Do Muslims And Christians Worship The Same God? College Suspends Professor Who Said Yes.

Washington Post ^ | December 16, 2015 | Kirkland An

[Steelfish]

Do Muslims And Christians Worship The Same God? College Suspends Professor Who Said Yes. Resize Text Print Article Comments 2324

By Kirkland An December 16

In this Dec. 13, 2015 photo, Larycia Hawkins, an associate professor of political science at Wheaton College, a private evangelical school in Wheaton, Ill., wears a hijab at a church service in Chicago. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune via AP)

Wheaton College, a prominent evangelical school in Illinois, has placed a professor on administrative leave after she posted on Facebook that Muslims and Christians “worship the same God.”

The official school statement Tuesday about associate professor of political science Larycia Hawkins’s suspension said Wheaton professors should “engage in and speak about public issues in ways that faithfully represent the College’s evangelical Statement of Faith.”

Following a protest and sit-in of about 100 people Wednesday afternoon on campus, President Philip Ryken and later Provost Stanton Jones said they would not be lifting the suspension. It wasn’t clear how long Hawkins was suspended for, but some of the student leaders who had been involved in talks with administrators said it was through the spring semester.

The school’s communications office on Wednesday declined comment to the Post.

Protesters chanted “Reinstate Doc Hawk,” “We love Wheaton!” and some evangelical women wore hijabs in solidarity.

[PCPOET7]

and that’s just then part of the prophet that the jihadists like.

[PCPOET7]

and that’s just then part of the prophet that the jihadists like.

[Blue Collar Christian]

“Would God really send a pedophile, slave trader, slave owner, sex slave pimp, dog hater, mass murderer, liar and a theif to be his mad mo messenger?”

The Bible is loaded with people God used that were pretty bad. Murderers, adulterers, liars, prostitutes, a tax collector, slave owners, a womanizing drunkard and mass murderer, thieves, etc.

Mohamed was never repentant might be a difference.

[TXnMA]

Agreed; see tagline...

[TXnMA]

Agreed; see tagline...

[Bob434]

the college suspended the prof for giving the ‘politically correct’ (but factually wrong) asnswer? Lol

[madison10]

That is my question. I thought that on applications for jobs at Christian colleges the applicant had to sign a statement of belief agreeing with the college, or not get hired.

[Tucker39]

What an assinine question; that headline first sentence.

The Christian Faith is based totally on the life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and perpetual priesthood of Christ as our Savior and Lord. Acts 4:12

Islam says that allah doesn’t even have a son. Duh!

But any comparison is actually idiotic. The imaginary god known as allah is just a recycled moongod, which can only represent either a fallen angel or a demon. There is only one God, and only one Mediator between God and men; the Man, Christ Jesus.

[budj]

OK, let’s not put Subie’s in that group - proudly made in Lafayette, IN. Put her in a Volvo.

[af_vet_1981]

Nope. Allah is just another word for Satan.

False; I have no idea if it is ignorance or malice.

[ViLaLuz]

The lie of Chrislam.

[Sheapdog]

The famous Wycliff Bible translators now believe it is okay to contextualize the translation and thus approve of using Allah in place of God and other Hebrew and Greek variations. This is crossing a line. They also remove the term “son” and refer to him as father or messiah. Many articles referencing this from 2012 if you do a search.

[af_vet_1981]

There is a generic word for God, in Hebrew, Arabic and perhaps Greek, El/Elohim, Allah, and Theos.

The word Allah and Islam
WRITTEN BY MICHAEL ABD EL-MASSIH
DIRECTOR OF ARABIC BIBLE OUTREACH MINISTRY.
How does the word Allah relate to Islam and its
teachings?

This pamphlet examines its root, its use, and its misuse, and makes strong, practical application of that to Arabic and English-speaking Christians in evangelizing Muslims.

Allah and its use in the Arabic language

The term Allah (Arabic: الله, Allāh) is the standard Arabic word for God and is most likely derived from a contraction of the Arabic article al- and ilāh, which means "deity or god" to al-lāh meaning "the [sole] deity, God." There is another theory that traces the etymology of the word to the Aramaic Alāhā.

Today's Arabic speakers from all religious backgrounds (Muslims, Christians, and Jews) use the word Allah to mean God. In pre-Islamic Arabia, pagan Meccans used Allah as a reference to the creator-god, possibly the supreme deity.

The first-known translation of the Bible into Arabic, which took place in the 9th century, uses the word Allah for God (1). In fact, Arab Christians were using the word Allah for God prior to the dawn of Islam, and it is important to note that they were using it in place of Elohim, but not in place of Yahweh. That means Allah is a generic word for God, but not the personal name of God. (Radical Muslims in the West claim that Allah, not Yahweh or any other Bible name, is the name of the one true God.)

As an example closer to home, Christians and non-Christians alike use the word God in English, but that does not make the God of the Bible the same as the god of the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or others. Another example is that when irreverent people use the expression “Oh my God!” in their day-to-day communications, they are not referring to the God of the Bible when they invoke that term.

When the prophet of Islam started his ministry in Mecca, he considered at one point uniting the Arabs under a different name for God. His favorite was Al-Rahman but he chose Allah to name his god. After the spread of Islam in the Middle East, Arab Christians continued to use word Allah since it did not have any negative connotations to them personally. Once again, it is important to understand that both before and after Muhammad, the Allah of the Arabs was not the Allah of the Arab Christians.

Today, Muslims claim they worship the same God as Christians and Jews. In fact, the Islamic propaganda machine in the West is attempting to change our English vocabulary to accommodate Islamic beliefs. Before tackling that topic, however, I’d like to address a controversial subject that is gaining momentum among American Christians, and is greatly harming the propagation of the Gospel among Muslims: the notion that Allah was the name for a pagan moon god of pre-Islamic time. I believe this theory is greatly misunderstood by American Evangelicals, and is being mixed up with the Islamic push to use Allah in our vocabulary as His name or as an alternative to the word God.

Allah and the Moon God theory

Currently, there is an ongoing debate as to whether the Allah of the Qur'an is in fact a pagan Arab moon god of pre-Islamic times. This idea has been mentioned in literature for more than a century, but only recently has it been seriously promoted. The theory is particularly used in one leading Evangelical author’s books and pamphlets, which has set the stage for many Christian Evangelical authors to adopt it and assert it in their writings about Islam.

This theory claims that a pagan deity, a moon god named Allah, was married to the sun goddess, and the stars were his daughters. Proponents of this theory point to the fact that the crescent moon symbol is found on many flags of Islamic countries and on top of mosques. I have encountered many questions during my seminars on Islam about Allah, and have even been challenged that I should not use the word Allah during some of my lectures on Islam because Allah is the moon god. The theory is becoming so controversial that some Christian ministries on the Internet replaced the word Allah with the word ilah (“deity god”) in the most common version of the Arabic Bible (Vandyke version) on their Web sites. One ministry went as far as producing CDs for the Arabic Bible exchanging the word Allah with ilah.

Such chaos is greatly harming the cause of Christ among Muslims and other Arabic speaking individuals. Here is a summary of my objections:

It is an unproven theory, so it may well be false. Even if it turns out to be true, it has little bearing on the Muslim faith since Muslims do not worship a moon god. That would be blasphemy in Islamic teachings.

If we use the moon-god theory to discredit Islam, we discredit the Christian Arabic speaking churches and missions throughout the Middle East. This point should not be discounted lightly because the word Allah is found in millions of Arabic Bibles and other Arabic Christian materials.

The moon-god theory confuses evangelism. When Christians approach Muslims, they do not know whether they need to convince them that they worship the wrong deity, or to present them the simple Gospel message of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The moon-god theory promotes an "us versus them" mentality. Most Christians in the USA seem to be living in fear about their Muslims neighbors, but instead our Lord calls us to be reaching out in love to Muslims and not to alienate them.

As far as the moon symbol on the mosques or on the flags, the simple reason behind it is that Islam depends on the moon for their religious calendar (lunar calendar) specially during the Ramadan (month of fasting). Islam forbids symbols or pictures of God.

Allah as a substitute for the word God

The Islamic propaganda machine in the West is actively pushing for the use of the word Allah instead of God in the Western languages, especially in English. The sole purpose of this push is to promote Islam and render it an acceptable mainstream religion alongside Christianity in the West, not just from man’s perspective but from God’s.

A quick look at Islamic English Web sites and Islamic English literature reveals how widely the word Allah is used instead of God. Christians should be very concerned about the use of the word Allah in the English language since it is not only accommodating Islamic beliefs, but also transforming the word Allah into a NAME for the God of the Bible.

I think that what the church needs is to stand against and not to be entangled with the moon god theory, which has no scholastic proof and hinders evangelism to Muslims in the USA and the West.

I was particularly saddened to see several English Christian Web sites posting the English Bible text with the word Allah substituting for God as an attempt to witness to Muslims. In doing so, they have inadvertently asserted the Muslim claim that Allah is the name of the one true God!

Allah and personal witnessing

I have found that in a personal witnessing situation, it is best to share my faith with a Muslim by assuming that we are both talking about the same God, the One who created the heavens and the earth. The apostle Paul used that approach in Acts 17 when he came to Athens and his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry (Verse 16). He later addressed the pagan Greeks telling them about the one true God who is the Lord of heaven and earth who cannot dwell in temples made with hands (verses 22-24).

I have also found that the issues regarding the term Allah are difficult for many American Christians to sort through when it comes to understanding Islam. We need wisdom and we need to be vigilant. Allah should not be the subject matter of our evangelism with Muslims, and Allah should not be accepted as an alternative word for God in the English language.

As a ministry, we are committed to helping Christians better comprehend the tenets of Islam, and to support Christian workers who are actively reaching Muslims.

Summary

Arabic-speaking Christians should continue to use the word Allah in their language to address God since it is their generic word for the one true God, even though the understanding of His character is horribly messed up in Islam, which happens to share the same Arabic language. The Arab Christians will always be challenged to maintain that distinction and to remain biblical.

The Christians in the West should not be entangled with the moon-god theory, especially when witnessing to Muslims. In addition, English-speaking believers should resist the use of Allah in their own language and refrain from using it in any English Christian media or publications targeting Muslims.

May the Lord fuel our evangelism to Muslims in the USA and abroad with wisdom, passion, and love!

(1) See the following article :

http://www.arabicbible.com/arabic-bible/codex.html

[Redmen4ever]

Muslim God approximately = Jewish God approximately = Christian God the Father BUT NOT THE TRINITY

Jesus makes all the difference. Jesus enables us to relate to God on a personal basis. He is the bridegroom and we are the bride. We are that intimate with him. He also says we are his friend, not merely his kin. And, because of Jesus, we can call God the Father “daddy” (meaning, with affection).

The word Allah is simply Arabic for God. BUT, Muslims insist on “translating” God into other languages as “Allah.” Hence, THEY insist on the difference. This reflects their arrogance. As to what this difference would be (aside from Trinitarian personhood of God), would be a guess.

[editor-surveyor]

.
>> “Um... There is only one Gd.” <<

.
Yep, his Name is Yehovh, and muzzies do not worship him.

He said he would save only those that call out his name, and his name is not allah.

[Mad Dawg]

I believe that, technically speaking, Islam is a heresy. They are not UTTER UNbelievers. Rather they obstinately persist in several extremely grave errors about God of Abraham. And one of the most grave is that they hold IHS to be only a man, a prophet to be sure, but not having Divine Nature in any unique way. And he is, they think, not the greatest prophet.

So, this is a case where erroneous beliefs about God and Jesus lead to such terrible and extensive consequences that you could almost say that they might as well be unbelievers.

[CyberAnt]

NEVER.

[Eagles6]

Exactly. Read the ******* koran and get back to me.

Hope the administrators smack these skulls full o' mush down.

Expell them.

[CurlyDave]

Would God really send a pedophile, slave trader, slave owner, sex slave pimp, dog hater, mass murderer, liar and a theif to be his mad mo messenger?

Why don't we read Numbers Chapter 31, all 54 verses and report back on the pedophilia, mass murder, slave trading and sex slavery. And don't neglect verses 26-30 where God tells Moses exactly how to divide up the young girls.

Then go back to Genesis 27 (Isaac, Jacob and Esau) where an entire inheritance is stolen through lies.

These two short pages cover all of your complaints except for the dog-hating, and dogs are never held in high regard throughout the Bible...

* * * * * *

There are plenty of reasons to feel that Islam should be controlled, contained, and possibly even wiped out, but the ones you give are not valid.

[sitetest]

The question is more difficult than most make out. One does not have to be a Trinitarian to be a monotheist. Ask the Jews, who would tell you, our infatuation with this whole Trinity thing is woefully misguided. In fact, nicer Jews consider us merely misguided. Others consider us akin to polytheists.

Yet, we don’t deny that Jews worship the one, true God. At least, most of us don’t.

Mohammedism more clearly tracks withe Catholic heresy known as Arianism.

Mohammedism affirms one, true god.

It affirms Jesus as Messiah, Word of god, conceived by the holy spirit of god, born of the sinless virgin mary, who, at the end of her life, was assumed bodily into heaven.

It would agree with much of what we know through natural revelation about the one, true God: He is imniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. At least in concept, he is impassable. Also, he is transcendent.

So, at first blush, the Mohammedan seems to worship the one, true, God, just not accepting the doctrine of the Trinity.

But perhaps there are a few loose strings in the garment of Mohammed an monotheism. If we pull on them, the garment may unravel.

The first is that mohammed’s god is not a god of love. We are not objects of God’s love. He is merciful. He is benevolent. But He is, in their view, not love. He is altogether entir e ly transcendant, and thus beyond our human categories of love and affection.

But, if God is not a God of love, then why does He create? If He creates except out of gratuitous love, then He creates out of need, to have a creation to worship him, and then He is not God, only a god. Because if he creates out of need, then he is imperfect, not complete in himself, and not the true Almighty.

In fact, we see this in mohammedism: their god has an insatiable, almost pathological need to be worshipped. Whereas, in Judaism and Christianity, God often adopts a more humble place actually beneath Himself, causing His followers to fall ever more in love with Him. We find Him not in the fire, or the earthquake or the raging storm, but in the soft whispering of a gentle breeze. In our own lives, in our Western culture, we find this so appealing in God that we often seek to emulate, even unconsciously, God. We voice approval for the great man who demonstrate humility, in conscious or unconscious emulation of Him Who condescends from His Glorious Throne to be a man. A man with little worldly status, little worldly posessions, Who humbled Himself by becoming a defenseless baby, needing others for everything. God who took the form of a slave and died the most ignoble death imaginable.

In the life of the Trinity, we find a God Who is even more perfect.

If God creates out of love, cannot one say that God needs His creation as an object of love? After all, a lover without a beloved is sorely in need, is bereft, is even a pathetic figure.

But in the Trinity, one finds Lover (the Father), and Beloved (the Son), and a love so great, that He is a Divine Person, Himself(the Holy Spirit). So, God is complete in Himself, not a lonely being but rather a perfeft family of loving Persons, not needing His creation, a creation that flows from His over abundant love.

One last disproof is how mohammedans worship their god: face toward the mud of the earth, prostrate, buried in the creation as opposed to turned toward the Creator..

The true God invites us to worship Him face-to-face, not with our faces pointed to the mud of the earth, pointed toward the creation instead of the creator. This literal de-facing of Man before God is not the mark of the true God. Rather, it is the mark of Satan, who wishes us to prostrate ourselves before him to worship him. It is Satan who wishes to strip us of our faces, our own individuality, our personhood, our nature, to make us cogs into his version of utopia.

In the final analysis, formally, mohammedism does not apprehend the One True God, but rather a false god who demands a cruel worship. This is not to say that the prayers of the ignorant, simple peasant mohammedan, with sincere heart might not be heard by the True God, but that is by His gratuitous Love, which searches out all sinners regardless of their station in life.