| March 17, 2004 Thought provoking quote and questionable Islamic history/theology *** “Some feel that to try to prove that God exists is to deny faith its proper place as the foundation of religion, though it is not obvious why anyone should continue to believe a given doctrine is all the evidence contradicted it.” -Craig Bloomberg, "The Historical Reliability of the Gospels", Inter-Varsity Press, 1987 ...highly recommended book --When you chew on this thought for a little you realize its implications can have a drastic effect on whether one’s soul rests in the arms of God or rots in Hell for eternity. I’m decried as a heretic, an apostate, etc. for appealing to not only our emotional and soulish capabilities as humans, but also to our intellectual abilities and inborn notion to reason before we choose. It’s true I don’t advocate “blind faith”, but I fully support reasonable faith. Someone show me a more reasonable offer (not to mention one that satisfies all facets of our human existence; heart, soul, and mind) than that of Jesus Christ and I will join that religions, cult, outfit, organization, etc. in a heartbeat! And I completely mean that. Anyways, the above quote serves to, “call out” if you will, all those jokers, scam artists, and emotional driven instead of truth driven denominations/religions that merely prey upon people’s intellectual ignorance and ripe emotional insecurities. Tell me one good reason why I should believe in something, anything, when evidence either clearly and provably contradicts it, or just simply leads to a reasonable conclusion of contradiction? Think about it. It makes no human sense whatsoever (and by human sense I’m appealing to every human’s ability, albeit intellectual level, to at least show some sort of capacity to sift between common sense and fallacy) to believe something blindly. Sure you can believe something blindly or something that reasonably has been contradicted....but I ask the simple question then, “Why?” The only response I fear I’d get would be a meek emotional one. So I’m tired of people (though I’m not surprised I get it, nor am I expecting it to stop) belittling my personal pursuit of truth via means of appeasing my tri-fecta of existence (heart, soul, mind). Disagree with my beliefs and methods all you want, but before you do, ask yourself what basis your beliefs and methods of discovering and discerning truth are. Just don’t be surprised if when you do this self evaluation you discover many jejune things about your stance. Sheesh, I’m just tired of family members and/or church affiliates and/or friends having no reputable stance other than blind faith to oppose me. I'm just tired. “freedom of religion was granted [throughout Arabia] to all religions before Islam. When Islam subdued all Arabia, freedom of religion was eliminated, and Islam became the only religion until this day.” –Labib Mikhail, “Islam, Muhammad and the Koran” --In 624, the Battle of Badr, near Medina, marked a turning point in the fortunes of Islam. Muhammad's army had gone out to raid a caravan from Mecca. The Meccans responded by sending a superior force in defense of the caravan. The two armies met at BadrMuhammad with 300 men against a Meccan army of 900. Amazingly — miraculously, Muslims would say — Muhammad won the battle. It was the first of many military victories to come. With the rapid growth of the religion, Muhammad was finally able to return to Mecca with 10,000 followers in 630. He destroyed the idols in the temple but himself worshiped Allah at the Black Stone of the Kaaba, thus retaining an important link with Arab traditional religion. Mecca submitted to Islam and became the first of the religion's three holy cities (the others being Medina and Jerusalem). This is of course only a small portion of Islam’s early history. It seems it and Muhammad’s glory rested upon more victories and more conquest. Apparently people like to join something that is superior to the other. People like to join something that makes them feel good about themselves, like their group is better than another. Forget the fact that most early converts to Islam lacked the ability to discern, let alone test Muhammad’s audacious claims of being given a “new” revelation from God through the angel Gabriel yada yada..., Islam hit Arabia at the right place and at the right time (in terms of propagating its belief system). Say what you want, but Islam, or at least it’s “awareness” and “presence” was in fact spread by the sword (This piece is not about the tumultuous history of the so-called Christian "Church") . Prove to me through historical, archeological, anthropological, etc. evidence otherwise and I will recant my last statement. “And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and worshipping of other along with Allah) and (all and every kind of) worship is for Allah (alone). But they cease, let there be no transgression except against As-Zatimun (the polytheists and wrongdoers).” -Surat Al-Baqarah 2:193 *To a devout Muslim, a polytheist is a Christian, who believes God is three persons in one. --Sheesh, I’m getting the impress people just make up these so called “holy books” just cause they’re jealous of how popular the Bible is....kidding aside... What is that verse? What is that?! I know many Muslim’s (mostly liberal [for them] American Muslims are trying to downplay the whole Islamic “jihad” thingy, but how in the heck to the resolve a verse like that (of which there are many similar)!? Basically that verse is saying fight non-believers in Islam until they convert (or die), and even if they do relent, still kick the Christians’ @$$es. (By the way, I proudly call myself a so called “As-Zatimun”, if that means what I’ve researched it to mean). You know I think it’s kind of funny that almost all religions/cults (started by power-hungry, egotistical, sinful men) that raped historical Christianity and made their own thing to fit their lifestyles seemingly drift away from their origins. It’s like Islam’s true historical origin gives modern Islam a black eye, especially in light of events like 9/11. It seems they either neglect it altogether or seem to try to sugar coat it or change how the history is written. That sort of “cover up” policy seems to be popular among most of the groups I mentioned above. There is a consistent pull away from the historical origins in which it was founded because they seem either embarassing or unacceptable in today's world, "outdated" if you will ("improved" from their standpoint I guess [sheesh, a god that doesn't get it right the first time around seems pretty second-rate to me]). Which I find ironic, because wouldn’t you want to embrace every single aspect of the origination of your region? Why should there be anything to hide or cover up or “change”?? What’s even more ironic is that the original belief system these relgions/cults are based on, Christianity, embraces its historical origins more than any other religion in the world! In fact, it’s complete belief system, structure, and empirical foundation is based in actual historical events that occurred in Palestine and Israel in the 1st Century! (also to note, and I'm admitting because Christianity is completely based in those historical events and its foundation lies in the man/God of Jesus Christ, it also completely falls flat on its face when/if those events and historical chronology are proved wrong, inaccurate, or false). Whereas most religions drift away from their historical origins, Christianity covets its own. Does anyone else find the irony in this perception? “I mean, I do.” –Strong Bad, “Everybody to the Limit” "We love the smell of Hell, how dare you try to tell us He died, to set us free. The Fallen Angel we will serve undoubtedly, take your cross and let us be! Morning will soon arise, and I'll have to start the war again, fighting for freedom, deliverance, and holiness, just to keep my Savior's name....just to keep my Savior's name..." -Scaterd Few, "As the Story Grows..." *** These are personal opinions based not on other persons, but on other persons’ beliefs. I only seek to investigate their claims and see if they’ll stand up to human scrutiny (heart, soul, mind). Make your own conclusions. |