Why don’t Muslim believing governments allow their people to break Islamic law?<\/a>” you’ve highlighted the need for people to not do as they please (Romans 13:1-5) but also to know God’s words take precedence if there’s a conflict (Acts 4:18-19).<\/p>\nDo you have any suggestions as to how one should respond when asked “Why don’t Christians obey the law prohibiting the sharing of the gospel?” without sounding too much like the religious fanatic who says he obeys a more supreme law and does things in the name of God.<\/p>\n
Thank you for taking the time to read and for all your articles on the website.<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
The answer given by Peter when the apostles were told by the government to stop teaching about Jesus is still the appropriate response. “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard<\/em>” (Acts 4:19-20). Peter also said, “We ought to obey God rather than men<\/em>” (Acts 5:29).<\/p>\nIf Christians speak calmly and reasonably before others, pointing out they do not fear discussing their religion openly with others, then it may shame those who oppose the teaching of Christianity. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek<\/em>” (Romans 1:16). The fact that Muslim-based governments have to enact laws stating that it is illegal to convert Muslims is a simple admission that Isalm is in a weaker position. It has to use force and threats to keep people from making up their own minds about what is true.<\/p>\n“Allah” is the Arabic word for God, just as “Elohim” is the Hebrew word for God. From what I understand “Allah” was the name given to a moon god thousands of years ago. Whether there is a more generic term for God still in Arabic, I do not know. I could not find what the Malaysian word for God is, but I assume that Arabic is not the native language of Malaysia. Cultures will absorb words from other languages and make them a part of their own. Perhaps that is what happened with “Allah.” Thus, if “Allah” is the Malaysian word for God, then that is what needs to be used. If these people are only using “Allah” because it is what the Muslims use, then they did so for the wrong reason. Allah of Islam is not the God of the Bible.<\/p>\n\t
Response:<\/h2>\n
Got it! Thank you!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Greetings, With the general election just around the corner here in Malaysia, many issues are being used as fodder including the issue of the use of the Arabic word for God in Malay translation of the Bible being used among native congregations. While this is not prohibited by any existing laws, the same issue…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[90,361,362,998,190],"class_list":["post-36604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-god","tag-islam","tag-muslims","tag-names","tag-translation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2482,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-new-world-translation-an-accurate-translation\/","url_meta":{"origin":36604,"position":0},"title":"Is the New World Translation an accurate translation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 8, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What do you think about The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures? Is it an accurate translation? Answer: The New World Translation is the product of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the publishing arm of the Jehovah's Witnesses denomination. Though it claims to be a literal translation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58138,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/modern-versions-and-perversions\/","url_meta":{"origin":36604,"position":1},"title":"Modern Versions and Perversions","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Joe R. Price There are over 450 versions of the Bible in English alone.\u00a0 New versions continue to be published, not all of which have as their primary interest that of being a precise translation of the ancient manuscripts.\u00a0 In fact, very few have that as their intended purpose.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13203,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-new-world-translation-accurate\/","url_meta":{"origin":36604,"position":2},"title":"Is the New World Translation Accurate?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Isaiah 8:19-22 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Members of the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses have become excited in recent times. An author with a Ph.D. after his name has written a book saying the New World Translation and the New American Bible (a Catholic translation) are the most accurate translations. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11810,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/which-translation-should-i-use\/","url_meta":{"origin":36604,"position":3},"title":"Which Translation Should I Use?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: John 17 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A question that I\u2019m asked repeatedly is which translation is best? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is a good question because in English alone, one brother made a list of 128 different translations. The majority of them have been compiled in the last 100 years. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Part of the reason for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2625,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-ywhw-translated-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":36604,"position":4},"title":"Why is YWHW translated LORD?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I know the New World Translation is not a reliable translation, but why have the other Bible translations changed the original YHWH to LORD? Answer: When a translator encounters a word, he is faced with two choices: he can translate the word or he can transliterate the word. To\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29566,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/in-john-336-should-it-be-does-not-obey-or-does-not-believe\/","url_meta":{"origin":36604,"position":5},"title":"In John 3:36, should it be “does not obey” or “does not believe”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was\u00a0linking one of my web sites to \"How does obedience relate to saving faith?\" which has some excellent info. \"He who\u00a0believes\u00a0in the Son has eternal life; but he who\u00a0does not obey\u00a0the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him\" (John 3:36 NASB). I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}