The Qur'an

[NauticalGent]

but does not recognize Him as the son of God

That is the sticking point I have - just doesn't make sense to me

 

[ebs17]

Our true goddess is the earth on which we stand and which truly nourishes us. If there is anyone we should really respect and preserve, it is this earth of ours. Because it is indispensable for us.

 

[Jon]

Our true goddess is the earth on which we stand and which truly nourishes us. If there is anyone we should really respect and preserve, it is this earth of ours. Because it is indispensable for us.

It won't be indispensable because Elon is taking us all to Mars.

 

[ebs17]

But there won't be any steaks from happy free-range cattle there, nor will there be any good locally produced beer. No free-range lettuce either.
If you only get chemical food, you still need a god for comfort. But I would prefer the old Greek gods, they are more human-like and you can choose one.

 

[Jon]

There will be a grow-your-own steak. Or 3D printed. Isn't there a God of Mars out there?

 

[ebs17]

No. Mars was a god, namely the Roman god of war. War should not be the first choice now.

 

[Pat Hartman]

But there won't be any steaks from happy free-range cattle there,

There won't be any here if people like Bill Gates have their way (OK, maybe for them but not for us). We'll all be eating bugs.

 

[Cotswold]

I don't quite get why 2,000 years or more ago, all these Gods never bothered to go and introduce themselves in Australia or the Americas etc.

Was it because only around the Mediterranean could they make up stories and write them down?

 

[ebs17]

Religion is BELIEF, not KNOWLEDGE.
Belief is spread among people and only becomes reality (within certain limits) through practice. Today one still looks in vain for paradise and hell in the original descriptions as places that can actually be visited.

 

[NauticalGent]

I don't quite get why 2,000 years or more ago, all these Gods never bothered to go and introduce themselves in Australia or the Americas etc.

Was it because only around the Mediterranean could they make up stories and write them down?

There is actually a good explanation to all of this - and damn interesting. Research "The 12th Planet" series by Zecharia Sitchin. I don't know if I completely buy in to all he says, but it is thought provoking and fills in the gaps that religion has no answer for, except faith.

 

[AccessBlaster]

Faith is the universal ingredient, with it you are limitless, without it you are left with beliefs.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Today one still looks in vain for paradise and hell in the original descriptions as places that can actually be visited.

You are correct about "looks ... for ... places that can actually be visited." Not everyone appreciates this, but old Greek references to "Utopia" translate literally to "no place" - more colloquially, an ideal place that can never be reached. It's partner place is "dystopia" which means "bad place." Heaven and Hell are the Utopia and Dystopia from ancient Greek writings.

Was it because only around the Mediterranean could they make up stories and write them down?

The four oldest civilizations are from Mesopotamia (literally: "between rivers", the Tigris and Euphrates), Egypt (Nile Valley), the Indus Valley (India), and Chinese cultures around the Yangtze River. These cultures started the shift from nomadic hunter-gatherer to agrarian, about 10,000 BC or 12K years ago. But formal writing didn't appear to start until about 3400 BC in the Sumerian culture. They included some of their stories in their writing. The earliest known "hero" story comes from 1500 BC and tells us of the hero Gilgamesh. Greek written mythology is from maybe 500 BC. Many of the stories in the Bible were passed down by story-tellers until that culture learned writing. Therefore, we can tell the time that the Bible was written but CANNOT tell when the stories in the Bible actually originated. Nor can we tell how much they became distorted over time before finally being written. (Think of the "telephone/pass the message" game.) Some scholars suggest that the story of Jesus is actually a distortion or adaptation (or cultural appropriation) of the story of Horus (Egyptian origin) which is in turn a "modernization" of the story of Gilgamesh.

 

[Isaac]

I'd say Azis is "long and enduring" !

 

[Isaac]

Our true goddess is the earth on which we stand and which truly nourishes us. If there is anyone we should really respect and preserve, it is this earth of ours. Because it is indispensable for us.

I can agree with the nourishing and dependency, although I don't see how it would be connected with a God.
I'm dependant on my wife too, and she on me, but we don't worship each other. Something has come from something.

 

[Isaac]

I don't quite get why 2,000 years or more ago, all these Gods never bothered to go and introduce themselves in Australia or the Americas etc.

Was it because only around the Mediterranean could they make up stories and write them down?

Totally objectively speaking, one 'reason' that would answer the question perfectly is: Because the stories of the Bible are actually true. God had a chosen people and He began by mostly appearing to them. This is why consistently the Christian faith doesn't start in other places.

You make my own point by the humorous last sentence. clearly, people could have been making this stuff up all over the world, but only one religion has actually changed and continues to change and motivate billions of people's lives - Christianity. Only one religion is the one that mostly people come TO, not FROM.

 

[Pat Hartman]

The words of Jesus promoted love and peace and salvation. Christianity grew from that and despite a few really bad mistakes that were perpetrated by the church hierarchy, that is why it has acquired so many adherents. It is the mistakes of the Papacy that drive Christians to not actively practice their religion. They don't just stop believing in the teaching of Jesus, they stop believing the dogma. The current Pope is a prime example of that. Dogma says the Pope is infallible. If that is true, we are in serious trouble.

Islam forces conversion or kills you, Christianity instructs and convinces converts. The Jews don't look for converts but do accept them.

 

[aziz rasul]

Uncle Gizmo, have you recited the Shahadah?

 

[aziz rasul]

The_Doc_Man, there are no writings of Muhammad (pbuh).

Jesus himself says he is a Prophet in the Gospels and was looked as such by the people at the time.

The God of the following Prophets is the same i.e.

Eloha (Hebrew) or Alaha (Syriac Aramaic) or Elahi (Aramaic) or Allaah (Arabic)

The Prophets in bold were also Messengers a higher rank of a Prophet.

Adam (first prophet of Islam)
Idris (Enoch)
Nuh (Noah)
Hud (Heber - great great grandson of Nuh)
Salih (Shelah)
Ibrahim (Abraham) - [Received the Souhouf (the Scrolls) in Hebrew]
Isma’il (Ishmael – eldest son of Ibrahim)
Is’haq (Isaac – youngest son of Ibrahim)
Lut (Lot – nephew of Ibrahim)
Ya’qub (Jacob – son of Is’haq)
Yusuf (Joseph – eldest son of Ya’qub, through Rachel)
Shu’aib (Jethro)
Ayub (Job)
Harun (Aaron – elder brother of Musa)
Musa (Moses) - [Received the Taurat (the Torah or the Law) & the Ten Commandments both in Hebrew]
Dhu’l-kifl (Ezekiel)
Dawud (David) - [Received the Zabur (the Psalms) in Hebrew]
Suliman (Solomon – son of Dawud)
Ilias (Elias)
Al-Yasa (Elisha)
Yunus (Jonah)
Zakariyah (Zechariah)
Yahya (John – son of Zakariyah)
Isa (Jesus – son of Maryam) - [Received the Injil, in Aramaic]
Muhammad (the Seal of the Prophets) - [Received the Qur’an, in Arabic]

(Peace and Allaah’s blessings be upon them all)

 

[Mike Krailo]

 

[aziz rasul]

“Verily, We fashioned man from a small quantity of mingled (amchaj) liquids . . .”
Qur’an - Surah al-Insaan (Man) 76:2

“As we know, this liquid is composed of secretions from the following glands: the testicles, the seminal vesicles, the prostate and the glands annexed to the urinary tract.” (What is the Origin of Man by Dr. Maurice Bucaille)

12. We fashioned man from the quintessence (sulatat) of a clay (tiyn - water and earth).
13. Then placed him as a drop (nutfah - of seed) in a place of rest, firmly fixed (qararin makin);
14. We fashioned the thing which clings (alaq) into a lump of chewed flesh (mudrat) and We fashioned the chewed flesh (mudrat) into bones and We clothed the bones with intact flesh (lahm), and then produced it as another creation. So blessed be Allaah, the Best of creators!
Qur’an - Surah al-Mu`minoon (The Cleaving) 23:12-14 See also 39:6 and 77:20-22.

When the first spermatozoon penetrates the human egg, the egg envelopes play a crucial role in fertilization. The egg envelopes are the outermost layers of the egg cell that surround the plasma membrane. They are made up of two layers: the zona pellucida and the corona radiata. The zona pellucida is a glycoprotein layer that surrounds the oocyte and is essential for sperm binding and penetration. The corona radiata is a layer of follicle cells that surrounds the zona pellucida and helps to protect the oocyte from damage. After the spermatozoon penetrates the zona pellucida, the cortical granules in the egg release their contents, which cause the zona pellucida to harden and become impenetrable to other sperm. This process is called the fertilization envelope and is the slow block to polyspermy (if more than one spermatozoon should penetrate the egg, the fertilised egg goes to waste). Refer to Qur’an 23:13.

The human fertilised egg, eventually implants itself to the lining of the uterus. Only when this attachment occurs does the pregnancy begins. Without the implantation, the fertilised egg goes to waste. Refer to Qur’an 23:14.

45. “[God] fashioned the two of a pair, the male and the female,
46. from a small quantity of sperm (nutfah) when it is poured out.”
Qur’an – Surah an-Najm (The Star) 53:45-6

“The male fertilizing agent, the spermatozoon, contains the hemichromosome that is to determine the sex of the future individual.” (What is the Origin of Man by Dr. Maurice Bucaille)