Several months ago, a friend asked a very interesting question: “Is it possible to believe in false gods?” The answer to this question is obvious, but in the process of trying to answer this question, many people answer the question incorrectly. In order to properly answer this question, some clarification is in order.
First, some people believe that Yahweh, the God of Abraham, is the same God which the Quran calls Allah, the God of Islam. It is true that the Quran declares that Allah is the God of the Bible. However, a comparison between what the Bible says about Yahweh and what the Quran says about Allah reveals so many differences, that no one who knows the Bible would say that Yahweh and Allah are the same God.
When one compares what the Bible has to say about the nature and the character of the God of Abraham with what the Quran says about the nature and character of Allah, it becomes clear that the two are not the same God.
Second, in the wilderness, the Israelites worshiped the golden calf. After the idol was made the people proclaimed: “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:4 TNK). Then the question arises: Is it possible that the golden calf was just another name for the God of Israel? Again the answer to this question is obvious.
The name of the God of the Bible is Yahweh. When God revealed his name to Moses on Mount Sinai, God told Moses: “This is my name forever, and this is my title for all generations” (Exodus 3:15). In addition, the idol the Israelites made for themselves was not a cow (˓eglâ), but it was a young bull (˓ēgel).
When the people began to worship the golden calf, they provoked God to anger. The reason for God’s anger was because God had told the Israelites not to make images and use them in worship: “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them” (Exodus 20:4-5).