Jun 12, 2012 -- 8:08PM, StephenK.Adams wrote:

Fine, tell me this then sir.  Do you agree with the World Trade Center terrorists reciting --- Alla akbar --- as they disintegrated along with a couple of thousand other human beings?  Please don't waste my time telling me that they weren't of the Islamic faith.  They certainly weren't Christians.

I've never understood why what they supposedly said (God is great!) reflects negatively on Islam.  Killing people isn't restricted to any religion, as there have been horrific acts done in the name of various faiths and no faith.  

Now, if you're asking if those murderers represented me, most Muslims or Islam, I can honestly say no.  They don't represent the teachings of the faith any more than the evil Popes represented principles of Catholicism.

BTW, I'm not a sir.

Jun 12, 2012 -- 4:03PM, StephenK.Adams wrote:

Apparently, a number of Muslims have come out of the woodwork to help Lilwabbit defend Islamism.

Lilwabbit is not defending "Islamism" nor are we (Muslims) defending it by posting recently on this board. "Islam" is not the same as "Islamism" even if you can't understand the difference due to your lack of Islamic knowledge. If you can't respond to Muslims coming out of woodwork how can you respond to Muslims who have been living outside the woodwork? 

Jun 12, 2012 -- 4:03PM, StephenK.Adams wrote:

Whether that is coincidental or it has happened by invitation will remain unknown to me.

 It was by invitation and Lilwabbit had made it known on this board. 

Jun 12, 2012 -- 4:03PM, StephenK.Adams wrote:

The point is that I will only respond to Lilwabbit as I am not interested in spending one hundred hours pouring over various responses and parsing them down to their minimums and responding in kind.  

If you are not interested in responding to any comment made due to your previous comments on Islam then you should not make wrong comments about Islam (thinking that it is Islamism).

 

Now going back to topic.

Let me share a bit about concept of Islam (With verifiable sources provided).

As per religious scholars, Islam is known as an Abrahamic faith. Since we have "Common root" going back to Adam and Abraham.

As per Islam, it says God sent us only ONE religion.  So what we call Judaism or Christianity or Islam are continuation of the SAME message.

Any Muslim (With little knowledge of scripture) will tell you that, from Adam to Muhammad (PBUH) all messengers of God came with same message. Sumbit and obey one unseen God.

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD!" (Deut. 6:4)

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ( << Mark 12:29 >>)

“There is no true god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger (Prophet) of God,”

( First article of faith in Islam)

 

I have a thread on concept of God in Islam, in WI forum. Please click here to get a little bit more on it.

When a person has an intuitive understanding that he or she is the same stuff as everyone and everything else, that there are no selves, that reifying an individual is nothing more than a useful conceptualization, and that there is just the All, then one can rise up like a Phoenix bird from the ashes of his former deluded notions of what constituted reality and sing "I am God. You are God."

Jun 13, 2012 -- 7:29PM, Buggsy wrote:

Jun 13, 2012 -- 6:47AM, Ibn wrote:

We are all god (but not God).

OK so there's some conditions.  But just what value does it bring anyone to say you're a god, except perhaps the conceit that inevitably bursts forth when a person believes they're better than what they behold of themselves. 

I mean isn't it cool just being human? 

And old saying:

Religion is boundless conceit masquerading as humility

Buggs

It's my understanding that most, if not all religions, evolved as a means (one of several, actually) for us to try to answer the basic question of who are we, and the offshoot questions of why are we here, and what does it all mean?  Whether an Abrahamic religion, or an "Eastern" religion, or one from the ancient tribes of Africa, it seems to me that if we can step away from some of the petty differences, that which they have in common is pretty impressive. 

Cher has a quote he cites to from time to time, which I'd paraphrase here as follows: the really innovative, groundbreaking thinking in theology typically shuts down as soon as somebody tries to codify it into a formal religion.  That, in and of itself, is actually a pretty interesting thought, and may have roots more in a religion trying to differentiate itself from its competition, than it does in any effort to continue the search for answers.

Now that I've stepped away from organized religion, I find it so much easier to see things that I would never let myself see "back when."

To your question about "isn't it just cool to be a human?" you've hit on a very good topic (I think).  We seem to want to create a frame of reference by which we can try to answer that question.  The "space" created by religion seems to happen when we come to realize that if there really IS a God, then that God is unknowable. So we search for "clues," and whenever we think we have one, folks step in to take advantage of it, for a variety of reasons.  I feel pretty comfortable, for example, that were Jesus Christ to return, he would not recognize that church which Christians claim he founded.