Posted on 01/10/2016 5:05:08 AM PST by Jandy on Genesis
With the rise of Islamic aggression, many question whether the God of Islam is the God of the Bible and the One revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. To adequately address this question, separate issues must be addressed. They are the linguistic development of ancient names for God found in the Qur'an and the Bible, and the theological distinctions between Islam's understanding of God and the Christian understanding of God.
Linguistic Development
The oldest known name for the Creator in the Bible is El (ʾēl) which corresponds to the Proto-Semitic Ê”-L. The L likely was a symbol of a throne or chief's seat and indicated power and authority. The Northwest Semitic ʾēl is cognate to the Proto-Arabic ʾIlÄh and the Akkadian ilum. Akkadian was the language of Nimrod's kingdom in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. Nimrod was a Kushite kingdom builder according to Genesis 10:8: "Kush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth."
In Nigeria, the Hausa translation of the Bible uses Allah to designate the Creator and the God and Father of Jesus Christ. Allah is also used in Syrian Bibles. As a designation for God, Allah corresponds to the archaic El in the Hebrew Bible, as Dios in Spanish corresponds to Dieu in French. The name was used among Arabian and Syrian peoples long before the time of Mohammad. Allah is the compressed expression of al-ilah, meaning THE God.
Among Abraham's ancestors there were many names for the Creator. These included YHWH, Yah, El and Ilum. Another ancient name for God as Father is Ausa, sometimes spelled Asa. The Asante tribe bears this name. Asa-nte means "the people of Asa." The Egyptian word Asa refers to God as father. The word "Hausa" probably has a similar meaning: ha-Ausa, meaning the people of God.
(Excerpt) Read more at virtueonline.org ...
Had you lived back then, you would have been one of the ones yelling, "Crucify him!"
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