Just when I thought it was safe to say I've heard of everything, along comes a report by the Associated Press out of Malayasia in my newspaper stating protests are occuring there. I'm not even sure where Malaysia is but I know it's not a place I'd want to visit.
It seems some Muslims are upset with a December 31 high court ruling there restoring the right of Roman Catholics to use the word "Allah" for God in the Malay language edition of their newspaper. I was shocked, shocked by this story. Churches have been firebombed, protests have been held and one protest poster stated "Allah is only for us."
You can have Allah all to yourself. I want no part of the word. I'm confused why Catholics would dare even substitute God's name. To be more politically correct? To appease Muslims? To help them understand the concept of the real God according to Christians?
In Malayasia, there is supposed to be a constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion. Citing the AP report, about 60% of Malaysians are Muslim and 9% Christian. Some of that 60% turned violent.
I don't understand all parts of the story, nor do I want to know. A story that screams blasphemy on all sides does a disservice to Christians. God is not Allah. Stop trying to appease another religion by changing names.
If this is not isolated proof that Muslims do not have a peaceful faith, I don't know what is. Some Malaysian government rulers consider this a trick to convert Muslims to Christianity. I consider it a trick to blaspheme God.
This story says a lot. First, there is no changing Muslims bent on destruction. I refuse to be politically correct about this. I choose to be disgusted. Christians better take a long hard look at making symbolic golden calves in creative ways, even with words. Changing a deity name is one of them. I think I look more harshly on the Christians than I do on predictable Muslim reaction (violence) in this case.
God is not Allah, and I am one Christian who likes it that way.
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Kerry Lauerman
Joan Walsh
Salon.com
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If the old saying is true then you must be very blissful.
SEMITIC ROOT-WORD: EL
HEBREW: ELOHIM
ARABIC: ALLAH
Just like all Romance languages have common root-words, so do the Semitic languages which are the basis for the Bible and the Koran.
Roman Catholics who speak Arabic have ALWAYS used the term "ALLAH", just as English speakers use "GOD".
Judaism, Christianity and Islam all worship the same "God", the God of Abraham.
"God/god" itself was a pagan name before it was adapted for Christian usage, just like Latin word DEUS, which is actually a form of ZEUS.
When you get down to brass tacks, its most Western Europeans who have borrowed names from pagan-polytheistic sources, whereas the Middle-Easterners (of whatever faith) have used names which are more "correct" in the absolute sense, because they have a direct linguistic connection to the original languages of the Bible.
You shouldn't rule out visiting a place you know nothing about. You might be missing out.
;)
"In Malayasia, there is supposed to be a constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion. Citing the AP report, about 60% of Malaysians are Muslim and 9% Christian. Some of that 60% turned violent.
I don't understand all parts of the story, nor do I want to know. A story that screams blasphemy on all sides does a disservice to Christians. God is not Allah. Stop trying to appease another religion by changing names."
Now, I haven't done any research into the Malaysian Constitution just yet - but I am confused at how you can write that there is a stipulation or "supposed" Freedom of Religion in Malaysia in one paragraph, then call for the restriction of it in the next?
If you are making a wild, blind guess...(I think you folks call your wild, blind guesses, beliefs)...
...anyway, if you are making a wild, blind guess that there is a GOD...why do you care what they call IT?
So really...what are you talking about here????
What's the difference between most doctors and God?
God doesn't think he's God!
So, judging by this, Islam is the only violent religion, and even if Allah were not God and God not Allah, Christianity is still better than Islam because Christianity does not possess any violent tendencies?
Wow.
We might want to notify King Richard, who was responsible for at least one of The Crusades, or The Pope who was in part responsible for The Inquisition (and The Crusades), or, for that matter Hitler, who was responsible for The Holocaust, because they are all Christians who committed violence in the name of YOUR God. Oh, and then there was Lewis and Clark, and every European settler of The New World who is responsible for Manifest Destiny and the Christianization of Indiginous Americans, leading to their near extinction.
Uh huh, sure, Christianity isn't violent at all...
You don't know where Malaysia is, but you're handing down judgment on both the Muslims and Christians there? Inform yourself and formulate an opinion based on that information. Anything else is ignorance.
I'm just pointing out a simple fact of the words which you use and clearly don't understand:
The name "ALLAH" IS ARABIC, NOT "MUSLIM". NOT ALL ARABIC-SPEAKERS ARE MUSLIM!!
Just as the name "GOD" IS ENGLISH, not "CHRISTIAN", and NOT ALL ENGLISH SPEAKERS ARE CHRISTIANS!!
Arabic Christians have used the term "Allah" SINCE BEFORE ISLAM EXISTED. It was in widespread use among Arab Christians when the English were still universally pagan polytheists.
The triune God includes not just Christ, but also God the Father, i.e. the God of Abraham, who has always been correctly referred to by Semitic-rite Christians as "Allah" or a closely related Hebrew term "El / Elohim" which English speakers only TRANSLATE as "God". The word "God" appears nowhere in the Bible because the Bible does not include any English words!
No one is making the ridiculous suggestion that Christ (the Son) should be referred to by the name of God the Father, which you seem to allege.
Ironically, those Malaysian Muslims who want the term "Allah" to refer exclusively to the God of the Koran are displaying the same fundamental historical ignorance.
You cannot claim that Catholicism is truly universal if you expect that other nations must adopt English terminology. It is a faith of many nations with many different languages.