There have been a lot of stories in the news lately, all around the world unfortunately, about religious extremists killing people and committing atrocities in the name of "their" God. On a less dramatic level, people talk all the time about how "my God" is different from "your God" and things like that. Many people seem to get a view of God and then assume that any other view has to be incorrect because it doesn't match their own. Those people are what I like to call wrong. That sounds offensive to some (maybe many) people. It may also sound like I am trying to say that I have "the answer" to what God is like. I assure you, dear readers, that is not the case.
I am a Christian by faith. In my Christian faith, I am told -and I believe- that God is all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful, and any other all that you care to think of. As I said, I believe that. God is so much bigger than I am that my mind reels from thinking about that immensity. I can't speak for others, but I suspect that most religious folks of any stripe have a similar view of "their" God. Here's the thing. If God is truly all of those things, then my label has no meaning. For me to say that "my" God is different from anyone else's is inherently limiting. If God is all-everything, then I can't limit Him. By my very beliefs, "my" God has to be everyone's God. For me to presume to say that "my" God isn't "your" God limits him in some way. That is what we call a contradiction.
I am human, and therefore I am very limited (in many ways). But for me to be so arrogant as to think that I can label God and claim him for me or my religious group is laughable. He's way bigger than that, and He's way bigger than I am. So how about we stop worrying about labels for the Big Guy and just call him what feels comfortable: God, Allah, Yahweh, Jehovah, or whichever name is meaningful for you.