₦airaland Forum

mrpataki:
Please what is Mushrikuns?

@mrpataki a.k.a Mr Important
Mushrikun is the terminology being used in Islam for those who oppose (or rather expose) Islam; who condemn (or rather reveal the truth about) the ideology, tenets or background of Islam. Thus, the apostle of lies or deception - Muhammed - threatens them with Hell fire.

belloti:
(1) I don't want you confusing the emphasis on virginity with pedophillia. You know in muslims societies we strongly condemn pre-marital sex and subsequently every decent girl and boy is expected to be married as a virgin. This does not refer to any particular age bracket, however we understand it to mean a relatively younger age (below 30).
(2) But Islam is a very decent and beautiful religion which i am strongly proud of.

@Belloti,
This is why I said I agree with the view that 'blind religion' if defective in reasoning. On one hand you are justifying the act of marriage, and probably sex, with children by saying the theme is about virginity; and on the other hand you said a vrigin does not refer to any particualr age bracket. Dont you see that is an oxymoron? Now you destroyed everything by saying in effect, Islam is a decent and beautiful religion although we permit girl-child marrigage. What actually do you mean by 'decent'?. Did you not see Babyosisi's quotations from the quran and from disgusting Ayatollah Khomeini's book sanctioning sexual pleasures from young girls and,,,,,,wait, babies This is sicker than your average, like Notorious B.I.G used to say!!! I am sure Muhammed is in the thickest fires of Hell right now, you still have a chance bro. Stop following a demon. I challenge you publicly on the world wide web, go and look at the life of Jesus Christ on earth, if you see anything from his life that is negative or JUST 1% as sickening as the life of Muhammed, I will become a muslim!!!
Mahatma Ghandi said "If Christians live like Jesus Christ, I will become one." He did not know that he should not use the life of other human beings as his standard, but the life and teachings of the Word Himself.

@Davidylan, Babyosisi,
Please guys, Belloti stated his "opinion" why he thinks Christianity is wrong. This is an opportunity to inform him why or how we know that being a disciple of Christ is the highest honour a man can have through faith in Christ; and we've become the Sons and Daughters of God by adoption and there is assurance of salvation.

@Belloti, now,,,,,,,I have itemised the main points that seem to inform your opinion, as below:

belloti:
(1) I ve always pondered why anyone could be a christianl,,,,,,,,I must also say unlike some of the blind critics of islam on this forum that employed every available negative word to insult islam and muslim,,,,,,,,,,,
(2) All these messengers of God came with the same messages; love one another, Avoid Evil, Be good neighbours, Respect each other, Glorify the Lord, etc.
(3) Surprisingly, Among these generations of human being, some group just woke up one day and say one of these messengers is God himself. He never said so and even if he said so no right thinking person should believe him. . IBB should have started worshipping the late U. K.
(4) If the Holy prophet muhammadu (SAW) said he was god, i wouldnt have worshipped him, because i knew human being can never be God. If he said he was the son of God, i would probably take it in figurative term. But there can only be one God and no one anywhere is anything to him but his servant and creation.
(5) Christianity is very wrong and the sooner we understand this fact the better for our salvation.

First, from the first point listed, it is obvious that the 'motive' for your opinion seems to be to retaliate for the negative words about Islam and muhammed on this forum. I hope you can lay that aside in order to benefit from the information you will receive. Because emotions colour reasoning. What do you understand by SALVATION? since you said 'christianity is wrong and the sooner we understand this the better for our salvation' (your words) and how do you think it is achieved and sustained. This is the crux of the matter and the "rock of offence" to you and millions of others about Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is not just a prophet, He is God: He asserted to this himself in various passages in the Gospels by doing  some acts that are the exclusive preserve of deity, especially forgiveness of sins. It is incorrect to say "some people just woke up one day and made him God." The taurat/torah and the old testament contained various passages in which the Lord appeared to many in what is called Theophany or Christophany, an example is when he appeared to Abraham in Genesis 15 and told him and Sarah of the coming child of promise called Isaac. He also confirmed this is New testament when he told the Pharisees that "Before Abraham was, I AM." His coming to save (i.e salvation) and to impute righteousness (i.e Justify) has been variously promised in Genesis 12 vs 3-7 and prophesied in Jeremiah 33 among others. He is the one who will take away the bondage of sin and the law; because he would lay the law of righteousness in the heart of the believer. While all the other prophet came with messages of living by the law, He came to fulfil the law. (Note muhammed is not one of them). The law stipulates goodly living, kindness, avoid evil, etc to convict of guilt of sin but that can never give Salvation. All those acts are the mere works, but you know that law can only prove guilt, not to Save. The love that God has for humanity is what manifested in Jesus Christ taking up manly nature and offer himself as a sacrifice to constantly atone for sin for those who believe. Thus he satisfies punishment that God has declared for sin by taking up the punishment and curse of sin upon himself.
In the Taurat, Deuteronomy 27:26, God says "cursed is everyone that does not do all the things written in the book of the law" but in Habakuk 2 :4 God also said the "The Just shall live by faith" (i.e salvation is not by works or by law but by faith). But Jesus took away the curse of the sin through the law by being hanged from the tree because again the taurat said in Deuteronomy 21:23 that "Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree." When Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh to the Father except by the Son", he is saying that there is NO OTHER route of SALVATION except through His sacrifice. It is very easy to know that salvation or righteousness cannot come by works of peity, sunnah, or law, otherwise EFCC will not need to arrest government officials in Zamfara today, or there wont be armed robbery or peadophilia etc since the law prohibits it. But sin is a human nature and the power of sin can only be broken by a power higher than that of man, God's power.
To be a Christian is to submit your life to this greater power of God through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross, and receive the Spirit of the Son of God into your heart.
Belloti, Islam is an ANATHEMA (check the meaning) because it denies the Cross or Crusifixion; the aim is to deceive you into thinking that you can achieve or sustain Salvation by human power or nature, or 'living like Muhammed' (called 'sunnah). That is a very BIG LIE. I have quoted conspicously from the Taurat/Torah about the Lordship of Jesus Christ so that you can know Jesus predates the Laws and the prophets, and when He cried "IT IS FINISHED" on the cross, the puts' the seal on the power of sin, the law or works; and that single phrase shows that Muhammed is nothing other than a LIAR and Islam as an ideology is falsehood because it seeks to portray another way to SALVATION. There is no other way but Jesus the Christ called al-Mashi i.e the messiah or saviour in the quran.
Jesus Christ was 100% man and is 100% God; just as water and steam are both 100% H₂O.

@HAVILA
To fully understand Q9:5, one has to start from verse one:
1: Freedom from all obligations is declared from GOD and HIS Messanger to the polytheists, idolator etc with whom you have made a TREATY
2:so travel FREELY as you will idolators, polytheists etc for FOUR months THROUGHOUT THE LAND,
3:And a declaration frm GOD & His Messanger to mankind on d greatest day that GOD is free from all obligations to the idolators, polytheists etc and so is His Messanger. SO IF U REPENT (i.e idolators polytheists etc) it is better for you, but if you turn away, then know you cannot escape from the punishment of GOD
4:Except those of the idolators, polytheists with whom you made TREATY, AND WHO HAVE NOT SUBSIQUENTLY FAILED you in aught, nor HAVE SUPPORTED ANYONE AGAINST YOU. So fulfil their treaty to them for the end of their term
5:Then when the sacred months of Islamic calender have passed, then KILL THE IDOLATORS, POLYTHEISTS WHEREEVER YOU FIND THEM, & CAPTURE THEM AND BESIEGE THEM & LIE IN WAIT FOR THEM IN EACH AND EVERY AMBUSH. BUT IF THEY REPENT & perform As-salat, & give zakat, then FREE their way.
6:And if anyone of the idolators seek your protection, grant him protection so that he may hear the word of God and ESCORT him to where he can be secured, that is because they are men who know not
So you see the Qur'an gives a clear-cut profile of those that are to be targetted. 1: (S)He must have signed a No-war TREATY;2:The person must have violated the treaty and given a grace period of FOUR MONTHS (during which he moves FREELY violtating the treaty) to REPENT. 3: The individual must have failed to repent even after a grace of four months. 4:After all these, the individual must have SUPPORTED ANYONE AGAINST THE MUSLIMS. Then the clamp-down of verse 5 can be applied. Even at the heat of the clamp-down the grace is still availble to any of them to seek protection (an unprecedented high level magnanimity) I don't think we have anything close to these as to justify the claim of Al-Qaida.
Before I explain verse Q9:29, it is very important to note the key words used by God: IDOLATORS[b], POLYTHEISTS, KILL, AMBUSH, STRIKE OFF THEIR HEADS (47:4)[/b] etc. God is very clear when HE intends to pass death sentence on a group of people. Just like he did when HE KILLED all 1st borns in Eygpt when Pharao refused to let the children of Israel go. He did the same in some verses of the bible (don't be suprised!)
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PART B:
@Gist,
If you go through my post in part A you will see that we are NOT serving the same God because there is no inconsistency in God, so please do not use the Biblical quotations to justify or support KILLING in ANY situation or condition. While you attempted to justify the "various conditions" or the "different situations" in which you are commanded or mandated to KILL, AMBUSH or BEHEAD sinners like idolators, polytheist etc, the fact is your God still told you to kill! So why are you saying there is no mandate to kill in Islam? The quotations as well as your co-called "treaty" are subject to their interpretation by different mummin, so why can't terrorist justify their actions by the teachings in the quran? It is clear you are to kill the kafir, whom you cannot create, thereby taking the position of god. "If they repent",,,,,,is it in your power to make them repent or rather force them to repent? And You said that there is no compulsion in religion. The fact is the entire quran is full of deceptive oxymoron.
Now you said "Fight against them that believe not in,,,,,,,,,,,,until they feel themselves subdued" how can you still say the same quran posits that there is no compulsion in religion? This is not about economic struggle but a command of "doctrinal triumphantism"; and the examples of the political/economic struggles in south-south is not relevant here because what delienates the muslims from the so-called kafirs is their "faith/belief" not their land, possessions.

As for your various wbesites, methink you are the one not showing any open-mindedness here. Because rather than refer you to pro-jewish websites or so called western media, I gave you sources of books and government papers available online where you could be informed of the facts but you choose to short-circuit the fact with other spurios websites. Dont worry about those in Nigeria, you can conduct your own research; and whenever you start from, the truth will face you head on. Dont look for injustice on the televesion in from the local masjid, truthfully find out the truth and you will know who is the aggressor and the unjust.,,,,,

@Gist,
PART A: I will start by clearing your air on the biblical passages you quoted.
Numbers 31: This is where the Midianites were conqurered by Divine judgement. Who were the Medianites? they comprised a large part of the confederation of tribes and often associated with smaller groups like the Ishmaelites, Moabites, Amalekites and Ephah. In this chapter, the judgement was in reference to those associated with Moab. According to the Mosaic law "which was in operation then", adultery and idolatory carried the death penalty. This particualr tribes had caused exactly that in their relation to Israel; i.e spiritual and physical adultery from Yahweh. As you know that Israelites were/are chosen people of God, (this same grace was later opened to the entire world by the coming of Jesus Christ, to be Sons or Chosen of God), these act of the Moabites against the nation of Israel carried the death penalty according to the LAW in that dispensation; and God asked Moses to lead the army agaisnt them. While in 1st Samuel, the divine judgement was on the Amalekites who attacked the relatively weak Israelites on their way out of slavery in Egypt. Again, in that dispensation, total annihilation of the enemy was demanded and Saul was mandated to carry out the command.
However, the coming of Jesus Christ and his Covenant of Grace has translated us, Israel and the rest of the world, to the "new dispensation" of covenant of God's Grace through "faith in Christ". Thus Christians are no longer obligated to the Law because of sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The purpose of the Mosaic Laws was simply to prove guilt, convict man of sin and ultimately lead man to Christ for salvation. Thus all the judgement carried out then where in fulfilment of the laid down laws of old Judaistic legalism, but God knows that the laws does not lead to righteousness because he said in Habakuk 2:8 that the JUST SHALL LIVE BY "FAITH". The Laws were given of temporary effect until the coming of the SEED i.e Jesus Christ (Ref: Genesis 12 vs 3-7, and Galatians 3 vs 19) who will now impute His righteousness on those who believe, and lay the grace of righteousness in the heart of the believer through His Spirit. That is the reason why Christianity no longer permits stoning or killing of adulterers, killing of the enemy, killing of idolators or pagans, etc as taught by Jesus Christ in Matthew Chapters 5-6. He forgave the woman caught in adultery and told her to "go sin no more", he taught us to pray for the enemy, those who hate us and dispitefully use us, to pray for conversion of idolatrous persons, pagans and sinners, etc. Grace of God through Christ includes Liberty from the curse of the Law which can not lead to righteousness or righteous living. Salvation is ONLY through the power of the Cross, thus any denila of the Cross is nothing other than accursed deception (anathema) which aims to deceive people from salvation. Am I saying the old testament is no longer relevant? NO. But that we have been free from the obligations of the Mosaic law through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ to those who believe. For example, while the laws do no commit adultery, through Christ we should not even look with lust; while the law says do not commit murder, through christ we should not even hate a fellow man talkless of killing; while the law says do not steal, through christ you should not even envy or lie, etc etc. The grace of righteousness of God through Christ is in/upon the heart to deal with the emotions that 'leads' to sin. You can apply this to all areas and see how Christianity is Liberty through grace to be freed from the curse of the law. The law does not make man righteous. I have gone from the root of passages you quoted, to the doctrine of grace to aid better understanding of what it means to be a Christian or disciple of Christ and living by the spirit which is a lifelong process of gradula maturity.

@Belloti,
Thanks for "clarification" of the sharia law to reveal the (?)"beauty of Islam." Seriously, Belloti, we agreed sometime ago that we should work together to move Nigeria forward, BUT with this type of pre-historic thinking called 'Sharia law', we can NEVER EVER work together to move Nigeria forward. In fact, this is why I tolerate those who want Nigeria to BREAK UP even if I dont support the idea for now, but I advocate true federalism so that we can have different regions, difference laws, different resources mobilization,,etc, in fact wove our respective regions according to our God given abilities or inabilities. I dont want to be part of an entity where people reason like this. It is a disgrace to my God given ability to THINK!!!
Peaceful Zamfara State, according to the UNDP Human Development Report for Nigeria 2005, 2006 is more or less the least developed part of Nigeria. High neonatal, infant, under-5, maternal morbidities and mortalities, unemployment, gross poverty, executive recklessness, corruption, etc. So by your logic, a "looter of public treasury" is not morally decadent because he was found fit and capable before assuming office; and has no evil intention but simply abuses public trust despite the fact that he indirectly 'maimed and killed' thousands of innocent children and women who would not have access to good health care, promote poverty, etc because of the looting of treasury. While a man who stole a cow 'without invitation' is morally decadent with evil intentions.
Waoh!!!! This is not a beauty of Islamic legal system; but a product of precocious and inept reasoning that has no pride of place in a modern age. This is absolutely horrendous and filthily disgusting. And this is the type of system that the collective revenue of Nigeria is being used to fund in Zamfara State. Please Dear God, DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS NATION CALLED NIGERIA. This so unfair. Belloti, I dont mean to be rude but I am seriously pissed off.
I am beginning to understand why Davidylan says Nigeria cannot move forward if we dont break from the North.!!!

belloti:
1. Has anyone of the Holy prophets Sahabas also married a 9 yr old?
2. Was there any sexual contact at that particular point in time?
3. Was there any precedence set in respect of an older bride by the same person?
4. Was there any traditional Arab rituals in respect of female children as at then and what was it?
5. Has the practice of marrying a 9 yr old being encourage in any muslim society till date?

You guys should search for answers to these questions and stop wallowing in abject ignorance and malice. The Holy prophet life is probably the singular and most recorded episode of any human being that ever existed. Every bit of his action was intended to serve as guidance and correction.

@Belloti,
Seriously, these are the kinds of questions that makes atheists state that religion is inability to reason. Unfortunately, yes, "religion" as is being displayed in this attempt to defend Muhammed is deficient in reasoning. The prophet's life was recorded and hidden from critical appraisal until the advent of technology when nothing could be hidden no more; to any right-thinking person, every bit of his action, life and lifestyle should serve as guidance to seek true salvation away from Islam

ok, where do I start from? Let's see,,,,,,

@Akolawole, Gbade.x et al
Great question, I will try and post or direct you to few relevant passages in the Bible that will show that with regard to the issue of wearing trousers, uncovering the head by ladies and any other forms of decent dressing, christian ladies are not commiting any sin, the old testament is not wrong neither the new permitting sin.
Now, of what purpose is faith in God, going to church, reading the bible, and in fact being alive and believing, etc? Simple, all is toward achieving and sustaining SALVATION! Now the laws of the old testament you quoted in context of ladies dressing, either to church or wherever, as well as ALL the laws of moses, what is it's purpose? Is it to Save i.e. give and sustain salvation? NO! The laws were given after (infact, about 430 years after) God established the covenant of Justification by faith with Abraham (Gen 15 vs 6); with the sole purpose of the law being to 'reveal the hideous character of man's sin, convict of guilt of sin but NOT to Justify the believer (i.e declare righteous). In fact, the law was temporary, being in effect until the seed (Jesus) should come (Ref Galatians 3 vs 19; Gal. 4 vs 4). This is because Salvation is NOT by the law but by faith in Jesus Christ-the Messiah. Deutronomy 27vs26 says: "Cursed is everyone that continueth not in ALL THINGS which are written in the Book of the law to do them." But in Habakuk 2 vs 4 (also in old testament) God declared that "The JUST SHALL LIVE by FAITH." (i.e the Justified -righteousness or salvation - shall be by the grace of God that comes through FAITH only, not of works or law) and also Galatians 3 vs 11a also says "But NO MAN is JUSTIFIED by the LAW in the sight of GOD".
The purpose of the law, by awakening and revealing sin, is to lead man to Jesus Christ whose sacrifice on the Cross alone could deal with and remove the guilt of sin i.e make us righteous. Therefore Jesus Christ has liberated us from the Judaistic legalism of the law by Grace. The purpose of being freed from the law is that the Christian might live for God's sake, obeying, serving, trusting and glorifying Him only. In other words, we are not saved by what we wear or do not wear according to the law but who lives in us. Note, this is not a permission for unrestrained liberty toward immoral dressing, but that a christian lady can wear trousers, leave head uncovered in church if she so wishes, etc because we are now free from the obligations of the law through Jesus Christ. This is why we say true Liberty in Christianity is through Grace, it is liberty or liberation from the law but to live according to the principles and teachings of Christ.
Is this a permission to sin, dress immorally or indecently? NO! because a true Christian will be under inspiration or guidance of the spirit of God that lives inside him or her to avoid such things that could lead others to sin. But if you say a lot of ladies in churches dress indecently (depending on what is decent or not to you!); well, for those who are yet to be saved, where else can they receive the teachings that can lead them to salvation and then make them change? And for those who are already saved but still dress like that, where else could they receive the teachings that could increase their maturity and understanding on the principles or doctrine of grace of God? The Church!! So, rather than complain about dressings, pray for increase in understanding and edification of the body of christ. You can read the Galatians Chapters 2,3,4 for better understanding of the broad theme of Slavation, Faith, Law and works.
Peace.

JosBoy4Lif:
Let us not spread false lies, that Islam is a Religion that teaches to kill.
When we do not understand the pholosiphies and interpretations. Everyone knows that direct translations ubscure meaning. That is why KKK claim that they are Christian. Extremist are in all different religions and if we sit here and claim that Islam is Terroist religion. We further enrage our brethren and further set divisions between ourselves.
It is fair for me to assume that many of you including myself are christian. Toh, let us start acting like ones!

Now, this is another version. I thought one the virtues of a christians is to always say the truth no matter whose ox is gored. So, when did it become 'Christ-like' to modify the truth in order not to "further enrage our brethren." Brethren?, How unfortunate that your 'brethren' actually refer to you as mutashirikum in their holy book. Had Jesus been this 'politically correct' with the truth and pharisees, would there have been the gosple today? I don't think so.
Yes, it is not good to spread "false lies", but always good to expose "true lies"; a very good example of true lie is your opinion that Islam is NOT a religion that teaches to kill. This is not a matter of direct or indirect translation, simply read the quran e.g Sura 9:5, 9:29, 8:15, 47:4 etc, read about Ayatollah Khomeini, the French Journalist beheading, Iranian hangings, Salman Rushdie, 9/11, 7/7 etc or simply google 'killings' in Islam' which is an easy research and tell us they are 'false lies.' My friend, a "false lie" is the same as "politically correct" statement: your's is a leading example.

JosBoy4Lif:
The armed insurgency in Nagaland began soon after much of the local population converted to Christianity. Many militant groups, seeking to secede from India to form an independent Christian state, are funded and armed by the Southern Baptist Church. Some of the groups such as the National Liberation Front of Tripura have been involved in a campaign of “gunpoint conversions” and “ethnic cleansing” of native non-Christians, which has left over 50,000 dead and many more refugees over the past two decades.

http://www.stephen-knapp.com/christian_terrorists_kill_44.htm

This is a laughable and inglorious attempt to 'balance' views on terrorism, my dear. I wonder why your 'story' above is not consistent with the commonly reported version or stories of persecution and killings of Christians in India by almost all media outlets,,,,,,,,oh, those one must be 'western biased media.' The power of consistency is one of the easiest tools to discern the truth, even to an untrained mind. So to get a story of 'Christian terrorism' you posted the writings of Stephen Knapp, an apostle of "Verdic culture and Eastern Philosophy." Indeed, this is a 'politically-correct' (i.e deceitful) expose, if I may borrow an analogy used by somebody: It is just like trying to get the 'truth' about Biafra, you get your information from the website of MASSOB.

waste of space and (?)intellect! Now that we know the meaning, can we leave the childhood babblings and go back to adult comprehensible talk!!

belloti:
David, "looting treasury" is a breach of trust and it carries prison sentence;  while "Stealing a cow" is theft and is punishable with amputation

@Belloti,
I remember when I was in primary school (primary six, to be precise), a very good teacher told us that 'whenever we say something incorrect or absurd or outrightly mundane, an imaginary alarm bell should go off inside our head so that we can quickly correct it.' Believe me, it worked since then and more developed now; such capacity has been 'scientifically' confirmed as an inherent capacity of the human mind/brain to 'analyse issues at a higher level', a.k.a reasoning. It is one of the capacities that separate a 'child' from an 'adult' or a 'retarded' person from a 'normal' person regardless of age.
I am expressely sure that the 'individuals' (mullahs/sheiks/ustahs/imams/jammat/grand khadi,etc) who concorted, drafted, introduced and defend these 'sharia laws', (one of which you displayed above relating to differences between 'looting treasury' and 'stealing a cow') are obviously INCAPABLE of this basic human capacity called 'reasoning' because there is either no 'alarm bells' in their brains, or the 'bell' is there, but the 'battery' is dead (i.e. retarded)

Now, Belloti, take a step back; read that your sharia law quotation again; then breath in deeply; close your eyes; exhale slowly; then open your eyes,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,now, tell us what do you 'really' think? I can ask you because I know you are a 'smart' young man who only posted the 'law' for us to see. But, a Book said 'Come, let us reason together,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,'

belloti:
Babyosisi, the Bible has never being words of God. But you are free to give it names if you like

@Belloti,
Rather than ask you how did you know; I will tell you why you cannot know.
(1) You cannot know whether the Bible is the word of God or not because you do not know the God been talked about in the Bible.
(2) You know about 'a god' called allah, but it is not The God who happens to be the theme of the entire Bible.
(3) You cannot use your understanding or rather misunderstanding of Islam/Quran to interprete or explain the Bible simply because Islam teaches 'false salvation' through 'works' but the Bible teaches salvation through 'faith' in sacrifice of the Cross which the Quran denies.
If you want to know why the quran denies the crusifixion of Jesus, then I simply tell you it is because the god of quran is not a true god. Because The true God said in the 'Taurat' that cursed is everyone that 'hangs' on a tree, hence Jesus was made a curse for the salvation of believers i.e taking away the curse of sin. But since the spirit behind Islam/quran/muhammed is a 'contrary' spirit that aims to deny people the true salvation, simply deceive them that they can be saved by works of their hands, self-piety, and most stupidly ridiculous of all, living like muhammed a.k.a sunnah.

@Mukina2,
I am not surprised you ran away, nobody is attacking you but expressing opinion on the ideology called Islam. If you run away because you dont like the diverget opinion, well it's your right but will you run everytime you are opposed or use the opportunity to 'educate' us for what we do not know?
A dialogue does not mean we must agree or soot each others sensibilities, freedom of speech included freedom to offend, depending on what is offensive.
E.g it is offensive to say something 'negative' about a person's race because we are born as a particular race; but you were not born a muslim nor myself a christian, we were simply born into a particular family and then ascribe or adopt the religion of that family i.e muslim or "nominal" christianity. When you grow up or understand, you continue or decide not to or get better understanding. Additionally, I can then decide to become a 'born-again Christian" when I get better understanding of what it really means to be a Christian. So being a muslim or christian is an individual opinion; therefore my comment on or about that "opinion" is not a comment about you, it is just an attempt to reason or be logical on the ideology you profess in a particular faith or opinion. Why must we reason? (1) We are adults (2) That's why we have a brain.

@Oyebanji07,
In your 'noble' attempt to defend your peadophilic prophet, you've done further damage with this idiotic website you referred Orikinla to. This is why, at times, I wonder about the intuitive abilities of some discussants like yourself. So, to defend the label of Muhammed as a paedophile, the website is telling us that it is a normal thing to have child brides as young as 8 years then and even now (only in Islamic countries). Did you pause to think before you send this out? And how come the authors are erroneously looking for clarification or support for their idiotic claim in a book they said is utterly corrupted?
Now, those who were doubting the claim that your unholy prophet Muhammed is a very very irresponsible and disgusting man have no reason to doubt that assertion because one very faithful 'jammat' has shed more light on his gross irresponsibility. How can any right-thinking person follow a bloody paedophile and call it 'sunnah'? Yuurrrrkhhh,,,,,!!!!

@Mukina2
Hi there, my sister. So you are a Arsenal fan too,,,,,that's soooo cool; at least we have something in common . But Mukina, what I will continue to tell you is that nobody is attacking you as a person or as a woman or girl whichever; any opinion on a particular ideology or any belief cannot be considered offensive at all. Why? faith or belief is an "opinion" and your opinion can be countered, questioned, ridiculed, or supported, etc in a public debate whether you are happy with it or not. It is not you being 'attacked' as you like putting it. Getting offended with that will simply get you in a perpetual state of anger, which is called intolerance.
BTW, being as Arsenal fan, you must be smart, so choose your friends wisely, girl.

@Easyy especially and All:

When I asked you for your 'real facts', you referred me to one of the spurious websites. The website you quoted is definitely deliberately amnesic, and I am not surprised. In most of the Pro-Palestine websites, the conclusions or basis for their support is usually predicated on the following, which is from one of such websites: "During the 1948 war, 750,000 Palestinians fled in terror or were actively expelled from their ancestral homeland and turned into refugees". This is so ignorant and deceitful because they refused to state that the "1948 war" was actually 'started' by a coalition of Six Arab countries who 'attacked' the new Israel who were forced to 'defend' themselves then, as they are still doing till today.
But why start from 1948?, it is intellectually lazy to do so. In fact if you really want to understand the origin of the conflict, historically, you will have to start from 1200 BC when the dispersion of the Jews from the 'land of Israel started, with persecution upon persecution in everyland and everycountry. You will discover that the name of this land of Israel was changed to 'Palestine' by one of the Roman Emperors during the early wave of the 'Crusaders': he did this because of his hatred for the monotheist Jews who were not polytheist like the Romans and thus named the land after the Philistines, who are polytheists like the Romans and an arch-enemy of the Israelites. You will get to 18th century when trickles of Jews started returning to the then 'Eretz Yisrael' called Palestine and either worked for or 'bought' arid lands from the Arab landowners before turning it to flourishing agricultural lands (this is called the first "Aliyah" or going up: 1840/70). Then get to 19th century when more Jews came back to 'their' land and 'bought' lands (sanctioned by the Turkish governor of the then 'Eretz Yisrael' under the Ottoman Empire and later the British government and the Arabs in the region) to escape the escalating persecution in Europe and rising anti-semitism elsewhere. It is an historical fact and true that the first, second and subsequent waves of attacks on the Jews in Eretz Yisrael were initiated by Arabs under influence of the Haj Amin el Hussein- the Grand Mufti (a muslim Nazi ally) in the 1930s, just as Ahmadinajad and Assad are doing today, because the Jews were legally buying back their lands ironically and flourishing in it.

Arab opposition to Jews was not based only on economic and social issues; it was colored by the traditional Muslim vision of the Jews as second class citizens. All these was before the creation of Israel in 1948, so that conclusion above is obtuse. When we see young boys throwing stones on TV at armed Israeli soldiers, the sympathy is emotionally for the children, but what you don't see on TV is that behind the "boys with stones" are "adult men and women with AK47 and Katyusha rockets" who are the real aggressors. I perceive you are a man of wisdom, so I have listed some references below for you. These are not spurious websites with religious coloration but books that are products of academic researches and government papers from both sides of the divide through which you can trace and get an understanding of the root of the conflict.

References:
1) A.D. Gordon, "Our Tasks Ahead" 1920
2) Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs: From Peace to War, London: Oxford University Press, 1985.
3) Land, Labor and the Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 1882–1914, University of California Press, 1996
4) The BALFOUR Declaration
5) League of Nations Mandate
6) Benny Morris, Righteous Victims, Knopf 1999.
7) Mandel, Neville, The Arabs and Palestine, UCLA, 1976
8 ) The Passfield White Paper
9) The Arab ReRevolt of 1936
10) The British White Paper of 1939
11) British Peel and Woodhead commissions
12) UN Debate on Palestine Partition- November, 26, 1947

belloti:
(1) Islamic dress codes only has three emphasis - Not revealing, not tight and not transparent. you are free to wear any colour of any couture but don't expose your vital privacy.

(2) But liberalism does not encourage flagrant abuse of Islamic codes and conducts. We like our women dressed properly and decently inorder to protect their intergrity and God-given beauty. And i tell you those babes look cool in those hijabs and long gowns.

@Belloti,
This is quite unfortunate because I will suggest you use terminologies relevant to the 'Islamic ages' (I think you are in 1472 by your calendar, right? and not terminologies of todays ages like like 'host countries', or 'codes and conducts' or 'liberalism' etc.
Read your entry above and see the contradictions: while you have 'dress codes' for your properties called 'women', and you stated how 'you' like your properties dressed properly and decently since they only 'have half a brain' (I did not say that, I am only quoting "somebody", guess who?) and cannot be left to themselves to know what's decent and what is not. Then you said 'those babes look cool in those hijabs and long gowns' even in swelthering heats, by whose opinion do they look good and decent? Let me guess, the 'property owners', Mallam Belloti and the rest of the men. You tell them how they MUST dress, and then applaud you handiwork, how hedonistic.
So you see why you cannot use modern terminologies like 'liberalism' which, simply put, mean 'freedom to reason'. Your 'properties' called 'women' cannot reason, dress properly or decently and need you to reason for them.

@Mukina2
I hope you wont fly into another bout of 'rage' when I tell you that your initial and subsequent responses to this rather 'quiet' question has further shown how ignorant most muslims are of their so-called faith. So, muslims wear beards because it is 'sunnah' i.e the prophet does it. Now the 'islamic website' you quoted attempted to tell muslims why it is good to follow the commands of the 'prophet' but deliberatly choose to ignore the seemingly next question i.e. why did the prophet keep long beard? was it cultural, was it is a 'revelation', was it environmental, etc etc They dont seem to know but seeks to tell you the 'jammat' or the 'ummah' that not doing it is an act for which the men should seek repentance.
Again, you said above that 'Islam is more about men'; accept my sympathy sincerely because it is very true: we know muhammed said women have half of a brain and most of you wont be in islamic heaven called 'jannat'.
Nobody is attacking muslims, stop saying that, the question is simply about concept or ideology of Islam. If somebody asks me to keep a beard, i have every right to want to know why, otherwise the concept is not relevant to a thinker. Now how many of the hadiths or sunnahs are relevant to a thinking person?

Quote from Gist:
"As we have seen, the root cause of the Palestine-Israel conflict is clear. During the 1948 war, 750,000 Palestinians fled in terror or were actively expelled from their ancestral homeland and turned into refugees. The state of Israel then refused to allow them to return and either destroyed their villages entirely or expropriated their land, orchards, houses, businesses and personal possessions for the use of the Jewish population. This was the birth of the state of Israel. We know it is hard to accept emotionally, but in this case the Jewish people are in the wrong.We took most of Palestine by force from the Arabs and blamed the victims for resisting their dispossession,  "http://www.cactus48.com/conclusionI.html

@Havila,
That was very intelligent of you to have noticed my path of reasoning was political. Actually, I tot of not taking that path, but then I asked myself can you really separate religion from politics? We're also on the same side when you said "I agree that terrorim is terrorism once the act fulfils the standard 'definition' as displayed, regardless of who carries it out"
O.k the "series" of crusades where political and so christianity cannot be held accountable -agreed at least for the sake of this debate. How then can you hold Islam accountable just because Hamas, Hezbollah perform terrorist act against israel (in retaliation, see my response to dav's comments above) on issues of West bank, Gaza, Shaba farm etc. You'll agree with me that all these are also political so the blame should not rest on Islam.
===============================================================================

@Gist,
While I commend your attempt to defend your postion, it is quite obvious that your research of the Israeli/Palestine conflict is one-sided and limited, the source you quoted is quite ludicrous in their submission and conclusion.
If you noticed that following the 'dictionary definition' of terrorim by somebody, almost every dimwitted issue on earth has been labelled as terrorism, that is preventing a detailed focus on the true issue of terrorim because it is now a matter of defend-my-trench-you-defend-yours-anyhow thereby limiting sensible exchanges. In fact I am still waiting for the 'politically-correct' folks to label an abusive husband as a 'terrorist' or a bully in primary school as a 'terrorist' or a neighbour who fearfully coerces his/her neighbour also as a 'terrorist' after all it fulfils the "webster dictionary" definition of 'Terrorism', isn't it? Unfortunately, that will be simplistic and a product precocious reasoning which, I'm afraid, is becoming evident in some dialogues on this thread: yours and a few others not included though.

Now back to your point: first, thanks for trying to explain the rationale for the quranic quotations given by Davidylan, but you gave a rather narrow interpretation by claiming or assuming, from the point of view of the victims, that the WTC, Madrid or London were not battlefields. However, from the point of view of the perpetrators and the the Islamic theocratic and political leadership worldwide, the entire West is a battlefield for propagation of Islam or fight against the enemies of Islam; and the same quotations are used to justify the aggression. What you hear from the Islamic leaders are an attempt to justify the action of the "matrys", not outrightly defending or condeming them; but what's the difference?. However, why don't you and the other muslims, when you finish backslapping each other, rationalise or explain Sura 9:5, as well as Sura 9:29 in the context.

The website you quoted are definitely delibrately amnesic and probably falsely claiming to be Jews: in their conclusion, they stated that "During the 1948 war, 750,000 Palestinians fled in terror or were actively expelled from their ancestral homeland and turned into refugees" This is so ignorant and deceitful because they refused to state that the "1948 war" was actually 'started' by a coalition of Six Arab countries who 'attacked' the new Israel who were forced to 'defend' themselves then, as they are still doing till today. But why start from 1948?, in fact if you really want to understand the origin of the conflict, historically, you will have to start from 1200 BC when the dispersion of the Jews from their 'land' started, with persecution upon persecution in everyland and everycountry. You will get to 18century when trickles of Jews started returning to the then 'Eretz Yisrael' called Palestine and either worked for or 'bought' arid lands from the Arab landowners before turning it to flourishing agricultural lands (this is called the first "Aliyah" or going up: 1840/70). Then get to 19th century when more came back to 'their' land and 'bought' land (sanctioned by the Turkish governor of the then 'Eretz Yisrael' under the Ottoman Empire and later the British government and the Arabs in the region) to escape the escalating persecution in Europe and rising anti-semitism elsewhere. It is true that the first, second and subsequent waves of attacks on the Jews in Eretz Yisrael were initiated by Arabs under influence of the Haj Amin el Hussein-the Grand Mufti (a muslim Nazi ally), just as Ahmadinajad and Assad are doing today, because the Jews were legally buying back their lands ironically and flourishing in it.

Arab opposition to Jews was not based only on economic and social issues; it was colored by the traditional Muslim vision of the Jews as second class citizens. All these was before the creation of Israel in 1948, so that conclusion above is obtuse. When we see young boys throwing stones on TV at armed Israeli soldiers, the sympathy is emotionally for the children, but what you don't see on TV is that behing the 'boys with stones' are 'adult men and women with AK47 and Katyusha rockets' who are the real aggressors. You asked that how do we separate religion from politics? brillinat question which will need another thread for discussion, but for the sake of this particular thread asking whether 'terrorim is a muslim problem', I will simply answer by saying you can separate politics and religion by looking at the 'faith books of Islam and Christianity' i.e. the Quran and the Bible. In it are the various passages that can answer the question. I perceive, you are man of wisdom, so I have listed some references below for you. These are not spurious websites with religious coloration but books and papers through which you can trace the history of Jews/Israel and the root of the conflict.

Refereces:
1) A.D. Gordon, "Our Tasks Ahead" 1920
2) Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs: From Peace to War, London: Oxford University Press, 1985, p. 140
3) Land, Labor and the Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 1882–1914, University of California Press, 1996
4) The BALFOUR Declaration
5) League of Nations Mandate
6) Benny Morris, Righteous Victims, Knopf 1999 Page 99
7) Mandel, Neville, The Arabs and Palestine, UCLA, 1976
The Passfield White Paper
9) The Arab Revot of 1936
10) The British White Paper of 1939
11) British Peel and Woodhead commissions
12) UN Debate on Palestine Partition- November, 26, 1947

Easyy:
(1) You sign a peace accord after you take all of my land and make me your houseboy? you must be having a laugh!

(2) While Israel was giving up land in front of TV cameras, they were grabbing even more land behind the scenes. You need to go and find out the real facts and not what you are fed by your right wing press.

@Easyy,
Can I beg your indulgence to briefly give me some "real facts" informing your understanding of the Israel V. Palestine/Arab land conflict. It is true that understanding can be influenced by either 'right wing or left wing press' as you rightly said; but 'real facts' based on previously documented and historical evidences of the past occurences are less likely to be affected either by recall bias or press/political bias, and I am sure you have these facts.

Quote from Ahmedinajad's letter to the American people:
Both our nations are God-fearing, truth loving and justice seeking, and both seek dignity, respect and perfection…We all deplore injustice, the trampling of peoples' rights and the intimidation and humiliation of human beings.


Dear "Ayatollah" Ahmedinajad,
It quite glaring that you are probably delusional, sir: because that is the only rational or logical explanation for your claim that 'your government or nation' is "truth loving, justice seeking government that deplores intimidation and humiliation of human beings."
The incessant hanging of criminals on factory cranes, flogging, and amputations as well as oppression/repression of the academia and political opposition being carried out daily in the Islamic "banana" republic of Iran shows clearly how your government indeed "deplores injustice, intimidation and humiliation of human being". The fact that Iranian citizens consitute one of the single largest block of asylum seekers in almost all European nations additionally shows how "God fearing, justice seeking and truth loving you are."

@Gist,
Thanks for your research and the quotations. However, the theme of yourwrite-up and research is "political" causes of terror acts, rather than the more appropriate deeper "theological" root which is rather germaine to the context of this particular topic discussion i.e Is terrorism a muslim problem?. Now let's take a look at one of your quotations

"The Crusades were a series of military campaigns conducted "in the name of Christendom" and usually sanctioned by the Pope. They were military campaigns "of a religious character" typically characterized as being waged against pagans, heretics, Muslims or those under the ban of excommunication. When originally conceived, the aim was to recapture Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims "while supporting the Byzantine Empire" against the "ghazwat" of the Seljuq expansion into Anatolia, "

If you look at the portions of the quotation which I highlighted, you will 'see' and agree with my position, that even the authors know and expressed that the 'crusades' were only conducted in the "name of christianity" but indeed were political. The Pope then was recgonised not just as spiritual leader but also political. The crusades were political in the primary sense to gain land, political influence for Roman Empire.

While, I agree that terrorim is terrorism once the act fulfils the standard 'definition' as displayed, regardless of who carries it out; for the purpose of this 'theocratic ideology' question, it suffices to ask whether the Irguns did carry out their attack on the King David hotel "in the name of Yahweh or Yeshua? No! they did not, it was a political statement against the British for their various atrocities against Jews: including (1) contributing to the extermination of Jews all over Europe by preventing the 'maa palim' (i.e Jewish immigrants who wanted to escape from Europe) from escaping or reaching Israel in the Ha'apalah (i.e. "illegal" immigration' by british standard, but an escape by the jews) using the Royal Navy blockade of Jewish immigrant ships on high seas and sending them back to Europe to almost certain death; (2) sending jewish immigrants to various prison camps around the world including in cyprus, mauritius; (3) tactly supporting the Palestinians gaining control of the British army in the then "Eretz Israel" (i.e occupied Israel) formerly called Palestine; and so on. However, regardless of the reason, note that I am not supporting or justifying the action; but Was it carried out in the Name of Christian God, Judaism, Yahweh or Yeshua? Again NO! Furthermore, since when has it become 'unjust' to defend yourself or seek to destroy the leadership of those who have made a covenant to wipe you out? Dont make Israel look like the aggressor with your 'politically-correct' article detailing the so-called atrocities againt the Palestine, while ignoring the ignoble campaing of Islam-sanctioned suicide-bombing against Jews/Israel. Believe me, I will rejoice the day when (not "if" Hassan Nasrallah (Hezbollah leader), Osama bin Laden, the current Hamas leader, etc are killed; just like Sheikh Yasin, (the former wheel-chair bound leader of Hamas) and Mustapha al-Zaqawi (of al-qaeda in Iraq); unless they renounce their hate campaign, recognise Israel's right to exist and agree to sit-down to an amicable solution like right-thinking peoples do.

The action of the Irgun in 1946 or the current self-defence by Israel are strictly political and were/are amenable to political solutions; it cannot be compared to the Islam-sanctioned terror killing, Jihad, matrydom as can be seen from the quoted scriptures from the quran showing promises of 'rewards' for such terror action from the muslim god called allah in 'al-jannat'. Do you now get the theme why 'Terrorism is a muslim problem' or rather more appropriately "It is an Islamic problem or ideology." How can it be solved politically?

@chidebe,
The body of your post contradicts the question topic: but I think I might know what you are asking is why "most pentecostal pastors focus on the new testament with little or no attention given to the old testament."? Right?
If so, I think you might be generalising a little with the saying of "most pentecostal pastors"; did you conduct a survey?, if so how many pastors were included in your survey? How many times did you observe them? Do you think your observation could be confounded or influenced by the pastors you observed? This because I can also say the pastors I observe teach and seek relevant scriptures from both the old and new testament; then it becomes your word against mine.
I think what I am driving at is do not make a generalisng statement like that. However, I can say that pentecostal pastors that I observe refer to the relevant part of the Bible, OT and NT, depending on the topic they are teaching or depending on their audience. For example, if you audience are mainly new converts or those who still do not know Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour, the New Testament is a very good and appropriate place to start teaching them from so as to know about the free gift of salvation, and christian living. On the other hand, if your audience are matured 'church' folks, then references could be made from the old testament to support, yes! to support, the new testament. If you have a mixed audience as in most cases, then teaching could come from anywhere as the Pastor is led.
The theme of the entire Bible is about Jesus Christ: from the promise and prophesies of the coming of Jesus Christ in the old testament; to the revelation of the birth, life, ministry, crusifixion, resurrection and ascencsion in the gospels; further teachings on Jesus's messages in the epistles; and the coming again of the Lord in the book of Revelations. So whether old or new testament, it's all about Jesus Christ, brother.

@ exu,
Thanks, it's a really beautiful world I'm in, but I know of a much greater glory to come. That same God that you find it difficult to believe in him still believes in you. I pray you'll open the door as He knocks.

@Gbade.x
Ayatollah Komeini was the former spiritual leader of Iran. He became the leader of theocratic Iran in 1979 after leading an Islamic revolution from exile that toppled the late Shah of Iran. He was recognised as the man who actually brought into practical operation the act of "suicide bombers" as a weapon during the Iran/Iraq war and into the Israeli/Palestine conflict, etc up till now. He was the man who passed a 'fatwa' (islamic death sentence) on Salman Rushdie, an indian born British author, who wrote the 'Satanic Verses' which is a best-selling book that contains some passages considered offensive to Islam and the prophet. Though Rushdie publicly apologized, the fatwa was not revoked; Khomieini explaining that even if Salman Rushdie repents and become the most pious man of all time, it is incumbent on "every Muslim" to employ everything he has got, his life and wealth, to send him to Hell.
You can get further information on him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhollah_Khomeini

Thanks Babyosisi and TayoD,
I think it just amounts to share immaturity to focus on the "process" rather than to focus correctly on the "product". Whether a Bible is translated or original script, the importance to you as an individual is not on the process of the production of the bible but on the "product" i.e. the message. The inspiration on the original bible cannot be transfered to you by simply touching it, the same as the inspirations from the translated bible. Inspiration comes only from the content of the Bible, the message of salvation which leads to the Crusifixion of Jesus Christ.
As long as a Bible is about: the promise and prophesies of Jesus Christ in the old testament; the birth, life, teachings, Crusifixion, Resurection and Ascension of Jesus Christ in the Gospels of New Testament; a further exhortation on the life, lifestyle and messages of Jesus in the Epistles of New Testament; and a promise of the coming again of Jesus Christ in the Revelations, then such a Bible regardless of version is an inspired word of God. The inspiration to you as a Believer is not "ON" the Book, it is "INside" the Book.
Having said this, I wish to add that King James Version remains my favourite Bible version.

Dear All,
We are now in the days of “political correctness” which actually means ‘not speaking the truth to make people happy.’ We are in the days when the greatest obstacle to the salvation of souls is ignorance and deception from the pit of hell. While I commend the Pope for visiting a mosque and politicians screaming at the top of their lungs for ‘interfaith dialogue’; it is important to be careful of the ploy of satan to rob people of the free gift of salvation by not exposing them to the truth. It is based on this that I dare to declare the truth, supported by scriptural references, that Christianity and Islam are NOT sister faiths neither do they worship the same God. This is NOT an attack on “Muslims as a people” but a short comparative analysis of the core ideologies of Christianity and Islam.
While Islam is a religion, like Buddhism, Sikhism, Secular humanism, etc because they all portray a FALSE way to salvation; Christianity is a RELATIONSHIP with God that takes you straight to the CROSS. This is because ONLY on the Cross is Salvation, forgiveness, Mercies, Grace, Fulfillment, Peace, etc. The god of Islam called Allah commanded his ‘apostle’- Muhammad - and the ‘faithfuls’ to spread his religion by the sword and to loot, maim, behead all those who refuse to accept allah as their god. [Ref. Surat 9:5: "Then when the Sacred Months (the Ist, 7th, 11th, and 12th months of the Islâmic calendar) have passed, then kill the Mushrikûn (i.e polytheists, pagans, idolaters, atheists, Christians & Jews who do not believe in allah) wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for them each and every ambush. But if they repent and perform As-Salât (Iqâmat-as-Salât), and give Zakât, then leave their way free. Verily, Allâh is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful"]. Muhammed took the command with relish and the spread of Islam by “Triumphantism” is well recognized historically. In fact, Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran said and I quote: “Pure JOY is to KILL and BE KILLED for allah.” We can see how the ‘faithfuls’ are carrying out this command with relish in all continents of the world. [Additional ref: Surat 9: 29 "Fight against those who (1) believe not in Allâh, (2) nor in the Last Day, (3) nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allâh and His Messenger (4) and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islâm) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizyah[] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued."] The god of Islam -allah- is a god that is ‘so big’ that men can not have relationship with him, he has no limits neither can he be found in ‘jannat’ i.e. Islamic paradise. A review of the life and lifestyle of Muhammed from the quran will reveal a life of debauchery, deceit, compromise with pagans and paganism, hedonism, violence, extreme sexual immorality including marrying and sleeping with a 9-year old girl

Now let us compare this with the God described in the Bible who told us in 1st John 4 vs 7-8 that: “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth NOT knoweth NOT God; for GOD IS LOVE.” He also told us in Matthew 6 vs 44-45 that: “Love you enemies, bless them that that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That you may be children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” A practical demostration of this teaching can be seen in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus rebuked Peter for cutting off the ear of one of the Roman soldiers who came to arrest him, and promptly healed the soldier. Furthermore, Jesus Christ commanded his disciples to spread his message to all nations by teaching, discipleship and baptism as seen in Mattew 28 vs 19-20 that: “Go ye therefore, and Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” The God described in the Bible is an All Knowing, All Present and All Powerful God and Merciful God who is committed to his words and principles.
This is not a ‘politically correct’ message, it is my own opinion based on a research on the life, message and lifestyle of Jesus Christ and Muhammad and the ideologies of Christianity and Islam. It is the truth.
Shalom.

olabowale:
Since God the Almighty does not have any son, because there is no need for Him (God) to procreate, a trait of human anyway. So to assert that Jesus, a prophet, regardless of the miracle in his birth and all the miracles that he performed, all of that amounted to nothing more than a human. However, he was a special human. You will remember that he even ate, slept, got tired, deficated like every human. From the animal kingdom, the termite's worker and soldier is produced in the same way that Jesus was produced by his God, The Almighty. The termite soldier or worker is from egg that the male sperm is no deposited on, it is unfertilized. Today, you have babies being produced in all forms of ways without male and female having sexual activity. If you analyse the creation of Jesus, is it more miraculous than the miracle of the creation of his father, Adam or his mother, Eve?

Whao!! This, unfortunately and as much as I struggle not to say it, is indeed precocious use of inept logic. How can you disregard his miracle birth, and the countless miracles he performed and declared that: "all that amounted to nothing more than a human" (?) Tell me or show us another human man who had such a miraculous birth or performed such awesome miracles attested to even in the quran. It is not 'human' to have a miraculous or divine conception, that is infantile logic, c'mon men!! And how do you rationalise you submission, by comparing it with termites and IVF, absolutely mundane and ludicrous.
Jesus is God and in existence before creation of world or firstman Adam and he attested to it Himself when he declared "Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM. (John 8:58) and he also said in Matthew 28 vs 18-20 that: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you
Now if you know the meaning of the word 'Baptism or Baptizing', then you will know that Jesus is claiming his Divinity here as God the Son.
Can you show us at least any, and I mean ANY, miracle perfomed by muhammed or compare their births, wisdom should show that Jesus Christ is Not 'Human' as Muhammed is very very human or rather inhuman and neither is He just a prophet of God. He is God.

belloti:
Islam respect women and much more than you can ever imagined, but i guess you don't like our approach to it, too bad. Our women like it and we are all comfortable with it. i don't get any appeal from over exposed women and i don't think a lady need to over mingled and rub shoulders to catch my fancy. we have our own way of protecting our women and we don't care how you feel about them. we can't always do things your way, no we have our islamic ways and we strictly abide.

@Belloti,
Stop dreaming: we dont need to imagine how much Islam respects women, we can "read it" from the quran and we can also "see it" all over. You women have no other choice but to like it because they've been subjugated to 'either like it or love it'. What do you mean by "over mingle and rub shoulders"? you mean you do not have self control? or you cannot stand having a woman be successful and aspire to be all she can be using her God given intellect (oh sorry,,my bad, muhammed said women have half a brain)
You are not protecting women but enslaving them, intimidating them to do your whims and fulfil ony pleasures of men. Whenever you visit London, visit a place called Edgeware Road, there you have mainly Arabs, Lebanese etc and you will see them both men and women enjoying the western liberty guaranteed under the constitution. You can see you muslim women dressing the way they want, not necessarily provocatively depending on what provokes you ( I understand even the knock of a lady's shoes is a stimulus to some people, phew!!) but nobody is raping them or grabbing them, my friend. No wonder they are constantly seeking asylum. The largest single block of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers in Britain are muslims from Iran, both men and women, fleeing the Islamic regime that "respect women and human life the Islamic way." Now tell me how confortable they are with such respect, my friend.

olabowale:
@Havila: The world means and includes the earth and its planetary system and other galaxies and milky ways and even what the human has not discovered yet, etc, etc. It also include the heavens and all that is beyond it up to where the hereafter begins. I am only concerned with this right now.I am still alive and struggling with things of living, in worship and all human activities. Trying to do what is permissable and avoid all that are not. Now when you limit God Lordship away and apart from all that He created, including Satan itself, then I summit to you that you are not aware of the awesome power of God. So it is very easy to see how on one hand that you will call Satan lord of the world and even have in your religion as if to conclude that Satan struggled against God and I do not know what! Is there any creator other than God the Almighty? Who do you think created Satan or are you going to argue with me that satan was not created? Am listening, Havila.

@Olabowale,
The term "world" include earth and 'heaven and all that is beyond it" only in Quran and Islamic understanding; because such understanding is contorted, confounded and confused. The term god/lord of the world is used in reference to satan because he controls the worldy or fleshy systems, the life of those who do not know the true God; therefore if quran refers to allah as lord of the world, It simply confirms what we know already through inspiration of the holy spirit.
Satan was an angel of God, created by God but who rebelled and wanted to be like God, thus he was cast out of the heavens into the world system. Read Isaiah, Deut etc for understanding.

olabowale:
Finally, stop going to Roman, Corinthian and the like, even acts. Of course, you have to because everything is by'ispired writers',

Why should'nt I, the epistles are further teachings that exhort on the life, message and teachings of Jesus Christ as seen in the Gospels. Yes the whole Bible is by inspiration of the Holy Spirit and understanding can only come from such. Somebody like you needs to understand the message and teaching of Jesus which is broken donw and simplifed in the epistles Acts, Romans, Corinthians etc because the doctrine of the Gospels is mainly in parables, hidden wisdom of God for those who have better understanding and maturity in Christ, not just knowing about the birth, crusifixion and ressurection of our Lord. The Gosples are the doctrine of "meat and bone"; while the epistles are the doctrines or teachings of "milk". Now how do you digest "meat and bone" when you still cannot digest milk?

olabowale:
If I do not response to any of your responses for a while, it is because i am travelling and I will be very busy.

Phewwww!!!!!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

olabowale:
@Lafile:
(1) Unfortunately, most muslims are not truly practicing Islam. The majority inlace their culture with Islamic culture. The Islamic culture stands on its own and different from 'arab' culture. muslims are not to be so emotional that they are bent out of shape, loose them ability to think unemotionally but logically.

(2) Islam emphasises preservation of life, human and animals. Muslims are not allowed to kill for sport except to eat and must show mercy to the animal.

(3) But the true sect is the one that practices Islam in the way of the Prophet and his companions and the 2 following generations.

(4) But all of these societal ills amongst the muslims around the world, is not preclude any right thinking person to choose any religion other than Islam.

(5) I hope this write up will be a beginning of guidane to those who have heart.

@Ola and all,
I have itemised your write-up to aid understanding and help in critique of your submission. If this is the concept of "soul winning" in Islam, you've done a great diservice to muhammed and the ummah.
Response to 1: You started off with a ridiculous claim as if the irrational and thoughtless behaviours that has come to characterise Islam is a prerogstive of the 'Arab' muslims alone. No! What about muslims in Sudan, in Northern Nigeria, in the UK, in Somalia, in Turkey etc with all the maiming, killings, looting, calls for beheading, intolerance of criticism all carried out in the name of allah and according to his murderous prophet-muhammed? If you check, you will know that the common denominator to all these individuals is that they are all muslims but of different cultures. So is it still sensible or logical to ascribe their irrational behavious and tendencies to their culture or rather correctly to the ideology of Islam that permits and encourages such unholy and irrational tendencies in the name of your allah? Let's reason this out a little!!!
Response to 2: Probably, Islam emphasises the preservation of animal lifes more than human life is what you are saying. Because a religion where the prophet encourages his followers to "lay in wait for the unbelievers/infidels, break their necks, behead them, etc as it you have in various surats from the unholy quran, probably puts more sanctity on showing "mercy" to animals than "human beings" who do not share your faith or belief. Is it just coincidental that nations that base their constitution on the Quranic teachings and hadiths e.g Iran, former Afghanistan, Jordan etc are the same countries where human life is least respected and political freedom is least, especially for women who are more of a possession rathen than human being. How can human life be preseverved with maiming, hangings, stoning all in the name of you allah as punishment for criminals. Or is that still their 'culture'. Zamfara state and Somalia are not Arab countries, so think deep again. Why are Islamic theocracys' like Iran and Syria supporting Hezbollah to bring down a democratic government in Lebanon? Because success of democracy over there is a defeat for the Islamic and oppresive ideology that characteris Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Somalia, etc
Response to 3: If the true sect is the one that practice Islam like muhammed, then we should be thanking God that "most muslims are not truly practicing Islam". What is that good thing to practice like a well recognised hedonistic and sexually-perveted prophet, who led a band of bandits on raiding, killing, maiming spree to fund and spread his ideology which he recieved part of it in a cave, while probably hallucinating? I really share the dismay of that 14th century Emperor quoted by Pope Benedict when he said "show me that thing muhammed/Islam brought to the world other than violence and wickedness" if I can paraphrase it.
Response to 4: Does this not put a strain on apostolic logic to you? You agree and we can also see the "societal ills that characterised the muslim/Islamic world"; and you still say right-thinking persons should be muslims. That can only make sense to only one 'right-thinking' person indeed--name withheld!!! "By their fruits, we shall know them" is a common saying, if we look at the fruits of muhammed and his ideology of Islam, the truly right-thinking persons should flee from it as fast as possible because it is evil indeed.
Response to 5: Indeed your right-up is the beginning of guidance to those who are yet to understand Islam for what it is (both muslims and non-muslims alike) to truly seek understanding and the light of living God through Christ.

@Josboy,
You need to do your research well. But I can say Islam has been responsible for more of the atrocities you mentioned. Do your research well, and you will know that the early 'Holy Crusaders' were not 'crusading' in the name of Christianity but for the political expansion of the Roman empire and/or other empires. In fact, the second wave of Crusaders killed thousands if not millions of Jews in their 'crusade' and the then Emperor of Rome, who hated the Jews/Israel so much for their monotheism, was the one who changed the name of the then land of Israel to 'Palestine' after the arch-enemies of Israel/Jews i.e. the Philistines. He did this to spite Israel because the Philistines/Palestines were polytheists like the Romans.
Compare this to the murderous atrocities committed in the name of allah for the propagation of Islam by 'triumphantism' spreading from Arabia to North Africa up to Southern Spain before they were defeated and expelled back.

olabowale:
@Babyosisi: I just can sit idle about and let you pass Bush as a religious person to us! Bush, who used to drink like a fish up until 1974, and even now the jury is still out. Further he was a member of skull and bone and other hardcore fraternal order in the like of Brekenbreek and others to include Halumenadee, with their secret codes and handshakes.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Lord of the world. You have no help but He, alone!

@Olabowale,
How did Babyosisi pass Bush as a 'religious person' to you? By saying "Thanks to Bush,,," what she meant, and rightly so, is that: thanks to Bush for the America-led invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11 that "rooted up and displaced" the abominable Taliban regime, women now have some semblance of recognition and freedom as human being, rather than as possessions under the Taliban regime with all the religious oppression they were subjected to under the Islamic regime. A look at that correct list by Davidylan shows how repressive and oppresive any such regime is to women with little or no political freedom. You can Google 'Taliban' and read but I'm sure you know. Yes Bush used to drink until 1974 (phew!, that's long ago), member of this and that, BUT (thank God for a good "BUT" he has given his life to Jesus as his Lord and Saviour at the age of 40yrs, thus "old things have passed away, and all things have become new" for George Bush as a person in Christ whether you, anybody, and I mean any living mortal man, likes it or not.

NB: By the way, 'Lord of the world' refers to Satan, it means master of the world [Various supporting references from the Bible e.g. 2nd Corinthians 4 vs 3-4: "But if our Gosple be hid, it is hid from those who are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gosple of Christ, who is the image of God should shine unto them." But the true Living God Almighty is the Creator of Heaven and the Earth. We can also describe Him as the awesome God who sits in Heaven and made the Earth his footstool, the I AM THAT I AM, the Father of All mercies and the God of All Comfort, etc.