Dutch bishop suggests calling God Allah

[squeekness]

You remember how angry Muslims got over that Allah cartoon? I'd bet they'd love this.



The difference being, I think most Christians would shrug it off, say it was wrong, and continue worshiping as they were. However, the Muslims would have riots in the streets and guns flailing in the air.

You don't think that maybe the Muslims would see the rest of the world calling God Allah as some sort of minor victory or at least a step in the right direction? They might not be offended by it all.

 

[J. J. Jameson]

You don't think that maybe the Muslims would see the rest of the world calling God Allah as some sort of minor victory or at least a step in the right direction? They might not be offended by it all.

You make a valid point, and I may be wrong and they wouldn't make a fuss. But also could see the opposite of what you're saying happening. They'd feel offended because, while the name of God (Christian God) changed, the idea of who that God is would remain the same. According to the text of each religion, the Bible and the Qur'an, these deities are radically different on some major points. The Muslims wouldn't be to happy, I don't think, about the fact that the Christian God's principles were being labeled as those of Allah.

I personally am greatly opposed to the idea...to the point that it disgusts me. I take my Christian beliefs very seriously according to them, compromise isn't an option...because as another poster pointed out, God and Allah are "two different characters".

 

[incubat]

For someone benevolent I don't think he cares what we call him/her and would forgive us.

FORGIVE us? why? we are not doing anything wrong...well, on this matter at least.

And I don't think muslims would get would get offended, radical fundamentalists, who knows? but muslims in general would even find it nice.

 

[redmarvel]

I'm not a chritian, but I wouldn't mind calling him Allah if I was. I was raised catholic (I'm not anymore), and one thing that always bothered me was that we didn't have a name for God.

Do you have a name for Wind, Water, Air? God is God. He doesn't need a name, because He is the one and only.

 

[vibeke_T]

where have you been Vibeke? acting all scarce...wack.

secret missions t:

 

[gkokujin]

I'm not a chritian, but I wouldn't mind calling him Allah if I was. I was raised catholic (I'm not anymore), and one thing that always bothered me was that we didn't have a name for God.

Gods name [was supposed to be and should be] and is so reverent and sacred, we can not say it. that is why we have the tetragrammaton.

I call him Steve.

 

[R0rschach]

Do you have a name for Wind, Water, Air? God is God. He doesn't need a name, because He is the one and only.

Yeah ''He'' sure is.

 

[gkokujin]

Why do these threads always get out of hand?

because we as humans ALL of us, try to put the Almighty in a box called human reasoning and flawed comprehension.

Considering that the Almighty IS Almighty why the hell do we think we have how he operates all figured out? That is what BOTH sides believer and NON believer needs to understand.

I do not wish to serve a God that I can completely firgure out. Then What would stop me from usurping the same said role?

 

[keith_v]

Same word, different characters.

I'd say this this pretty much sums up the dilemma. Though they translate to the same thing in a lingual sense, the characters themselves have much different followers and perspectives.

And that might be the best avvy I've seen yet.

 

[incubat]

Do you have a name for Wind, Water, Air? God is God. He doesn't need a name, because He is the one and only.

yes, they're WIND, WATER and AIR. The word GOD can be used to talk about Zeus, Odin, Allah, etc. Christians like to use the word GOD because it sounds like it's the only god possible, which is ok by me if you believe that, but the word has been used for other gods too, so why not have a specific name for the christian god? (And apparently there is one, but nobody ever uses it).

Gods name [was supposed to be and should be] and is so reverent and sacred, we can not say it. that is why we have the tetragrammaton.

I call him Steve.

I used to call him Dude.

because we as humans ALL of us, try to put the Almighty in a box called human reasoning and flawed comprehension.

Considering that the Almighty IS Almighty why the hell do we think we have how he operates all figured out? That is what BOTH sides believer and NON believer needs to understand.

I do not wish to serve a God that I can completely firgure out. Then What would stop me from usurping the same said role?

Why would NON believers want to understand that?

 

[WTFimVENOM]

Correct me if Im wrong but isn't God's name [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Jehovah[/FONT]

Jehovah is an English transcription of [FONT=David,narkisim,&quot]יְהֹוָה[/FONT], which is a specific vocalized spelling of [FONT=David,narkisim,&quot]יהוה[/FONT] (i.e. the Tetragrammaton) that is found in the Masoretic Text.
[FONT=David,narkisim,&quot]יְהֹוָה[/FONT] has the consonants of the Tetragrammaton, and [FONT=David,narkisim,&quot]יְהֹוָה[/FONT] 's vowel points are similar to, but not precisely the same as the vowel points found in Adonai.
Since the beginning of the 17th century, [or possibly even earlier], scholars have questioned whether the vowel points found in [FONT=David,narkisim,&quot]יְהֹוָה[/FONT] are the actual vowel points of God's name. Some scholarly sources teach that [FONT=David,narkisim,&quot]יְהֹוָה[/FONT] has the vowel points of [FONT=David,narkisim,&quot]אֲדֹנָי[/FONT] [i.e. Adonai], but to be redundant, the vowel points of these two words are not precisely the same, and scholars are not in total agreement as to why [FONT=David,narkisim,&quot]יְהֹוָה[/FONT] does not have the precise same vowel points as Adonai has.
The first English translators of [FONT=David,narkisim,&quot]יְהֹוָה[/FONT], believed they had the correct vowel points, and translated it as it was written:
"Jehova" in 1270 A.D. Latin."Iehouah" in 1530 A.D. English."Iehovah" in 1611 A.D. English."Jehovah" in 1769 A.D. English."Yehowah" used by some using another transcription of the consonants of the Tetragrammaton (See Yahweh). Many religious followings, including Catholics [1] and Orthodox Christians have been using the name Jehovah during the last 2 centuries.[2] King-James-Only Movement Christians believe that Jehovah is the correct name that English-speaking people shall use for God.[3] Followers of the Watchtower movement, Jehovah's Witnesses (previously known as International Bible Students until 1931) have been using the name throughout the world (with exceptions) [4] as the most commonly spoken English pronunciation.[5] of the Tetragrammaton.[6] Most search engines (such as Google) will return a large number of WTBTS pages, since the rendering Jehovah (and its variations) appear on virtually every WTBS page. Latter-day Saints believe that Jehovah was the name of the pre-mortal Jesus Christ,[7] and that he is a distinct being from God the Father, whom Latter-day Saints sometimes refer to as Elohim.[8]

Yes, but if you are Rastafarian they call him "Jah" for short....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jah

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

yea im a Christian and in my native language Indonesian we say "Allah" which means god

You are not a Christian.
I see you intentionally, unapologetically, repeatedly defying the teachings of Christ every single day I see you.


Also, I like how the priest says God doesn't care what we call him.
I wonder where he got that, 'cause according to God, he VERY much cares about how you refer to him.

 

[C.F. Kane]

Question: If God did exist, and he did have the power to set the cosmos in motion, and he did have unlimited knowledge of the universe in its vast complexity, would he really give a plate of hot crap what a bunch of upper-tier apes circling a yellow star choose to call him?

 

[Leto Atrides]

You make a valid point, and I may be wrong and they wouldn't make a fuss. But also could see the opposite of what you're saying happening. They'd feel offended because, while the name of God (Christian God) changed, the idea of who that God is would remain the same. According to the text of each religion, the Bible and the Qur'an, these deities are radically different on some major points. The Muslims wouldn't be to happy, I don't think, about the fact that the Christian God's principles were being labeled as those of Allah.

I personally am greatly opposed to the idea...to the point that it disgusts me. I take my Christian beliefs very seriously according to them, compromise isn't an option...because as another poster pointed out, God and Allah are "two different characters".

Allah is the not the name of the Muslim god, it's literally the word "god" in Arabic. Just like you would use the word Theos if you were speaking Greek, or Gott if you were speaking German, or Deus if you were speaking Latin. You're not compromising anything or letting other religions achieve a victory, you're speaking the Arabic language.

 

[incubat]

You are not a Christian.
I see you intentionally, unapologetically, repeatedly defying the teachings of Christ every single day I see you.


Also, I like how the priest says God doesn't care what we call him.
I wonder where he got that, 'cause according to God, he VERY much cares about how you refer to him.

This is my reasoning:

Say there is a God, ok. He loves us right? He is like a father to us. Scratch that. He IS a father to us, right? He wants us to have faith in him, to live for love. Not for hate. So if he does love us, then why would it bother him if wanted to call him something more affectionally? Jesus called him Abba in the Bible (don't ask me what part exactly, but I'm sure it's there), which translated means something like "dad" or even "daddy", he did not call him "father", because he wanted us to be less fearfull of God, he wanted us to fear his rage, but not him, he wanted us to love him, and trust him, he wanted people to stop living life scared of God, and to start living it with God more as a friend than a allmighty master. Yes, in the Old Testament Moses and the other profets talk a lot about how God wants us to respect him and fear him. Which is understandable if you consider that it was a time where there were more pagans and they wanted to form one religion only. But that changed in the New Testament. There was only one believe (I'm talking about Israel, where all of this takes place, of course), and the problem wasn't believing in other gods anymore, but the fact that people were more afraid of God than anything else. Jesus changed that.

So to sum up, if you have a friend, you call him by his name, you don't cal him Mister. Heck, you even give him nicknames, so why can't we call God whatever we fell like? I say we call him Steve, Dude, Pink Unicorn, Joan, Stan, FSM, Xenu, Allah, Zeus, Odin, etc. As long as you mean it with love and not hate, I don't thing an all loving god would mind.




That is, of course, if a god truly exists.

 

[WTFimVENOM]

Question: If God did exist, and he did have the power to set the cosmos in motion, and he did have unlimited knowledge of the universe in its vast complexity, would he really give a plate of hot crap what a bunch of upper-tier apes circling a yellow star choose to call him?

Most of Humanity likes to repress these thoughts concerning how small they are in the grand scheme....
Makes them feel important and what not...

 

[incubat]

Question: If God did exist, and he did have the power to set the cosmos in motion, and he did have unlimited knowledge of the universe in its vast complexity, would he really give a plate of hot crap what a bunch of upper-tier apes circling a yellow star choose to call him?

you get a:

Spoiler

 

[Leto Atrides]

Question: If God did exist, and he did have the power to set the cosmos in motion, and he did have unlimited knowledge of the universe in its vast complexity, would he really give a plate of hot crap what a bunch of upper-tier apes circling a yellow star choose to call him?

Okay, I'm an atheist and all here, but the fact we're sapient is kind of a big ****ing deal. People get way too caught up in making sure everyone know they're cynical and existentialist and self-deprecating about humanity and we're just monkeys and we're so small and the world is so big and people of the past were so arrogant to think we're important.

We have something that is, as far as we know, unique, and are the only things really able to appreciate and enjoy the fact the everything exists.

 

[J. J. Jameson]

Allah is the not the name of the Muslim god, it's literally the word "god" in Arabic. Just like you would use the word Theos if you were speaking Greek, or Gott if you were speaking German, or Deus if you were speaking Latin. You're not compromising anything or letting other religions achieve a victory, you're speaking the Arabic language.

Which is why you always hear Allah translated as "God". Yes. But, often, it's used to refer to a specific deity. If Allah is the word for "God" in Arabic, why should I, an English speaking person, refer to God as Allah? It just makes it more like mashing the two into one. And I personally don't like that. I'm sure other people are fine with it, but that's them and not me. It's just my opinion on the matter.

 

[Manic]

Question: If God did exist, and he did have the power to set the cosmos in motion, and he did have unlimited knowledge of the universe in its vast complexity, would he really give a plate of hot crap what a bunch of upper-tier apes circling a yellow star choose to call him?

Because God is a little self absorbed, and has self-esteem issues. That's why he's always commanding people to worship him, praise him, don't worship or acknowledge any other god, or you're going to Hell. He's also a cocky bastard. Just ask Job.

 

[Leto Atrides]

Which is why you always hear Allah translated as "God". Yes. But, often, it's used to refer to a specific deity. If Allah is the word for "God" in Arabic, why should I, an English speaking person, refer to God as Allah? It just makes it more like mashing the two into one. And I personally don't like that. I'm sure other people are fine with it, but that's them and not me. It's just my opinion on the matter.

I don't mean you should for any particular reason, besides which the Bishop in question was Dutch anyway, so he'd say Godd or Got or something anyway. And it's certainly most often used to refer to the Muslim god in languages other than Arabic, so it's an unnecessary complication to use it for the Christian one. I just thought your disgust for the whole thing seems misplaced.

 

[C.F. Kane]

Okay, I'm an atheist and all here, but the fact we're sapient is kind of a big ****ing deal. People get way too caught up in making sure everyone know they're cynical and existentialist and self-deprecating about humanity and we're just monkeys and we're so small and the world is so big and people of the past were so arrogant to think we're important.

We have something that is, as far as we know, unique, and are the only things really able to appreciate and enjoy the fact the everything exists.

I hear you. I'm not devaluing humanity, I just think that if God existed, he wouldn't pay us much heed. That certainly doesn't mean we shouldn't pay ourselves any heed.

"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special."

- Stephen Hawking

 

[C.F. Kane]

I don't mean you should for any particular reason, besides which the Bishop in question was Dutch anyway, so he'd say Godd or Got or something anyway.

"God" in Dutch is "God". It's just pronounced differently.

 

[Leto Atrides]

I hear you. I'm not devaluing humanity, I just think that if God existed, he wouldn't pay us much heed. That certainly doesn't mean we shouldn't pay ourselves any heed.

"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special."

- Stephen Hawking

Oh OK, it seems like we're on the same page.

 

[Leto Atrides]

"God" in Dutch is "God". It's just pronounced differently.

I knew it was somewhere between the German and English words, wasn't sure what it was though.