Posted on 11/19/2001 6:16:00 PM PST by sweetliberty
n.
A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.
The followers of such a religion or sect. A system or community of religious worship and ritual. The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.
(3) From the names forbidden for our sons and daughters particular to our enemies, the Jews and the Christians, like: George, David, Michael, Joseph, Diana, Jaclyn etc., since use of these names causes - sooner or later-love of them and feeling of closeness to them and imitating them in their manners and their customs and we - the Muslims - have been forbidden to imitate our enemies and to have love for them and ties of friendship.
I keep hearing from people that we are not their enemies.
Merry Bombadan
Allah is the Arabic word for God.
Mohammed always stated that he was a messenger of God and it is westernized interpretations that began to say call followers of Mohammed Mohammedans. Muslims take exception to that because it gives the incorrect impression that Muslims worshipped Mohammed. They do not. They worship God and accept Mohammed as his prophet and messenger.
Mohammed believed he was the last prophet of God (Allah), the same God of Christianity. He was upset that his country men were wild and lawless, believing in idols.
I can find other areas of dispute but have decided not to finish reading because I think what you have chosen to print here is a biased and possibly inaccurate and unfair interpretation. If you read the World Book Enclyclopedia, for instance, there you will learn that Mohammed hated war and taught against violence except for self defense. He tried desparately to spread his beliefs most of which were centered around goodness and fairness within the family and assistance of the poor.
The Jihad was something that Abu Bakr and his successors began. I think we need to be careful in studying Islam that we do not begin with a source of information that is biased by their own religious beliefs.
I suggest you read the Koran and the Hadith if you want a true flavor of islam. Mo was a warlord...during his exile in Medina he waged raids against caravans...looting, stealing and murdering. He claims at various times to have received his message directly from God...from angles and from Gabriel. Islam is a bunch of utter nonsense. If you read a little and get an idea of how they view such things as the truth, and treaties and alliances as flexible tools of convenience you'll understand how dangerous it is to trust these people.
The World Book Encyclopedia is not a suitable reference, read the koran and the hadith. It will open your eyes.
No, it's not just you.
I could be rationalizing, but I think that Bush is following something out of a Godfather movie, which is, "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.". Also what I try to keep in mind is that the President has a strategy and is privy to information that we'll never have. Even so, I don't like it one bit either.
You're not alone. I feel that the President is making a mistake. Appeasing the Muslims won't work. They respect power only. America needs to start erasing some of their countries. The others will fall in line.
And Krishna is the Hindu name for God.
Would you feel comfortable praying to "Lord Krishna"?
I would not.
A religion may claim that its figurehead is the same as the God that Jews and Christians worship. Claiming so does not make it so.
The "moon god" origin of "Allah" is well-documented, and an offhanded assertion to the effect that "well, he's God, just with a different name" does not impress those who know the reality of the derivation of the lower-case-g god called "Allah".
However, we should not overlook a key fact: Christianity does not seek to convert by force, nor does it sanction unprovoked aggression. Even if Islam is every bit as bad as depicted in this article, we should not deliberately pick a fight with all of Islam as a result of the attack by a few.
Osama bin Laden is certainly trying to provoke exactly that fight. His first objective is to unify all of Islam against us. THEN he believes he will be strong enough to destroy us, and convert the rest of the world to Islam by force.
It is my hope that he will not succeed in his attempt to unify Islam. My hope is that the terrorists can be marginalized and destroyed, without the necessity of fighting all of Islam. If this hope comes true, militant Islam will be put back in its cave. Once that happens, I have no problem pitting Christianity against Islam in a person by person battle for men's souls.
President Bush is pursuing the same ideal I just expressed above. It is his Christian duty to make the attempt, but it is very much uncertain whether he will succeed.
If he fails, we will be forced to battle a united Islam. The war would be the worst the world has ever seen. It could even signal the beginning of the end times.
However, thus far, we are clearly winning. The dreaded Taliban is no longer a threat. Bin Laden is running for his life. No new terrorist attacks have been launched. In Islamic eyes, perhaps Allah is not on Bin Laden's side after all. If this keeps up, the Islamic attack will recede.
Although the above comments are my thoughts on the heart of this article, another matter also deserves attention. As a Christian, I feel compelled to defend my faith against a common misconception that the author of this article has fallen prey to. It is a very common misconception taught in most Western history books. That the Crusades were an aberation is not in doubt. But WHY they occurred in the first place is often overlooked. To quote the article:
Regarding the Christian Crusades, they were an aberration in Christian history based upon perverted Catholic doctrine and not upon any biblical injunction.
This misses the central point of the Crusades. The Crusades were a counter-attack aimed at retaking lands that had been conquered by the Muslims. The only way a sufficiently large army could be raised from a fragmented Europe was to find a way to unite the various groups. The Catholic church was a strongly political force, and willingly obliged. To say this episode represents Christianity is ridiculous.
Getting back to the article: "Moderate" Muslims claim articles like this misrepresent their faith. Now is the time for these "moderate" Muslims to stand up and be counted. They should be everywhere, standing up against terrorists, and persuasively refuting articles like this. Even in our country, where are they?
The Muslim "Allah" is not God the Father. The Muslim "Allah" is not the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit - "one God in 3 persons and 3 persons in one God" from the Athanasian Creed). Islam strictly and overtly denies the Trinity. Islam does not teach Christ as the Lord and Savior:
Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. 2 John 1:9-11
Based on this passage alone, Islam is a false religion. The Muslim Allah is a false god. There is no salvation in Islam, only eternal damnation. Islam is a religion of work righteousness - you must lead a holy and pious life to earn your "salvation". Islam denies the free and full atonement for our sins won through Christ's death and resurrection.
Islam is a false religion that worships a false god - rank idolatry in God's eyes.
A Lutheran
It is my thought that he is not going to live long enough to unify anybody.
" To say this episode represents Christianity is ridiculous."
I don't think that is the point that the author was trying to make at all. Quite the contrary. I think he was saying that while the Crusades were a fact of Christian history, they in no way represented the Christian faith or its doctrines.
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