Adam, You seem to think that I and others here are trying to say that all religions are “right”.  I never said that.  I just said they have a different image of the force that created us.  You also seem to think that anything done within or on the behalf of a religion is done by God or the “god” they serve.  That is not true even in Christianity (see the crusades, the holocaust, war in Iraq, child molestation by priests, incorrect doctrines, etc.).  God does not force religions to make correct decisions.  That is evident in the history of the church.  Just because other religions make huge mistakes in developing their image of God it doesn’t mean that they are not seeking to understand the force that created them.  If your goal is to have a healthy debate with others about theology, you must make the mental leap that not everyone will hold the same mental picture or “image” of God.  You don’t have to agree with all of them, but you must respect them.

I think this is important because it helps us interpret scripture when we understand how the authors pictured God.  Israel had a much different image of God than what Jesus presented.  Jesus’ main message was that the religious leaders of the day had skewed the image of God and he gave us this wonderful new picture of God as a father figure.  God didn’t change from OT to NT, but you can see a radical change in the author’s image of God during this transition thanks to the message of Jesus.  This logic helps ADD weight to the argument for God, because it means he didn’t change.  His people did change.

I have never used the word Yahshua in prayer, but that doesn’t mean I serve a different god than Israel. Our terminology and our imagination do not actually change God but it changes how we speak about him.  It is important to separate our mental picture of God from what God really is.  The whole purpose of theology is to derive this picture to the best of our ability. We must realize that we all have an incomplete picture.  It is ok for you to argue that your picture is better than mine but you can’t argue that I don’t have a different picture. Every theologian in history has started his argument by first describing his particular thoughts about God’s nature (his image of God). Some have a very transcendental image and others focus more on the eminent nature of God.