficient. I don’t understand
why some believe improper worship of God necessarily equates to worshipping a
different God. Where does Scripture say
that deficient worship of the one true God = worshipping a false God?”
In answering
that question, the apostle Paul was grieved with the church at Corinth, who
seemed to be eager to accept almost any message from almost anyone, and he told
them:
“But I
fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so
your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For
if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit,
which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye
might well bear with him.”
(2 Corinthians 11:3-4)
Notice that
Paul complained that the Corinthians were quick to accept “another Jesus,”
“another spirit,” or “another gospel.”
You see, not every “gospel” message has the right “spirit,” or the right
“Jesus.” It’s a package deal. And take note – Paul didn’t say that they were
trying to worship the correct Jesus, just
in a deficient way – he calls it another
Jesus, thus pointing out that they were committing idolatry.
If one is
not preaching the right Jesus, he is not preaching the right gospel. Just calling the one you’re worshipping
“Jesus,” doesn’t make it Him.
The Muslim
“Jesus” (“Isa” in Arabic) is a holy prophet, but not the Son of God. They
agree that he did great works and even miracles, but he did not die on the cross to save mankind.
This is, by
definition, another Jesus, i.e., a
false one.
If you are
praying to the Muslim “Jesus,” you are praying to a false god. You can call it Jesus if you want to, but it
is not the Jesus of the Bible. It is not
just a “deficient” worship, it would be idolatry.
Conclusion
Of course,
we know that no one has perfect worship.
All worship of God is deficient to some
extent. No one knows God, or the things
of God, perfectly or completely. But
certain things about God are absolutely necessary to believe in order to truly
worship Him. Our worship of Him is
totally dependent on recognizing both the person
and work of Jesus Christ on
Calvary. Only then can you truly worship
the Father.
The apostle
John said:
“That
all men should honour
the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son
honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.” (John 5:23)
For proper
worship, you need the Father AND the Son.
Again, you can’t have one without the other, or you end up with neither. (1 John 2:23; 2 John 1:9)
The
apostle Paul gives us a stern warning about the message he first presented to
the Galatians:
“But though
we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which
we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say
I now again, If any man preach
any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”
(Galatians 1:8-9)
Whoever
doesn’t believe in Paul’s original gospel message and his original Jesus is
utterly condemned. The Muslims may
believe in a “Jesus” (and a particular “gospel” that goes along with it), but
they do not have the biblical message
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, because they don’t recognize His true person and
work.
Christians
worship the God who inspired the Bible, Muslims worship the god who inspired
the Qur’an. Two different messages
altogether. Therefore, they DON’T have
the same God as the Christians do.
This refutes
the claim of the Catholic Catechism and Pope John Paul II. Muslims are guilty of idolatry in the eyes of
God and the Catholic Church will be held accountable for the part they played
in deceiving the Muslims.
See also
this article on the topic of the Muslim god and the Christian God:
https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2010/10/same-god.html
