More to the point, why does Islam ignore God’s promises to Abraham? God promised Abraham two things regarding present day Arabs. First, through Abrahams’s son Ishmael, God promised to create and did create a great nation of people. The second promise however is much greater for it points the way toward paradise.
To be considered righteous before our Creator is the base-longing of every major religion in the world. Most humans recognise that we are fundamentally flawed. Religion is human kind’s attempt, by our own effort to make ourselves right. That however is a hopeless task. That is why God came to earth in the form of Jesus to set us on the right path. Jesus taught that only those who place their faith in Creator God for the granting of righteousness and for the possession of salvation are acceptable to Creator God. Abraham knew this.
“Abraham believed God and he was counted as righteous in God’s eyes because of that faith.”
It was not until 430 years later that God added rules regarding how we should live. Notice that:
. Before the rules came faith
. Before circumcision came faith
. Abraham was considered righteous before God without keeping a bunch of rules.
. Faith is what God wanted then, and still wants today.
. Faith leads not to rules but to freedom from rules.
Because of human nature, acceptance by God through our faith is what we DON’T want. We
want rules because rules lay it out clearly who is and who is not doing what they should.
Muslims are firm on this count.
According to Muslims, salvation will be found by keeping rules - to the letter - or by being killed while killing infidels but most Muslims won’t take the opportunity to do that. Both Muslims and Christians agree that God is good to us. Muslims however want to believe the God is good to them because they have worked so hard at keeping His rules. Muslims, like those in ALL man-made religions want to believe that God somehow owes the best of us a place in paradise.
. It doesn’t matter to Muslims what God promised to Abraham.
. It doesn’t matter to Muslims that Abraham’s righteousness was based solely on faith and not on keeping rules.
That’s a big problem.
Muslims say that they revere the prophet Jesus. But Jesus said that none of us are set right with God by rule-keeping.
Why?
Because we can’t do it!
How do we know we can’t do it?
Because we’ve tried - for thousands of years!
Rule keeping may for a time constrain our behaviour from without, but our heart remains the same. That's because our behaviours are governed by our motives and rules do nothing to change motives. Jesus frees us from the inside; He changes our heart, and through that our motives for living are also changed.
Of course, keeping rules is not in opposition to God’s promise of salvation. But keeping rules in and of itself cannot bring about salvation. Attempting to keep the rules of religion only serves to reveal our powerlessness to be “good” and it is this inability to be good that alienates us from God and shows us our need for salvation. If we could make ourselves righteous through the keeping of rules, then Jesus died for nothing.
. Atheists think that they can solve the problem by simply declaring themselves to be good.
. Mohammed thought he could solve the problem by simply saying that Jesus never died.
Accepting God’s Grace and placing our faith in that Grace is the single most difficult thing for a human to do. Abraham’s life was considered right before God NOT because of what he did (his moral failings were as consistent as for any of us), but because of
what he believed, because of Who he trusted.
. Muslims have rejected the relationship with God that Abraham laid out for us.
. Muslims have rejected the salvation FROM God that Jesus laid out for us.
All people of faith are children of Abraham. People of faith do not depend on the law, or on rules for being right with God. As a result, all those who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who also lived by faith. Anyone who tries to live by h/her own effort (which is actually trying to live independent of God), is doomed to failure.
Scripture confirms this, “Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out
every detail written in the Book of the law.” Because no one can ever perfectly keep the law, it should be obvious that no one can ever EARN God’s blessing / salvation. Yet Muslims are united in their efforts to keep trying and failing to keep the law. Washing and praying, praying and washing - over and over and over - day after day after day. Eating this but not eating that. Doing this while avoiding that. Scrupulously keeping as holy certain days or places as though those things stand any chance of changing who we are on the inside.
Abraham knew better. Those who are descended from Abraham’s children, both through Ishamael and Isaac stand to inherit God’s promise by faith - not by obeying rules.
The person who lives in a right relationship with God does so not by doing things FOR God but by accepting what God does for you. As Habakkuk said, “The righteous will live by faith.” Muslims fail to see that rule keeping
never leads to faith. It cannot because it’s the opposite of faith. In fact, a belief in rule keeping leads AWAY from faith and into ever more and greater efforts to keep the rules.
Keeping the law of God cannot save us because we cannot keep it!
Jesus, on the other hand, is the Way to an open relationship with God.
By rejecting God’s promise to their ancestor Abraham, Muslims are determined to prove the Prophet Jesus wrong.
Faith in God’s grace and mercy and promise is what separates Jesus the Christ and the religion that bears His title from all other religions, including the false teaching of Mohammed and Islam.
Muslims have rejected God’s promise to Abraham.
Why?
God only knows.
