Sarah, This is a really interesting issue that I ran into while in the Middle East, as its true that Christians there also call God "allah" because that is the word for 'god' in Arabic. I remember having discussion with a few people who wondered if that was OK. We are worshipping the true God...while Muslims are worshipping a 'god' we believe to be false, yet both are called 'Allah'. I think this guy's motives are kind of off the wall, but it is an interesting concept to consider...how you can call 2 different people/entities the same name (eg. there are many people in the world named "sarah", but you are the only person with your exact identity), yet they're 2 completely different people/personalities. I like wrestling with these kinds of questions!
Hmmmm, totally interesting things to consider Carmen. I agree, there is no problem at all in referring to God in the general sense as we do in the English language in another language, whether that name be Allah or anything else. I guess I would want to say that it was a general term for God, and not His name. Do Muslims have another more specific name for Allah I wonder? Or is he the 'god' whose name is simply 'god'? Interesting. Yeah, this guy seems to be coming more from the perspective of ecumenicalism and the 'all roads lead to God let's just get along' idea which is what bothered me...and the fact that our God has a name and names found in the Bible, not just the general term 'god' which we use to refer to Him. Are you guys still planning on heading back to the Middle East? Do you have a country in particular in mind, still Jordan? What an amazing place to be in ministry!!
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Sarah,
This is a really interesting issue that I ran into while in the Middle East, as its true that Christians there also call God "allah" because that is the word for 'god' in Arabic. I remember having discussion with a few people who wondered if that was OK. We are worshipping the true God...while Muslims are worshipping a 'god' we believe to be false, yet both are called 'Allah'. I think this guy's motives are kind of off the wall, but it is an interesting concept to consider...how you can call 2 different people/entities the same name (eg. there are many people in the world named "sarah", but you are the only person with your exact identity), yet they're 2 completely different people/personalities. I like wrestling with these kinds of questions!
Hmmmm, totally interesting things to consider Carmen. I agree, there is no problem at all in referring to God in the general sense as we do in the English language in another language, whether that name be Allah or anything else. I guess I would want to say that it was a general term for God, and not His name. Do Muslims have another more specific name for Allah I wonder? Or is he the 'god' whose name is simply 'god'? Interesting.
Yeah, this guy seems to be coming more from the perspective of ecumenicalism and the 'all roads lead to God let's just get along' idea which is what bothered me...and the fact that our God has a name and names found in the Bible, not just the general term 'god' which we use to refer to Him.
Are you guys still planning on heading back to the Middle East? Do you have a country in particular in mind, still Jordan? What an amazing place to be in ministry!!
Thought this might be a good read along those lines:
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/08/changing-gods-name.html
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/08/
changing-gods-name.html
Oops, it got chopped up. Piece that together, should work.
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