Posted on 12/17/2004 9:42:37 AM PST by bondserv
You seem to be saying much the same thing you said before. The "appraiser" of the Higher Authority is apparently armed with a pre-existing set of principles by which to judge the validity and worthiness of the Higher Authority. ("I will follow X, because X meets my criteria for a Higher Authority.") Doesn't this make the Higher Authority the rough equivalent of an elected official?
"Christians, including Isaac Newton, believe that by examining the prophetic reliability of the Biblical text, as well as the circumstantial evidence of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; we can trust in the Biblical God's veracity. Couple that with personal experiences of supernatural transformation, and you have a group of people coming up with a Constitutional Republic."
What on earth does formation of a constitutional republic have to do with "prophetic reliability" and "personal experiences of supernatural transformation"?
An orange can tell you he's an apple. If you know what an apple is do you need to believe the orange.
A Constitutional Republic requires it's free citizens to act responsibly without having an arsenal pointed at them. Many of the Founding Fathers correctly pointed to the fact that this system would not work unless it's citizens:
1. Believed the Creator is the source of rights. Rights derived from another man can change with his opinion, where as the eternal Word of God is unchanging. Originally disagreements were settled by an examination of scripture on the matter.
2. Freedom does not work where sin abounds. Sin abounds where Biblical principles are not practiced. Our original laws were filtered through the principles in the Word of God.
3. Bad laws show no regard for Biblical principles.
Look here for examples of these ideas in practice.
Hi there. I finally got around to reading Oswald Spengler's Decline of the West. He didn't care for Cicero very much :-)
Early in the year A. D. 642, Alexandria surrendered to Amrou, the Islamic general leading the armies of Omar, Caliph of Baghdad. Long one of the most important cities of the ancient world and capital of Byzantine Egypt, Alexandria surrendered only after a long siege and attempts to rescue the city by the Byzantines. On the orders of Omar, Caliph of Baghdad, the entire collection of books (except for the works of Aristotle) stored at the Library of Alexandria were removed and used as fuel to heat water for the city's public baths.
From http://www.mediahistory.umn.edu/indextext/Alexandria.html
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (Matthew Ch 7, v 20!)
The author of this piece is an utter idiot; jingoistic in the most pedestrian of cultural ways. India is the source of the earliest mathematics, and the lack of mention in this regards belies his pig-ignorance.
And the civil payouts that their activities require.
Do you show the same disregard for the revisionist Educational establishment? Where do you get your information?
You might try actually studying history. It generally helps to have multiple sources. Perhaps you might Google 'history of algebra, India' or some such permutation.
So, because he failed to mention mathematics, which possibly started in India, you curse him. I have to believe there is an ulterior motive here.
Are you a Libertarian by chance? aka Fiscal Conservative/ Social Liberal that hates the Christian momentum of the Republican party.
Thanks much for this reference! Add to my must read list for the Xmas season.
Islam, by its very nature, is expansive, tyrannical, non-democratic, and absolutist. Not the stuff of anything scientific!
Further, there is no word for compromise in Arabic.
So, folks, we are dealing with a cult either satanically derived (Rushdie) or divinely sent - to keep Christians on their toes.
As for the mophead cacademiacs spouting mad theories/propaganda of a Muslim "golden age" tell that to El Cid and the Reconquistas and the Orthodox Xstians who kept the flame of freedom and Xstianity alive for centuries.
His Recluce Saga had a similar appeal. I blew through these faster than any other series I have read.
Meant to ping you to the above.
Why wouldn't he? He had an excellent grasp of culture and religion's influence people's ability find common goals.
"On the other hand, there was a grave threat to the long-range development of Islamic philosophy in this separation between the religious and intellectual leadership. If the fundamentalists and mystics felt that the traditional religion was actually in danger of subversion by the speculative thinkers and if they could obtain the cooperatio of the state, they would simply silence the expression of rational thought. That is, in fact, what began to happen in the latter part of the eleventh century, and after 1200 scientific thought in the Islamic world was dead."
Source: The Civilization of the Middle Ages by Norman Cantor, p. 361.
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