The following is another answer to a letter I've received from visitors to this site and readers of my book. As usual, I believe my answer serves to reveal the contents of the original letter that prompted my reply.
As for your idea that I drew conclusions and then proceeded to research to find the proof, you truly have it reversed. When I began to study the Holy Books of all three religions, I was curious, especially about Islam, which I knew nothing about. It was only after I had studied the Koran that it finally dawned on me what Muhammad was actually saying. And, as I said to you before, I am NOT INTERESTED in which rules for daily life you or anyone follows, aside from the Ten Commandments, which all three religions try to embrace. Otherwise, I couldn't care less if anyone wants to sacrifice a cow on any day of the week. I am strictly concerned with what the Prophets revealed about God and the Promised Messiah.
Now, onto particulars! You advise me: “If you want to argue stuff, please do so with more knowledge and less hate.” I honestly cannot understand how you perceive “hate” in any sentence I’ve written, including my whole book: “Of
Promises and Previews.” And that is especially true of discussions of Muhammad, whose role as a God-sent Prophet commands my full and sincere respect. But I do NOT honor the CLERGIES of all three religions, and perhaps that is how you
think you see “hate” in my words. However, I certainly do NOT “hate” them—I am disgusted with them and their centuries-long efforts to prove their own religion the “Only Truth.”
In addition, “everything” is certainly not about Israel. Essentially “everything” is about the “gross darkness” that the Hebrew Prophets specifically described, which humans can now create through nuclear weapons. The “war” against modern Israel’s existence, on the land that God gave them, can
become the reason those weapons will be used. Thus, the darkest prophecies can readily be fulfilled, though the Prophets also told us we could avoid the “darkness” by turning our hearts to each other (Isaiah 60:2; Malachi 3:24/4:6). It is WISDOM for us to avoid the darkness--not because it will be the time of the Judgement--as you so glibly dismiss it--but because it will be a horrific nightmare that will not be relieved until the Messiah comes to rule the world from Jerusalem. You think the Judgement is at hand--but we have prophecies to see fulfilled before that happens--and I hope, for your sake and everyone's--that you and the billions like you have learned not to promote division before you are judged!
IF Jews, Christians and Muslims reconcile their concept of the One and Only Lord God, as Muhammad taught, they would lead the way for all mankind to “turn” their hearts to each other. And we could create a peaceful world that would
welcome the Person Muhammad described as “…the Messiah, Isa son of Marium…” who “… does not disdain to be a servant of God” (Women 4:171-172). In the course of writing my book, I have studied numerous English translations of the Koran and
some of them translate the Messiah’s name as “Jesus” and some call him “Isa.” But every one of them speaks of him as the “Messiah.” Muhammad was “simply” trying to explain to Christians (and Jews and Muslims) that the Messiah is NOT a
god, he is “the Messiah”—who “does not disdain to be a servant of God.” I’d sincerely like to hear why you, as a Muslim, ignore that elementary message that Muhammad spent his life delivering to mankind.
Aside from the Ten Commandments, which all three religions honor, I am NOT interested in what you and all believers eat and all the other various rules observed by the individual religions! My only concern is what ALL the Prophets
told us about God and the Messiah He promised to send us. On those subjects, the Prophets NEVER contradict each other. It is the individual CLERGIES that are so busy contradicting what other religions teach about Them and—sadly—it is the
clergies that you are so busy quoting.
Showing posts with label Ten Commandments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ten Commandments. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Thursday, December 20, 2007
A Difference Between Humans and Ants
In time for the Christams season, I'm reposting an article that appeared here earlier this year--because I realize that some visitors to this site don't go back to read much earlier articles, and because I truly believe we could use this brief discussion of faith.
A Difference Between Humans and Ants
“Is God Poison?” asks “Maclean’s,” a prominent Canadian magazine, on it’s April cover. I suspect that “clever” cover commanded the attention of believers, agnostics and atheists, alike — in other words, everyone that chanced to see it — while it prompted a bunch of sales!
It was a long article worth discussing. Today, however, I’m only going to talk about a statement in the article’s opening page, which quotes someone named Christopher Hitchens. His new book discusses "How Religion Poisons Everything.” Mr. Hitchens, while heartened by the world’s newfound interest in disputing God’s existence, tells us, “We atheists never thought religion would die out because it comes from fear of death….”
I agree, that’s one way to look at religion’s “origin and purpose.” But it certainly has never occurred to me, and I’ve been religious for ninety percent of my long life. If Mr. Hitchens seriously thinks that “fear of death” drove me to God, his reasoning is severely flawed from the “git-go.” I am one of the many people who go through life without giving death more than occasional thought, though I’ve had much to do with it in my family.
Of course, if Mr. Hitchens thinks that fear of death was what first prompted humans to conceive religious beliefs, that’s a plausible theory. But it is nothing more than an unproven, irrelevant theory, in company with numberless others.
As I see it, religion sets mankind apart from all living creatures on earth, as the only creatures on earth (as far as we know) who can seek to identify their Ultimate Creator and contemplate why they exist. In daily life, however, religion helps us live far more peacefully with ourselves and our fellowmen than we could live without it — even though, as nations and as individuals, our “peaceful” relations with others are endlessly and violently interrupted! And all those violent interruptions happen, while a huge portion of the world’s population embraces the Ten Commandments! Imagine how we’d behave if we’d never been told “Thou shall not murder” ? And why does “Mr. Hitchens & Co.“ think we needed to be told that? It certainly wasn’t because humans seldom killed each other!
For our ancestors to need to be Divinely commanded to abstain from killing their fellowmen tells us that murder was even more commonplace than it is today, throughout the world. Humans want to be rid of anyone who really “bothers” them. And it’s common for us to severely “bother” each other! Learning how to turn our hearts to each other, as the Prophet Malachi said we must do (Mal, 3:24/4:6) is now the urgently needed “uncommon” factor in human history.
Thousands of years ago, societies worshiped more than 2,000 gods who, according to the tales concocted about them, often warred with each other — a direct reflection of human life. Yet, Abraham’s God told us not to murder, unless we were executing a person who had intentionally killed someone, “…having hated him in time past” (Deut. 4:42). To be sure, “unbelievers” describe Abraham’s God, introduced in the Hebrew Scriptures, as a bloodthirsty deity, akin to most of the other “gods” people worshiped. But the Israelites, the first people to believe in Abraham’s God, were told to war with heathens only to claim the needed homeland God had promised them. In short, murdering their fellowmen for “personal reasons” was forbidden. And that was an UNCOMMON concept in human history, which Mr. Hitchens neglects to mention, while denouncing monotheism, in particular.
I, too, can conjecture about Hitchens as he does about me, a “believer.” So, perhaps Mr. Hitchens has suffered a fear of death since childhood and finds no solace in religion, which makes his unrelieved fear/dread/resentment of dying feed his argument against all the religious beliefs that have failed him. Or, he has convinced himself there is nothing to fear about death; our flesh decays and that’s the end of us, so he is trying to get multiple people to agree with him to convince himself he is “right.” Whatever his reasoning, he didn’t create our universe and he cannot destroy it, so he is “overpowered” by unknown forces beyond his control — and hating his helplessness. If true, that theory would simply prove that when we harbor “hatred,” we become destructive! But trying to destroy faith in God condemns Hitchens to fight a losing battle, which is a sad way to spend one’s life.
So, Christopher Hitchens, you appear to be a sad member of a species that is distinguished from all other creatures on earth by its ability to contemplate the Source of itself and all physical matter. You can “wait for science” to tell you how “the universe” happened, but the wait will exceed your lifetime. And that means you’ll go to your grave without ever “knowing faith” — a knowledge that appears to be exclusively “human.”
A Difference Between Humans and Ants
“Is God Poison?” asks “Maclean’s,” a prominent Canadian magazine, on it’s April cover. I suspect that “clever” cover commanded the attention of believers, agnostics and atheists, alike — in other words, everyone that chanced to see it — while it prompted a bunch of sales!
It was a long article worth discussing. Today, however, I’m only going to talk about a statement in the article’s opening page, which quotes someone named Christopher Hitchens. His new book discusses "How Religion Poisons Everything.” Mr. Hitchens, while heartened by the world’s newfound interest in disputing God’s existence, tells us, “We atheists never thought religion would die out because it comes from fear of death….”
I agree, that’s one way to look at religion’s “origin and purpose.” But it certainly has never occurred to me, and I’ve been religious for ninety percent of my long life. If Mr. Hitchens seriously thinks that “fear of death” drove me to God, his reasoning is severely flawed from the “git-go.” I am one of the many people who go through life without giving death more than occasional thought, though I’ve had much to do with it in my family.
Of course, if Mr. Hitchens thinks that fear of death was what first prompted humans to conceive religious beliefs, that’s a plausible theory. But it is nothing more than an unproven, irrelevant theory, in company with numberless others.
As I see it, religion sets mankind apart from all living creatures on earth, as the only creatures on earth (as far as we know) who can seek to identify their Ultimate Creator and contemplate why they exist. In daily life, however, religion helps us live far more peacefully with ourselves and our fellowmen than we could live without it — even though, as nations and as individuals, our “peaceful” relations with others are endlessly and violently interrupted! And all those violent interruptions happen, while a huge portion of the world’s population embraces the Ten Commandments! Imagine how we’d behave if we’d never been told “Thou shall not murder” ? And why does “Mr. Hitchens & Co.“ think we needed to be told that? It certainly wasn’t because humans seldom killed each other!
For our ancestors to need to be Divinely commanded to abstain from killing their fellowmen tells us that murder was even more commonplace than it is today, throughout the world. Humans want to be rid of anyone who really “bothers” them. And it’s common for us to severely “bother” each other! Learning how to turn our hearts to each other, as the Prophet Malachi said we must do (Mal, 3:24/4:6) is now the urgently needed “uncommon” factor in human history.
Thousands of years ago, societies worshiped more than 2,000 gods who, according to the tales concocted about them, often warred with each other — a direct reflection of human life. Yet, Abraham’s God told us not to murder, unless we were executing a person who had intentionally killed someone, “…having hated him in time past” (Deut. 4:42). To be sure, “unbelievers” describe Abraham’s God, introduced in the Hebrew Scriptures, as a bloodthirsty deity, akin to most of the other “gods” people worshiped. But the Israelites, the first people to believe in Abraham’s God, were told to war with heathens only to claim the needed homeland God had promised them. In short, murdering their fellowmen for “personal reasons” was forbidden. And that was an UNCOMMON concept in human history, which Mr. Hitchens neglects to mention, while denouncing monotheism, in particular.
I, too, can conjecture about Hitchens as he does about me, a “believer.” So, perhaps Mr. Hitchens has suffered a fear of death since childhood and finds no solace in religion, which makes his unrelieved fear/dread/resentment of dying feed his argument against all the religious beliefs that have failed him. Or, he has convinced himself there is nothing to fear about death; our flesh decays and that’s the end of us, so he is trying to get multiple people to agree with him to convince himself he is “right.” Whatever his reasoning, he didn’t create our universe and he cannot destroy it, so he is “overpowered” by unknown forces beyond his control — and hating his helplessness. If true, that theory would simply prove that when we harbor “hatred,” we become destructive! But trying to destroy faith in God condemns Hitchens to fight a losing battle, which is a sad way to spend one’s life.
So, Christopher Hitchens, you appear to be a sad member of a species that is distinguished from all other creatures on earth by its ability to contemplate the Source of itself and all physical matter. You can “wait for science” to tell you how “the universe” happened, but the wait will exceed your lifetime. And that means you’ll go to your grave without ever “knowing faith” — a knowledge that appears to be exclusively “human.”
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Speaking Up for Muhammad
Link
Muhammad did not live to simply repeat the teachings of the Prophets who preceded him. Muhammad came to awaken the “unbelievers,” who had rejected organized Christianity and Judaism, by teaching them about their Maker in terms related to their own experiences. But the Christian clergy has always claimed that Christian teachings are all that can “save our souls” — thereby glibly denigrating the billions of people who have embraced Abraham’s God without becoming Christians.
Through his recitations that became the Koran, Muhammad told all Arabs to believe “…what was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael, to Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and what was given to Moses and Jesus and the prophets.” Muslims are to “…discriminate against none of them” (The Family of Imran 3:84). In actual practice, however, Muslims have done exactly what Jews and Christians have always done, with arrogant certainty. They “...draw a line between God and His apostles, saying: ‘We believe in some but deny others’....” The Koran warns everyone who draws such lines of “...a shameful punishment” (Women 4:150–151).
For a certainty, the miseries that have come from drawing those “lines” have proven to be an endless “punishment” for all human beings, everywhere, who have been persecuted and maimed in hateful religious arguments and wars.
Among non-Muslims, misunderstanding Muhammad is commonplace. And even today’s “extremist Muslims” misunderstand him, which, in itself, is nothing new! If people really understood the Prophets, we wouldn’t have the bloody miseries that monotheistic religions have incited throughout history.
Muhammad came to acquaint Arabs with Abraham’s “Lord God.” But, while doing so, he also corrected the severe errors made by the Hebrew and Christian clergies — errors that started the wars which now threaten to culminate in nuclear explosions.
First, he assured the Jews, the descendants of the Hebrews, that Jesus is the promised Messiah, though their clergy had officially denied it. Second, he denounced the Christian clergy’s proclamation of the Trinity, which identified Jesus as “God the Son.” Thus, Muhammad became the instant enemy of the Jewish and Christian clergies, who promptly pronounced him and his religion “frauds.” Through all the following centuries, Jews and Christians still embrace that ignorant summation of what has become the 2nd largest religion in the world and could soon overtake Christianity’s leading role.
All the while, Muhammad continues to tell us to believe in ALL the Prophets, whose revelations about God and the Ten Commandments, which He sent to guide all mankind, never contradict each other! It is the CLERGIES of the three religions who argue against each other, not the God-sent Prophets whose words are preserved in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Christian New Testament, and the Koran. We urgently need to listen to them, to gain their “combined” knowledge of God that could shake the terrorists’ conviction that they are the only “true believers” — a prideful concept they share with the “humble” Christians.
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