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Yahoo Answers reply to J Send your
email, it’s much better. Mine is Ekendil@ymail.com How old are
you? Just give me a ballpark figure. Ok I will try
to explain this as simply as I can. Christianity and Islam are mutually
exclusive. That means they make claims that cannot both be right. The Bible
clearly instructs to spread Christianity (Matthew 28:18-19, Mark 16:15-16),
says Christianity is the only way to heaven (John 14:6) and that
non-Christians go to hell (Mark 16:15-16). Now the
Qur’an, on the other hand, if interpreted literally, encourages hostility
towards non-Muslims. For example: Qur'an 9:5 YUSUFALI: But
when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever
ye find them, an seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in
every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers
and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is
Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. Qur'an 9:29 YUSUFALI:
Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last
Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His
Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the
People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with
willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. Qur'an 9:123 YUSUFALI: O
ye who believe! fight the unbelievers who gird you
about, and let them find firmness in you: and know that Allah is with those
who fear Him. Even within
their historical context, which some Muslims believe is the Battle of Tabouk, these passages are very violent. It also says
non-believers will be punished in the afterlife (Qur'an 2:159-162, 9:26),
Allah explicitly says Jews and Christians are wrong and the Jesus is NOT the
son of God (Qur'an 9:30) and that Allah is the creator (Qur'an 2:164).
Remember Muslims believe the Qur’an is a perfect revelation of God, just as
Christians believe the Bible is a revelation of God. So each side
thinks the other is wrong and therefore logically the influence of another
religion can damn their soul to hell. These doctrines MOTIVATED the Crusades
etc. and all those other wars. They weren’t always the ONLY motivation, true,
but each time it was a very large motivation. Each side considered Jerusalem
etc. as a holy city and thought they had divine authorization to commit
crimes. Your WWII analogy and your other analogies are completely irrelevant. It is not a
question about bending rules. You have not even read your own holy book. The
rules in the Bible and the Qur’an themselves are inept and immoral. That is
the problem. It is not just because some person re-interpreted them later, as
you say. I am talking about Abrahamic religions.
That includes ALL forms of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Yes, they are ALL
innately irrational, potentially dangerous (because they can motivate
irrational crimes, as I have just shown), and some of them are outright
ridiculous. Having said,
that, yes religious leaders make things EVEN WORSE. Such as a stupid
scientific illiterate preaching prohibition of condoms (the Pope) or a stupid
fanatic bigot putting a man to death just for writing a novel (Ruhollah Khomeini). They are both irrational and evil
men, but please realise that BOTH of these men are recognised as high
authorities by MILLIONS of people. You will say to me “Oh
no they are not preaching the true religion”. Well, evidently millions
of people disagree with you and will say they ARE preaching the true
religion. You, unfortunately, have no objective way of showing which is the right way to practice Christianity, and I will tell
you why in a minute. About the
Northern Ireland conflict, I think if you take away the religion then their
conflict would still have occurred. This is because they were fighting over
interpretations of Christianity. And God, nor Jesus, nor any other prophet,
in their infinite wisdom, left any clear instructions on how to interpret the
scriptures. OOOOPS!!! You would have thought he would be a little more clear
on how to interpret the scriptures he left behind on Earth for humans if he didn’t
want them to kill each other over them, but that’s asking too much of a
perfect God it seems. So that is why you have no grounds to say that your
“version” of Christianity is the binding one. You went on a
ridiculous rant about evil and the US in the 50’s. I NEVER said Abrahamic religions were the ONLY source of evil, I only
said they are *A* source of evil. Of course people still do evil things. But Abrahamic religions make normal people do evil things. BTW your
comment on unborn children was ridiculous. Myelination
of a human fetus’s brain only occurs 7 months after
conception. Before that the fetus cannot feel
anything and so is not sentient and so you cannot give it the status of a
“child”. A child feels pain, has friends, want to live, is loved and loves. A
7 month fetus cannot. Early abortion is NOT murder.
Only late abortion could be considered murder. “People are
evil.” Not all of
them “Most who
believe in religions are not drawn by the evil, but rather by the ideology of
good.” Yeah, so what?
You don’t NEED Abrahamic religions to be good,
that’s the point. And I disagree with you. I think most people are drawn
towards it because of the false consolation it offers or simply because they
had it forced on them through indoctrination and don’t know any better or
haven’t thought about it. All I am
saying is that the original interpretations and the core holy texts of Abrahamic religions can, and often do, logically lead to
evil behaviour or detrimental philosophies. Of course I can’t pick out one
Christian criminal and say all Christians are evil. I am NOT doing that. That
would be ridiculous. And I am saying is that your cherry-picking
interpretation of Christianity is not true to your own holy text (Bible) or
it’s probably original interpretation (literal) and that it doesn’t offer any
advantage in doing good deeds anyway, since you can still be good without
being a Christian. And I am also saying your dogmas are metaphysically wrong,
but that’s another story. “Lets make one a Christian and the other an atheist.” “Lets say they are both beaten, and mocked, yelled at, and
starving, and forced to survive.” “Which one
will steal bread to survive? Which one will lie to survive? Which one will
share their bread when they are starving, with someone else who is starving?” That depends
on the philosophy of the atheist child. One thing that you and many theists
don’t seem to understand is that atheism is NOT A WORLD VIEW. It is JUST a
philosophical position on ONE particular question: the existence of the Abrahamic God. That’s all. You CANNNOT assume ANYTHING
else about a person if they are an atheist!!! “You are
claiming the evil of religion, so if you can not tell, then what does that
say to you?” Well, your
question was irrelevant. I can tell you my objective code of morality if you
want and I can show you scientific evidence for innate human morality if you
want. “Discrimination
against homosexuals??? Very bias of you.” OH REALLY??? Leviticus
20:13 " 'If a man lies
with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is
detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own
heads. Need I say
more? Please don’t use such obviously dishonest tactics. You are only
lowering my opinion of you. But again, look at the Westborough Baptist Church, I’m sure you’ve heard of them. Are you going to
wonder why they hate homosexuals? I bet you you
will say to me “Oh no they are not preaching the true
religion”. Am I right? Don’t kid yourself, there is no objective way
to interpret the Bible because God was too inept to make it clear and therein
lies a central problem in your religion. “No Christian
have I ever heard say, homosexuals should not have the same rights as other
people” No, that’s
because you live in a country with a secular government that doesn’t consider
the Bible as a good book for policy-making. There was a time and place where
Christianity was much more prevalent in the government and in politics. It
was called the Dark Ages in Europe. 1000 years of non-achievement in social
and scientific progress. WOW! You are
completely missing the point. The point is homosexuals should have the right
to get married if they want and the right to sleep with each other. Did you
know some countries already have communal showers in the military? It doesn’t
matter who goes where. The important thing is that people
who want to cover themselves up should be allowed to and have the
facilities, such as a curtain or something, like you say. And second, the important
thing is that people be disciplined and respectful. In other words, don’t go
touching or staring at people who do not want you to. It is that simple. No
magic tricks, just simple, ordinary respect lies at the heart of etiquette.
If no ones stares at anyone and keeps their hands to themselves, it doesn’t
matter if men and women share showers or lockers or changing rooms or
whatever. “Or should it
be discrimination because you want to pull your child from schools which
teach schools that teach that men should be with men as equally as men should
be with women...Or perhaps that teach that orgies should be had in the girls
locker rooms, without discrimination??? Young, old, male, female, human,
animal!!!” Yes, I think
that schools should teach children to have orgies in the girls’ locker rooms
without discrimination. And they should also teach them to drink the blood of
goats during the orgy and sacrifice parrots during the orgy. (Sorry your
comment was just too silly) Cheerio, Ekendil |
