What do you think of this Catholic bishop wanting to use the word Allah in place of the English word God?

Question

Let's start the day with something interesting:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293394,00.html

Allah is simply God in Arabic. So what's the big deal? It's supposed to be all the same God anyways. The only difference being how each group views Jesus.

Elohim - Hebrew
Theos - Greek
God - English
Allah - Arabic

Thoughts?

I certainly hope people read the details...

Answer 1

Jews, Christians, and Muslims all worship the one true God of Abraham.

"Allah" is the word "God" in Arabic.

The language does not matter:
+ Allah in Arabic
+ God in English
+ Dieu in French
+ Theos in Greek
+ Dios in Spanish

If one is in discussion with an Arabic speaker then calling God "Allah" would be polite.

If there are no Arabic speakers present then calling God "Allah" seems going a bit too far.

Remember God is the title or role and not God's name which is an entirely different discussion.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

Since the Bishop was in Indonesia where most people call the God of Abraham(The Eternal,All Good,etc)Allah,the use makes sense. English"God" word comes from Germanic Paganism.

Answer 3

While it's well understood that Allah simply means God as in "our American Christian God," the very intention of such priest is obviously to draw more Muslims into Christianity.

Same as when theologians and christian scholars nowadays use the several different variations of the Hebrew names of God during teachings and sermons.

Will I be as comfortable with the name Allah being used interchangeably as I am with Yaweh, Elohim, Jehova etc... Probably not. But what an excellent feat this will be - should this priest turns out to be successful.

I'm in favor of this catholic bishop using Allah instead of God if and only if the results will be positive that is, that an "X" number of muslims will convert to christianity thus reducing the number of possible terrorrists.

Shalom!

Answer 4

I read the details and I would add to this detail...

"I'm sure his intentions are good but his theology needs a little fine-tuning," said Father Jonathan Morris, a Roman Catholic priest based in Rome. Morris, a news analyst for FOX News Channel, also called the idea impractical.

"Words and names mean things," Morris said. "Referring to God as Allah means something."

Yeah it means something. It doesn't mean that if people just sincerely believe something that's all that matters. Jesus said that He was the way the truth and the life and that no one could come to the Father apart from Him. Why not call God Buddha or Krishna if it doesn't matter what we call Him?

It's another sign of a religious leader who is more worried about what people think than about what God says. It's another attempt to be "inclusive" on men's terms rather than to be inclusive under the terms that the Almighty has given us.

John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

It's a disservice to people who don't know Jesus as their Lord and Savior who gave his life to pay their sin debt to tell them that it's OK to come to God any old way that you want to as long as you are sincere in what you believe. Sincerity is not what matters most of all, the truth is what matters most of all. Sincerely believing a lie will send many people to eternal damnation.

Answer 5

It is hilarious when so called "people of God" want to create distinctions. Referring to God as Elohim or Theos or Allah or Bhagwan does not diminish the Supreme Being. The thinking that Allah belongs to the Muslims or Elohim to the Jews etc is what may surely make the Creator cringe with horror at the narrow thinking.

I am trying to profess a universal religion !!

But if you can say that the Muslim's God is Allah or that the Jews God is Elohim why cant you say that the Chritsians Allah is God !!

And if the Bishop did refer to God as Allah it did he also ask that the congregation start reading the Koran in the church ? Did anyone in the congregation ask him about his radical statement or did they just start burning him at the stake ? We project ourselves as understanding God fearing people who are not fundamentalists and are non-terrorist in thought but we react violently to any minor transgression (perceived or otherwise) - and the drums start rolling that the "religion is in danger"
Isn't that the refrain of every terrorist organization - "the Religion is in danger from the infidels so we must .... whatever"

Funny thought just came to me - for every religion every other religion is either a pagan, paganly ritualistic, catering to infidels, non-believers etc etc

Well may we be blessed by God /Lord / Allah / Bhagwan / Elohim / Theos and through all His a.k.a.'s

Answer 6

Both sides have a point. It isn't the most important thing what we call God, I suppose that's true. But if it isn't important, why not just continue calling Him God? Allah is an Arab word, God is an English word. Why not call Him Theos? Or Gott (German)? We speak English so we might as well continue to use the English word. Of course, if anyone individually wants to call God "Allah," that's fine with me.

Answer 7

Its okay. Muslims use the word God anyway. American Jews also use the word God. Of course all these would be but approximations of the original word.
If we were to be absolutely strict, then we would say that Hindus don't belief in the existance of a soul - they believe in the atman, and they're not the same. But the approximation is good enough.

Answer 8

Correction...Allah means the "muslim god" in arabic, which is NOT the same God of the Bible that Christians serve. Hell will freeze over before I ever so ignorantly proclaim that they are the one and the same! It's amazing all the many opinions from people that never open their bibles, but feel they are qualified to make blanket statements on the Lord, what He thinks, and who He is. Ridiculous! Man, I never realized how insatiably blind americans are to accept this garbage.

Answer 9

My friend, you are mistaken. A common misconception, even by Muslims. the Arabic word ILLA means 'one worthy of worship'(God) Before Islam, the Arabs called all their other gods illa, and only the supreme God Allah. Islam changed this. Allah is the one and only superpower, not just any God.
But the Catholic is obviously trying to reconcile Islam and Christianity. Doomed to failure, as the Islamic religion cannot be modified in any way by divine commandment. And we believe Jesus was a prophet, not the son of god

Answer 10

God, Allah, Elohim, Theos. As Shakespeare put it, "What's in a name? A rose by any other name smells just as sweet". In the languages mentioned, they all translate to English as "God". The name is irrelevant, the language is irrelevant. the ONLY thing that is relevant is the CONCEPT of God. If it is that concept that is being honored and worshipped, then even calling God "Charlie", would still be honoring and worshipping that Divine Being. In my opinion, we're all just picking nits off a horse's hide.

Raji the Green Witch