michael sibinil said,
Dear Tiwas,
I supposed you have read what I have written some 6 months ago. Praise the Lord JESUS CHRIST that you posed the question: "WHAT’S WRONG IN REFERRING TO GOD AS ALLAH?" A valid question no doubt.
Would you call yourself a Christian if you had not thoroughly examined the Bible and found that it is true, not just some religious fables concocted by some deluded Jews who were followers of a religious lunatic named "Jesus of Nazareth"? The Jews of that day referred to my Savior and God as a lunatic; if you were alive during His time, wouldn’t you have cried out aloud thus: "Crucify Him! Crucify Him"?
The Jewish zealots genuinely believed that they had the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob on their side and yet Jesus told them that they had the Devil as their father! To them the son of Mary was a confirmed lunatic; one who professed to be able to forgive the sins of sinners and that if they would reject Him as the Way, the Truth and the Life, the consequence was eternal damnation! Just how many took Him seriously? Would you have if you were there listening to His no-nonsense, hard-hitting, nerve wrecking, and absolutely offensive preaching? Did Jesus tell them that it did not matter what ‘god’ or ‘gods’ they wanted to believe in and worship?
Did He say: "For you who hailed from India and beyond, because you came from that part of the world, you have your Buddha who came into the world before me. He’s OK, for in his teachings, goodness abounds and that’s where god exists. You do not have to embrace my name as your Saviour and God. There are also so many names of gods from which you may choose to worship.
You worship anyone of them and you are actually worshiping Me. Call your god ‘Sahng-Ti’ or ‘Buddha’, it makes very little difference. And to you descendants of Ishmael, be happy with your desert gods. For it doesn’t really matter what names you ascribe to the Creator of the universe – Buddha, Zeus, Kinoringan, Allah, Shang-Di, Caesar, Hitler, the Popes, et al… – your salvation is assured.
Just be honest with your god or better believe in as many gods as you like. The way to heaven is wide and broad. Who said it is strait and narrow is the way to eternal life?" Doesn’t the name of God matter? It sounds as if it’s no big deal to you. What’s stopping you from calling the name of your god as Kinoringan or Apollos or Zeus? These are "gods" aren’t they? Are you saying that etymologically, though different in their pronounciation, these words/names actually refer to the SAME God of the Bible – who is called JAH, YHWH, YAHWEH or the "I AM" by the Jews or JESUS CHRIST by the Christians?
I have posed a hundred and one questions in my previous articles, why don’t you answer EACH one of them with OBJECTIVE EVIDENCES to support whatever your theories are pertaining to Allah being the Arabic word for Elohim or God? You are NOT being fair to me, are you? Anyone can ask "What’s wrong with the use of Allah in the Kitab?" Have you ever pondered upon all the questions that I have posted in this forum? Are you without a shadow of a doubt that the pronoun "Allah" is truly and genuinely the Arabic word for "GOD" or "ELOHIM"? Give me a proof.
Give me proofs that JESUS referred to Elohim as Allah in the Arabic? Or that Abraham referred to Yahaweh as Allah when he shared his Elohim with Hagar (his Egyptian concubine who bore the Ishmaelites)?
Are you saying that EVERYTHING in the Bible is to be taken by FAITH alone? And that historical, archeological evidences for the existence of the various characters and places in the Bible are irrelevant? Are we not to examine the Word of God as how the Berean Christians did? If Jesus claimed to be the "ONLY begotten Son of the Living God", aren’t there Bible verses or Scriptures that evidenced Hios cliamed of Divinity and His Deity?
If you were a Protestant, who did you get the idea that Mary has many other sons and daughters? Or was Mary a perpetual virgin all her life till the day she died and that in sometime in 1950 (therabout), God crowned her in the 3rd Heaven as the "QUEEN OF HEAVEN"? Do you believe that without asking for an evidence? Or, do you reject SOLA SCRIPTURA? May be you don’t and that your religion is akin to EVOLUTION – both progressive and ever-changing according to the signs of the times; i.e., if 1500 years ago, one Roman pontiff rejected outright the very idea that Mary was born without sin (Immaculate Conception) whilst only recently (as early as the ’50s), a neo-ecumenical papist "god" (who had the audacity tp refer to himself as the "HOLY FATHER", a title only reserved for the Almighty od of the Christians) made a declaration in the Vatican II catechism (a.k.a ‘magestirium) that Mary is NOW confirmed to have been born WITHOUT a stain of sin (preserved so-called from the original sin of Adam).
And papists have fallen for this blatant heresy without even asking the Holy Spirit whether such a new dogma is true or false! So, can Christians refer to the God of the Bible as "Allah"? Absolutely "NO!" for the simplest of all arguments (philosophical or otherwise) that according to the Quran of Islam (and you can also challenge the Quran (contend for this case) in court) the name "Allah" was REVEALED to their prophet Muhammad (Ahmed)" just like the name of JESUS was announced by the angel Gabriel to Mary even before He was born!! Since you have already "half-won" (almost actually) the court case (no surprise to me since the judge was a non-Muslim – what do you expect?), why don’t you challenge the claim of the Quran that the name "Allah" was revealed to Muhammad alone by Elohim/Yahweh? It is one stupid thing to poke some fun in the characters of one’s religious prophet, but to challenge the entire Islamic world that the name "Allah" was not revealed to Muhammad in circa 630AD is akin to waging a religious war with Islam. Don’t you think so?
I mean where does it all end? You win the court case and enjoy the privilegeto use "Allah" in all your Malay Bibles, periodicals and call on the name of "Allah" each time you raise your hands in prayer of kneel down on your knees when you worship your god, Mary and the Roman Catholic ’saints’, what’s next for you? Will you then be telling the whole of Islam that "we must now come to an amicable agreement that we share the same god which we shall refer to as Allah from henceforth"? The Roman Catechism has in its so-called magestirium / dogma that Islam is actually embracing the god of Roman Cathgolicism; isn’t this a fact?
And because Roman Catholics and Muslims can now call on the name of Allah, there is then absolutely NO stopping these two (2) major religions of the world to UNITE and become ONE (as what has been the SOLE objective of the Inter-faith movement championed by thelate Karol Wojtyla). Read the Roman Catechism; it mentions the word "ISLAM" in one of its statements of faith. You’d be shocked to know what else is written in this new Bible of the Roman Catholics. To the papists, the Old and New Testaments are merely a bunch of fables (religious stories) whilst the real essence of Christianity (according to them) is found in their Catechism. The latter is where salvation lies and not in the former. That’s why they reject SOLA SCRIPTURA. And having said all the above, if you are still NOT convinced that the name "ALLAH" is EXCLUSIVELY for Muslims ONLY, then there is not a fact in the world that can convince the likes of you.
But remember the words of Paul in Galatians 1: 8-9, "BUT THOUGH WE, OR AN ANGEL FROM HEAVEN, PREACH ANY OTHER GOSPEL UNTO YOU THAN THAT WE HAVE ALREADY PREACHED UNTO YOU, LET HIM BE ACCURSED. AS WE HAVE SAID BEFORE, SO SAY I NOW AGAIN, IF ANY MAN PREACH ANY OTHER GOSPEL UNTO YOU THAN THAT YE HAVE RECEIVED, LET HIM BE ACCURSED." Attempting to introduce soething alien to the Bible, be it a religious statement, a doctrine, a dogma or even names and words that are NOT found in the Bible are a blatant act that defies the admonition of the Apostle paul and God shall not be silent on it.
A Muslim writer has asked the likes of you thus: "WHY DON’T YOU USE THE MALAY WORD "TUHAN" TO DENOTE "GOD" IN YOUR BIBLE INSTEAD OF ADOPTING THE NAME "ALLAH" WHICH IS NOT A MALAY WORD FOR GOD?" Why don’t you FIRST answer this question before you asked in return thus: "WHAT’S WRONG WITH USING THE NAME ALLAH IN THE MALAY KITAB?"
By answering an honest question with another question that tries to evade the issue is an act of sheer religious arrogance. My advice to you is: "JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION…"
By answering a valid question with a cynical question invites the wrath of the opponents and shall lead to a more grievous consquences instead of trying to clarify your points of view or beliefs.
You are treading on a very dangerous ground that might even result in a severe backlash. Why don’t you and the likes of you RESPECT their demand to let them use the name of their god exclusively for themselves alone without interfering in their religious affairs? They have already given their full blessings to so-called ‘Christians’ to us the Malay word "TUHAN" in your Kitab.
It is most mind-boggling and bordering on insanity why you must provoke the Muslims by inferring that CHRISTIANS HAVE THE CUSTOMARY RIGHT TO CALL THE CREATOR GOD AS ALLAH BECAUSE LONG BEFORE THE ADVENT OF ISLAM, THE NAME HAS BEEN WIDELY USED BY THE CHRISTIAN ARABS IN THE MIDDLE EASTERN REGIONS. But when uslims asked you where in the Bible is it mentioned the name of Allah…., the arrogance of the proponents to the use of Allah in the Malay Kitab would NOT even have the courtesy to give a gentle and humble response. WHY? Have you no regard for the feelings of these people?
A Christian brethren would welcome the admonition of another brethren instead of questioning why judge yet another brother. Are you referring to Matthew 7:1? Have you not read that Christians must judge RIGHTEOUSLY? What is judging "righteously"? Isn’t the word of God to be used wisely to admonish an erring brethren? Why do you reprimand me for correcting a false and most dangerous (even fatalistic) opinion? Do you disagree with the Berean Christians who search the Scriptures day and ight to find out for themselves whether whgat they heard from the Apostles of Jesus Christ was CORRECT or FALSE, whether they have their source from Scriptures or from Satan? Do you not have any concern at all?
You go to college to find out whether water can be turned into vapour or into Hydrogen and Oxygen molecules; yet you care less about the FALSE religious notions brought unto you by some misguided fools sitting in a religious committee/organisation that receives no inspirations from the Holy Spirit pertaining to the name Allah. Judge me for what I say / write, but please tell me exactly how I have contradicted Scriptures! Explain yourself and justfy your claims. Don’t just quote the Bible without any qualifications (justifications and objective evidences to support your theories or hypothesis). We are not babes that feed on religious fables without contending for the truths.
If Paul found it justified to warn those who blatantly deceived the brethren with some foreign religious fables (not from his own mouth or from the mouth of the other Apostles of Jesus Christ), with disastrous and even damnable consequences, what do you think you can further gain by NOT rejecting and removing from your possessions something that is NOT right to keep? What I do with it is up to me. I TRASH it or make a BONFIRE out of it, is actually the very CORRECT thing to do and it does not run contrary to the advice from the Apostle Paul.
I purchase a Bible that I now found out to be erroneous; having devastating consequences on my Christian faith, it would be a damnable sin for me to preach the Christian doctrines using such Bible adulterated with false teachings or containing the name(s) of the god(s) of other religions which I might have been decieved into believing that they all refer to the same God of the Bible! What ’s wrong with burning a talisman? Burning a charm or a pagan paraphenalia?
Is God wrathful? Am I being disrespectful to you or to others who propound such fallacies? If what I do incur the absolute wrath of so-called ‘Christians’ who are not, I only need to please Jesus Christ and no one else. If I an my entire family truly believe in what we are doing, and the rest of the world shuns us for that matter, we shall not be moved an iota.
Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat: Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and FEW (emphasis mine) there be that FIND (emphasis mine) it (KJV, Matthew 7:13-14).
I do not regard my Christian brethren with contempt. However, it is my Christian duty to admonish an erring brother (and what I say to you can be found in th Bible; not a concoction of mine). I admonish you to re-read my two articles above and answer ALL the questions posed therein together with the pertinent questions asked by a Muslim writer, i.e., the EVIDENCE for Allah in the Malay Kitab and the RATIONALE for using a so-called Arabic term (which has no proof to adduce that the term "Allah" itself is an Arabic language). Islam owes you that much for now….
And to my Muslim acquaintances (colleagues at work) or fellow Malaysian Muslims and elsewhere, let me make it absolutely crystal clear that I have ABSOLUTELY no part in the earlier campaigns made the papists (Roman Catholics) and their "symphatizers" (Anglicans, SIBs, SDAs, Basels, Baptists, Charismatics, et al…) to promote the use of the name ALLAH in the Malay Kitab (Bible) for I and my immediate family members have long DISCONTINUED the use of the name "ALLAH" in our worship of the Christian God, JESUS CHRIST.
For our unshakeable stand against the use of "Allah" in the Malay Bible, we have incurred the WRASTH of many who professed to be Christians and even "Born Again" followers of the Christian God! They have even labelled us as "mental pygmies" and "enemies" of the "brethren". But we are NOT ashamed of our stance on this matter which we believe to be so dear to Muslims not only in this country but elsewhere. Whilst the news of the court ruling have made hundreds of thousands of Roman Catholics and Protestants in Malaysia and elsewhere feeling absolutely triumphal and elated to the 3rd heavens, we reacted with dismay at their absolute religious arrogance and ignorance. I am NOT a part of it and will NEVER EVER be – not NOW or EVER.
I have written / compiled the opinions of Christian apologetics/ apologists whose credentials far outweigh whatever I know of the Bible who have spent all their lives researching, writing and holding conferences / talks on why they genuinely believe that "ALLAH IS THE NAME OF THE MUSLIM GOD AND THEREFORE EXCLUSIVELY FOR MUSLIMS ALONE." I concur with ALL y heart and soul.
I would also like to put one thing STRAIGHT concerning who are the Christians in this land.
I believe that to the Muslims, all peoples who own Bibles and worship their "god" in churches are termed Christians. This is as far as the majority of Muslim understand concerning who are the CHRISTIANS. Roman Catholics are not the Christians per se. They serve many "gods" including the worhip of the earthly mother of Jesus named Mary whom they have now elevated to the level of a "deity" possessing the OMNIPRESENT attribute to be EVERWHERE at the SAME time to listen to the prayers of Roman Catholics who recite the rosaries.
I believe that to the Muslims, all peoples who own Bibles and worship their "god" in churches are termed Christians. This is as far as the majority of Muslim understand concerning who are the CHRISTIANS. Roman Catholics are not the Christians per se. They serve many "gods" including the worhip of the earthly mother of Jesus named Mary whom they have now elevated to the level of a "deity" possessing the OMNIPRESENT attribute to be EVERWHERE at the SAME time to listen to the prayers of Roman Catholics who recite the rosaries.
To the Roman Catholics, no one can enter heaven EXCEPT through the Queen of Heaven (the Mary of Roman Catholicism). For anyone to get to Heaven, he/she must go THROUGH the Queen of Heaven since she is also the REDEEMER apart from Jesus Christ. It is all written in the Roman Catechism. And further, it is a Roman Catholic dogma that says: "GOD SHALL NOT ANSWER A PRAYER THAT IS NOT MADE THROUGH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN…" for it is alleged that she has been entrusted by God to COLLECT all the prayers of the "Christians" – sort them out, trash prayers that do not eulogise the Queen of Heaven – and bring before the presence of God in the 3rd heavens (the abode of God besides being in the hearts of all believers).
To the Roman Catholics, only THEY shall enter heaven; and that for man or woman to enter heaven, he or she MUST embrace the religion of Roman Catholicism. They also deny that the sacriofice of JESUS CHRIST on the cross was NOT sufficient to save one’s soul. It must be that one must partake in the sacrifice of the Mass. If not, damnation awaits the soul. There are so many more false teachings of Roman Catholicism; they call the pope as "GOD", hence the label "HOILY FATHER" (a title reserved ONLY for YAHWEH).
The pope is also the REPLACEMENT of JESUS CHRISYT and the HOLY SPIRIT, thereby, referring to himself as the VISIBLE Holy Spirit of God. The Bible clearly says that these religious dogmas are blasphemies against God. God does NOT have a replacement on earth in the person of the pope or his cardinals, bishops and priests. Whilst the Christian Bible declares that the "CHURCH" is represented by those who are termed "Born Again" Christians, Roman Catholicism declares that the church is Roman Catholicism as a religion and that salvation is through the Roman Catholic religion (again all these are written in the catechism). And because the teachings of Roman Catholicism are spurious and ever-changing according to the "whims and fancies" of the reigning pope, it therefore comes under the category of a CULTIC religion (in which its head, i.e., the pope demands absolute allegiance to himself instead of allegiance to God). Roman Catholicism is therefore NOT Christianity in every sense of the word. Strickly speaking, it is a pagan religion. I hope that Muslims in this land shall no longer be at odds as to who/what are the "Christians" and what is the "CHURCH". It does NOT refer to the building (house of worship) but a "body of peoples" who are "Born Again", whose true allegiance is ONLY to the God of the Bible, JESUS CHRIST, and NOT to some fallible individuals who claim to be "GOD".
Mike Sibinil
Penampang, SABAH.