Indifference.

A college friend and I were talking about sharing our faith today. I came across this article about a Catholic bishop who says that all faiths should call God "allah" to ease tensions between religious groups.

He says, "'Allah is a very beautiful word for God. Shouldn't we all say that from now on we will name God Allah? ... What does God care what we call him? It is our problem.'"

I have two problems with this.

First, God already revealed His name to us when He manifested Himself as man. His name is Jesus. Besides the fact that the name of allah is not found in the Bible. Did you know that allah was a god that was worshipped as one of the polytheistic gods by pagan Arabs in the Kabah before Muhammad was born? When Muhammad came along and spoke about allah, he was readily accepted because people were already familiar with the god.

Secondly, God does care about what we call him. Saying that my God and allah are the same causes confusion. They are not the same. When I worshipped allah as a teenager, he never did anything for me! It was only when I called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that my life was transformed. See Jeremiah 16:21, Isaiah 52:6.

We, as Christians, have become so indifferent and so de-sensitized to the Holy Spirit. We are so concerened about being politically correct that we begin to pick and choose the aspects of God and our faith that we like to fit our lifestyles. This is wrong. God says He will spit you out of His mouth for being lukewarm (Revelation)! I'm so sick and tired of this lukewarm generation!! Stop it already!! God is calling this generation to take a stand for what they believe in!!

I don't know about you, but I fear the Lord! All I have to do is think about Ananias and Sapphira! God struck them dead for grieving the Holy Spirit! (Acts 4 and 5). Nadab and Abihu (Aaron's son) were disrepectful and showed irreverance toward God. Look what happened to them: The Lord consumed them in fire (Leviticus 10:2).

God may not pass judgement like he used to; that's one of the reasons Jesus died and rose. But folks, God ain't playin'.

The bishop is correct when he says, "It is our problem [refering to the names we call God]." Each one of us will be held accountable for every word we speak. Myself included.

To read the article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20279326/?GT1=10252

(Side note: This is not anti-Muslim propaganda. I love my Muslim friends and they know I don't agree with them. We both agree to disagree, so don't send me hate mail. If you do, I won't respond. I'll just pray for you! :)