You’ll never usually get far arguing religion, as there are so many deeply held beliefs on that subject. Also, it’s American tradition not to be overly critical of someone’s religious views as we have a culture of tolerance. Still, I think it needs to be said that the Islamic teaching that I must be killed is something I find to be wrongheaded.
I’m a Christian (a “Xian” if you want to be hip about it), and I follow Jesus who I believe to be the son of God. Now, you can point out how “wacky” that is empirically, but most would find that crass. So does that mean I’m being hypocritical when I criticize the “wacky” Islamic belief that I should be murdered? You could make that argument, but I think there is a difference.
Now people murder all the time, usually for completely non-religious reasons. And, if we took a poll, I bet you’d get more than a two-thirds majority saying that murder is very wrong. Despite this, the intense feelings associated with religion often have led directly or indirectly to killing. While Jesus (the son of God, I remind you) was very much against killing anyone, including unbelievers, and there is no precedent for murder in the New Testament – quite the opposite in fact – there have been many deaths in the name of Jesus (quite to his consternation, I betcha). Thus, it seems quite imperative that religions stress as much as possible that murder is wrong. And, of all the major religions, Islam seems to be the one slacking in that area.
Now, you may question whether I’m really making a religious or philosophical argument here or am instead taking this position out of the selfish motive of not wanting to be killed. That’s certainly a valid question, as I don’t want to be killed, and the reasons for that don’t necessarily have to do with my religious beliefs. Still, that bias admitted, it does not invalidate any merits to my argument. Also, some may think I’m unfairly singling out Muslims, but if radical atheists decided they needed to kill believers to ensure their place in nothingness, I’d be criticizing that too.
Instead of just being negative, though, why don’t I be constructive and offer Muslims reasons why it’s completely unnecessary to kill me or other unbelievers. Now, I think our beliefs are similar in that we think that unbelievers will burn eternally in hell. Now, think about that: eternally in hell. Now, someone criticizing my belief system can be quite annoying, but, if I murdered him or her now, is that eternity in hell going to be any longer or shorter than if I waited for that person to die from natural death? No; eternity is eternity. I think a great attitude for Muslims would be, “Man, I hate the joooos and the Crusaders, but, they’re all going to burn eternally in hell – Allah be praised – so why get worked up over it?” Also, if you don’t kill someone who doesn’t believe like you do, that gives him or her a chance to convert, which I think most would say is even better than having the person roast in fires that burn but do not consume.
Of course, I think the Muslims are going to burn in hell, and they think I’m going to burn in hell, but that’s not really the issue. We’ll all find out who is right when we die, hopefully from a nice, natural death… unless the atheists are right; then, we’ll never know and that will suck (it sucks from my current perspective, that is; were I to die and descend into to nothingness, I’m sure I’d have no opinion on the issue at that time).
Just my two cents on religion. See you in hell.
Frank J. is a syndicated columnist whose columns appear worldwide on IMAO.us and is a frequent contributor to IMAOPodcast.com. He is also the author of such books as “It Was Jesus Who Moved My Cheese!” and “Zero Fun Things to Do in Hell”.
I’m with ya there Frank.
Some of the things that get me pondering the absurdity of Islam are:
– Mohammed didn’t perform any miracles, while Jesus did.
– Millions of Muslims crawl through the dirt each year whacking themselves on the head with large knives (since I don’t know how to spell machettee) because some dude named Ali took a hundred guys to a thousand man fight and got his butt handed to him.
-If women are worthless why are 72 of them already sitting around in Heaven, partying away wiating for some dumb sumbitch to blow himself to smithereens?
Many other things cause consternation as well, but everyone can probably guess what those are.
Sorry Frank, the truth is they dont care about your salvation, just theirs. Unlike Christians, they do want to kill everyone else, rather than have you go to heaven. I think they believe that when the world ends, they get to split the extra virgins.
I don’t want you murdered either, Frank. Nor do I myself want to be murdered…or roast in the fiery pits of hell like a big, eternal marshmellow either.
“If radical atheists decided they needed to kill believers to ensure their place in nothingness, I’d be criticizing that too.”
They do, it’s called communism.
Could you describe the cheese, sir?
I do not want to see Frank J. murdered either, since I would be bored all the friggin’ time. Nor do I, myself wish to be murdered because it might hurt. I am allergic to pain, it hurts me. In short I support Frank J.’s stance on not being murdered.
Do Muslims despise all life on earth including their own? There’s too much circumstantial evidence that points in that direction.
If the extremists blaspheme that religion then the faithful of that religion need to take the point (lead position) and condemn them or correct them if they can can give up their murderous ways.
If they cannot give up their murderous ways then the only question is are we willing to kill them to survive.
Since the part of us that wants to live is stronger than the part of us that wants to whine about Gitmo the only acceptable answer is Semper Fi.
But the truth is that when people call Islam a great religion, they are LYING!!!
Do you know how many types of Islam there are? There are two. There are the ones who follow the more recent teachings in the koran, and there are those who ignore those. Ill tell you which is which. The peaceful ones are the ones who ignore the newer teachings.
Now, lets think about this for a minute. What good would Christianity be if we ignored teaching of Christ from one part of his life, especially the end? If we did this, our religion would be worthless. They dont dispute the teachings, they just ignore them.
The point that I am making is that the radicals, the terrorists, are imho, the true followers of Islam. The peaceful ones are not. Message to the world leaders: Im sorry if you offend someone, but call it like it is. Islam is no great religion, it is a religion of terrorists. This is a war on Islam and a war on terror.
Well, Cincinnati, “Women of for procreation, boys are for pleasure”.
Those 72 virgins are not female.
There isn’t 72 virgins
We non muslims fail to understand the correct way to deal with muslims/tyrants of any strip.
In negotiating with them, if when done they are still alive, you have failed to effectively communicate. Hence, they will continue to try to kill you no matter what they promised. This is all they understand.
Evan
I’m an atheist (non-believer) and I most definitely don’t want to be killed, because I believe that this is all there is. Neither do I want to kill anyone else, believer or non believer, because I believe that this is all they have.
However, let’s just suppose that on my daughter’s wedding day, she and her new husband and a lot of my friends were killed by a missile fired from a jet high in the sky.
Do you not think that I might be a little annoyed about this (because remember, I believe that this is all they had). Would you be a little annoyed about this? Annoyed enough to seek revenge, or wish revenge? Would you wish harm on the people who did this, and the people who condoned this, and the people who support and elected them?
I am sure that the Christians among you will say no, I forgive them all, for they know not what they do, as Jesus would have said, and indeed did say, if you believe the Bible.
Personally I don’t believe this ‘war on terror’ is about religion. The guys engaged in it may believe that it is, but really it is about power and money. Religion is being used as a justification and motivation for war and attrocities by political/religious leaders on both sides of the fence, all helped by the attrocities committed by the ‘other side’.
First you have to read the Bible. False prophets will come to beguile you. YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THE FRUITS OF THEIR TEACHING.
Islam is a demonic cult. Its fruits are murder. The koran is inspired by Lucifer. Islam is Apostasy, Heresy in that it denies the divinity of Christ.
Denies the Resurrection, and the Ascension of Jesus. “Jesus Christ the son of God Begotten and not Made, one being with the father, Who with the Holy spirit,rules heven world without end, and will judge the living and the dead.” The devil would rather you be dead than return to Christ and be saved.
When The Anti Christ comes to earth. The Moslem will say he is Mohammed returned.
HAHA Robert…
Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy, and the Anti-Christ are man-made fiction.
God doesn’t right books 🙂
Islam is simply a culture of death.
So whatcha gonna do about it?
The last guy who tried to wipe an entire religion off the face of the earth was a fella named Hitler. And you know what happened to him.
The oppression the terrorists speak of to justify killing nonbelievers is Islam. Its a circle, so it can never end.
Islam has nothing to do with death, it means submitting to God. Islam reveres Jesus Christ as a perfect example of a (submitter) to God. Muhammed himself said so. anyone killing in the name of any religion is wrong, and don’t take your knowledge of what ‘islam’ means from religious kooks. if you would learn the basic meaning of the arabic word, that would be a good start. iSLaM is the same root as ShaLoM, and SaLaam, and the root means peace. Islam means surrender (to God, and not political ideals like killing others).. after all, the bible says God is love, and the quran supports the bible.
guess what, those who bombed abortion clinics were christian. do you think ‘christianity’ wants to kill you if your wife wants to have an abortion?
ian has to be a liberal since he cannot distinguish between things that are different. Would he please cite the millions of abortion clinics bombed by Christians. No, I thought not. On the other hand, from the date of the Hejira (Mohammed’s flight from Mecca to Medina), the history of the religion of “submission” has been one of warfare, judicial murder, free-lance murder, terrorism, enslavement, mutilation and political domination. Although Islam was the inheritor of the advanced Greco-Roman Civilization, science and technology, it was unable to do anything with it, and after profiting from its use (sans improvements) for centuries, it slumped back into the barbarism that has characterized the Islamic world since the Middle Ages. Make no mistake, Islam is really as evil as it appears to be on the surface. That wickedness penetrates to its core, and anyone who decides to be a devotedly religious Moslem WILL become a murderer. Remember that Satan “was a murderer from the beginning.”
It’s 72 raisins. Common misinterpretation.
They are right, we are crusaders and this is a crusade, it has been running hot and cold for the better part of 2,000 years. It is very simple, put all politics and religious views aside, they want us dead, we have two choices, fight or die. And if you think that you can reason with a suidice bomber then I have two points for you…red is positive and black is negative, that is after he hands you his semtax death belt covered in plastic explosive and ball berings (laced in rat posion)
Hi..
I did not read a word from any of you about the new bible (been out for over 100 years) named OAHSPE. If you google that, don’t believe http://www.oahspe.com.
That website does NOT want you to read this bible. Ohaspe is a history book going back over 24,000 years, written by God Himself and tells you where all of these religions came from in the first place. Think about this.
Since most people believe that there is only ONE GOD, then how come there are so many religions on this planet that have been at each others throats for centuries? Do you really believe our Heavenly Father would really allow His “kids” to be burned in hell forever?
If a person was thrown is a fire like that, they would be instantly driven insane from the pain and what kind of loving Heavenly Father would allow any Lord or “so called” Savior, or some God to do that to His own children.
Christ said, “Think not that I come to send peace on earth, I come not to send peace but a sword,” etc. Did he really mean that? Of course. Go google “Constantine” and read about what he saw in the sky just before an important battle.
The conflict we see today between Christians and Muslims was started many hundreds of years ago in the spirit realm. In Oahspe you can read about Looeamong who started the Christian religion and Gabriel who started the Muslim religion.
Looeamong double crossed Gabriel and Gabriel was determined to get even with Looeamong and now, we here on earth are paying the price for THEIR hatred for each other. Why doesn’t our Heavenly Father do something about all of this? Well, you will just have to read Oahspe to know all about that.
Go to http://www.google.com, type in Oahspe, click on Oahspe Index with anglefire.com and scroll all the way down to a complete download of Ohaspe free. Or look for one on Ebay.com or Amazon.com or order from Barnes&Noble.
Now this atheist who posted a comment. How can you believe that there is no Creator? Do you know that a car cannot make it’s self? Do you know a table cannot make it’s self? Do you know a house cannot make it’s self? Of course you know that all of these things did not make it’s self. People made these things. You are not stupid. Of course you know these things.
But did you also know that a tree did not make it’s self, and a dog did not make it’s self and a mountain did not make it’s self and this big ball we live on did not make it’s self. You are not stupid. You know that nothing makes it’s self. You also know that since man cannot make a tree or dog or mountain or a planet, then you know somebody pretty damn smart had to do things us mere mortals cannot possibly do. You know that don’t you? You would never be so stupid as to tell someone that these things that man cannot make just sort of, well, make themselves or just appear out of nowhere.
DONALD RICHARD BALLARD
FAITHIST-IN-JEHOVIH
MESSENGER OF GOD
“Now, I think our beliefs are similar in that we think that unbelievers will burn eternally in hell.”
I don’t think the “final judgement” is that simplistic. How is a child born into an environment of war, famine, and/or disease only to live out a short (1-3 year) life of pain, hunger, and despair, supposed to aviod his/her destiny with eternal damnation for not believing in a Savior he/she had never been offered (or would even comprehend)?
You “believe” this and you “believe” that. But what is your belief based on? Fairy-tales written by long-dead barbarians! Give me knowledge any day of the week, and please don’t subject me to your “beliefs”! I’m an atheist because I don’t believe in any god(s) or prophets, but I’m not necessarily a materialist, because we truly don’t understand consciousness at this point in time. If there is such a thing as an afterlife it will have~nothing~whatsoever to do with any religion, because humans existed before all religions did, and humans created all religions.
P.S. There isn’t the slightest shred of evidence for the historical existence of “Jesus Christ” nor, for that matter, miracles.
Mister Nobody,
Nobody, even an atheist who has done his homework, doubts that Jesus lived. Secular historians of the time documented His existence. Read Josephus.