*Pastor Brutus Balan of a Baptist Church in Australia* in the
Facebook (FB).
In his posting Pastor Brutus Balan says,
1. *In today's religious context, the word 'Allah' is a word loaded with
Islamic theology. The God of the Christian Bible Yahweh-Elohim from
Genesis
to Revelation is a trinitarian mono God. IT is not a creation of the
Church
but it is a inspired revelation. Its maths is hard to understand but it is
the heart of John 3: 16 and Jesus' life will be nonsensical as much as His
sacrifice for sinful and doomed humanity if the second person of the
Trinity
did not incarnate in the human flesh. The Christian Gospel is based on
this
redemptive revelation of the triune Godhead. The Quranic concept of
'Allah'
is in total opposition to this. There is NO similarity between them
whatsoever.*
2. *The early 'Christian missionaries' , mostly Roman Catholics erred when
they started to Christianize pagan words (jargon/terminology ), concepts,
icons, statues (Mother and child), festivals and celebrations (like
Christmas/Easter) and included them as Christian so the 'converts' from
the
Christianized societies are not brought into a cultural vacuum. Therefore
the word `Allah' that pre-dates Islam, a word that was and is a non Hebrew
word for a pagan deity was Christianized and retained among the middle
Eastern converts and used in the Bible translation. This syncretism was
followed in Asia with the use of the word, Allah among minority ethnic
'converts'. It was wrong then and it is wrong now.*
3. *The word 'Allah' is a transliteration of the Arabic word. Why would a
Christian missionary/translat or use an Arabic word to represent a Hebrew
God of the Bible? It is due to the syncretistic attitude as mentioned
above.
To be true, the translators and 'Christian missionaries' at that time
ought
to have transliterated the Hebrew word, 'Jehovah' for `Lord' and 'Elohim'
for 'God' in the available script of each ethnic group of converts and not
the word 'Allah'. Why use the pre-Islamic Arabic word 'Allah' for the
Biblical God written in Hebrew the language of the Old Testament? After
all
'the people of the Book', the Jews were worshipping Jehovah-Elohim 500
years
before Mohammed. No matter how it is insisted, it is a betrayal of the the
God of the Bible. Words do not exist in a vacuum and they are loaded with
implications. When we import from the Quran a word that is alien to the
Hebrew Bible, we also import its foreign teachings.*
4. *Bible translations are the efforts of humans and in this digital age
correction can be made easily to remove the word 'Allah' and replace it
with
`Jehovah' and `Elohim' or close to its sound in any ethnic laguage.
Christians
who have used the Islamic word, 'Allah' must be told of its implications
and
the error made earlier and enlighten them as to why we need to change.
Education
is the enlightening of people from ignorance to knowledge as new
information
avails as it is realized or discovered. Most who claim to be Christians
are
untaught of the Biblical truths. Most are adherents to the rites and form
without a clue to its theological basis to their faith. So, like any other
education, evangelical teacher/pastors need to educate the dill and the
bright. New Bible translation with 'Allah' removed ought to be phased in
with education. The use of any word depicting/portrayin g the God of the
Bible should be in keeping with the Hebrew jargon and etymology. Words may
have common roots in a locality but they are not to be thought as one and
the same. Hebrew script and language is vastly different from the Arabic.*
5. *The present controversy over the use of the word in the Christian
context has a political agenda both sides are guilty of. The so called
fear
of the erosion of Christian rights and its domino effect if unchallenged
is
to the detriment of the Christian faith. The rights of minorities must be
challenged in Courts as a political matter. Christian theology should not
have been used as a means to that.The Roman Catholic Church in my opinion
made an unwise move plunging the country to this sad polarisation of
people.
*
6. *If I were a Muslim I would welcome the Christians to use the word
'Allah' for it plays into the Islamic faith. Well, if the Christian God is
also Allah, then the Christian is none other than a wayward Muslim for
that
is the God of the Quran. In time when the lines are blurred and ignorance
of
the biblical doctrines blooms to bliss, Islam will be a tempting option
for
a nominal 'Christian'. The use of the word 'Allah' then is the
Islamization
of the Christian.* *(Note - on this part definitely Muslims have their own
reasons on why they are against it)*
7. *Finally, I speak as an evangelical Christian, believing the Bible as
THE
Word of God, uncorrupted and the final word to humanity. It is Jesus who
said that 'He is the way and the truth and the Life. No man comes unto the
Father (God) but by me' (John 14: 6). Jesus affirmed and confirmed the
Hebrew Bible and never once used the Arabic word, 'Allah', referring to
His
Father (Jehovah-Elohim). So Christians who take the Bible as God's Word
should not use the word 'Allah' to refer to the Hebrew God of the Bible.*
In response to a post by a fellow Christian, Brutus Balan said,
1. *IBS like any Bible translators will loathe to change a word or words
lest the revised version makes the former void. They from time to time
conference and decide in line with pragmatism. So they kept the error and
defend it with vigour and gobbledegook.*
2. *The early translators erred in TRANSLITERATING the Arabic word 'Allah'
borrowed from Islam at that time in Asia, a common usage by the Muslims
then
and incorporated it into the Indonesian Bible text.** That is to keep with
the religious context of those who were converting to Christianity. Since
the OT of the Bible was written in Hebrew, the language of the Jews, I
cannot understand why these modern translators cannot use the
TRANSLITERATED
Hebrew words for the God of the Bible as it is now, ie. LORD God = Yahweh
or
Jehovah Elohim as part of the Malay / Indon translation. The same
consistency to apply even for the New Testament in BM words for God and
Lord
(Theos and Kurios) for it is a reference to the same Biblical God. The'
Lord
Jesus' = Jehovah or Yahweh Yesus. If there are no indigenous word or
equivalence for a word of another language, people have always
transliterated the foreign word, contextualizing it and adding it to the
local vocabulary.*
3. *The Indonesian and Malaysian languages are testament to this, like
'confrontasi' , reformasi, etc.. Adonai too as it is found in the Bible
must
be retained as it is transliterated for it is another word for Jehovah.
They
will then be part of the Malay/Indon vocabulary posing no problem. We
don't
even need to worry about 'Tuan' Tuanku or Tuhan. The BM readers of the
Bible
will have a clear understanding of its meaning. Why the unwarranted
intrusion of an Arabic word 'Allah' into the translation of the Hebrew
Bible? No matter what the root and all the semantics about 'Allah', this
word is not found in the Biblical text in reference to the Biblical God.
After about 500 hundred years AD, this 'Allah' is now well distinguished
as
the deity of the Quran.The 'Allah' of the Quran is in total contradiction
to
the triune Jehovah-Elohim of the Bible.*
The third response by Brutus Balan is as below;
1. *The Indonesian/Malay Bibles erroneously use the word 'Allah' to refer
to
the God of the Bible. I have explained it in my posts. Even though the
argument that it is not an exclusive word for the Muslims for it pre-dates
Islam and that it is currently used by non English speaking Christian
minority, this Islamic deity called 'Allah' is never found in the Hebrew
text of the Bible. Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic languages may have similar
linguistic root from where it branched out **but since the birth of Islam,
Allah, is a word that refers to the deity of the Quran**.** This Muslim
deity is antithetical to the Biblical God, Jehovah-Elohim. They are poles
apart even though many say there is only a minor difference. They mean
well
but have not investigated the content of the Bible and the Quran, its
theology.*
2. *Allah, in today's understanding and context refers solely to the
Islamic
god**. If Christians continue the use of the word 'Allah', we are then
likening and admitting that the Allah of the Quran is the same God of the
Bible and in time this blurring of meaning and import will eventually draw
us closer to Islam. Reading the posts here and other blogs you can see how
many people are now saying that there is little difference between Muslims
and Christians and that we all worship the same God. The blurring of the
line has happened right now with this generation.*
3. *The Muslims are saying that the Triune God of the Bible is the
corruption that Mohammed was raised by Allah to set right . They are also
caliming all the Jewish, Hebrew speaking Biblical patriachs as their own,
and to be Muslims and that Christians are in error believing a God who
exists in three persons, yet one God, a revelation of the Bible. In no
time
those who are reading the BM Bible with 'Allah' as god, will soon begin to
think that it is the same God of the Bible. This is the goal of the
Ecumenical Movement and the Interfaith purpose of the dialogue to unite
all
religions as worshipping one and the same God. NO, WE DO NOT! **The word
'Allah' since Mohammed is the god of the Quran as defined by Mohammed.***
4. *It is foolish of the TBS to retain this word in the BM Bibles arguing
on
semantics and pre-Islam history of this word. It is foolish of TBS to not
correct it by transliterating the Hebrew word as is to Jehovah for Lord
and
Elohim for God to refer to the Biblical God. This God is different from
'Allah'. The TBS could have changed it easily and explained the changes in
the Introduction or the Preface of the BM Bibles but they foolishly
decided
to carry on with the error of the early translators. I have read their
goobledegook arguments and it is wasted ink.*
5. *If there is a strong public demand from BM using Christians for this
change, then the TBS will print a revised edition of the BM Bibles. Demand
it. In the meantime, teach the BM users not to read it as 'Allah' but as
'Jehovah' (Adonai) for LORD and Elohim or 'Tuhan' for God, and Tuan for
Lord
in reference to people. Teach them the Islamic import of the word 'Allah'
and that it is not our God.*
6. *When this begins to happen in Malayasia, it will reverberate to the
other parts of the Christian minority of the world for the change**. What
is
wrong must be corrected no matter how long the error was commitied. This
Malaysian controversy over this issue may be a blessing in disguise. Start
this movement in your neirgborhod. Let the Muslims have the use of 'Allah'
of their Quran and let Christians distinguish themselves with their
Biblical
God. Fighting for this Arabic word to refer to the Hebrew Biblical God is
running after another god of another religion. But maintain a deep respect
for the Muslims and live in peace, Dare to be different with mutual
respect.
Those who seek the truth will investigate and Truth will find them.*
----------------------------------------------------------------
This e-mail has been sent via JARING webmail at http://www.jaring.my
No comments:
Post a Comment