I know.  I only asked because LW does know and use the scriptures and she does have a Christian background so she would know what I'm referring to.  

no and that's the point.  How can I follow Allah and Jesus at the same time when there are contradictions between the two?  How can both be leading us to the same God?  The same with all the religions.  They are NOT leading us in the same direction.  Can't be.  Doesn't make any sense to say they are.  While many have some of the same moral code there are many huge differences as well. 

That's why I brought up Joshua.  They were fighting over two different gods of their time and Joshua said, "go ahead choose which god you will serve, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord." 

So yes, we are all free to worship whatever god we wish.  But they are NOT all leading us in the same direction.  There is ONLY one God. 

Muhammed's followers worship the god of Abraham, just like Jews and Christians do.

The disagreement is about what this god said and wants (and how many sons he has), not about which god is true.

In Judaism the angel the Christians think of as Satan is an accuser working at G-d's court. He is the district attorney if you will.

The Kurds before Islam believed (and some still do), that the angel in question rebelled against G-d but repented.

Zoroastrianism believes that Evil exists to allow Good to exist (although I am not sure about the specifics).

I agree with you that he must have a purpose. He doesn't have free will, so it is difficult for me to believe that he could be evil as such.

Wow! MM, you've done it again....another G_R_E_A_T topic and discussion! Way to go! I'm getting in late and have only read the first page....

Almighty God already knows my thoughts, but since you all may not, I'm religiously religous in loving God. That's how I am knowing, loving and serving Him in this fallen world so I can be with Him in the next.   

Why do you need instructions on how to love G-d?

KFC POSTS: #52

EXACTLY! Thanks for saying it like it is....no use mincing words...this notion that all religions are equal (riligious indifferentism) is bunk! Pure Bunk!

LEAUKI POSTS: #53  

This is true but only part of it.

Muslims believe in the one God they call Allah according to the Qur'anic teachings of Islam, a religious attitude developed by Mohammed in 610. Jehovah Witnesses worship the one God they call Jehovah according to the teachings of teachings and doctrines of Chrales Taze russell, Judge Rutherford, etc. The Chruch of Latter day Saints, (Mormons) worship the one God according to the tenets of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Unitarians worship the one God according to the teachings of Theophilus Lindley in 1774.

The Muslims, the Jehovah Witnesses, the Mormons, and the Unitarians are all a revived from of Arianism at least by their denial of the Dovrtine of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ, although they acknowledge His existence.

The bigger questions that religious faith and right reason beckons us to ask are: Is the ONe True God pleased with the worship of Muslims, of JW, of MOrmons and of Unitarians or do they worship in vain? Worship of God has everything to do with the person's or Person doing the teaching.

DOES GOD REALLY CARE HOW HE'S WORSHIPPED? I SAY YES, OF COURSE HE DOES.

Why would G-d care how people worship? If He insisted on certain patterns, He could force us. But He doesn't. I can see that He would give us free will and allow us to do evil but hope for us to choose good. But giving us free will so we can worship Him wrong and then demand that we worship Him right seems a bit like a human game rather than divine wisdom.

And I think He cares about how we act and not how we pray. We do not pray for Him. We pray for us.

That's why the Pakistani Cricket team loses after praying instead of training.

leauki posts: #55

Christianity teaches that Satan (and the other fallen angels) exist, that he is the tempter but has no power over us if we choose to avoid or resist the temptation.

We also believe Satan has free will...it's just that he's not a full liberty to use it yet......Christ's Death and Resurrection brought victory over death, and Satan was bound and will be bound until some point when he will be loosened and that will only be for a short time.

Wow it looks like this article has made a rebound, simply put loving G-D I feel is the only way to go with no particular religion involved, therefore I have bones to pick with all religion that says "their way is the only way to G-Ds house"

If his power depends on us, how does he have an existence outside us?

How so?  You have G-D the Father (HaShem), you have the Spirit (Ruach Elohim aka Ruach ha Kodesh) from the Torah, the 'son' is the prophesied Messiah that Christians believe already came and the same (IMO) as the Messiahs that will come again for the olam haba.  This messiah is mentioned in the Tanakh as the 'right arm' of G-D the father (HaShem). 

These are just different facets of the same G-D.

Agreed.

Misunderstood out of ignorance and translation. 

I am sure you know that haShem simply means "the name". It is true that Judaism refers to G-d as a father, but it always refers to Him as "aveynu" ("our father"). A "son" isn't mentioned in the Tanakh (and neither is a virgin birth).

The Messiah is indeed prophecied but it is also prophecied that he will rebuild the Temple and bring the Jews back into their homeland as well as other details. The person who came closest yet and whom the Tanakh refers to as a messiah is Cyrus the Great, King of Iran. Jesus didn't do any of these things.

The Tanakh does not claim that the Messiah will be a divine figure. Instead it claims that he will be a man of this world.

Different facets are fine, but having a physical person who is G-d or a facet of G-d is idolatry. I have no problems with a "holy spirit". But a god walking on two legs is a graven image no matter how you put it. And it doesn't help that pictures of statues of him can be found all over the world.

If you had told a Levite (Jewish priest) 2500 years ago that today there are pictures of G-d (on a cross) in places of worship all over the world, do you think he would agree that this is what was prophecied and how it should be done?

LW POSTS:

Ah ah, let's not attribute something to God that He did not do, namely make or create Satan. God did not create the devil, but a pure angelic spirit, Lucifer.

God created all of the angels good by nature, but they became evil and bad through their own fault.  

If G-d created angels with the ability to choose evil (and He did not), the fact that beings with supernatural powers can be evil is G-d's creation.

I am convinced G-d gave the power to choose only to humanity. He loves us. The angels are just His messengers.

The Hebrew word for "angel" is "malaak", which is the object noun of a root Lamed Aleph Kaf. The word form describes the object of the verb "to send". The "malaak" is not an agent (i.e. someone who acts) but an object (i.e. someone to whom things are done, in this case someone who is sent). I am convinced that angels, if they had free will, would be described by a word that is an agent, not an object.

Thank you, but I have already made my position pretty clear in several articles before this. G-Ds way is not religions way.

Far as I can tell the whole Lucifer thing came about due to jealousy, when G-D granted Humans the ability for his forgiveness just by asking for it, Humans became the only creature able to have this boon, Some angels did not like this  and became outraged and Lucifer led the rebellion and was cast out.

This is a serious contradiction in my opinion. If God created a pure angelic spirit, where did the choice to enact evil come from?  Moreover, if they did choose to do evil, it points then to a clear design flaw on the part of God the creator.

The potential to do evil, I am sure God saw in advance, is as necessary to understanding and doing good as is night to understanding day. 

Be well.

Of course God created evil.  God created everything. 

Yes, used as the replacement for the tetragramaton (Adonai is another).

Daniel 3:25 references the 4th person in the furnace as Bar-Eloheem?

Exactly.  Anything that we put in place of God that takes us away from him is an idol or a god with a small g.  Money would fit.  Power would fit.  Celebrity status would fit.  Drugs, alcohol, sports, any material possessions, etc. etc. 

I have no problem with this LW.  Where I disagreed is when you said all the gods are one God.  That's not the same as you said above.  Two different statements.  Obviously God knew that other things would take his place in our lives that would be in effect a "god" to us. That's why he warned us against other gods and why Joshua said to choose between other gods or serve the living and ONLY God.   We would turn to these false gods to placate, comfort and give us peace instead of Him who is willing to do all these things if we would just be willing.  Jesus wept over Jerusalem before he died expressing this same thought. 

what do you think of Joshua 5:13?  Who was Joshua speaking to? 

Exactly.  There is no other way but God's way.  So we either get in his boat or sink. 

Daniel 3:25 is in Aramaic, not Hebrew. The word "Elohim" doesn't appear in it. Instead the words used are

l'bar elohin

(Note the -in plural ending.)

A Lamed prefixed usually means "to" or "for" in Hebrew. I don't know what it means in Aramaic. "Bar" is the Aramaic word for "son" (the Hebrew word is "ben").

"Elohin" is Aramaic for "gods".

I don't know what "son of gods" means. The Aramaic for "G-d" is "eloha". You can find the word in 3:26 in

di eloha alia

(literally "of god most high")

Hebrew doesn't form Genitives with prepositions. "Eloha alia" is the Aramaic equivalent of the name "Elohim".

Note that Hebrew "god" is "eloah" and the plural is "elohim". Aramaic "god" is "eloha" (which noun case I do not know) and the plural is "elohin". In the Tora "Elohim" as a name is used to mean G-d (and it is used with verbs in the singular). This is not the case here.

(I didn't know this before, only just looked at the text and saw that it looked Aramaic. I cannot easily translate text in classical Aramaic.)

I don't know. The text is pretty straight forward except we are simply not told who the captain is.

You may interpret it in whichever way you like. Fact is it simply doesn't give us any information to build on.

I believe the rabbis said it was an angel.

This is true, I quickly overlooked the final nun.

Hmmm, I guess I didn't realize that Bar Mitzvah was a compilation of Aramaic and Hebrew words?