For example christianity uses the term God to describe their main deity and muslims use the term Allah for their deity. There are many others across many religions such as the japanese Kami and so on. During translations from one language to english I noticed that no matter the deity it's always translated into "God". Is this an appropriate translation or are the translators using their own religion to interpret another religion's/language's deity? Is it a mind set that "I believe that God is the creator of all so this other religion's creator of all must be my same God even though it's refered to in another name"? Try to be as respectful and honest as possible with your answers. Thank you.
2006-11-14 12:13:10 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Great question. Absolutely they can be interchangeable. I think they are. I believe in a supreme being, but I believe that that being is ineffible and mysterious and that, therefore, many religions all over the world have different ways of describing the same supreme being.
It's like the story of the blind men and the elephant. Three blind men walk up to an elephant. One touches the trunk and thinks it's a snake and gets scared. One touches the tail and thinks it's a rope: something useful. One touches the side and thinks it's a wall, which could either be useful in keeping things out or problematic in not being able to get over it easily. They argue about which it is. In truth, they're all wrong. It's an elephant.
Maybe each religion sees the supreme being a litlle differently, but they all see different aspects of the same supreme being. I think the world would be a much better place if we'd just all realize that all religions worship the same Divine and stop fighting like the blind men.
2006-11-14 13:10:17 · answer #1 · answered by Ivan 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The language barrier makes religious translation almost impossible, not to mention the pride factor, that one believes their religion is better than another. You might want to read about different concepts of God, The western mind believes in One God that controls everything, while the eastern mind believes that God created us but we are actually influenced by lesser dieties that are aspects of God but seperate. The most worshipped is "compassion" as an energy or emotion to be cultivated through dieties.
My point is that all religions have to teach about the spiritual life to different cultures using different symbols of expression.
The translation will only be as good as the consciousness/wisdom of the interpreter, it has little to do with language or intelligence.
2006-11-14 20:32:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, that's the mindset...but it doesn't make it right.
The "god" figures you refer to have very different meanings in the different cultures and religions from which they come. They are so different that they can't possibly be the same thing, even if the limited options for naming deities in English mean they're all called "god" in English. It's not just that the god is called by another name in another religion or culture, and that can be translated to "god" in English, it's that their concept of "god" is completely different.
Every religion tends to assume that all those other "gods" are just poor interpretations of what they know to be the "true god." And every religion is wrong on that count :)
2006-11-14 20:18:54 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
God is the term for defining a Diety . Allah , Yahweh and Jehovah are the actual names . I'm not sure about the Kami term but I would think it would fall in either of the two categories.
although abrahamic religions have different names for God they all agree its in actuality the same god . also most other monotheistic religions also agree that there is only one . ;) so its logical to presume that its interchangeable except for the local language translation of the noun .
2006-11-14 20:21:05 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think most religions have the same "concept" behind their God(s). It's the interpretation and perception of the God(s) that differs. I believe my main deity has a lot in common with all the other Gods out there. The difference is in my personal interpretation.
2006-11-14 20:16:28 · answer #5 · answered by swordarkeereon 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Translating any diety into 'God' is a cultural bias. The translators let their own views color thier work. I believe that the Divine tends to conform to our expectations of it. From this stand-point I could say that all deities are real, valid, and different masks of a Ultimate Source that we, as physical beings, cannot fully comprehend. The translators you spoke of are guilty of cultural arrogence.
2006-11-14 20:19:40 · answer #6 · answered by St. Toad 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Different people from different regions had their own distinctive name for their deity and their religion, but its all the same thing.
2006-11-14 23:18:22 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Believers are so fickle, that while they believe there is only one God, they seem to think that changing his name makes him into an additional God.
2006-11-14 20:16:29 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
no, they're not the same God unless they use the same 'bible'. the christian Bible is written in alot of different languages and if your a christian, you follow Christ's teachings, not mohammeds from the quran.
2006-11-14 20:21:25 · answer #9 · answered by Nikki 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Linguistically speaking, there would be no problem I suppose. The problem is that the content behind the name is very, but very different.
2006-11-14 20:19:17 · answer #10 · answered by Yuri 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋