I saw a news story downloaded in my iPod touch yesterday that gave me a bit of a chuckle. The BBC is reporting that the Malaysian government has seized 10,000 Bibles (the AP is reporting that the number is actually 15,000!) for using the word "Allah" to refer to God. An excerpt from the BBC report:
The Malaysian government has refused to release 10,000 Bibles which it seized because they contained the word Allah to refer to God. The government, which is dominated by Muslim Malays, claims that the word Allah is Islamic and that its use in Bibles could upset Muslims.
The Roman Catholic Church is challenging the ban in court. Religion has become highly sensitive in Malaysia, where about two-thirds of the population is Muslim.
Now I’ve heard the case made that sometimes make too much of made of the word Allah as it was in use long before there were peaceful Mohammadians colonizing the Middle East and Europe by Arabic speaking Christians. Fair enough, I’ll accept that to a point. However, when the word Allah is used by politicians like Presidents George W. Bush or Barrack Obama or even purpose driven pastor extraordinaire Rick Warren to say we all worship one deity whether he or she is called Allah or God or even the god of our many understandings (goomu) we should be just as offended as the peaceful Mohammadians so often seem to get.
I would actually argue that the Malaysian government is actually a little of the curve in their understanding that the Allah confessed by Arabic speaking Christians is a very different god than the Allah submitted to by the Mohammadians and I applaud them for their insight.
3 comments:
If I thought Maly officials were debating a fine theological distinction I might see your point. I do not bristle at the Mormons, JW's, etc using the word God. This is simply an effort to suppress Christian evangelism efforts by suppressing religious speech. Free speech is good for Christianity, because we have something that no other religion has: truth.
Pr. Palm, I agree 100% with you. You are dead on right that the story is really about the peaceful Mohammadians suppressing Christian evangelism… but the reasoning behind the “how” they are able to do this should be enlightening to people that say all monotheists worship the same deity. The Malaysians have no choice but to suppress the evangelism as the god of the peaceful Mohammadians can’t stand against the God of Scripture. It’s all about self preservation.
I only “bristle” with fellow Christians when they say the Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses worship the same God as we confess even after I explain the made in America’s two most successful religions’ actual doctrinal positions. That just bugs the mess out of me…
The devil (the founder of Islam) is having quite a field day.
Islam needs to be exposed for what it really is....demonic, anti-Christic and bent on world domination.
We had better wake up and pay attention.
Post a Comment