Posted on 11/18/2002 3:13:25 PM PST by blam
Malaysia state 'cancels' Xmas as Muslims fast
November 18 2002 at 12:42PM
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's southernmost state of Johor has ordered its shopping malls to remove all Christmas decorations to give priority to the Muslim celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr next month, a newspaper reported on Monday.
State tourism chairperson Chua Soi Lek slammed shopping mall proprietors for adopting "Western cultures" and said they were overly enthusiastic about Christmas promotions.
"The Johor government is disappointed with a group of shopping complex proprietors who are influenced by Western cultures and neglect the promotion of Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations," Chua told the Star newspaper.
He instructed all malls to remove Christmas banners and posters and start "enhancing the Eid-ul-Fitr mood", said the report.
Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated to herald the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started on November 6.
Muslims make up 60 percent of Malaysia's population of 23 million people. - Sapa-DPA
The name "Allah", used for the God of Abraham, is older than "God".
I think you may be reading the wrong Bible - you know, one of them newfangled translations or something!
You are not quite right - God is not a name, but is rather his title. You are correct in saying that his name is Yaweh (or Jehovah).
The name "Allah", used for the God of Abraham, is older than "God".
Not really correct - as I said above, God is not his name, Yaweh is, so what you have stated is not pertinent. Besides, "Allah" is never used in the Bible.
I think you may be reading the wrong Bible - you know, one of them newfangled translations or something!
OK, let's not talk about translations. Let's talk about the original Hebrew old testament. Show me where God is called "Allah" there. Let me save you some trouble - it isn't in there. God was never called "Allah" in the Bible, therefore it is inconceivable that a Christian would call him that.
Regardless of semantics, the Allah of Islam is not the God of the Bible. The only sure way to heaven for a Muslim is to die a martyr, while slaughtering "infidels". Blowing up innocent Muslims as a "suicide bomber" would be a one way ticket to hell for a Christian, whose only hope for salvation is a repentant heart and faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. These are obviously two completely different concepts of God. There can be no arguing that.
Find a New Testament in Arabic to see where Allah is found in "The Bible". You might trouble yourself to find a Latin Bible where you can discover "God" is nowhere to be found. Your local Catholic church can probably provide you the opportunity.
"Lah" is a word that can be associated with "Moon". "Deus", a Latin word for "God" is clearly a cognate of "Zeus". We can play wordgames all day long, but you are correct that we have to look at the nature of the deity invoked to see if we mean the same thing.
It's quite possible that there are individuals out there whose view of God is erroneous, irrespective of the name used.
Signed,
A Christmas Depressive
As I mentioned before, God is the title of Yaweh (or Jehovah). "Elohim" is the word in the Bible that is translated as "God" in English. This word is found throughout the Bible, so I don't think you can really say that "God" is nowhere to be found. And by the way, the Catholic church is not the source of all knowledge for Christianity - there are many (better) places I can go besides there to research my beliefs. The Catholic church holds many beliefs that I (and millions of other Christians) believe are in serious error, so they are definitely not my first resort for educational materials!
I don't wish to play word games. I wish to deeply examine the nature of God. Based on such an examination, Yaweh plainly is not the same god as Allah, no matter how much Muslims try to insist that he is.
It's quite possible that there are individuals out there whose view of God is erroneous, irrespective of the name used.
No, it is not "quite possible" - it is an absolute certainty!
May God bless you as you seek him.
It's in there.
I'm sure you overlooked it unintentionally.
No, I didn't overlook it because it isn't applicable. It doesn't speak of martyrdom. It speaks of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for those who believe in him. It has nothing to do with martyrdom or salvation, which as I stated before, comes only through faith in the finished, perfect work of Jesus. Christians may be martyred because of their faith, but it does not 'earn' them salvation - that has already been accomplished through their faith.
This is in contrast to Islam, where one who is martyred when slaughtering 'infidels' has 'earned' his way to heaven and is supposedly granted 72 perpetual virgins.
Agreed - there is more to come. However, the work of salvation is complete. Jesus himself said it on the cross just before he dismissed his spirit - "It is finished." There is nothing further that anyone can do to earn salvation. He has done the work, and is now our heavenly high priest seated at the right hand of the Father, in contrast to the Old Testament priests who never sat and were continually working and offering sacrifices to temporarily cover the sins of the people. Their work was never done, but Jesus' redemptive work is completed to the uttermost!
Folks in centuries after Mohammad arrived at this one by sitting around asking "What would Mohammad say, what would Mohammad do, what would Mohammad think." The error is to place yourelf in the seat of the prophet who supposedly gets the word from God. Unless you are the prophet, and God is talking to you, the specific error is idolotry.
I avoid the WWJD approach myself in consideration of the grivous error the Moslems made in doing something akin to that.
I'm with you somewhat on the WWJD thing. Since I'm not Jesus (who was God - something I would never dare to come close to claiming), I can't put myself in his place or react to situations the same way he would, nor should I. I tend to approach life from the angle of WWJHMD - "What would Jesus have me do?" I think this can usually be easily discerned if you have a solid understanding of the Bible.
You keep bringing up the distant past - I don't want to talk about the mistakes that others made back then - I want to talk about now. What do you think Christians believe? Are you telling me that Christians believe that if they die a martyr for the faith that 'earns' them a ticket to heaven? Is that really what you think?
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