Catholics in Malaysia refer to God as Allah

[LivingWordUnity]

The moon god's name was (of all things): Sin.

Here's a source on it that I just found:
Sin (Mesopotamian god) -- Encyclopedia Britannica

In the encyclopedia it says, "Nanna, the Sumerian name for the moon god, may have originally meant only the full moon, whereas Su-en, later contracted to Sin, designated the crescent moon...Sin was represented as an old man with a flowing beard—a wise and unfathomable god—wearing a headdress of four horns surmounted by a crescent moon."

This part is interesting since Islam's symbol is the crescent moon, and some people claim that Muhammad took the moon god and declared that this god was the almighty "Allah" in order to get the pagans to follow him. If Muhammad fused this religion with Judaism and made this moon god into Abraham's god then it would not be the same as our God.

 

[Zeek]

I think the problem with the name Allah is the pagan association, although over time it has become the generic Arabic word for G-d as witnessed by Arab Christians...although there are some groups that prefer not to use the word.

It is a bit like the followers of Baal calling what they believe is a god by the name Baal, and then it later being widely used to speak of the Almighty. It is interesting what was said about non-Moslems being forbidden to use the name 'Allah' in Malaysia ...and to my mind it is better to break all connections to the name even if it has transmogrified into a widely used Arabic word for G-d.

The point in all this is that Moslems absolutely do not worship or acknowledge the G-d of the Bible, but many believe they have accepted a doppleganger through Satanically inspired revelations received by Mohammed and recorded through Qur'anic writings, the Hadith and other commentaries. This ties in very much with Paul's warning in Galatians 1:8.
But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!
It is poignant that Mohammed claimed his revelations came from the angel Gabriel.

 

[DiligentlySeekingGod]

I just saw this in the News & Current Events forum: Malaysian court to Christians: You can't say 'Allah'.

Here's the link: http://www.christianforums.com/t7829354/

 

[LoAmmi]

Duly noted. I honestly didn't know how to address the Jewish people who do not believe in Jesus as the Son of God. If they deny Jesus as the Son of God, it only stands to reason that they would also deny the Holy Spirit. Thank you for addressing this issue for me. I truly appreciate it very much. God bless you.

I'll go ahead and answer this for you, although every time I try to describe this I get at least one Christian swooping in to tell me my understanding is wrong so please understand that I am not a theologian of your religion.

We do not believe in a Trinity. For us, there one G-d, who is not three persons or parts or however else it is to be described. So, yes, we would not accept the concept of Father, Son, Holy Spirit because it is foreign to our entire concept of Him, as we believe He revealed to us in the Torah and though the Prophets.

I do, however, believe that Christians, Muslims, and Jews worship the same deity.

 

[TheOtherHockeyMom]

I don't see how it's any different than the English usage of the word god. It's correct to say Ares is the god of war or Odin is a Norse god, but we understand the difference between that and the God with a capital G.

 

[Needing_Grace]

I'll go ahead and answer this for you, although every time I try to describe this I get at least one Christian swooping in to tell me my understanding is wrong so please understand that I am not a theologian of your religion.

We do not believe in a Trinity. For us, there one G-d, who is not three persons or parts or however else it is to be described. So, yes, we would not accept the concept of Father, Son, Holy Spirit because it is foreign to our entire concept of Him, as we believe He revealed to us in the Torah and though the Prophets.

I do, however, believe that Christians, Muslims, and Jews worship the same deity.

Here we can see a point of comparison. What level of revelation is one working from? Judaism is based on the Tanakh, or Old Testament, so there's Abraham, Moses and the prophets. Christianity claims everything in the Old Testament plus the revelation of Christ. The Muslims actually revert to a more primitive revelation by rejecting the revelation of the majority of the Tanakh as well as the New Testament in its entirety, namely, simply the God of Abraham. It's like reading Genesis 1-25:18 and saying that's all we can know about God.

Same God, different levels of information.

 

[LoAmmi]

Here we can see a point of comparison. What level of revelation is one working from? Judaism is based on the Tanakh, or Old Testament, so there's Abraham, Moses and the prophets. Christianity claims everything in the Old Testament plus the revelation of Christ. The Muslims actually revert to a more primitive revelation by rejecting the revelation of the majority of the Tanakh as well as the New Testament in its entirety, namely, simply the God of Abraham. It's like reading Genesis 1-25:18 and saying that's all we can know about God.

Same God, different levels of information.

And, of course, all three of us point at each other and say that you've got it wrong because my side is right and the rest of you added or took away things!

 

[JimR-OCDS]

I find the arguments against Arabic Speaking Christians using the word Allah, for God, as rediculous as trying to argue against French speaking people using the word Dieu, for God.

Allah is the word for God. How one believes in Allah makes the difference between Jews, Christians and Muslims.



Jim

 

[Dylan Michael]

I find the arguments against Arabic Speaking Christians using the word Allah, for God, as rediculous as trying to argue against French speaking people using the word Dieu, for God.

Jim

Especially since Dieu comes from Deus which comes from Deyus, the name of a Pagan god.
And 'god' has described pagan gods long before Christianity reached the English people. .

 

[LivingWordUnity]

The Muslims actually revert to a more primitive revelation by rejecting the revelation of the majority of the Tanakh as well as the New Testament in its entirety, namely, simply the God of Abraham. It's like reading Genesis 1-25:18 and saying that's all we can know about God. Same God, different levels of information.

Muhammad also rewrote the story of the Old Testament from Abraham and after. Muslims even deny that Isaac and his descendents were Jews. Christians don't rewrite salvation history. That's a big difference. Also, the Kaaba is the most important building and spot on earth to Muslims. When they face Mecca to pray five times a day their intention is to pray facing the Kaaba which is located in a mosque in Mecca. In pre-Islamic Arabia, this very same Kaaba housed pagan idols to pagan gods.

 

[Zeek]

I'll go ahead and answer this for you, although every time I try to describe this I get at least one Christian swooping in to tell me my understanding is wrong so please understand that I am not a theologian of your religion.

Duly noted.

We do not believe in a Trinity. For us, there one G-d, who is not three persons or parts or however else it is to be described. So, yes, we would not accept the concept of Father, Son, Holy Spirit because it is foreign to our entire concept of Him, as we believe He revealed to us in the Torah and though the Prophets.

I don't know if you have read the New Testament, but the thing that struck me about the Rabbi Jesus and His interaction with his talmidim is getting across to them what can best be described as a fuller revelation of G-d, while retaining the foundational Jewish understanding of His Oneness which is at the heart of the Shema.

The accusations against His teachings came mainly from the Jewish leaders at the time, who for various reasons tried to maintain their authority and influence on the laity, but were often exposed as being corrupt and hypocritical.

In many ways Christians have sort of hi-jacked the Jewish Messiah, Gentilized Him and often made Him and His teachings unpalatable to most Jewish people...especially with the insistance and addition of Trinitarian doctrine...which most Jewish people think implies something akin to 3 gods.

I know it runs far deeper than this, but it is a start.

I do, however, believe that Christians, Muslims, and Jews worship the same deity.

If G-d sets the requirements that people worship Him in spirit and in truth, then I cannot see how Moslems worship the same G-d. It is a bit like having a counterfeit banknote...they both look identical until close inspection, then it is discovered one is valid and the other is worthless.

 

[LoAmmi]

I don't know if you have read the New Testament, but the thing that struck me about the Rabbi Jesus and His interaction with his talmidim is getting across to them what can best be described as a fuller revelation of G-d, while retaining the foundational Jewish understanding of His Oneness which is at the heart of the Shema.

The accusations against His teachings came mainly from the Jewish leaders at the time, who for various reasons tried to maintain their authority and influence on the laity, but were often exposed as being corrupt and hypocritical.

In many ways Christians have sort of hi-jacked the Jewish Messiah, Gentilized Him and often made Him and His teachings unpalatable to most Jewish people...especially with the insistance and addition of Trinitarian doctrine...which most Jewish people think implies something akin to 3 gods.

I know it runs far deeper than this, but it is a start.

If you want to talk to me about this in PM, I'd be open to it as long as it remains friendly but this isn't the place for it.

If G-d sets the requirements that people worship Him in spirit and in truth, then I cannot see how Moslems worship the same G-d. It is a bit like having a counterfeit banknote...they both look identical until close inspection, then it is discovered one is valid and the other is worthless.

I'd say it's like having three bills with three people looking at them and coming to different conclusions about which one is the real one and which of the other two are counterfeits. If they are making an honest mistake about which one is real, do you hold that against them and call them a criminal? Do you believe that the one who created the universe with a word and knows their innermost thoughts would hold it against them if they searched in earnest for Him but came to the wrong conclusion?

 

[LivingWordUnity]

In today's gospel reading, Jesus warns us not to follow false prophets.

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits." -Matthew 7:15-20​

 

[ebia]

In today's gospel reading, Jesus warns us not to follow false prophets. "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits." -Matthew 7:15-20

No one here is suggesting that anyone here should follow Mohammad.
But that's always a dangerous verse to throw around.

 

[Needing_Grace]

Muhammad also rewrote the story of the Old Testament from Abraham and after. Muslims even deny that Isaac and his descendents were Jews. Christians don't rewrite salvation history. That's a big difference. Also, the Kaaba is the most important building and spot on earth to Muslims. When they face Mecca to pray five times a day their intention is to pray facing the Kaaba which is located in a mosque in Mecca. In pre-Islamic Arabia, this very same Kaaba housed pagan idols to pagan gods.

Its an meteorite, yes? That's what I've heard.

 

[Alonso_Castillo]

According to an article on today's CNN homepage, not only do Catholics in Malaysia call God Allah, but even some of their Bibles use the term Allah for God. This would seem to lend credence to the thesis that Muslims and Christians (and Jews for that matter) all worship the God of Abraham.

I don't see any problem because Christians of Irak, Egypt, Lebanon, etc, don't use english word God but arabic word Allah, in fact in Spanish we have a word that means in English "may God wills" that is "Ojalá" which come from the arabic word for God, Allah. In spanish the word God is "Dios", The Greek Word God is Theos deriven from Zeus. Now, If Malaysian christians teach that Allah is One Allah in three persons, and that the second person incarnated and took the name of Jesus, Then They are perfectly Christians, no room for any scandal .

 

[steve_bakr]

Here's a source on it that I just found:
Sin (Mesopotamian god) -- Encyclopedia Britannica

In the encyclopedia it says, "Nanna, the Sumerian name for the moon god, may have originally meant only the full moon, whereas Su-en, later contracted to Sin, designated the crescent moon...Sin was represented as an old man with a flowing beard--a wise and unfathomable god--wearing a headdress of four horns surmounted by a crescent moon."

This part is interesting since Islam's symbol is the crescent moon, and some people claim that Muhammad took the moon god and declared that this god was the almighty "Allah" in order to get the pagans to follow him. If Muhammad fused this religion with Judaism and made this moon god into Abraham's god then it would not be the same as our God.

This is a myth. The Quranic concept of Allah has no resemblance to a moon god.

 

[steve_bakr]

According to an article on today's CNN homepage, not only do Catholics in Malaysia call God Allah, but even some of their Bibles use the term Allah for God. This would seem to lend credence to the thesis that Muslims and Christians (and Jews for that matter) all worship the God of Abraham.

It's the God of Abraham, yes.

 

[Tigg]

Yes, several Arabic Christians do call God 'Allah', I don't think it is meant to mean that Christians & Muslims worship the same God though....

They don't.

 

[Gxg (G²)]

As far as I know, God in Arabic is "Allah"...its just a linguistic difference. This means that Catholics in Arabic, or Arabic influenced regions would call God Allah. It is not just done amongst Malaysian Roman Catholics, but also among many Melkites, Copts, Syriacs and other Oriental and Eastern Catholics in communion with Rome.

You can hear "Allah" at around 1:40 In this Eastern Catholic chanting of Acts:

Epistle Acts 1:1-8 in Arabic - YouTube

I wish others wouldn't get so tripped up over the use of the term "Allah"