Catholics in Malaysia refer to God as Allah

[JimR-OCDS]

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

It's the kind of nuttiness which turns people away from religion.

When unbelievers see American Christians who have no clue about the Arabic language, arguing over the word Allah,
it fuels their stereotypical view that Christianity is the religion of fools.

Jim

 

[Needing_Grace]

It's the kind of nuttiness which turns people away from religion.

When unbelievers see American Christians who have no clue about the Arabic language, arguing over the word Allah,
it fuels their stereotypical view that Christianity is the religion of fools.

Jim

This is most certainly true.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

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

Including the Muslims who have made it against the law for Christians to call God that.

 

[MikeK]

It's the kind of nuttiness which turns people away from religion.

When unbelievers see American Christians who have no clue about the Arabic language, arguing over the word Allah,
it fuels their stereotypical view that Christianity is the religion of fools.

Jim

Absolutely. Muslims and atheists and homosexual and liberals are not to blame for society rejecting Christ nearly as much as Christisns are. When you speak foolishly about matters relating to the faiths of the world, you harm the Church. When you jump at conclusions that every skirmish or unusual weather event is a sign from God, you harm the Church. When you ray against certain grave evils while ignoring or even justifying others, you harm the Church. It isn't our enemies that cause us to be painted as superstitious, judgemental, hypocritical fools, it is you and I.

 

[Needing_Grace]

Including the Muslims who have made it against the law for Christians to call God that.

Fascinating since the word "allah" in Arabic is the equivalent of "god" in English or "dios" in Spanish or "dieu" in French or "deo" in Latin. The lack of capitalization is intentional as the word can refer to the God of Abraham (Whom the Hebrews refer to HaShem, we refer to the Trinity and the Muslims take two steps back, knowing nothing about Him or His Revelation to us through Moses and the Word Incarnate) or to those other gods worshiped by the pagans. I only capitalize the word when referring to the true God.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

Needing_Grace,

Why do Muslims make it against the law for Christians to use that word to refer to our God?

 

[MikeK]

Needing_Grace,

Why do Muslims make it against the law for Christians to use that word to refer to our God?

For the same reasons that certain Christian populations have passed laws legislating Christian morality and even pledges of loyalty to Christ. They were wrong. You are every bit as wrong, in your crusade against everyone you believe to be against your Church at the expense of criticisms of those you view as allies.

 

[Needing_Grace]

Needing_Grace,

Why do Muslims make it against the law for Christians to use that word to refer to our God?

Whenever anyone asks my why anyone does anything, my reply is always, always the same.

I am not a telepath. I cannot read the thoughts of others, so I cannot speak to the motivations of anyone but myself.

However, I'm sure it has something to do with the teaching in Islam that only Muslims worship the God of Abraham correctly plus the almost rabid way that people raised in any fundamentalist culture are taught act regarding their religion: kill or deny rights to anyone who disagrees with us.

I used to a be a fundamentalist pentecostal. If you weren't coming to our services, you were either "lukewarm" or a "sinner" but you weren't saved and are going to hell. We'd go out and try to get people saved and coming to our services. We'd talk smack about those who "luked out" and wouldn't come anymore, but welcome them back with open arms when they showed up. We'd talk about those "sinners" we confronted in our "witnessing", but we'd leave the Hellfire to God's time.

These primitive, medieval cultures take that to the extreme and, instead of trusting God to take care of sinners in His own time, they assume His role and take the sending of people to Hell into their own hands. I'd say that's pretty darn prideful, to be honest.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Including the Muslims who have made it against the law for Christians to call God that.

Where was this law made ?


Jim

 

[LivingWordUnity]

For the same reasons that certain Christian populations have passed laws legislating Christian morality and even pledges of loyalty to Christ. They are wrong. You are very bit as wrong, in your crusade against everyone you believe to be against your Church at the expense of criticisms of those you view as allies.

Which countries are Christian? And which of these Christian countries have made laws forbidding Muslims from practicing their religion?

 

[MikeK]

Which countries are Christian? And which of these Christian countries have made laws forbidding Muslims from practicing their religion?

There have been no shortage of them and you are aware of them. That Western society has evolved and currently are behaving in a civilized and tolerant manor towards various faiths is beside the point - when we had Christian governments, those Christian governments often treated non-believers poorly.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

There have been no shortage of them and you are aware of them. That Western society has evolved and currently are behaving in a civilized and tolerant manor towards various faiths is beside the point - when we had Christian governments, those Christian governments often treated non-believers poorly.

What Christian governments are you talking about? Because in this world nearly all of the formerly Christian governments have officially renounced being identified as Christian. And if there is one left, non-believers are not put in jail for being non-believers as Christians can be put in jail (or put to death) in Muslim countries just for being Christian. And the Vatican has said many times that Christians don't get the same religious freedom in Muslim countries that Muslims are allowed in Western countries. In most Muslim counties it's even against the law to wear a crucifix in a way that it is visible. I don't know how that kind of extreme can be compared to how it is in Western countries.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

What Christian governments are you talking about? Because in this world nearly all of the formerly Christian governments have officially renounced being identified as Christian. And if there is one left, non-believers are not put in jail for being non-believers as Christians can be put in jail (or put to death) in Muslim countries just for being Christian. And the Vatican has said many times that Christians don't get the same religious freedom in Muslim countries that Muslims are allowed in Western countries.

when we had

What part of this statement didn't you understand ?

Jim

 

[LivingWordUnity]

What part of this statement didn't you understand ?

Sorry. I didn't notice where he had deflected the topic away from today's world. I guess I should have expected it. The PC thing to do is we are supposed to judge 2,000 years Christianity on the one narrow time frame of the Crusades and Inquisition, only recognizing the worst parts of it, while at the same time ignoring the entire history of Islam, especially ignoring Islam in today's world. And this gives Muslims the license to do absolutely whatever they want to Christians without getting criticized for it.

 

[andy b]

whats funny is everyone critiques the so called christian led countries yet everyone is beating down the door to get into them....dont see any mass immigration into Muslim countries just a thought on who has it right

 

[LivingWordUnity]

whats funny is everyone critiques the so called christian led countries yet everyone is beating down the door to get into them....dont see any mass immigration into Muslim countries just a thought on who has it right

Excellent point! The liberals are even calling it immoral not to let these immigrants into these so-called "Christian" countries. Why, if the Christians who live there are so bad? They only call them "Christian" countries when they want to blame Christians for the wars. But when they are talking about the good things about the countries then suddenly Christians aren't the ones who they think should get the credit.

 

[MikeK]

Sorry. I didn't notice where he had deflected the topic away from today's world. I guess I should have expected it. The PC thing to do is we are supposed to judge 2,000 years Christianity on the one narrow time frame of the Crusades and Inquisition while at the same time ignoring the entire history of Islam, especially ignoring Islam in today's world.

Not PC, honest. When the world had overly Christian governments, those governments were often involved in ruthless violence incompatible with true Christianity. As it turns out, rich governments who want more will use religion to control the masses and do evils. Thankfully, the western world has largely moved past that. It all comes down to selling fear. Radical Islamists want to gain followers and use fear of Western or Christian encroachment or violence to justify it. The mitTy industrial complex in the United States needs desperately to keep Americans cowering in fear, so the manufacture crisis to exploit. Putin needs his followers to fear non-Russian speakers, Obama needs his followers to fear the discomfort of an "unfair" world, conservatives need their followers to fear "the media" or the "homosexual lobby". All of these know that the masses, if they can be made to fear, will commit grave evils that will benefit their movement. If we elect not to be cowards we become much more difficult for powerful people to use.

 

[MikeK]

Excellent point! The liberals are even calling it immoral not to let these immigrants into these so-called "Christian" countries. Why, if the Christians who live there are so bad? They only call them "Christian" countries when they want to blame Christians for the wars. But when they are talking about the good things about the countries then suddenly Christians aren't the ones who they think should get the credit.

You can have it anyway you want, but I think this statement is a case of you compensating for something you are guilty of doing yourself. State which of the following countries are and are not currently Christian countries. I will not argue with your assessments.
USA
France
Germany
Netherlands
Mexico
Switzerland
Russia
Take your time.

 

[RDKirk]

It's my understanding that Muslims do not believe in the deity of Christ, in fact, they deny it (1 John 2:22; 2 John 1:7). And if they deny that Jesus is the Son of God, I seriously doubt that they believe or even acknowledge the Holy Spirit. Therefore, how can Muslims worship the same God as we do, as Christians, if they deny His triune nature? And it's to my understanding, as it is written in Scripture, anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ is a liar (1 John 2:22).

According to the Koran, Jesus is the Son of God and is the Messiah. As well, according to the Koran, Mary was the mother of Jesus and yet perpetually virginal. They also consider Jesus the greatest of the prophets (Muhammad is the "sealing"--the final prophet--but not the greatest).

Islamic teaching emphasizes Muhammad's actions even though Muhammad is barely mentioned in the Koran compared to Jesus. Instead, they teach mostly the Hadith--which is mostly about Muhammad.

I've mentioned a friend of mine who has been very successful evangelizing Muslims in a Muslim country. Muslims come to him as a Christian and ask for more information about Jesus than they get in their teachings.

So my friend simply sits down with them and reads the Gospels, then Acts, then Romans. This takes weeks or months, with him answering questions as they arise.

At the end, he asks them, "Do you believe what we've read?" He reports that any Muslim who has stayed with him through Romans will ask to be baptized, 100% of the time.

 

[RDKirk]

I want to go to some Islamic websites to see what Muslims are saying about it among each other. That's the only way we can find out for sure what they believe. But I'm afraid that I might stumble on an Islamic terrorist website. There is a real risk of this.

There are Muslims online you can talk about here. Or you can actually go to the library and check out some books.

But it's just about as easy to distinguish a scholarly Islam site from a terrorist site as it is to distinguish a scholarly Catholic site from a White Nationalist site.