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so I talked to my mother about converting and she practically said that in her house we will praise JEHOVAH our God. She also said that Islam God's name is ALLAH but I tried explaining to her that ALLAH means God but she refused to believe me. She also said that I would be doing really bad thing if I did do it. My question is what is God real name? Is is JEHOVAH?
Motowin: you asked several questions, and I will try to answer all of them
First, the Jewish God is the God that spoke to Moses from the burning bush in the Book of Exodus (Jewish and Christian scriptures). When Moses asked him what his name was, he answered "Yahweh" (or Iawheh: the Hebrew word meaning "I Am Who Am")
Later on, he gave Moses the 10 commandments, and one of them was, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain"
When they actually wrote down the words of the Scriptures, they didn't write out "Yahweh", they only wrote the consonants "Ihwh" so that no one would say the Holy Name by accident when they were reading the Scriptures.
Later on, European scholars tried to translate the ancient Jewish scrpitures and didn't know how to translate that particular word because it had no vowels. They came up with the word "Jehovah." (The Latin alphabet had no "J", but they assumed that the "I" should be a "J" in their modern alphabet. Also, Latin had no "W" so they used a "V" as was common in classic Latin. On top of that, they got the vowels wrong also because they had to guess).
That is issue number 1
Issue # 2: Are Jesus and Jehovah the same or different?
According to the Christian Scriptures (the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Lude, and John), Jesus of Nazareth made claims to divinity. He is quoted as saying: "The Father and I are one" (John 10:30); "All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him." (Matthew 11:27) "I tell you what I have seen in the Father's presence" (John 8:38) "I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6)
His most powerful claim to divinity (in the ancient Jews eyes) was when he said the word “Yahweh” which they were not allowed to say because it was considered blasphemy (see John 8:58 and Mark 14:60-65).
Because of these claims, the early Church recognized that Jesus of Nazareth had to be either 1) A lunatic, claiming to be God; 2) A liar if he knew that he wasn’t God, but claimed that he was anyway. 3) Actually God in the flesh
The Christians from the very first days have confessed that Jesus Christ (Christ=Greek word for “Messiah” or “Anointed One”) is Lord.
To this day, all Catholics and Orthodox confess at the Sunday Liturgy: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten not made, one in being with the Father, Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven. By the Power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the scriptures. He ascended into heaven and was seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end”
3rd Issue: does the Quran say that Jesus of Nazareth was the only sinless person to ever live.
My reference for this was someone that I have actually lost contact with. He was a Muslim who converted to Christianity because he said that the Quran said that Jesus was sinless. Unfortunately I never got a reference from the Quran. My apologies. Upon reflection, I probably should have worded that section of my response better.
4th issue: The Christians that the Mohammed met
According to Father Robert Levis, (co-host of “Web of Faith” on EWTN and Holy Spirit radio), Mohammed had only met Nestortians for most of his life. It was only shortly before he died that he met any Orthodox Christians. (Orthodox here is meant to describe faithfulness to traditionally theology rather than the Orthodox denominations)
The Nestorian heresy dealt with the union of Jesus’ divinity with his humanity. The Church had already confessed that Christ Jesus was “fully God and fully man” The Nestorians believed that Christ was a human person joined to a divine person.
The Church condemned this heresy in the mid-5th century, saying that it is incorrect to say that Christ was a human person. He was a divine person who was “enfleshed.” He assumed a human body and a human nature (meaning human intellect and human will), but these were subject and subordinate to his divine nature (meaning his divine intellect and divine will).
They confessed that he had a human body and a human soul, but they were joined together with his divine nature within the one divine person. He was not two people, but one divine person who took on the fullness of humanity: “like man in all things but sin.” Therefore, they said, the Virgin Mary can truly be called “the Mother of God” (Theotokos in Greek; more precisely translated as “God-bearer”) because the child she carried was truly God, whole and entire. That is not to say that she was the mother of God from all eternity, but that the baby in her womb was fully God.
The statement that I made earlier was to say that Mohammed, (based on Fr. Levis’ account) would not have been exposed to the fullness of Christian doctrine because he would not have met any Authentic Christian theologians.
Finally, I noticed in your last post that you expanded upon the Muslim understanding of God. I am glad to see that you did. The Christian view of God is similar in many respects. God does not need humans to tell him anything about humanity. He knows everything there is to know, even down to the number of hairs on your head. However, Christians believe that man needed God so much that they needed him to come down from heaven and save them from themselves. And God loved humanity so much that he did exactly that. “God so loved the world, that he sent his only-begotten Son that the world might not perish but have eternal life through him.” (John 3:16; I hope amblessed is still reading this.) God was (and is) above humanity as a whole, but he took on human flesh for us so that we could become “partakers of the divine nature” (1 Pet 1:4). Through the teachings and example of Jesus, we find the path to holiness that leads to our sharing eternal life with God forever.
I hope I have been able to clarify the Christian position. Sorry that I took up so much space.
My God is all of this and more !!
He is the First and Last, The Beginning and the End! He is the keeper of Creation and the Creator of all! He is the Architect of the universe and the Manager of all times. He always was, He always is, and He always will be ... Unmoved, Unchanged, Undefeated, and never Undone! He was bruised and brought healing! He was pierced and eased pain! He was persecuted and brought freedom! He was dead and brought life! He is risen and brings power! He reigns and brings Peace! The world can't understand him, The armies can't defeat Him, The schools can't explain Him, And The leaders can't ignore Him. Herod couldn't kill Him, The Pharisees couldn't confuse Him, And The people couldn't hold Him! Nero couldn't crush Him, Hitler couldn't silence Him, The New Age can't replace Him. He is light, love, longevity, and Lord. He is goodness, Kindness, Gentleness, and God. He is Holy, Righteous, Mighty, powerful, and pure. His ways are right, His word is eternal, His will is unchanging, and His mind is on me. He is my Savior, He is my Guide, and He is my peace! He is my Joy, He is my comfort, He is my Lord, and He rules my life! I serve Him because His bond is love, His burden is light, and His goal for me is abundant life. I follow Him Because H e is the wisdom of the wise, the power of the powerful, the Ancient of days, the ruler of rulers, the leader of leaders, the Overseer of the overcomers, and is to come. And if that seems impressive To you, try this for size. His goal is a relationship with ME! He will Never leave me, Never forsake me, Never mislead me, Never forget me, Never overlook me, And never cancel my appointment in His appointment book! When I fall, He Lifts me up! When I fail, He forgives! When I am weak, He is strong! When I am lost, He is the way! When I am afraid, He is my courage! When I stumble, He steadies me! When I am hurt, He heals me! When I am broken, He mends me! When I am blind, He leads me! When I am hungry, He feeds me! When I face trials, He is with me! When I face persecution, He shields me! When I face problems, He comforts me! When I face loss, He provides for me! When I face Death, He carries me Home! He is everything for everybody everywhere, every time, and every way. He Is God, He is faithful. I am His, and He is mine! My Father in heaven can whip the father of this world. So, if you're Wondering why I feel so secure, understand this... He said it and that Settles it. God is in control, I am on His side, and that means all is well with my soul. Everyday is a Blessing for GOD Is!
Your question is - what is God's real name ? Is it Jehovah ?
My answer is - God is in English. Allah in Arabic. Jehovah In hebrew. Names are just lexicons of attributes. Allah in Arabic is an all encompassing word which has a very strong meaning enshrouding these.
Clarification About: "intimacy with God is not a Muslim idea".
The central concept in Islam is that - God is so close to you that you don't need an intermediary to talk to him for you. He loves you so much that he listens to your call directly.
God has on one side has tremendous mercy and on the other his wrath. He has decreed that his mercy shall overcome his anger. But this doesn't mean freedom to modify his ways and live according to your whim (just to satisfy your worldly cravings). its His dreadful awe which a Muslim fears (this stops him from doing evil and committing sin) and his love which he cherishes (this makes him hopeful of his mercy thats why there is repentance. You repent directly in front of your God with no intermediary. The connection is one-one, very intimate. There is no hierarchy here. He listens to you and forgives you.
Allah says in the Quraan: O my slaves who have been prodigal to their own hurt; despair not of the mercy of Allah, who forgives all sins, Lo! He is the forgiving, The merciful (Qur'an: 39:53)).
I'll finish with a popular story in Islam: There was a person who had killed 99 people. When he was about to go from his village to the next to kill the 100th one, he died on the way. The angels took Him to God and started discussing that he would definitely be sent to hell. But God said that they measure the distance from his village to his place of death and to the village he was visiting. The former was shorter. And God forgave all his sins.
But in Islam: If someone kills one human being its like he has killed the entire humanity and if he saves one from dying he has saved the entire humanity from dying. The sin being so grave. A murderer would go to hell. But God is ever forgiving most merciful. If you pray to him with your heart he would definitely forgive your gravest of sins and bring to you his blessings and mercy.
JEHOVAH (also interpreted as YAHWEH) means 'The LORD' in Hebrew and is the most frequently used name for God in the Old Testament. God also gives Himself many other names in the Jewish scriptures, as He has a very complex character and the various names describe different aspects of His character. If you compare that to Islam you will find that Allah is also described by many different names. Many of these describe a similar character, for example both Islam and the Bible describe God as Creator, Sustainer, Lord etc. Some of them are different, for example Christians are told by Jesus to call God 'Father' and that intimacy with God is not a Muslim idea.
For Christians, bro_kwame and I were having a discussion about this the other day. He was saying that we shouldn't call our Lord by the name 'Jehovah' any more, because we now know our Lord is JESUS, and that is the name on which we should call. I would agree with him that Jesus is our Lord, but that we don't forget the ways God has been known throughout history, as they also help us to know about His character.
If I remember rightly, you are looking to convert to Islam. ALLAH is the name for God in Arabic, I believe, so what you said is correct.
I think your mum's point is that she doesn't follow the Muslim God (despite his similarities to JEHOVAH), and that she doesn't accept that ALLAH is just another way of describing her God. I would say she's correct that Islam and Christianity are not the same. I'm a Christian and I love and worship Jesus. This is not compatible with Islam, which states that Jesus is a prophet not God.
So your mum wants you to stick with what she knows. You want to change to something different. She finds that threatening and is also worried for your soul - I'm sure you both believe that this is about Truth, and that what happens when you die will be determined by what you believe in life. That's why she believes you'd be 'doing a really bad thing' to leave the Christian faith for Islam.
The question I have for you is: Do you want to know God for yourself?
Just blindly accepting what your mother does is not a way to know God for yourself. You seem to be seeking Him in your own way, and that is good. But don't throw your mother's Christianity out of the window as you seek. Pray to God and ask Him how He wants you to know Him, is my advice.
Moses asked this very same question, but he did it in a different context. He asked God for his name, because he was going to speak with Egyptians who believed in many gods. That makes God's answer very interesting.
He said his name was "Yahweh" (Some early scholars mistakenly interpereted it "Jehovah" because the Jews left all the vowels our of the name so that it would be immpossible to pronounce for fear of violating the commandment not to take the Lord's name in vain)
"Yahweh" is translated into English as "I Am Who Am" or "I Am Who I Am" or "I Am that I Am" This is interesting because he doesn't give Moses a name like the Egytians would be expecting. He said "I Am Who Am, I Am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" The Psalms refer to him as "the One True God; the God that made the heavens and the earth"
Fast forward to the time of Jesus. The name "Jesus" means "God saves" in Hebrew. The Gospel of Matthew makes a point to note the relationship between his name (announced by the angel) and his mission on earth.
Christ himself uttered the "Sacred Tetragrammaton" (Yahweh), asserting that he is God himself (see John 8; Mark 14:62). He later made the statement "I am the way and the truth and the life" (John 14:6). Note that the word "truth" would have been understood in the classic Greek sense: Objective reality / being / existence. He claimed to be existence itself.
He also instructed us to refer to God as "Abba." This is the Hebrew word for Father, but it is used in a more intimate sense than "Father" is in English. It would be more accurate to translate it as "daddy." Christ revealed a famial and familiar way to address God the Father.
It is interesting to note that Islam does not teach that Christ Jesus is the way/truth/life. They refer to him as a profit. Also interesting is the fact that the Quran does assert the Jesus of Nazareth is the only sinless man to ever live. Finally, note that the prophet mohammed never met any Orthodox Christians until shorlty before he died; all the Chirstians that he met in the middle east would have been Nestorian heretics who denied the union of Christ with the Father.
Unfortunatley, I don't know what the word "Allah" means in Arabic. Sorry.
ohh..is that true. Thats very good to know. It in fact answers a few old questions in my mind. But I still have a small doubt - I have heard that there was persecution and that the Jewish tribes did not accept Jesus as the messaiah ? Is it true. Sorry if I am starting to sound ignorant but I have had my sources of conflicting information :) If I am not wrong, Jesus was sent to the transgressing Jewish populace !! I am sure I need to read up more and I am trying to do that. Just getting info from here too.
btw, you win your bet !! I am neither Jewish nor Christian. I am a Muslim. And just FYI. Thought it might be informative for you to know.
The God of Abraham is also the one worshiped by Muslims - But the claim is that He is the ONLY God who is not a man which was actually the idea followed by Adam, David, Solomon, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad (peace be upon them all) and all the other messengers (prophets) of God. This is such a simple and straightforward concept. No personification. None of the messengers had seen God and none could. God is a powerful entity. He does not need to be a man to know about humans. He is the creator and is so great that He knows everything that happens all the time. Not even a leaf falls on the Earth without his knowledge. He does not have human traits like eating, sleeping, sex etc. He is far exalted beyond that. He is pure and supreme.
Thats an interesting statement, cleopatra1 and a decent explanation aurthur001!! But I am stumped by my limited knowledge. I am reading up on it currently. But I am still trying to figure out from the earliest transcriptions, if people meant Jesus (peace be upon him) and Jehovah to be the same or different ? But as far as I know - The Jewish God and the Christian Gods are different. There is no amity between these concepts as history says. And my current guess is that they were different. I am not sure how it implicates my understanding of the above question where Jehovah was a "Jewish concept". But is it true that they were different? I still don't know. But I am trying to find out.
Also Aurther001, I am not sure about the following statements. Just fyi !!
1). "Also interesting is the fact that the Quran does assert the Jesus of Nazareth is the only sinless man to ever live"
2). All the Chirstians that he met in the middle east would have been Nestorian heretics who denied the union of Christ with the Father.
Cheers.
I agree with Amblessed.. I see no reference to Jesus Christ , the chief cornerstone, upon whom Christianity rests.
The Jews also, do not rest upon or trust in, Jesus Christ.
It is a wonderful thing to believe in God, and I would not take from that, in any way, however, as a Christian, my main hope rests in what Christ did on the cross. We have been given the new testament, written in his blood, and I in no way, will turn from that. I respect the right of every Islamic person to worship as they choose, but, I also, reserve the right to stand for what I believe.
If you research the names of God in the Holy Bible, which Christians follow, you will find many names given for him. Each coming as humans understood that particular attribute of his nature.
thx ''motowin'' you've said what is needed to be said,any way I guess that there is misunderstand, ''need answer29'' if you looked at all my previous answers you will notice that I don't use the word ''ALLAH'', I always say God and thats because ''ALLAH'' is an arabic word for God its only atranslation, in Islam there are a lot of names of God such as: THE MERCIFUL ,THE GREAT, THE CREATOR, THE KING ,THE PEACFUL,THE GIVER,... etc , there are 99 names of God in Islam, so in heprew its Jehvoah , in arabic its ALLAH , in english its God, there is no difference, the point of difference in Islam and Christanity is that christians worship jesus and thats not a different name its adifferent person, good luck dear.
it could depend upon the language yehova was the name of god from hebrew the jesus language which cannot be foud now.ALLAH is the word from arabic language the same name when spoken by diffrerent languages can change a litte JESUS ISSA is the same but spoken in different languages. mussa is the same as moses daud is the same as david . so allah and yehova are the name sof the same god
You are your own person, no one can tell you what or who to believe in. if youy choose to revert to Islam and that a decision that you have made and those around you should respect that.
regarding what Gods real name is, depends on what religion you believe in. If your a Muslim then you will believe Allah (SWT), if yoiur a jehovah's whitness then you will believe in jehovah Etc.
*** The Jewish God and the Christian Gods are different.c*** My bet is you are neither Jewish or Christian. . . Both worship the God of Abraham. . Jews under the old law and Christians under the new. If you really study you will find Jesus came to fulfill the law of Moses. Jesus obeyed the law perfectly and freed mankind from it's bindings while giving us a new perfect law. . . .
Thanks, motowin. Now needanswers29 has an answer from both the Christian and the Muslim point of view.
Just on thing - I agree that Islam refers to intimacy with Allah. My quote is 'THAT intimacy with Allah', which refers to the father/child intimacy which Jesus encouraged his followers to have with his Father God. Is that type of intimacy something you experience in Islam?
Just came across this. Explains about God in various religions. You can check out the entire repository in the third link.
http://www.biharanjuman.org/Zakir_Naik/Zakir-Naik-concept-of-God-in-major-religions.htm http://www.biharanjuman.org/Deedat/Ahmad-Deedat-Is-Jesus-God-Eric-Bock.htm
http://www.biharanjuman.org/Videos-Islamic.htm
Hope it helps.
In Hebrew as some state unspellable because there are no vowels, it is YHWH Yahweh or LORD with all caps. And then the list goes on to more than a hundred: from Abba meaning "Daddy" (Yes, our Holy God letting us call Him Daddy!), to Alpha and Omega. I would refrain from Allah or the watchtower stuff, not the same god as YHWH!
Huge difference: Christians acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior - a person must be saved in order to enter Heaven - in short, THE WAY - Islam views Him as merely a prophet, not THE WAY - the God of the Bible is not the God of the Qu'ran in beliefs/dictates if comparing those two...Hope this helps !!
It's my understanding that God's true name in Hebrew is so powerful and so awesome that it can't be written. That's why they used the vowels and not the full name. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
I always thought that was probably the coolest idea in the whole Bible as far as the nature of God.
Actually, Islam teaches us that God sent three books, the Bible, the Koran and the Jew's book as well. All come from the same source. They were presented on earth by three different men.Thats all.
YAHWEH, JEHOVAH, I AM that I AM, Hashem, Adoshem, Adonai, El, Elohim, Elyon, Shaddai, Shalom, Shekhinah, Yah, Adir, Adon Olam, Avinu Malkeinu, Boreh, Emet . . . Have I missed any?
yes in psalms 83:18 it clearly states that god's name is jehovah. very simple even though in differnet languages it is spelled and pronounced diff. like Yahweh it means jehovah.
You have asked the most important question. And yet, you haven't received a correct and appropriate answer yet.
Here you go:
http://www.watchtower.org/e/na/index.htm
For an in depth list of who God is, you might want to check out this link:
http://www.characterbuildingforfamilies.com/names.html
Amazing...
I don't look at the answers up there so I just answer your question. Islam's god name is Allah, ok? because' Im Moslem. Believe me.
Well, I believe that the almighty god's name is...drumrole... Bob. He sent me a message in my mind telling me that.
Well God has many names, mainly because he is so much in our lives. Like Jehova Jireh means "provider" && etc.
well that makes scence. God must have died and left his company to his son, who is now god.
Thanks aarthur001. I am now going to study more about the things you told.
Thanks, flossheal. Sorry for overlooking. I read it quickly :) Sincere apologies
That's very generous of you, Motowin. It's been good talking to you!
God's name is Jesus Christ--Christ Jesus' name is God.
God is Jesus Christ--Christ Jesus is God.
there is no name that describe god
likewise, flossheal!
allah .believe me
