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Start using 'Allah' instead of 'God'?
Kathleen Parker
Washington Post Writer's Group
August 19, 2007
WASHINGTON
It was bound to happen -- and it seems fitting that a cleric named Tiny would think of it.Roman Catholic Bishop Tiny Muskens of the Netherlands has decided that the way to ease Muslim-Everybody Else tensions is to start using "Allah" instead of "God."
Noting that God does not care what we call him, Muskens thought, why not yield a little to Muslim ways?Or would that be submit, the literal meaning of "Islam"?........
Contrary to Hooper's one-God claim, Christians and Muslims don't really worship the same God. Although both religions are monotheistic -- and if there's just one God, there's just one God -- Christians believe Jesus was the Son of God and Muslims think otherwise.That's not a small doctrinal difference.
In fact, at the risk of exhausting the obvious, Christianity doesn't exist without, um, Christ. Of course we could rewrite the Apostle's Creed to include Muhammad: "I believe in Allah the Father Almighty . . . and in Muhammad, his favorite prophet . . ."The possibilities are infinite, really. Alternatively, we could pretend to be sane and suggest that everybody go to his or her own house of worship, pray to his or her own version of the Creator, and otherwise get a grip......
Given that European Muslims are procreating at three times the rate of non-Muslims -- and given the "logarithmic rate" of growth of jihadist ideology in the U.S., according to a new report by the New York Police Department's Intelligence Division -- it may be sooner than that.Peace be upon us.
Kathleen Parker can be reached at kparker@kparker.com.
Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel
My comment:
Bishop Muskin's heart is in the right place, no doubt. And, in terms of God identification, the Muslim worships the God of Abraham, the father through Hagar of the Arab race. So Jew and Muslim, in that sense, serve the same God. So why can't we all just get along?
Throw Jesus into the mix, as Parker suggests above, and you've got problems. Jews do not regard him as their savior and Muslims regard him as a savior, but demote him from the position accorded him in the New Testament as Lord of the cosmos. These are "monotheists" all, but Jesus is the wild card.
Thus it is that Mohammed nods to Jews and Christians as "people of the book," and they are redeemable as long as they submit to Allah. So, Ms. Parker suggests, is this peacemaking or submission on the part of the retiring Bishop?
Jesus, the Prince of Peace, said he didn't come to bring peace but division into this world. And that he has done. His claims are so outrageous that they are either true or he has buffaloed billions into believing in a myth. There is no compromise on this issue of Jesus' identity as lone savior. And perhaps millions of Christians have given their lives for that reason alone: they would not compromise that distinction, that Jesus is the only name that saves. Jesus is the only religion worth a hoot.
Jesus also taught "blessed are the peacemakers." So how do we "make peace" when just the mention of Jesus' superiority brings division? The key is another Jesus principle: "Pray for your enemies." It is hard to hate someone you are concerned about. It is even harder to hate when you do good to those who oppose and hate you. They are disarmed by it.
In this world, democracy is the most we can hope for to help people who disagree sharply live together in a state of constant truce. Solomon said, "A soft answer turns away wrath." Living with violence is so ugly we all should want to avoid it. And we often do, with a kind of live and let live philosophy. But sooner or later, the dragon of war will rear its head.
Formerly Christian Europe, now in a state of apostasy, is becoming a Muslim stronghold. Christians living there face a real dilemma. They face extinction. Will the Muslims ~ indeed can they ~ compromise the goal of their faith which, according to Mohammed, is ultimate theocratic occupation of the world?
Kathleen Parker touches on a very sensitive issue here. When are we making peace and when are we compromising? In Africa, Muslims and Christians shoot at one another. Is civil war on the horizon in Europe? Tough decisions are coming for both the Muslim and the "infidel."
3 comments:
I know you knew I would be all over this one? First of all Kathleen is really a great writer. I have always loved her stuff. She is right on with this. I totally disagree that Allah is God. Allah is the devil, Baal and all the other heathen gods rolled into one. Look at the fruit! They sacrifice their children to devils. They don't just burn them to death they obliterate them. This joke of a priest is exactly why I think the roman religion is just another cult with no relevance to the truth. If you want peace in the world then bring God down to settle the score. The true priest and prophets and kings of the Spirit need to touch those things in heaven so heaven comes down. When the Prince of Peace rules then only will their be peace. Not when the so called christians bow to a devil like this old washed up Dutchman did. This guy would betray his flock. He already has.
On the issue of Allah's identity I have considered many things. He may be the ruling principality (demon)over that region of the world. If so, he is a religious devil, for that is the strictest religion on earth. If works could save you, Islam would be the one.
Some argue that Allah is the moon-god the Arabs used to worship way back there. If that were true, the Jews worshipped this false god and a few besides, like Dagon.
Whoever Allah is or is not, to the Muslim He is the same God the Jews worship: YHWH with a different name. Muhammed didn't say he had switched Gods. He said God had given him a greater revelation than He did to the Jew or the Christian. Same God but Islam was the full, unadulterated "truth."
There are some serious problems with Islam. Mohammed used a very convincing hype in his day: the edge of the sword. So he hatched a vengeful, scary, mean religion.
But the biggest problem is that he demoted Christ. Without faith in Christ as the only Savior, we have no real access to truth. We may know facts but we don't know truth.
Jesus is the truth.
So the Muslim approaches God, submits to God, without Jesus to help him. So they are climbing up some other way: they are submitting to laws and edicts without the Holy Spirit. You can bow to Mecca all day long if you want, but without Jesus it is totally meaningless.
Agreed, They may be worshipers of who Daniel called the god of Force. In other versions its says a god of fortresses or strongholds. So this allah they worship with the lives of their children needs to be broken in these regions. God's people will have to lay down their doctrines and triangulate in Prayer a threefold cord of prayer over these regions to destroy these demonic strongholds. I ready for the fight, how about you.
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