[anasawad]

so .its christmas season now, and as everyone knows churches all together start performing a daily prayers these days .
mostly for peace and spreading brotherhood, harmony and love between the people .
soo here in lebanon obviously these prayers are far more spread than many other countries since lebanon has been under active aggression from
multiple sides since over 40 years .
now since my wife (lina) is a christian .since our relationship began we agreed on respecting each others religions and leaving each
choise of faith to free well .and shes a russian orthodox so its very simillar to islam in all basic concepts (spiritually speaking)
and they also believe that the prophet mohammed and quran are from one true god and unlike other christian cults they
also like us believe jesus was a prophet like all others so it was very easly accepted by our families to go by with our relationship .
and since then .every year in christmas she would every christmas day go to the evening prayers .and i would go with her since i don't work on christmas thus have time .
now we usually go to saint dimitrious church and 've been noticing that all these years .i was not the only muslim going there and even from outside
both religions would also attend the prayers .basically those prayers in christmas season would be attended by many non-christians .
where the prayers would to god to bring peace and justice to our people and the world and in the same time help us overcome our differences and unite
all together and give us the ability to help others whether from our own society or from outside .
now at first a guy i know said that this is wrong and i am abandonning islam if i go to church .but then i asked a sheikh who is a relative of mine.
and he said that faith is for god and it is not restricted to a certain place .and whether i prayed to god in a church .at home .or at a mosque .
god is all giving and merciful and knows what i have in my heart.
then i asked a father (not sure the accurate calling in english) about me going to his church with my wife for the prayers and he said that the church is
not only for christians (its a roman orthodox church) but it is a sanctuary for all those to believe and follow god's way and the path of righteous .

and this year i looked up other churches here in lebanon and i asked family members in iran if its the same for the churches in our area's there as well .
and it turns out that in both places specially in christmas season .muslims and christians would join together and pray for god in churches .

so being here on this forum routinely .'ve come to a conviction that this is not the case for other countries and its either limited to us or atleast very rare elsewhere.
so i am wondering what is it that makes it so different between here and where ever else that here many muslims and christians join together
by the actual christmas spirit and even in other times whether in churches or mosques or any gathering places and make those stories you hear on TV look like a punch of lies while in other places muslims and christians sometimes barely stand each other and such acts nearly impossible to find ?

[Noelnada]

I don't know. I think religious followers are more segregated in Europe than in Lebanon but your story was cool to read. Myself i'm a monotheist but not Abrahamic, my girlfriend is atheist but we celebrate Christmas as the consumerist Western cultural tradition it has become, i actually hate consumerism but well...

Anyway it's always good to see people sharing positive experiences, faith or feeling together.

And as i'm living in pussy France for now, it was cool watching this on tv :

A dozen of Muslim men stood outside a church in France to protect Christians from any potential attacks during midnight Christmas Mass on Thursday.

Members of the Muslim community in Lens (Pas-de-Calais), northern France, arrived in one of the city’s churches to guard Christians, while they prayed and enjoyed their midnight mass on such a memorable holiday, Belgium’s RTL reported.

Abdelkader Aoussedj, President of the Federation of Muslim Associations of Nord-Pas-de-Calais said that it was a “strong gesture” of unity and tolerance between Muslims and Christians.

According to the same source, this symbolic initiative came after the French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called for strengthening security at the entrance of churches during Christmas Mass.

Hashim El Jazaoui, Secretary of the Union of Muslim Citizens (UCM) in Pas-de-Calais organized the initiative to protect Christians during their midnight mass.

“We want to say that we are all together. We are brothers. We are in the same boat. If the boat sinks, we all sink. If mentally ill people want to kill us, they will have to kill us all together,” El Jazaoui in a statement to I-Tele.

Brahim Aït Moussa, another member of UCM, commented on the demonstration of love and support.

“It’s above all – a message of love. Nowadays, we find it hard to tell people we love that we love them. We have a hard time to heart it too,” he said.

The warm gesture was received with gratitude by the clergy and the 200 Christians who attended last night’s mass.

Father Lemblé, in charge of the sermon at the Lens church, ended his prayer by giving the ‘Bethlehem light’, symbolizing peace to members of the Muslim community.

According to the same source, a woman who attended the midnight mass spoke to I-Tele and expressed her gratitude to Muslims.

“It was very good of them. They must be suffering a lot right now,” she said in reference to the Islamophobia resulting from the Paris attacks of November 13 that claimed the lives of 129 people and injured 350 others.

http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/12 ... tmas-mass/

[Nets]

since my wife (lina) is a christian .since our relationship began we agreed on respecting each others religions and leaving each
choise of faith to free well .and shes a russian orthodox so its very simillar to islam in all basic concepts (spiritually speaking)
and they also believe that the prophet mohammed and quran are from one true god and unlike other christian cults they
also like us believe jesus was a prophet like all others so it was very easly accepted by our families to go by with our relationship .

Can you please elaborate? If I am reading you correctly you are saying that Russian Orthos recognize the divine origin of the Quran, the prophethood of Mohamed, and the non-divinity of Jesus. There is simply no way any of this squares with Russian Orthodox doctrine.

[anasawad]

the cu;t believe that jesus and mohammed are prophets of god .
bible and quran are holy books .
and that there is one true divine god .
part of the russian orthodox do believe so .atleast the ones i met in belarus .
though this is not the topic

@noelnada
i recall same thing happened in egypt durning the rebellion,where muslims and christians protected each other
durning each's prayers.specially muslims protecting christians as christians came under targetted attacks at a certain point .

[anasawad]

the believe of unity of god and humanity of jesus is actually spreading within christians and it was already there since its the very early form of christianity.
and in smaller groups they believe that judaism,christianity,and islam came from one god and all key figures are prophets and their books holy books .
now whats the difference .?
look at it this way . those christians accept the quran is a holy book as even parts othe quran supports their opinions but they believe that either muslims are interpreting it wrong or muslims twisted it . same applies for muslims looking at christians and bible.
but generally speaking .spiritually both the same .
and now .ask the question did jesus die at the cross . ? and you'll have christians and muslims .
the general context is agreed upon atleast by some numbers .but the details is what makes the difference .

[noemon]

Can you please elaborate? If I am reading you correctly you are saying that Russian Orthos recognize the divine origin of the Quran, the prophethood of Mohamed, and the non-divinity of Jesus. There is simply no way any of this squares with Russian Orthodox doctrine.

Without wanting to imply anything regarding doctrinal technicalities and official creeds, you really need to read this book:



Review.

It's a really good book that will give you a proper glimpse of the dynamics between the Greeks, Jews and Muslims in a city like Salonica which was one of the largest Jewish cities in Europe.

It tells many stories like the celebration of St Dimitrios the Protector of the City which was celebrated by all inhabitants and the Rabbis and the Mullahs would attend the Christian Orthodox church during the feast causing the feast to become a multi-cultural party on the streets.

Lebanon is the closest thing to Salonica left in the neighborhood after the series of world wars. Also you will get a glimpse of your own heritage in the vicinity. as Salonica was the city that informed culturally & economically all the communities in the Balkans especially in Bulgaria, Romania & Yugoslavia.

[Ganeshas Rat]

the cu;t believe that jesus and mohammed are prophets of god .

Muslims believe that Jesus and Mohammed are prophets of God. Christians do not believe Mohammed is the prophet of God. Christians also cannot believe that Jesus is the prophet of God, not God himself, as it opposes the first words of the Credo, an article a man must fully agree in every word to be a Christian. If your acquaintances among Russian orthodox believers say different (including the acceptance of Islam as the religion of the same God) it only means they aren't true Russian orthodox Christians but more indefinite mysticians who think they are Russian orthodox Christians because they live in lands where Russian orthodox Christianity is traditional religion. According to standards of Russian orthodox Church, any other orthodox Church and any other Christian Church they are heretics.

However, Russian Orthodox Church (of Moscow Patriarchate) thinks it's a good idea for its believers to use mosques for prayers, if there is no other possibility, for example, if there is no Christian temples around. Don't know, how about other confessions.