Gaul (Latin Gallia), the region inhabited by the ancient Gauls, comprising modern-day France and parts of Belgium, western Germany, and northern Italy.

In our region (Flanders and Gallia or Gaul) also many gods were worshipped and even today we may find several groups worshipping different gods. Several people living in Belgium and neighbouring countries do have a whole pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religions and rituals, whilst others say they do not believe in God or gods  but have put their faith in human writings, philosophies and scientific papers, with all sorts of different theories.

In this country, like in several western countries there are also people who say they worship one god, though they kneel down in front of different statues of all sorts of saints and different gods, like Jesus, Yahweh, a God the father, a god the son and a god the holy Spirit as well as a mother of god. They say their religion belongs to monotheism but many of them, being Catholic or Protestant, have a God the Father, a god the son and a god the spirit (being three gods , which they also claim to be one god or a Trinity). The majority of Christian denominations do have what they call the “Holy Spirit” or “Holy Ghost” being a so called the third person in what they call hypostasis of the Trinity. For those religious people their “Triune God” is manifested as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; each person itself being God. (Ed. note: please find notated in the link ‘God in Christianity’, which would be better ‘God in Christendom’, because in Christianity we may also find those who do not believe in such incredible transformation.)

Valhalla (from Old Norse Valhöll “hall of the slain”) a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin – “Walhalla” (1896) by Max Brückner.

We may still find some people who worship the widely revered god Odin or Wōden also known as Wotan, the husband of the goddess Frigg. He has a etymological doublet in Freyja‘s husband Óðr. Freyja, the goddess associated with love, sex, beauty, fertility, gold, seiðr, war, and death, rules over her heavenly afterlife field Fólkvangr and there receives half of those that die in battle, whereas the other half go to the god Odin‘s hall, Valhalla (Valhöll or “hall of the slain”) according to the myth believers.

In many families we not only find the bonfire of Halloween and the one after Christmas but also at the heathen altars, like this one for Haustblot in Björkö, Sweden. The larger wooden idol represents the god Frey

Several fraternal and neopagan groups are active and have their people making bonfires, offering dances, songs, divination and presenting children’s games to bring also others to their cult. As such many Christians and even some Muslims also join in to the celebrities at the end of October to have a festival for the death spirits. Those Halloween celebrations centuries ago where very popular, than nearly disappeared to have gained again in popularity by  lots of Christians. Many also start to swear again their oaths by the “Three Realms” – Land, Sea and Sky.

Image by Dennis K. Johnson/Lonely Planet/Getty Images
During the medieval period, the Yule season was a time of great feasting and revelry. Image by Dennis K. Johnson/Lonely Planet/Getty Images

An other popular pagan feast from the Celts which had already entered many Christian families has also now become a celebration by many Muslims too. Today we also find in Muslim homes Christmas trees decorated and a ‘Santa bringing Christmas presents’. The celebration for the goddess of light and or the god of light has captured many Christian and also some Muslim hearts.

Astarte or Ashtoreth is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as a foreign, non-Judahite goddess, the principal goddess of the Sidonians or Phoenicians, representing the productive power of nature.

Also earlier in the year many Christians celebrate Easter on a holiday for the god of fertility. originally it was a feast for the Chaldean goddess Astarte or Ashtoreth which is the Hellenized form of the Middle Eastern goddess Ishtar, worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. Today also several Muslims follow those traditions from those Belgians who hide eggs in their garden, like remembering their god Jesus perhaps laid eggs or made the world fertile. Mesopotamian cultures like Assyria and Babylonia also had symbols as the lion, the horse, the sphinx, the dove, and a star within a circle indicating the planet Venus. Those two last symbols were also taken by many Christians as the symbol for their tri-une god, having the dove symbolising the god spirit and giver of insight and the star within a circle or the pentagram for their uppergod which they also often call Yahweh. In the old times Christian clergy used the heathen symbols and feasts to make it easier to have the Gallic convert to Christendom. Instead of keeping to the feast Jeshua or Jesus himself celebrated, the Jewish Passover or the festival of Pasch [Passover] they abandoned the sacred days of 14 and 15 Nisan to remember the resurrection from the dead of Jesus. Though I do not see any reason why Easter-bunnies would come into that story. was a continuation of the Jewish feast quite different from the pagan festival of ‘Easter’. Some believe that the Jews derived their spring equinox celebrations, the Feast of Weeks and Passover, from a Babylonian holiday and as such the Christians with the Roman emperor agreeing to celebrate the same holy days as they and to have a similarity between their gods made Jeshua into the resemblance of Zeus and took on the Roman Easter celebration. Gradually the traditional pagan and Celtic symbols were absorbed for several holy days and rites.

The Pagan relationship with Christendom is often strained. Lots of Christians are often not aware of their troubled relationship with paganism and their worship being full of heathen or pagan rites. This can be very well noticed at the Roman Catholic mass. so Contemporary Paganism has sometimes been associated with the New Age movement, with scholars highlighting both similarities and differences.

We also find lots of Christian throughout the world who worship the pagan god Yahweh who was married to Asherah. By several he is also worship as the El as the chief Canaanite god, but it is also a title given to the God of Israel, the God of the Torah and the God of the Bible. But that god or Ěl Shaddai His Name is יהוה or in modern English writing Jehovah.

Before and at the time of the Canaanites we find already an El and Baal being worshipped. In many ancient Middle Eastern communities, especially among the Canaanites, who apparently considered Baal a fertility deity and one of the most important gods in the pantheon, his title being Prince, Lord of the Earth was later also introduced to name Jesus, the god of the trinitarian Christians. In Phoenician he was called Baal Shamen, Lord of the Heavens. Many Christians made the title “Lord” also into the name or a name of their god. The Hebrew scriptures speak frequently of the Baal of a given place or refers to Baalim in the plural, suggesting the evidence of local deities, or “lords,” of various locales. It is not known to what extent the Canaanites considered those various Baalim identical, but the Baal of Ugarit does not seem to have confined his activities to one city, and doubtless other communities agreed in giving him cosmic scope.

Baal thunderbolt Louvre AO15775.jpg
Baal, god of fertility, weather, rain, wind, lightning, seasons, war, patron of sailors and sea-going merchants, leader of the Rephaim (ancestral spirits)

Funny to find that several early Hebrews considered “Baal” the Lord of Israel, though did that mean they also considerer him as the God of Israel?  Because we can find indications of mastership or having a lord over Lebanon and Ugarit. What made the very name Baal anathema to the Israelites was the program of Jezebel, in the 9th century bce, to introduce into Israel her Phoenician cult of Baal in opposition to the official worship of Yahweh (I Kings 18). By the time of the prophet Hosea (mid-8th century bce) the antagonism to Baalism was so strong that the use of the term Baal was often replaced by the contemptuous boshet (“shame”); in compound proper names, for example, Ishbosheth replaced the earlier Ishbaal.

In the Holy Scriptures of Jews, Christians and Muslims we do find an All Mighty God יהוה or Allah with the Holy Name Jehovah Who battled Baal for supremacy in Israel. In the scriptures of the Jews, including the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, El, was being used like the general population used it, namely to denote a god or as a general term for a god. In some Christian bible translation it is made very difficult for the readers to know about whom is been spoken “a god”, or “the God”, because they do not make any more a difference and only place “God” or “Lord“.

From the root El comes also the word Elohim, which is plural (gods) and gender neutral.  Later that word “Elohim” also became used to denote the One God. In the Holy Scriptures it was indicated that it was El Shaddai (translated God Almighty) who appeared before Abraham and promised that He would father the nation Israel (Isra-El) in the land of Canaan.

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Preceding

2nd question: What or where is the beginning

3rd question: Does there exist a Divine Creator

Looking for answers on the question Is there a God #1 Many gods

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Additional reading

  1. Between Alpha and Omega – The plan of creation
  2. Creation Creator and Creation
  3. Other stories about the beginning of times
  4. Different principle about the origin and beginning of everything
  5. Of old and new ideas to sustain power and to feel good by loving to be connected and worship something
  6. Engagement in an actual two-way conversation with your deities
  7. God or a god
  8. People Seeking for God 6 Strategy
  9. People Seeking for God 7 The Lord and lords
  10. Science, belief, denial and visibility 1
  11. Science, belief, denial and visibility 2
  12. Souls and Religions with Nirvana and light
  13. Facilitations of science and loss of peace of mind
  14. Approachers of ideas around gods, philosophers and theologians
  15. Deuteronomy 4- Is God in Close Proximity?
  16. Religions and Mainliners
  17. Ideas about Religiosity
  18. A voice cries out: context
  19. A God between many gods
  20. Only One God
  21. Attributes to God
  22. Bible sayings about God
  23. Glory of only One God Who gives His Word
  24. God is one
  25. Pluralis Majestatis in the Holy Scriptures
  26. I Will Cause Your Name To Be Remembered
  27. Jehovah Yahweh Gods Name (Video)
  28. Use of /Gebruik van Jehovah or/of Yahweh in Bible Translations/Bijbel vertalingen
  29. A Triple God or simply a rather simple One God
  30. History of the acceptance of a three-in-one God
  31. How did the Trinity Doctrine Develop
  32. Altered to fit a Trinity
  33. God of gods (by Belgian Christadelphians)
  34. God of gods (Relating to God)
  35. Almighty God above all other gods greater than all gods
  36. God Our Refuge
  37. A god who gave his people commandments and laws he knew they never could keep to it
  38. Marriage of Jesus 8 Wife of Yahweh
  39. Marriage of Jesus 9 Reason for a new marriage
  40. The wrong hero
  41. Knowledge of Christ and fear for God
  42. Afraid to see the man of the heavens opened
  43. The stone of essential truth
  44. Reflect on how much idolizing happens
  45. Idolatry or idol worship
  46. The Right One to follow and to worship
  47. God’s forgotten Word 1 Introduction
  48. God’s forgotten Word 4 Lost Lawbook 3 Early digressions and Constantinic revolution
  49. God’s forgotten Word 5 Lost Lawbook 4 The ‘Catholic’ church
  50. Necessity of a revelation of creation 9 Searching the Scriptures
  51. Necessity of a revelation of creation 14 Searching the scriptures
  52. Not true or True Catholicism and True Islam
  53. Hello America and atheists
  54. Compromise and accomodation
  55. Pump, circumstance, Royalism and paganism
  56. Christmas, Saturnalia and the birth of Jesus
  57. Easter: Origins in a pagan Christ
  58. 2014 Religion
  59. Religious Practices around the world
  60. More looking for similarities
  61. High Holidays not only for Israel
  62. Jesus begotten Son of God #1 Christmas and Christians
  63. Jesus begotten Son of God #2 Christmas and pagan rites
  64. Seven days of Passover
  65. 1 -15 Nisan
  66. 14 Nisan a day to remember #1 Inception
  67. 14 Nisan a day to remember #2 Time of Jesus
  68. 14 Nisan a day to remember #3 Before the Passover-feast
  69. 14 Nisan a day to remember #4 A Lamb slain
  70. Called Immanuel does not mean to be Jesus being God
  71. How to Read the Bible (sequel 1)

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Further reading

  1. Science Series: Finely Tuned Cosmos
  2. Quest for God 2
  3. Does God Exist?
  4. How do we know God exists?
  5. Change Happens. Does that Mean God Exists?
  6. Can Atheists Know That God Does Not Exist? by Garland M. Robinson
  7. “Prove God Exists!”
  8. The Laws Of Thermodynamics Show Us That God Exists
  9. Addressing the God Paradoxes
  10. Does God Exist? The Moral Argument, Part 1
  11. Convince Me There’s A God – Archaeology 32
  12. The Alpha and The Omega
  13. Simple Wisdom – Wednesday
  14. Convince Me There’s A God – Archaeology 34
  15. James Randi – Skeptic, debunker of the paranormal
  16. How is that God? Objections and Responses to the Argument From Change
  17. The Kalam Cosmological Argument
  18. Transcendency.
  19. Another word not to use carelessly
  20. Magic in islam
  21. Steve Fuller on Proofs for God’s Existence: An Interview, Eugene Loginov
  22. Anselm and the Argument for God: Crash Course Philosophy #9
  23. Aquinas and the Cosmological Arguments: Crash Course Philosophy #10
  24. Does God Exist? Summary Video
  25. Thoughts on the Ontological Argument
  26. Ontological Argument Video
  27. Who is God?
  28. What is God Like?: Crash Course Philosophy #12
  29. A Reading Plan for Christian Apologists – Part 1.1
  30. A Reading Plan For Christian Apologists – Part 2
  31. Unmoved Mover vs. Creator
  32. In Defense of The Third Premise
  33. Counter-Critiquing the Moral Argument for God
  34. God is a Special Case: Affirmative Part 2
  35. The Disclosure and Hiddenness of God
  36. When our subconscious mind also works in the foreground
  37. A Scientist Who Is “Convicted”  
  38. Why Catholic? – A Somewhat Bizarre Intro
  39. How Can You Be So Sure?
  40. The world is crowded with Him
  41. You won’t come back empty !
  42. Book Review: Teaching Others To Defend Christianity
  43. Stalling Out
  44. Why Did God Create Anything At All? Part 2: The Problem of Non-God Objects
  45. Nothing Happens When I Pray
  46. No Blind Leaps
  47. Heart Of The Matter
  48. God Revealed (poem)
  49. The Power of Real Belief
  50. Book Review: The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist
  51. What the bible teaches about God
  52. The Maiden Warrior and the Sun Goddess in the Epic of Baal
  53. Asherah, Part I: The lost bride of Yahweh
  54. Asherah, Part III: The Lion Lady « Queen of Heaven
  55. Does Christianity Have Pagan Roots? (Part 1) How Did “Easter” Originate? | god from the machine
  56. Does Christianity Have Pagan Roots? (Part 2) The Pagan Myth Myth… No, I’m Not Stuttering
  57. The Truth About Easter
  58. He is Risen! What Christians Believe About Easter, and Why | pundit from another planet
  59. The Maiden Warrior and the Sun Goddess in the Epic of Baal
  60. Celebrating Saturnalia
  61. The Christmas Star
  62. It’s all about Jesus, not Symbols!
  63. Spirit of Christmas
  66. Speaking My Truth: The idol Conformity
  67. The Living God Contrasts with Dead Idols
  68. Leaning
  69. Tremble
  70. Spirituality and Mystery
  71. Spiritual Drought
  72. Our Idols
  73. DayBreaks for 12/6/16 – Addition, Subractaion and the 10 Commandments
  74. He is not the God of the Bible
  75. Black Millennials not Celebrating Christmas
  78. Grace Abounds
  79. The Object of Your Affection
  80. Daidala: Idols in the End Times
  81. The Unity of God Part B
  82. What does it mean to trust in Jesus? Part 3 of 3 ~ Embracing Freedom
  83. Idols in our lives
  84. When Pain Exposes Your Idols: No Other Gods Session 2
  85. What If… you pray to someone other than God?
  86. one GOD many faces
  88. Canvassing the idols
  89. Idols
  90. The god of Pride
  91. On Idolatry: Who is Your God?
  92. Do not sit on stolen idols
  93. Hindu Diety Statues
  94. Have no other gods besides Me
  95. The Argument Against Polytheism Part 1
  96. 2 Chronicles 33:7 The Wrong Image
  97. Idols
  98. The Holy Spirit Has Her Hands Full!
  99. Jonah 2
  100. The Pull of Idols
  101. We are a prized possession.
  102. Buddha -The Enlightened One
  103. Photo-Essay | The Goddess and Mortals of Durga Puja
  104. The Art of making an Idol of Goddess Durga
  105. Give God Glory
  106. Recognizing Idols in Your Life—Disappointments
  107. Putting Away Idolatry
  108. Keep Yourselves From Idol
  109. Idolatry and Abuse
  110. The Idol of my Heart

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Published by Vragensteller - Inquirer

A Flemish person daring to ask questions about our life. + Een Vlaming die zich vragen durft stellen over dit leven.

111 thoughts on “Looking for answers on the question Is there a God #2 Pantheon of gods and celebrations”

  1. I saw a pingback to my website, 10forJesus.com. Looking at this site, may I provide some clarifications as someone trained in Christianity? Your site is very fair in its treatment of my religion but I feel I could explain some points better and clarify some details that are confusing to outsiders. If you approve this comment, I’ll provide as many answers as I can below.

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    1. Please Mr. Hart, be welcome. I appreciate it very much that you want to take time to provide some clarifications and to share your thoughts on Christianity and on faith matters.

      I am sure that even when your ideas may not be on the same line as mine, and that we may belong to a total different religion, I am convinced that as human being we can learn from each other and should come to respect each other’s religion, though it may be far from ours. But it is only by getting enough knowledge about each others faith and customs that we can come to be in mutual accordance living in peace, be it as unbelievers, or as believers in some things or some gods or as a believer and lover of the One True God.

      Big problem in this world is also that there may be lots of misunderstandings about certain religions. Often this happens because there being very extremist or radical groups defiling the name not only of God, but also bringing denominations with the same name in discredit. The best example these days is what damage Daesh or ISIS/ISIL does to the Muslim community. But we also can find certain Pentecostals and/or evangelists creating havoc and even killing people in name of their god. Strange thing is that they often say life is holy and at the same time bully or even kill doctors who work at an abortion clinic accusing them of killing babies.

      That just as a remark at the site.

      Love to see what you may bring onto the plate to look at, to think about and to discuss.

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  2. EASTER EGGS – because Christianity has spread to a lot of different parts of the world that have their own cultures and previously had different religions, there are a lot of holidays that celebrate Jesus that incorporate customs people already had, as long as they weren’t deemed harmful to the faith. Plus, Christians just plain like having fun! So we have a lot of customs like Christmas trees and Easter eggs and different things that aren’t really about Jesus but are done on holidays celebrating Him. Easter eggs really don’t have anything to do at all with Jesus. He didn’t lay eggs and He didn’t fertilize the Earth in any way, unless you mean in spiritual terms how He gave people the chance to become reborn in their spirits as children of God. We usually bring our children to church on Easter to hear how Jesus suffered terribly for the forgiveness of our sins and then was allowed to return from the dead to give us hope, and then afterwards we let them go have fun hunting for Easter eggs. The two things aren’t really connected.

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    1. Dear Morgan Hart, thank you very much for giving some answers to this article.
      One could ask “when is a custom not deemed harmful to the faith”? It is also good and nice to have fun, but not all fun is acceptable in the eyes of God. Lots of people today love to have sex with many people, of the other but also of the same sex. They do like it to have such physical pleasures just for fun. DO you think that is acceptable in God’s eyes? Lots of people also love to do other things which may seem not at all harmful, though our society would not accept such an attitude or consider it an not tolerated behaviour.

      It may be very pleasant to run naked all the time and to let the sun warm the body. This does not harm any body, though the society does not allow such a thing and many religious groups do not find it appropriate that people show their nakedness to others in public.

      Why do you let your children go have fun hunting for Easter eggs after an Easter service. In which way would the two things be not really connected? That would mean that such egg hunt can be done and would be done at any other day of the year too. But it isn’t. It is a very particular event around the birthday and celebration of Eostre, the god of fertility. Do you really think it does not harm to participate in heathen activities? Do you really think God would not mind? When I look into the Holy Scriptures I do get a totally different picture. I get the impression that God wants to find a pure worshipping of Him alone and a pure mind in relation to His ordinances.

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      1. Well, first of all, there are some Christians who oppose Easter eggs, Christmas trees, etc. Easter eggs I do not personally mind for this reason: I have gathered Easter eggs many times, and though I have heard they are associated with a fertility goddess, that’s all I even know about the goddess. I do not use it as an act of worship. As for purity of worship, I’m not dodging the question, but it could take a long time to discuss. I feel appreciative that I have a faith that allows many different kinds of life and people to exist. As for fornication, it is a sin, which is different from a custom. We are all guilty of sins, and all sinners, but should make sincere effort to change our sinful ways when we choose to enter the faith.

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        1. Lovers of God should have respect for all sorts of people of all sorts of religions, but that does not mean they should take part in their traditions and in their worshipping. Also about that the master teacher Jesus and the prophet Mohammed are very clear, that we should not be of this world. Which means that though living in this world we should know what is going on in it but not have to keep to its traditions and customs, but keep to the Law of God.

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  3. KNEELING IN FRONT OF STATUES – First, it’s worth mentioning that not all Christians believe in kneeling before statues, in fact, many are very opposed to it. The Bible says that followers of the one God should not bow down or worship to statues made by human hands. That practice is called idolatry, as is any practice of putting our forefront affection on anything other than the real God already all around us – whether that be by worshipping a statue, or caring more about money than about God, or caring more about drugs than about God, and so on.

    So some Christian churches are against any statues at all. Some have statues and say it’s okay because they’re not worshipping the statues, they’re just looking at the statues while they pray to help them think about God. The very most important part for everybody, is that you worship the true God, not the statue.

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    1. Good to hear not all Christians believe in kneeling before statues, though we see many doing it. I agree mostly the different sorts of Catholics, Anglicans and Church of England people we see doing that, but in our regions the Benelux and Germany we noticed that many protestant churches also started again to have stained windows, figures and statues depicting people or gods or whom they call god (Jesus, a dove and God).

      What is the difference of “looking at pictures or statues” and praying in front of it, they just looking at the statues while they pray to help them think about God, whilst Hindu people also look at their statues to think about their god to pray to? Both take graven images for thinking about their god and as such are praying in front of graven images, an abomination in the eyes of the Most High God.

      Those who have the statues in their churches may have made themselves a nice excuse, but did not see others in ancient times also having made such excuses? and is that not avoiding the Will of God or ‘circling around’ what God really intended by saying not to bow down in front of graven images?

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      1. I think this would be very hard to answer. I feel I cannot give a fair answer as I have not spent enough time in churches with statues to really get their opinion; also, I was not a polytheist before I became a Christian, so I have no comparison.

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  4. KNEELING TO STATUES OF DIFFERENT GODS AND SAINTS – Let me clarify here – for the churches that do have statues, it is statues of God and the saints. When God is portrayed in statues, He is 99.99% portrayed as Jesus (after all, being the part of God who is a human being, He’s the only part of God we have an idea what He would look like). Sometimes, most notably in The Cistene Chapel by Michelangelo, God the Father is portrayed as an old man. When the Holy Spirit is portrayed, it is often painted as a dove, mostly due to the Bible’s description of the Holy Spirit coming to rest on Jesus in a form “like a dove”. Notice too that God the Father and the Holy Spirit are more likely to be painted than sculpted – I suppose because Christians are still very particular about not worshipping statues.

    The most common statues for Christians are portrayals of Jesus, often Crucifixes to remind us that, out of love, He died a very painful and humble death for us. But portrayals of the son, Father or the Holy Spirit are considered aspects of the same beibg, similar to if you drew a picture of your feelings and a picture of your face – very different,but still part of the same beibg.

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    1. Why did those Christians not listen to God, Who made it clear no pictures of Him should be made?

      also when they consider Jesus to be God they should not make pictures of him. Naturally good readers of the Holy Scriptures and real lovers of God should know that Jesus is and can not be God, so you could say there is not such a problem. But having pictures and statues of him in a place of worship of God makes him an idol and false god present in that place which should be sacred and as such being set apart (holy) not defiled by other gods.

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  5. KNEELING TO STATUES OF DIFFERENT GODS AND SAINTS – Now, any statue that is not the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, is a statue of a saint (though I suppose, of course, someone might have a statue of someone they respected who was not a saint, though I’ve never seen it). It is worth mentioning here again that this is a point of disagreement between Christians, as some Christians say that having a statue of and even praying to a saint is fine since they are servants of God, while others think praying to anyone other than God is terrible! In fact, Saint Francis, in his lifetime, was opposed to people naming churches after him because he thought only God should be represented. The most common saint depicted is Mary, sometimes called the Mother of God. When God the Father decided He should make a part of Himself live and die as a human – Jesus, also called the Son – it was important to Him to have Jesus live a fully human experience, including developing in a human mother. He asked a young Jewish virgin named Mary to be the Mother of Jesus. God used His power to make Mary pregnant – she remained a virgin throughout her pregnancy and Jesus’s birth. Her husband, Joseph, raised Jesus as a son to give Him a normal human upbringing. Joseph is also a saint portrayed in many statues. Mary, Jesus, and Joseph are sometimes portrayed together in statues, especially in nativity scenes at Christmas. Note that saints are most closely associated with Catholic Christians. Other churches may have pictures or statues of saints – especially Mary and Joseph at Christmas time – but use the word “saint ” to mean any person saved by Jesus’s shed blood on the Cross.

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    1. You write that the most common statues for Christians are portrayals of Jesus, often Crucifixes to remind us that, out of love, He died a very painful and humble death for us. Would you when you have a son who died in a car crash, walk around with a picture of the wreckage around your neck and would have every where pictures of the wrack and of your damaged death son in your living room and at other places? It is a very strange way to remember a dead loved one. In this instance it is even stranger, because by offering himself as a lamb of God Jesus brought salvation to mankind and offered something so beautiful that we should be pleased and look at the new world Jesus has offered to mankind.

      When

      “portrayals of the son, Father or the Holy Spirit are considered aspects of the same beibg, similar to if you drew a picture of your feelings and a picture of your face – very different,but still part of the same beibg.”

      when that “beibg” is the Supreme Being then such pictures are an abomination in God’s eyes and we should throw them away. Allah does not allow any pictures of Him.

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      1. If my child told me in advance that he would die in a car wreck, and that it was very important to him and he wanted to be remembered that way, then of course I would honor his wishes. There is no shame in displaying what God did for us.

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      2. Also, please do not make fun of my typing. I am not in a college course writing a thesis, I am in my living room with two children on my ankles and trying to use a new phone I am unfamiliar with. If you wish to hear another person’s thoughts, you need to accept that the quality of typing is not a clear reflection of the quality of thought behind it.

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  6. In terms of Christianity, I also like to point people to the website peacewithgod.net. I’m not associated with it, but I think it’s very good. It will not explain theology or the different kinds of Christianity, but it gives an explanation of what God wants to do for people and also, there’s a 24 hour chat line where you can go and ask Christians about God.

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  7. PAGAN GOD YAWEH – Yaweh is not a pagan God. He is the God of Judaism, which is also the God of Christianity. The Bible talks at length about Ashera, which never had a genuine place in the same religion. God (Yaweh) was furious at their addition of the pagan goddess Ashera into His religion and the completely fabricated story that Ashera was His wife (Exodus 34:13, Deuteronomy 7:5, 12:3, 16:21, Judges 3:7, 6:25-30, 1 Kings 14:15-18:19, 2 Kings 13:6-23:15)(Numeration and titles may differ in the Tanakh)

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    1. Please dear Madam, do not believe the Chosen people of God would worship Yahweh. For all of us who love the Divine Creator it is clear we should not love nor worship any pagan gods. Yahweh is a pagan God, though several Christians may use that name for the Most High Elohim Hashem Jehovah and have paintings and statues of this pagan god. But real lovers of God would never have any picture of the Most High Elohim in their house or at any other place.

      יהוה (Yod Heh Vav Heh) or YHWH (sometimes also spelled Yahuwah) should be read as Ye-Ho-Wah or in contemporary language Jehovah. He is also not the same one as Yahweh nor as the prophet and rabbi Jeshua יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshu’a) which you might call Jesus.

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        1. A big problem with that translation is that several people used the name Yah-Weh (=2syllabels) for the name of God where the tetragrammaton uses 4 letters three syllables Je-Ho-Vah and as such much be the right one. On one site you could say, like the use of Jesus (Hail Zeus), being so common for naming the concerned person, it may not be so harmful … and as such in many communities both names are used by members of the community. (Also in mine.) But should we not prefer to use the most right one or the one the person prefers.

          For example when you are called Morgan and have your nickname Morgy, would you not love to be called as such, and would you not like it so much if people insistently remain calling you Mirgun? Once we know how a name should be spoken out loud we best speak it out loud like that person wants it or how he has given it. God has given His name. It is notated in the Scriptures and His chosen people are able to read it, though many are so afraid of it because it is such a holy name. Jeshua restored the relationship between man and God and therefore people should not any more be afraid of God and can come up to God and speak to Him with the words Father and by His Name. They do not have to say ‘Sir’ to Him, like some decennials ago Americans spoke to their earthly father (see the American movies of the 1940ies-1950ies).

          Though in several Bibles we may find the translation for God’s Name as ‘Yahweh’ and as ‘Lord’ when looking at the tetragrammaton we should read it as the tetragram and should read Je-Ho-Vah.

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          1. “Jesus” does not come from “hail Zeus”. It is the Greek translation of His Hebrew name, because the language Greek doesn’t have all the same sounds as Hebrew. Similar to how John, Ian, Juan, and Giovanni are all versions of the same name.

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            1. That is also the reason why we could accept the use of that name, when we speak English or meet English speaking people, the same as we can accept the other names for Jesus like Jezus, Jezu, Jesu, Jesou, Jizos, Jesosy, Chésu, Ishi, Isa, Isus, Xus, etc.. The same for titles that we can accept the title God, Gott, Gud or Deus, Dios (in many languages), Dio, Dion, Déu, Dieu or Allah (in many languages, like ours but also in Azerbaijani, Turkish, Urdu, Yiddish, Mallay ) or even Zot (not of our Dutch nor Flemish language, but Albanian), Jainkoa, Bog, Mulungu, Buh (not in our language but in Czech), Jumal, Jumala, Maykapal, Bondye, Bautawa, Atuwa, Xudo, etc.

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            1. Please when you live in a region where you can meet Hebrew people or secular Jews you might perhaps ask them how they would pronounce the tetragrammaton. Those who are not afraid to pronounce God’s Name shall tell you it is “Yehowah” or “Jehovah”.

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          3. I’m sorry, after I wrote a reply I felt I didn’t show enough respect to you and the work you’ve put into this – but WordPress doesn’t allow me to modify comments once submitted. It means a lot to me that you show such concern for the name of God. It is holy, and it is good for people to respect it, especially in these days of “OMG” and using God’s name being fine even for a PG movie.

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        2. Naturally when many Christians who have taken on the false god and worship Jesus as part of him they would use the name of the pagan god instead of the real God. On the other hand like Jesus has become a very common name to be used for the Nazarene rabbi, whose real name was Jeshua, we can accept that most religious groups use today the most common form or a by many a relative well known name. As such we may find lots of Christians but also Muslims who speak of “Jesus” when they have it about the prophet Jeshua . The same we also find lots of Christians who do accept Jeshua (Yeshua or Yahushawa) as son of God and not as a god son who use the names Jesus or Ishi for that master teacher and for his heavenly Father, Allah, the name Yahweh or Jahweh instead of Yehowah (Yahuwah) or Jehovah.

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          1. No, I’m telling you – Jesus is the Greek equivalent of His Hebrew name. You can look this up – Wikipedia’s entry on Jesus has an entire PAGE just devoted to His NAME.

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            1. Jesus is not at all the equivalent of Jehovah’s Name. there are also many named Jesus or Jesu, Chesu, who are not a god nor the God. You may consider Issou to be the Greek form of Jeshua or Joshua which was originally even Hoshea, changed by Moshe into Jehoshua or Joshua.

              The son of the handworker or carpenter Joseph became called Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph and to denote his mission he had received that name Jehoshua or Jeshua, indicating he was the one sent form God to save => Salvation comes from God.

              Please take more attention onto what the Bible says about people instead of believing what men want you to believe. when you take writings from trinitarians who start by the dogma Jesus is God then they always would be able to turn to such wrong idea. For example if I say or start of with the belief that “metal is glas” and come to say when you heat glass you shall be able to bend it so that is a proof being it metal, because when you heat metal it can be given an other form. In the same way trinitarians distort the Biblical view about God and Jesus.

              > Num 13.8,16; 1Chr 7.27; Mat 1.21; Joh 18.7; 6.42)

              You also seem to find other Wikipedia pages than me. Because on the Wikipedia page about the name of Jesus I only can find

              The name Jesus is derived from the Latin Iesus, a transliteration of the Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iesous).[49] The Greek form is a rendering of the Hebrew ישוע‎ (Yeshua), a variant of the earlier name יהושע‎ (Yehoshua), in English “Joshua”.[50][51][52] The name Yeshua appears to have been in use in Judea at the time of the birth of Jesus.[53] The first century works of historian Flavius Josephus, who wrote in Koine Greek, the same language as that of the New Testament,[54] refer to at least twenty different people with the name Jesus (i.e. Ἰησοῦς).[55] The etymology of Jesus’ name in the context of the New Testament is generally given as “Yahweh is salvation”.[56]

              It is nearly right though it has chosen the worng word “Yahwhe” instead of using the true Name of God “Jehovah”. To me the Wikipedia article also clearly says that Jesus means “Jehovah is salvation” and nowhere indicates that Jesus would be the equal name to God His Name Jehovah. So please can you give the article of Wikipedia (Wikipedia’s entry on Jesus has an entire PAGE just devoted to His NAME. ) where such thing would be said?

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            2. 2nd remark: In the article of Wikipedia about the etymology of Jesus his name is also spoke about his title him being the Christ, Christians have commonly referred to Jesus as “Jesus Christ”, a translation of the Hebrew משיח (Meshiakh) meaning the “anointed” and usually transliterated into English as “Messiah”. But being called the anointed it should be clear to those who look at that Biblical figure he is an anointed one or a chosen one officially to do an important job, meaning Jesus is chosen by or as if by divine election. You also could say Jesus is the sacrosanct or chosen oiled one from God. which should again be a proof that Jesus is not God but some one chosen by God.

              In the Wikipedia article it rightly continues to say what lots of so called Christians do not want to believe or to accept or to see:

              Christians designate Jesus as Christ because they believe he is the Messiah, whose arrival is prophesied in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. In postbiblical usage, Christ became viewed as a name—one part of “Jesus Christ”—but originally it was a title.[61][62] The term “Christian” (meaning a follower of Christ) has been in use since the first century.[63]

              From that article lots of people who say they are Christian should wonder if they are really following Christ Jesus and would be worthy of that name. I do not think so. Lots of people who call themselves Christian not at all do follow Jesus his teachings and do not what he wants them to do but worse even do not believe Jesus his sayings that God is greater than him.

              “you heard me tell you, ‘I am leaving, and I will come back to you.’ if you loved me, you would have been glad that I am going to the father; because the father is greater than I.” (John 14:28 CJB)

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    2. You seem to take Yahweh to be יהוה, but he is not. the difficulty for Christians is that in many of the different translations, like the one you mention (NIV) His Holy Name is taken away and replaced with Lord, so that you cannot see about whom is spoken Jesus or יהוה Jehovah God. It is also known that there are Christians who worship the tri-une god, also have taken the three-headed ancient god as their god and use this pagan name Yahweh instead of using the real name of Allah the God of gods. It is the Host of hosts His Name we should use and not the name of false gods.

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      1. Oh, wait, let me ask for clarity – I was assuming when you said pagan you were implying the general sense of the older local
        religions. So you are Muslim? Are you saying that Christianity is pagan to your own religion?

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        1. I can only notice that several Christians, but luckily not all worship three gods: god the Father, god the son and god the holy spirit. for me that is clearly a polytheism and I do not understand why those Christians concern the other religions polytheist whilst theirs monotheist, though in Hinduism for example the tri-une god Brahma has more unity and equality in the god parts than Jesus. Also the eightfold god in Hinduism has more of the same attributes as the godfather or the godmother.

          The god Jesus the trinitarian Christians have is either a liar and then he still could not have the same attributes as God, because the Holy Scriptures tells us that God is a God of order and clarity Who does not tell lies. This God, Allah, the Adonai Elohim Hashem Jehovah Himself declared Jesus to be His only begotten son. The Scriptures also call Jesus the son of man, the sent one from God, the prophet or chosen one from God.

          When Jesus would be God like you say, he should have the same attributes. From the Holy Scriptures we do know that Allah is an eternal Spirit Who can not be seen by man. Though many could see Jesus after he was born (had a beginning). Allah cannot be tempted but Jesus was tempted multifold. Man can do nothing to Allah, though according to the Holy scriptures Jesus was taken prisoner, was tortured and put to death at a piece of wood. Allah not being able to die if He is the same person as Jesus, when Jesus is God, then would have faked His death, which would be something ridiculous and without any purpose. What would be the use of God dying though he can not die or He lied about His eternality? An other lie would be the matter of Jesus replying many times indicating he is not God and even can not do things without God. Allah knows thievery but Jesus had to learn everything and when he died there where still lots of things he did not know … or he lied to his disciples, like he would have lied to them when he said he was no spirit, because Allah is Spirit.

          When looking at the inequalities of your tri-une god there are less similarities in the tri-une gods of other religions who then also could claim to be monotheist, and in a certain way would than have a better right to claim so, because by them the different parts of their godhead are more equal than in your religion.

          I am very pleased to find also Christians who really worship only One True God, the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob Jesus and his disciples. They would not belong to a pagan religion, they would belong to a proper Christianity where the followers of Christ Jesus (hence the name Christians) follow Jesus his God and his teachings. Though the other Christians, the ones of Christendom, yes, I would consider to be part of a pagan religion, which can be clearly seen in their pagan customs and human traditions, which are not in accordance with the teaching of the Nazarene Jew Jesus Christ.

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          1. I’m sorry, I can no longer participate in this conversation. My convictions will not allow me. I cannot back down from feeling that Jesus is my God, a part of the triune God, the son spoken of in Proverbs 30. I only accept the words of the Bible, that Jesus is the Son of God, and the fullness of God dwelling in human form; that He lived, in some form or another, before all men, and that He is worthy of worship; that anyone who has seen Him has seen God. Each thing I just said comes from a verse of the New Testament, and to exclude them would be to exclude the basics of Christianity itself and deny the claims that Jesus made about Himself. If you hold to another religion, that is fine, but I will not say I am following Jesus Christ and then construct a description of Him that violates His own claims. To do so would be the worst form of idolatry, a form where I take the words of God Himself and quietly twist them around in my own, fallible, created, fallen, mind.

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            1. Is the Bible not clear to you. It says very clearly that there is only one God and Jesus tells us that God is greater than him. You say that Jesus is the son of God but at the other hand you contradict this by saying he is the god son.

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                1. Your site seems to be deleted, though you seem to get still some answers. When you look at my site you will find out that I am a believer in Only One True God, Allah, the Elohim Hashem Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jesus and his disciples.

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                  1. Does that mean you are practicing Rastafarianism? Or Baha’i? Or Islam? Or Judaism? Or Christianity? Or some mix of the above?

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                    1. You are wondering to which religion I do belong?

                      It depends how you look at it.
                      I would not consider myself as a Mohamedan, though I do respect the prophet Mohammed. Some Muslims would consider me a brother whilst others would say I am a kuffar.I am not a Wahhabi neither a Salafist, tow groups which are the last few months very often in the new because of their very conservative teaching. In particulagroups like ISIS/ISIL, Boko Haram and some other radicals would consider me their enemy, because I can not agree with their 8th century form of Muslim human doctrine.
                      I read and follow the Qu’ran like every lover of God should do, listening to the words of God and not bringing in human doctrines, which are not at all teachings of the Holy Scriptures (like the burka is not a teaching from God).

                      You may consider me belonging to the more liberal western natives who follow the teaching of the Most High. Following that teaching you might like my Muslim brethren and sisters perhaps better consider me Islamic, falling under the grace of the Faith of Peace = Islam.

                      On the other hand you also may consider me a Christian, following the teachings of Ishi, rabbi Jeshua (Jesus Christ), but not belonging to the false or trinitarian Christians, but belonging to the non-trinitarian Christians.

                      My mother is not Jewish so I am not a Jew and in fact is there no reason to become so because Christ Jesus has signed a new covenant with Allah. I shall be happy to fall under that new covenant and as such be a child of God in that renewed world of Christ.

                      But because of there being so many divisions in all those religions, it can well be that you when you are a trinitarian Christian do not want to accept non-trinitarians as Christian, the same as certain Muslims do not want to accept certain other Islamic groups as Muslim, in the same way certain Jewish groups do not like to recognise other Judaic groups or do not like to accept Messianic Jews as Jews.

                      You can see that all such division can make it very difficult for some people where to belong.

                      I hope I clarified my position now?

                      May I now return the question to you, to which religion do you belong and what do you consider yourself to be and what do you consider others to be?

                      I have the impression you are a trinitarian Christian and you do not like non-trinitarian Christians, though they are the ones who really follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.
                      Please enlighten me.

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                    2. Please stop messaging me. I do not like your tone, I do not like having words put in my mouth, and if you teach something contrary to the New Testament, it just plain isn’t Christianity.

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                    3. I do hope my answer could give some insight in the difficult situation religion has come because lots of people having come to have wrong pictures about certain religions or certain religious groups wanting to exclude other groups of their own religious formation.

                      As such I am looking forward to get to know if you are a real Christian, following Jesus his teachings or a false Christian, belonging to the majority of trinitarian Christians or to name Christians, those who say they are Christian but do not follow the teachings of Christ but also not the teachings or rules of their denomination. Because in Christendom lots of Christians just do what they themselves likes most and do not bother much of the teachings of their denominational leader, like the pope or bishops. Often they even do not take much time to worship God nor their gods though some of them may have lots of pagan attributes in the house or car to protect themselves (branches of palm/buxus; crosses, statues of St.Christopher, Paternoster or Rosary, etc.) Most often it are just those false Christians (those who worship the Trinity) who say the others are not Christians. The same we see with such groups like ISIS and other fundamentalist Muslims accusing the real Islamic people who follow God’s Laws that they are not real Muslims.

                      So where do you view yourself and the others?

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                    4. It is not my place to judge. I will repeat, if you are teaching something contrary to the New Testament, it cannot by definition be Christianity. I will not give you an apology for practicing my own religion. Please stop messaging me. I have told you several times now that I do not wish to continue this conversation.

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            2. According to me it is just a heresy that God may have sent his son or may have come in the form of an incarnation on the earth.
              I may be mistaken but I believe that
              1. We have to believe anybody who would have created the Universe, all the creatures that roam around on the earth and all sorts of plants that grow on the earth or on any other part of the other worlds of the Universe ought to have known almost everything about almost everything – ranging from biology, botany, metallurgy, radiation, zoology, geology, cosmology, thermodynamics, chemistry, physics and medicine that is taught in any college or any university, that too without having ever ever gone to any college or any university.
              2. If Jesus would have been the Son of the Creator of the Universe don’t you think he should have known that Sun did not rotate around the Earth, it was the earth that rotates around the sun? Don’t you think if he would have made everyone aware of the fact that Sun did not revolve around the earth poor Galileo would have not been punished for having enlightened everybody that the planets orbit around the Sun, not around the Earth in year 1611 while the Catholic Church did not allow him to openly advocate his findings.
              In 1632 Galileo angered the Pope when he published a book in which he openly stated that the Earth was moving around the Sun. He was put on trial by the Inquisition in Rome, where he was found suspect of heresy, and forced to say that all of his findings were wrong. He was first imprisoned, and later confined to his house near Florence.
              Why should we forget that during the last ten years of his life, the Church monitored his travel and communications with others, and his writings were censored and placed in the Index of Prohibited Books? Don’t you think Jesus would have enlightened the world about the truth that was brought to light by Galileo had he known himself about it?
              It is so tragic that all of us are fully prepared to forget that Galileo remained under house arrest, despite many medical problems and a deteriorating state of health, until his death in 1642 and the Church had not accepted that Galileo could have been right till 1983 just because we want to believe that Christ was the son of God?

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              1. Where did Jesus ever said that it was not true that the “Sun did not rotate around the Earth”? Where did Jesus ever say everything turned around the earth and that the earth and the “man” would be the most important thing?

                “poor Galileo” having “been punished for having enlightened everybody that the planets orbit around the Sun” is not because of what Jesus taught but about what false teachers or what is called in the Scriptures “Babylon” or the false church taught. The Holy Scriptures are very clear that the earth is a sphere in a big universe where there are more planets and stars than man can count. It was the Roman Catholic Church who pressed her own dogma’s onto people and was even prepared to kill all those who where against their false teachings.

                Every man and every women born is a creature or a son of daughter of God. Jesus though placed in a special manner was a special one, namely the only begotten beloved son of God, placed by the power of God in the young girl Maryam/Miriam (Mary/Maria).

                Allah says
                “Say, ‘He is Allah, [who is] One. Allah As-Samad [the Self-Sufficient] Master, whom all creatures need]. He neither begets nor is born. Noris there to Him any equal. (Surath 112:1-4)
                “and they say, ‘The Most Merciful has taken a son.’ Exalted is He! Rather, they [Those they claim to be ‘children’ of Allah, such as the angels, Ezra, Jesus, etc.] e [but] honored slaves. they cannot act by His command.” (Surath 21:26-27)
                Then Allah said to Moses “This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, “Jehovah Allah, the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you” this is my Name to infinit, and this is the memorial of me to generation after generation.” (2nd Book of the Holy Scriptures verse 15)
                From there the people should know What is the Name of God and that He is the One Who provides and that He took care of His only begotten son (Al-‘Imran 3:45) “Good News” given to Miriam that she would give birth to Ishi (Jesus), born of Allah’s Spirit (the Power of God) without a human father (Al-Aniya 21:91)
                “It was said of him that he was the Word of God and His Spirit.” [Compare (Al’Imran 3:45; Al’Nisa 4:171) and Maryam 18:21)] “Allah made him a sign for mankind and a mercy from Him”

                ” 30 So the angel said to her: “Have no fear, Maryam, for you have found favour with Allah; 31 and, look! you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you are to call his name Jeshua (Ishi/Jesus). 32 This one will be great and will be called Son of the Most High; and Jehovah God will give him the throne of David his father, 33 and he will rule as king over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of his kingdom.”

                34 But Maryam said to the angel: “How is this to be, since I am having no intercourse with a man?” 35 In answer the angel said to her: “Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason also what is born will be called holy, Allah’s Son (or God’s son). (Luke 1:30-35)

                21 Now when all the people were baptized, Jeshua also was baptized and, as he was praying, the heaven was opened up 22 and the holy spirit in bodily shape like a dove came down upon him, and a voice came out of heaven: “You are my Son, the beloved; I have approved you.” (Luke 3:21-23)

                This shows clearly that Allah, Who is Spirit, came over a man, who is no spirit but had bones, flesh and blood, and declared that man to be his only begotten son.
                In a Christian Bible you may find
                “21 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Yahshua also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased. 23 And Yahshua himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was \@the son\@ of Heli,” (Luke 3:21-23 KJBPNV)

                In the Qu’ran is clearly written in many places that the world is given set-apart or holy books, which are from Allah (God) (Al’Baqarah 2:89; Al’An’am 6:92) telling mankind that in the Torah and Injil “is guidance and a light” (Al-Ma’idah 5:44,46) Furthermore Al-Ma’idah 5:46 says about the Torah: “Therein is the (plain) command of Allah.”

                In those sacred books is nowhere written that the earth would be flat and ending. That where all human thoughts because they thought at the end of the horizon people would drop off the plate ‘earth’.

                Like so many Christian dogma’s or false teachings they became accepted by the majority of people and because so many did not read (for a long time they were even forbidden to read the Holy scriptures, just because than they would be able to find out the false teachings of that Christian church.) the word of Allah they could not find the Truth, them preferring to hold fast to those human dogma’s instead of biblical teachings.

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              2. Friend, if that is the only thing that keeps you from believing, the answer has already been addressed in the scriptures.

                In order to share a common humanity with us, although He maintained His essence of Godhood, He set aside His power to become fully mortal (Philippians 2:6-7, compare NIV and ESV translations); this included setting aside omniscience, so that He, like us, would have to study the scriptures and work hard (Luke 2:52) and rely on the Father for those things He couldn’t know by Himself (John 12:49, 50; Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32, John 14:28). Jesus was not given an easier life than the rest of us, where He could simply have everything He wanted right away, including knowledge.

                That being established, it is also worth noting, on a purely practical note, that 1.) Had He written so many books, He would not have had time for His ministry of saving mankind from their sins, a task which (while others can write books about the sciences), only He was qualified to accomplish, as the sinless son of God… 2.) As it was only around 8 A.D., any such books written would have to be written in such a way as to fill their audience in on centuries of discoveries not yet made…. 3.) This would have left the scriptures so long that no one would be able to read them all, and only a few people would be able to understand even half of it…. 4.) The books would have to be stored such that they would have survived all the wars, natural di etc. over the centuries…. And 5.) Had He written all those books, it would still be an assumption to think that the priests persecuting Galileo would have necessarily read, understood, and correctly applied all that information, especially since they don’t appear to have correctly applied the ideals of Jesus recorded in the relatively small number of books we do have about Him – ideals like not persecuting people, for example.

                If you study the scriptures I cited above, it should give you a fuller picture.

                You can find Bibles online at Biblegateway.com or Biblehub.com. I recommend reading the NIV, NLT, or ESV translations.

                If you have questions about the scriptures, there is a 24 hour online chat service on peacewithgod.com that will let you speak with someone better trained than I.

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              3. You have good reason to believe “anybody who would have created the Universe,… ought to have known almost everything about almost everything – ranging from biology, botany, metallurgy, radiation, zoology, geology, cosmology, thermodynamics, chemistry, physics and medicine that is taught in any college or any university, that too without having ever ever gone to any college or any university” The Creator does know everything and it is even Him Who has planted knowledge and wisdom in man.

                You question ” If Jesus would have been the Son of the Creator of the Universe don’t you think he should have known that Sun did not rotate around the Earth, it was the earth that rotates around the sun?” Probably he did know that. Though he did know a lot of things not. He also had to learn everything, but listened to what the Bible had to say and did not comply with the human dogmas which where contrary to God’s Word. The Roman Catholic teaching about the centre earth and trinity are thought which entered in Christianity many years after Jesus and his chosen disciples had died.

                You asked ” Don’t you think Jesus would have enlightened the world about the truth that was brought to light by Galileo had he known himself about it?”

                Jesus was already long death at the time of Galileo, so he could not reply to those who refused to recognise what is written in the Holy Scriptures. Today that same church even does not want to accept who Jesus is and what he tells about himself and about his Father. Today there are still lots of people who call themselves Christian but do not follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and do not hold themselves to the word of the Only One True God, but keep worshipping a three-headed god, by which they do not come to see the truth of many things, already not willing to accept the Biblical truth.

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            3. In this reaction you indicate you take Jesus as your god. This also could give us the idea you belong to the many false christians, but that does not say at all that you are a Christian. Luckily enough Christians are living all over the world who really follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and do not keep to human dogmas.

              But there are also others who believe in Jesus Christ to be the saviour who many would not consider a Christian or would some also not consider a Jew.

              As such we have the Jews who have come to see who Jesus Christ is, the Messiah, and have taken him as their saviour. They consider themselves still Jews, though many in the Jewish community have expelled them from the Jewish community. In the Islamic world you have Mohammedans, Musulman or Muslims or people who have found a religion of peace preached by rabbi Jeshua, and who consider him a much higher prophet than Mohammed or Muhammad. Several Muslims would not accept them in the Muslim community because they do not revere or venerate Muhammad. But according to us we may not idolate a human being, even when it may be a prophet of God. Showing respect to Muhammad, Jesus, Isaiah is something totally different than taking one or the other as the most special one to be placed so high that he is nearly like a god. We always have to be very careful concerning the adoration of a person or prophet. Such who accept Jesus as their saviour might also not be accepted by the Christian community, because first there are the false Christian who claim they are the Christians and say that Christians are those who believe in the Trinity, and others would exclude those believers in Christ because they also follow teachings of the prophet Muhammad, which by the way not at all have to contradict with the teachings of Jesus, which according to us beats any other human teaching and is the doctrine to be followed.

              This division and disunity in the world of religious people does not make life easier. But from the teachings of Christ and from the writings in our Holy Scriptures we do know that at the time of the end-times there would come trouble in the religious world and religion would fight against other religions.

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  8. BAAL – There is confusion here owing to the fact that, similar to “God” and “god”, Baal was both a proper noun and a common noun. Jesus has never, ever been the diety Baal. If, however, you speak one of the older languages, and you wish to address Him as Lord or Strength, the noun for that title would be Baal.

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  9. CHRISTIANS AND EL – true, something is always lost when you translate from one language to another. A great example of this is the many different names of God. For anyone wishing to do a thorough study of the Christian faith, I recommend the NIV study Bible, in the most in-depth format you can find it. It provides excellent footnotes to clarify details of translation, including which address of God is used in which location.

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      1. For example, El-Shaddai. There are many names for God; most do not translate perfectly into English or do not work smoothly into a sentence; for that reason, many are simplified in the English translation and left with greater detail in the footnotes so that, if you want deeper study, you can examine exactly which name of God is being utilized in each sentence.

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    2. You seem to confuse names with titles. El, Al, Lah, Lahah, Allah, Elohim, Adonai, the Mighty, Almighty, Most High, Rock, Fire, Sword, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, are all titles but not a Name. Morgan Hart is a name, and Allah has a name. The Hashem or Name is even Holy according to the scriptures … holy being to be set apart. In the set apart writings or Holy Scriptures is also written that when the end times shall come, all over the world that Name of the Most High shall become to be known.

      You may point to the NIV Study Bible, in the hope people would be taken more by the human writings in the notes of such study Bible. That is the problem we see with many Christians, who think they read the bible and have taken on believes from scripture but they have taken on believes from the notes written in that Bible version they are reading. Most often they forget to compare those sayings in the notes with the verses of the Holy Book, the real text of the Bible.

      I hope that Study bible shall give you also a clear indication of What the Name of God is, and I do hope you too shall come to see that in the Bible itself is written that Jesus is the son of god and not that Jesus would be a god son.

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  10. PASSOVER – Passover is not related to a non-Jewish religion. It specifically represents the details of the Jews’ flight from Egypt (AKA the book of Exodus) complete with a very specific list of foods representing different details of that flight. It is simply too specific in meaning to entertain the idea that it was derived from anything else.

    Being Jewish, Jesus celebrated the Passover every year; in His 33rd year, Passover occurred right before His crucifixion. At His bequest, His followers continued the traditional bread and wine of the meal [sometimes served unfermented] in what is now called the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist. This tradition can be celebrated by Christians at any church service, and does not have to coincide with Passover. (Matthew 17:13-30 and also represented in Mark, Luke, and John)

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    2. You yourself write “Being Jewish, Jesus celebrated the Passover every year” knowing that should know that all Christians should celebrate passover, because that is an ordinance from God which has to be kept eternally (according to God His Own Words and wishes). so why do Christians do not keep that feast on the 14th of Nisan, but do they celebrate their Easter on the holy day of Eostre (hence the name Easter)

      That the remembrance of Jesus his last supper does not have to coincide with Pascha I can accept because Jesus having told his disciple to do it as often as they could to remember him. To do something as often as you can is being more than once a year, once a week and as such can be done daily. No objection to that, but when looking at several Christian services I only can notice lots of heathen elements in their service or mass. In those places of those trinity believers their worship houses, churches, I can see pictures of what they call their god. On and next to pictures and statues of their god Jesus, they also have pictures of God, though Allah is very clear about that, that there may not be made any graven image of Him and that nobody may bow down in front of graven images of any creature of God. At the bequest of Jesus it is alright for followers of Jesus to continue “the traditional bread and wine of the meal [sometimes served unfermented] in what is now called the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist”, but Jesus would mind to see any pagan attributes at such meal or anything what would be contrary to the Will of God. as such I can only come to the conclusion that lots of people who call themselves Christian do not follow the faith of their master nor his teachings, but have chosen to follow human doctrines and to keep celebrating pagan holy days (like Spring time, Easter, Halloween, All Saints, All souls, Christmas, to mention just the main ones.)

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  11. CHRISTIANS NOT AWARE OF PAGANISM – I find this personally a little offensive, as most Christians I know are aware of carryovers from other religions and discuss them openly. Also, any Christian who has read the Old Testament is well acquainted with the idea that paganism has sometimes been combined with their God’s faith in a way that is offensive to Him.

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    1. In the past the Jews as ordinary human beings where also sometimes carried away. God having had long enough patience with them therefore also opened the way to the goyim so that atheists or non-believers and other believers could come to God. It is the sent one from God, Jesus, who is that Way to God, people do have to find and to follow. By finding Jesus they should also follow the teachings of this master teacher and abandon any traditions of man which are not okay in the eyes of the heavenly Father of Jesus, the Most High, Allah Jehovah the God of gods.

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    2. That is the big problem with most Christians, that they even are not aware of their paganism. When the People of God went astray God punished them also and demanded to see where they went wrong, and most of them saw where they went wrong and repented; Allah is a loving God Who is willing to accept that human beings or fallible and do not have themselves under control all time. as a loving Father Allah is forgiving and as such also has promised some one, the Messiah to pay a ransom for all. That is what the Nazarene Jew Jeshua (Ishi/Jesus/Chesu/Jezus) did. He did not want to do his own will (what he would have done if he himself was God) but preferred to do the Will of god, and though he was also just a man of flesh and blood, also afraid for death, he also asking why God had abandoned him (remember when Jesus would be God he could not abandon himself), but over-won his fear by the trust he had in Allah, counting on Him and not on himself, in the knowledge he (Jesus) could not do anything without his heavenly Father (a given fact too often overlooked by the trinitarian Christians).

      Christians, like Muslims should be aware of their weaknesses and should be aware what Allah really wants from them. All who say they love God should put away all things that are connected with paganism. As such we and all Christians should come to honour and worship the same God of the Jews and keep to the Laws of the same God.

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      1. When I look at my Jewish family members and fellow brethren and sisters all over the world I too must confess I can see many of them following certain human teachings and taking part in rites which are not Biblically based. It is also for that reason I want to look at the Holy Scriptures and compare what people made of it or how they came to worship their God and came to arrange services for that God.

        Big problem with mankind is that all people are weak and have deficiencies. None is without fault. That makes it so difficult for man to have good relationships with other people and with God.

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  13. Looking from a world view, I can agree with you that there are many gods that are believed in this world. The question comes down to whether a person believes that the Bible is 100% accurate or if it is wrong. If it is correct then there is only one God and one Savior–Jesus. If it is not 100% accurate, then there may be hundreds of other gods or no gods at all. It cannot be both.

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    1. Thank you Tom for this comment.
      Throughout history many people looked at this world and tried to find answers on their many questions. Like you mention the shepherd and king David crying out to such god, he received a reply from the Most High God hearing his prayer.

      His enemies were surrounding him and trying to destroy him. As he calls out to God, he knows that God hears him. He tells God that he has held to His paths and he does not stumble in any way.

      {Psalm 17:5 Where Do You Walk?}

      That man, like many others in the past, had good but also bad things, even took care somebody was killed. Still there seemed place for him to become a man of that God, Allah the Most High.
      Lots of people do not see or feel that in their and other’s life, God is always willing to guide their steps, on the path He has set out for man. We do have to find that Being that may appear at times that has left us

      or that you failed and are on the wrong path. Troubles will occur and it will seem that you have somehow got onto the wrong path.

      {Psalm 17:5 Where Do You Walk?}

      It is so important for mankind that they come to know Who God is and that Allah has prepared a Way to God. People must know the path God has set out for them, and trust God completely.

      Hold on to the path that He has set out for you. Do not allow yourself to stumble on that path. God’s path is straight and narrow because it is only through Jesus.

      {Psalm 17:5 Where Do You Walk?}

      Though in this world where we may find also people who say they are following Jesus we do find lots of Christians who take Jesus as their god instead accepting the role he came to play here on earth and the task he has received from the One Who sent him, now being a mediator between God and man.

      Many who call themselves Christian do not follow Jesus and keep remaining to live according the traditions of man, joining in the heathen festivals and taking part in pagan traditions. Often they are not aware that they are not at all on the path God has for prepared for them.

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      1. I agree that many who call themselves Christians are not really Christian. Jesus had said that would happen.

        Jesus said in the end that He would separate the sheep and the goats, those who believed and followed Jesus, and those who did not.

        Regardless of how people live, does not change the truth of the Bible. God and Allah cannot be the same god. They taught two very different things. Only one can be correct and true. The other has to be false. The answer to this comes down to whether you believe the entire Bible or not. Either it is completely true or it is false. There is no middle ground.

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        1. Allah is the Arabic word for god and is used in many languages, like mine as a title for gods (with a small a) and for the Divine creator (with a capital A). Also in Bible translations with the imprimatur of the catholic Church you shall be able to find the blessings of the Vatican for such translations using the word Allah for God.

          There are many titles for the Most High Divine Creator and I noticed on your site you use also many different titles for God.

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          1. True the word Allah means god, but is rarely used for the term God outside of Islamic belief. I also agree that there are many different titles for God.
            General consensus would show that it is a term mainly used by those in Islam. The god of Islam and the Christian God are two different gods. The teachings of Islam (or any other religion) are extremely different from Christianity. Only Christianity teaches God sacrificing Himself to save mankind. All other religions require works to possibly be saved but with no assurity.

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            1. You think Allah is rarely used for the term God outside of Islamic belief, but than you seem to forget all the trouble in the South and in the East about certain Islamic regimes trying to forbid Christians to use the term Allah. In all the countries where Arabic is the main language or where Muslims are in the majority, the title Allah is used by Catholics (be it Roman-, Orthodox- or Charismatic) as well as by protestants (Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans or church of England and others). Also in their bible-translations you may find that title “Allah” for the Most High Divine Creator, whose Holy Name is Jehovah.

              I also would you agree that your god is different than mine and than those of Jews, real Christians or non-trinitarian Christians and Muslims, because I like them keep to the God of Abraham, Who according to the Holy Scriptures is also the God of Jesus.

              Christendom may teach that God sacrificed Himself but real Christians are those who keep to the Biblical doctrine and not to the human doctrine of the Trinity.

              For sure we have the salvation in the sent one from God, who is the Way to God and is called the Messiah or Kristos (Christ) in the Holy Scriptures. those who believe in him have the assurity, but I do agree those who do not believe in Jeshua or Jesus Christ have no assurity at all.

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            2. Dear Tom, I do hope you watched the news screenings this last few weeks where you could hear a.o. a Christian Orthodox priest use the word Allah when he spoke in Hebrew and in Arabic. Around Christmas we also had several interviews on television taken in Jerusalem, of Christians using the word Allah not only for The God of gods but also for Christ. Even the Catholic Pope used that word, so are you claiming the Roman and orthodox Catholics have a false god and other god than you and other Christians?

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            3. Dear Tom, in many countries the title for God “Allah” is used in common speech as well in their Bibles. Look for example how many times it is used in the Psalms in short as in long forms and in combinations. Also when you would listen to Catholics and Protestants in the East. Please do take the time to listen to people who live in Israel and speak about God. You shall hear the word “Allah” much more than you would hear “God” being said.

              Also in the European Union there are lots of people who interchange both titles when they talk to people from different religions. We do not know if you live in the United States and there it would perhaps not so commonly used, but please do not ignore the other cultures and other languages than your native or first language English.

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                1. Dear Tom, please not only look at this but also listen to people speaking in other languages. Listen also to the pope his talks or when he addresses people living in Israel or Palestine, Turkey a.o. countries in the east and hear how he says ‘Allah’ when he has it about his god, which he considers also the god of the Christians. So, may we presume that when you are a Christian you would have the same god as the pope and many Christian priests who teach and preach in our country and in other countries where they say ‘Allah’ when speaking about their god and in prayers addressing him as god?

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        3. Where in your Bible do you find that God and Allah taught two very different things? I totally agree that regardless of how people live, God does not change and the truth of the Bible shall not change. Therefore all people should know that God is Spirit and that Jesus clearly said he is no spirit. It looks like your god when he is Christ Jesus did change, not only for him saying he is no spirit but also for not being omniscient any more, because Jesus did not know a lot of things. Allah in the Torah, First Writings or Hebrew Scriptures and Second Writings (Greek Scriptures) and in the Prophets always presented Himself as the Only One True God Who knows everything and Who is eternal (meaning not having a birth nor death). Allah also said man cannot see God and live, whilst your god Jesus was seen by many. According to our Scriptures Ishi or Jesus, the Nazarene Jewish rabbi Jeshua is the sent one from God, the son of man and the son of God, the Messiah who is the Way to God. Normally Christians should also believe those sayings of Jesus, who said God is greater than him.

          We are also told that Jesus was lower than angels, though you say God never changes and should see in that already one proof that Jesus cannot be God, because Allah does not change and is the Most High God of gods, the Host of hosts.

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  14. I have dealt with the topic whether God exists or not or whether it existed or not very clearly in my book “Existence of God” which was published in the year 2016 by “Partridge India”. I have given my views about existence of God in my book in a manner that it quells many of the misgivings people have about God. The way every manufacturing company of the world stamps its identity on its products, the year of manufacturing and even a serial number on its products God has also has stamped every thing produced by him much in the same manner. Even every dust particle bears his stamp. We are just probing the subatomic particles. We would be able to read his stamp only when we go to the sub-subatomic particles. In Hindi we say, “KAN KAN MEIN BHAGWAN”. It translates in English as “God is there even in every smallest particle”.
    We may only think we may or may not know who may have written a poem but we can’t say, it would have not been written by anyone. Same is true of the Universe. We may not know who may have created the Universe but we can’t say no one would have created it. Whosoever he may have been we use the word “God” for him in English, “Bhagwan” in Hindi and “Khudah” in Urdu.Nothing gets created by itself. Surely someone must have created even the DNAs. One who created the Universe may not have even known anything about gravitational constant as we know but he knew how to put so many planets in various orbits in a way that they did not collide with each other and kept on rotating around .the sun ceaselessly without ever falling short of any fuel. We are spending our energy on the science part of the Universe. He had spent his energy only on creating every thing without having to having ever gone into any school or any college. He did not learn anything about astronomy either. He would have never come on on the earth in any form. The way the heads of various tribes have been telling their people that they had been sent by God. Since people realized that everybody would follow what could be told to be religion, people started using this weakness of the human beings.
    Only such form of God is true about on which no one may have any dispute.

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    1. Dear Sawhney, namaste and pleased to find you contributing to this subject.
      I also do find “We may not know who may have created the Universe but we can’t say no one would have created it.” Personally I had so many awful experiences I perhaps became too much emotionally influence having become convinced of the much Higher Being than any human being.

      Having been very lucky to have been able to study with very great artists and doing lots of creative works, having enjoined lovely conversations and exchanges of ideas with thousands of people of hundreds of different nationalities and from different cultures (even having learned Bharatja Nathiam Indian dance) I too felt this Power of the Great Omnipotent in my life.

      You rightly noticed that people started using the weakness of the human beings and I would like to add, that they made use of the many hopes human beings have with their expectations of being stronger than our ending life. That will to survive death made them to believe in false teachings of an afterlife in which a human being would have the power to decide all. The form of God on which no one may have any dispute most people still have to come to realise, but He has given enough elements to come to see and hear Him. I am convinced it is all there in the Holy Scriptures we call the Bible. I my self also have found many answers in those old writings which I allow to guide me throughout my life.

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    2. The nice thing about the Divine Creator is that Allah never stopped to be concerned about His creation and as a God of order He provide means so that people could come to see Who Allah is and what the prospects for mankind are if man comes back to God. His Hand and His Guidance have always been there and when we want to feel it we shall come to feel it. We only have to trust god more than man.

      You also write “Only such form of God is true about on which no one may have any dispute.” and that form is a form of only Being One and not being a tri-une god, like we can find many tri-une or even more multiple-union gods. the God of order and clarity says it clearly in His Own Book of books that He is a God of no lies, meaning He always says the Truth, and it is up to us to see that truth.

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