A Theological Method of Making Money
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A while back, our local newspaper and TV station both became temporarily obsessed with a sign posted by Pastor Chris Ashley outside the Cowan Road Baptist Church in Gulfport, Mississippi. The sign said, "Jesus is Lord, Allah is Satan." There was a reference to Joshua 14, but I forget what verse it was. Pastor Ashley reportedly proposed to debate anyone, include a couple of devout Muslims who attempted to set him straight, about this assertion. As I understand it, the debate was held in a public forum. The Muslim gentlemen learned a lesson about debating religious subjects with an islamophobic Baptist preacher.
For the record, the Christian concept of God is contained in the Nicene Creed, proposed by the Council of Nicaea in 325 that was convened by Roman Emperor Constantine to settle some Christian theological squabbles that he felt were disturbing the peace. This God is, of course, the same one worshipped by Jews, including Jesus of Nazareth, since the time of Abraham. Since the New Testament hadn't been written yet, the attendees didn't have a Christian bible to which they could refer (especially not the King James Version that Pastor Ashley supposedly uses), although the Old Testament they used was a good bit longer. The Council adopted the following definition: "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible." Most Christians have been living with this definition ever since.
One of the squabbles that the Council was convened to address was the identity of Jesus. The Council defined the "Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father [the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God,] Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; By whom all things were made [both in heaven and on earth]..."
About 300 years or so later, the Prophet Mohammed began publishing his assertion that this very same Judeo-Christian "one God," to whom he referred as "Allah," had a whole bunch of truly superlative attributes. I found some of them in the Koran and published them here, but there may be some that I missed. The word "one" appears on this list 21 times. Anyway, Pastor Ashley's sign asserted that all these attributes refers to the being he calls "Satan," apparently an entirely different Satan than the bearded gray one cast out of heaven by Michael the Archangel, both of whom are represented by a statue in our church.
Some time later, I was talking to a fellow Catholic about this dichotomy. She informed me that Muslims worship a different god because they call their God "Allah" and we call our god "God." Thus, she reasoned, there have to be two of them, even though (most) Christians and Muslims are firmly convinced that there is only one. I expressed my opinion that having two names (like John and Johnny Lindorfer) does not imply two different beings, but she was adamant. Apparently having two names produces two different gods.
This gave me an idea!
I commonly refer to the 100 dollar denomination Federal Reserve Note, shown above, as a "Hundred Dollar Bill." Some people I know refer to it as a "Franklin." I rarely carry more than one (!) of them around at a time. Now, if having two different names for God produces two different gods, what would happen if I put one of these things in a box and then called it a "Franklin" and then a "Hundred Dollar Bill?" Would I have two bills in the box? Hmmmmm!
So I got a cardboard box, put exactly one 100 dollar denomination Federal Reserve Note in it, and then announced in a loud voice, "I am now going to reach into this here box and pull out a Franklin," which I did!
So far, so good!
Then, I announced in an equally loud voice, "I am now going to reach into this here box and pull out a hundred dollar bill..."
RATS! Obviously, I'm doing something wrong.
I wish I could find my friend to find out what it is.
Do you suppose she's hiding?