₦airaland Forum

Ishilove:
You are not serious o

Just so you know, Ishilove doesn't play nasty

bigtt76:
You don hear dollars now your eyes don the choook shei

Dis one no be parable of dollar o
Check out her profile pic and you'll see what I mean

tartar9:
we know her well,she's a shameless low-life prostitûte.

And you are the scum of the earth.

In places like Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt it is an investment that can make you very rich.

LastMumu:
I don't and will never like Lalasticlala for any reason. 83 topics created yet not one single frontpage for me, but Olajumoke and snake go dey grace frontpage like pure water.

Bros change your moniker. You no be mumu

KashyBaby:
I'm my dad's baby....in our house, I'm his fave..every problem I have,I always run to him,he always supports me & defend me if my mom will oppose,He is my HERO ...my mom is my nemesis, in any way we always collide & never agree all the time.

Most girls are close to their dads. It's the same in my family.

jazzydawg:
I am so sorry, was that your fiance? She told me she was unattached. No hard feelings.

tartar9:
This whôre again .Just say Islam orders mothers to behead their little children or kindly SHUT UP!

Shut your stinking gob Abeed and stop insulting a lady.

Was Allah The Moon God of Ancient Arab Pagan?

 

By Syed Kamran Mirza

 

Historical evidences, impartial logic, well versed references and all available circumstantial judgments can very well prove that—(a) Allah name of deity was pre-existed much before the arrival of Islam, (b) Pre-Islamic Pagan peoples worshipped Allah as their supreme deity (moon-god). Allah’s name existed in pre-Islamic Arab. In ancient Arab the Allah was considered to be the supreme God/deity (as Moon-God) and Arab Pagans worshipped Allah before Islam arrived. 

 

 Let us examine below some valid questions and answers :

Did the Pagan Arabs in pre-Islamic times worship 360 gods? Yes

Did the pagans Arabs worship the sun, moon and the stars? Yes

Did the Arabs built temples to the Moon-god? Yes

Did different Arab tribes give the Moon-god different names/titles? Yes

What were some of the names/titles? Sin, Hubul, Ilumquh, Al-ilah.

Was the title “al-ilah” (the god) used as the Moon-god? Yes

Was the word “Allah” derived from “al-ilah?” Yes

Was the pagan “Allah” a high god in a pantheon of deities? Yes.

Was he worshipped at the Kabah? Yes.

Was Allah only one of many Meccan gods? Yes

Did they place a statue of Hubul on top of the Kabah? Yes.

At that time was Hubul considered the Moon-god? Yes.

Was the Kabah thus the “house of the Moon-god”? Yes.

Did the name “Allah” eventually replace that of Hubul as the name of the Moon god? Yes.

Did they call the Kabah the “house of Allah”?  Yes.

Were al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat called “the daughters of Allah”? Yes.

Yusuf Ali explains in fn. 5096, pg. 1445, that Lat, Uzza and Manat were known as “the daughters of God [Allah]”

Did the Qur’an at one point tell Muslims to worship al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat? Yes. In Surah 53:19-20.

Have those verses been “abrogated” out of the present Qur’an? Yes.

What were they called? “The Satanic Verses.”

 

The variable names (Sin, Hubul, llumquh, Al-ilah) of moon god were used by various tribes of pagan Arabs. Pagan god SIN was the name of Moon-god.

 

 

Who is actually Allah?

 

According to Islamic Theologians (Mullahs, Maulana, Moulavis, etc.), or Islamic teachings-- Allah is the supreme God or creator who (suddenly one day?) talked or introduced Himself with Prophet Muhammad through an Angel named Gabriel, disclosing the truth that it is the Allah who created everything in the universe. Surprisingly, Qur’an never defines the word “Allah” as to who actually Allah was or what was the relation of Allah with pagans.  I believe, 99% percent of Muslims do believe that—Allah’s name was invented or started right from the time when Gabriel disclosed the truth (?) to Prophet Muhammad in the cave of Hira Parvat (Mountain) and gave Muhammad the Quran. They believe that before this truth was revealed—pagan Arabs were in the total darkness (Andhakar Zuug) and they used to worship various puppet goddess and that the pagans were very evil people.  I can bet on this fact that no mullahs ever told us the real truth, neither they believe this clean truth that “Allah” was in fact a pre-existing deity in pagan Arabia. What a hypocrisy?

 

Some important factors which will suggest that the name“Allah” was already in use by Pagans as their chief God/deity:

 

(A) In pre-Islamic days, that Muslims call the Days of ignorance, the religious background of the Arabs was pagan, and basically animistic.  Through Moon, Sun, Stars, Planets, Animals, wells, trees, stones, caves, springs, and other natural objects man could make contact with the deity. At Mekka, “Allah” was the chief of the gods and the special deity of the Quraish, the prophet’s tribe. Allah had three daughters: Al Uzzah (Venus) most revered of all and pleased with human sacrifice; Manah, the goddess of destiny, and Al Lat, the goddess of vegetable life.  These three daughters of Allah (there is a Quranic verse about them) were considered very powerful over all things. Therefore, their intercessions on behalf of their worshippers were of great significance.                                             

(B) Arabs used to give their children names such as—Abdullah (slave of Allah). Clean proof was the fact that, Muhammad’s father’s name was “Abdullah”. Logical analogy here is—had there been no “Allah” in pre-Islamic Arab, there could be no Abdullah or slave of Allah in Arabia.

(C) Even today, in the entire Arab World, not only Muslims but all other non-Muslim    (Jews, Christians, Sabians, Bahai, an atheist etc.) Arabs says—“Ya Allah” as the expression of surprise or unhappiness/sorrow.

(D). Albert Hourani’s statement: “The Islamic name used for God was “Allah”, which was already in use for one of the local Gods (it now used by Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians as the name of God (A history Of Arab people by Albert Hourani, 1991, page-16, Belknap press of Harvard University, USA)

 

History tells us two theories of Allah’s existence in and around the Kaba Sharif: (1)   Pagans used to call the largest Statue amongst the 360 deities as ALLAH—whom they used to consider the chief/supreme deity (god). Or, (2) Pagan Arabs used to worship 360 deities inside Kaba Sharif, and they used to consider them different smaller deities under the total control of a single most powerful chief deity called “ALLAH” who was invisible (Nirakar) and was the all-powerful, all-knowing, and totally unknowable.

 

Amazing Similarities with Hindu Religion:

 

In India’s Hindu religion is quite similar to the number two theory (above) of pagan belief. Although, Hindus worship many different Goddesses—they invariably have faith upon a single supreme invisible deity called “Bhagaban” (some call it “Ischhaar”) whom they call “Nirakar”. And, surprisingly there is no sculptural image/figure for this Bhagaban. But all Hindus worship Him along with other numerous deities. This Bhagaban is considered as the lord of all other deities.  What would happen—if some intelligent prophet would have asked Hindus to give up worshipping other goddesses and keeping only Bhagaban as their only deity making it a monotheist religion just like Islam? Could it not be another religion like Islam?

 

Now some factors which will suggest “Allah” was the Moon-god of Arab pagans:

 

(A)   In Qura’n there are at least a dozen verses in which Allah repeatedly swears by the names such as moon, sun, stars, planets, night, wind etc. It is a mystery why the creator Allah (?) should swear by his creations.  Normally, we swear by the name of something much superior to us, such as we swear by God or by the name of our father (who is considered senior or superior to us). But we never swear by the name of something inferior to us. Here in the Quran swearing fashions of Allah (God) by moon or stars hinting us that Allah considered these things superior to himself. And this makes us to think (otherwise) as to who actually acted as Allah in Quran? However, in his explanation of why the Qur’an swears by the moon in Surah 74:32, “Nay, verily by the Moon,” Yusuf Alli comments, “The moon was worshipped as a deity in times of darkness”(fn. 5798, pg. 1644). Perhaps, this swearing of Allah was due to the usual/cultural habits of worshipping moon as their God in pagan customs.

 

(B) Yousuf Ali stated (Page-1921-1623 of his English Translation of Holy Quran):

 

“Moon-worship was equally popular in various forms………Apollo and Diana—the twin brother and sister, representing the sun and moon. …in the Vedic religion of India the moon god was Soma, the lord of the planets…….moon was male divinity in ancient India. Moon was also male divinity in ancient Semitic religion, and the Arabic word for the moon “qamar’ is of the masculine gender, on the other hand, the Arabic word for sun “shams” is feminine gender. The pagan Arabs evidently looked upon the sun as a goddess and the moon as a God.

 

The Pagan deities best known in the Ka’ba and round about Mecca were Lat, Uzza, and Manat.…the 360 idols established by the Pagans in the Ka’ba probably represented the 360 days of an inaccurate solar year. This was the actual modern pagan worship as known to the Quraish contemporary with our prophet”

 

(C) Influence of Moon in Islam:

 

Who can deny the paramount influences of moon in Muslim’s life? In Islam, moon is considered holiest astronomical object, and moon is the guiding light of all Islamic rituals/festivals. Contradictions and conflicts are very common with the dates of Eids and Ramadan and obviously it is a chronic problem and moon is the nucleus of this problem. Crescent moon and stars are the symbolic sign in the national flags of many Muslim countries, and it is present over the Mosques, in the Muslim graveyard etc.  

 

Prophet Muhammad compromised to Pagans to establish Islam in Arabia:

 

Prophet Muhammad did his clever tactics of adapting many rites of paganism into Islam, in order to accommodate Islam among the pagan Arabs. He made lots of political pacts with the Pagan Leaders such as Abu Suffian to accommodate his new idea of religion and he agreed to incorporate many of the Pagan rituals in Islam. Prophet Muhammad asked the pagans to worship only the “Allah” the largest God,

And destroy the idols of all other gods and goddesses that existed in Kabah. To establish oneness (monotheist) of God, he repeatedly asked them not to make any partners to Allah (That is why we can find hundreds of Quranic verses “asking not to make any partners to Allah). Finally, the Prophet was able to convince (by force of course) the pagans to destroy all idols, and on return (he) agreed (perhaps) to keep the “Names” of the goddess of most famous Pagan tribes as the alternative names of Allah—hence Islam has 99 NAMES of Allah.

 

Prophet Muhammad did command his followers to participate in these pagan ceremonies while the pagans were still in control of Mecca. (Please See Yusuf Ali, fn. 214, pg. 78). ... “the whole of the [pagan] pilgrimage was spiritualized in Islam...” (Yusuf Ali: fn. 223 pg. 80).  In the Tafsir (of Quran-2:200) maoulana Yousuf Ali stated:  “After Pilgrimage, in Pagan times, the pilgrims used to gather in assemblies in which the praises of ancestors were sung. As the whole of the pilgrimage rites were spiritualized in Islam, so this aftermath of the Pilgrimage was also spiritualized. It was recommended for pilgrims to stay on two or three days after the pilgrimage, but they must use them in prayer and praise to God.(#223 of Shane’nazul by Maoulana Yousuf Ali, page-81)

 

In Islam many rituals performed (today) by devoted Muslims in the name of Allah are connected to the pagan worship that existed before Islam. Pagans practices of the Pilgrimage of Kabah once a year--the Fast of Ramadan, running around the Kabah seven times, kissing the black stone, shaving the head, animal sacrifices, running up and down two hills, throwing stones at the devil, snorting water in and out the nose, praying several times a day toward Mecca, giving alms, Friday prayers, etc. are strictly followed by Muslims today. Nobody can deny the fact that, all the above rituals of Muslim’s hajj today—existed well before the arrival of Islam.

 

It is highly plausible to consider the fact that by incorporating much of the Pagan’s rituals in new religion Islam—Prophet successfully reduced the pagan-risk and it was perhaps one of the most important milestone-attempts to conquer the minds of Pagans resulting in massive breakdown of the Pagans’ moral and support to oppose Islam. 

The central shrine at Mekka was the Pagan’s Kaaba (called House of Allah), a cube like stone structure which still stands though many times rebuilt. Imbedded in one corner is the black stone, probably a meteorite, the kissing of which is now an essential part of the Muslim’s pilgrimage.

 

It is the historical fact that the Ka’aba, the sacred shrine which contains the Black Stone, in Mecca was used for pagan idol worship before Islam and even called the House of Allah at that time. The name of the God whom the Arabs worshipped was the god of pantheon—Ali-ilah the god, the supreme, the predeterminer of everybody’s life or destiny—the chief God “Allah”

 

Who did not read the story of BLACK STONE which was very sacred (povitra) to all various tribes of Quraish. When one day this sacred stone was needed to transfer from one place to another, there was a quarrel amongst the various tribes, as to who will carry that sacred stone? Then most intelligent and righteous young boy Muhammad (was not a prophet then) invented the solution of this serious problem. He (Muhammad) put this sacred stone over a Chaddor (piece of cloth) and asked one representative from each tribe to hold the Chaddor and carry the stone. I narrated this story briefly just to prove that—black stone did exist long before Islam was invented.

In summary, it has been truthfully and logically proven with all possible available circumstantial evidences/rational that, Islam was not a new religion but it is a reformed paganism. I believe thatall these monotheistic religions have more or less similar origins. This idea of monotheistic religion was not a brand new invention. Monotheistic thought was declared by Ancient Pharaoh Kings, Mesopotamia’s king Hamarubi (3000 B.C.), and Alexander the Great (300 B.C.). Differences were, these kings demanded that they themselves were the God whom everybody should worship.

The Origins of "Il" Better Known as Allah


"Il" means " the god" (or to be exact: Al-Ilah - his older name means /the god", whereas Allah literally means something like "the Hidden One", but is used in the meaning "the god". This older name again derives from the even older name Il. The ancient god "Il" originally was the moon god further east (the reason why Allah's and Islam's symbol is the crescent moon) - the moon (Luna) being something more benevolent than the scorching sun (Helios or Sol) of Arabia and its surroundings. Muhammad simply took over this Pagan god, changed his position from main god to the only god, and used only the name "Allah". Plus claimed that Allah just was the correct name for the old Jewish god Yahweh, whom Christians know as God. Everything - like normal for Muhammad - without the tiniest proof or documentation.

The history of the god Allah in short:
The first we know he was a main god named Il further east (Iraq?).

He drifted into Arabia, perhaps with early immigrants who settled there. Here he became the moon god al-Ilah, at least in the southern part of Arabia. As said it is no co-incidence that Allah's symbol is the (crescent) moon.

His name slowly changed to al-Lah, and sometimes Allah. (Easier to pronounce.)

He outcompeted the moon god Hubal in the Kabah temple in Mecca, and he became the main god.

Muhammad took him over and declared that he for one thing was the only god, and for another that he was the same god as the old Jewish and Christian god, Yahweh. This in spite of that the two were very different, had very different teachings, very different heavens, and very different moral codes, etc. - so much so that the differences prove with mathematical strength that Yahweh and Allah are not the same god (and thus that Jesus (and the other Jewish prophets) was neither in the same line of prophets nor even in the same religion.

Bros you be disappointment.On top all the nice Christian sisters wey dey your church, na almajiri girl you go marry. Shame.

I can't help but think that something must have been lost in translation. If he really said that then he's a bush man.

This happened just two weeks ago...

8-YEAR-OLD YEMENI CHILD DIES AT HANDS OF 40-YEAR-OLD HUSBAND ON WEDDING NIGHT

An eight year-old child bride died in Yemen on her wedding night after suffering internal injuries due to sexual trauma. Human rights organizations are calling for the arrest of her husband, who was five times her age.

Al Nahar, Lebanon, reported that the death occurred in the tribal area of Hardh in northwestern Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia. This brings even more attention to the already existing issue of forced child marriages in the Middle East.

“According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), between 2011 and 2020, more than 140 million girls will become child brides. Furthermore, of the 140 million girls who will marry before the age of 18, 50 million will be under the age of 15.”

It is reported that over a quarter of Yemen’s young girls are married before the age of 15. Not only do they lose access to health and education, these child brides are commonly subjected to physical, emotional and sexual violence in their forced marriages.

One of the main issues is that there is currently no consistent established definition of a “child” that has been agreed upon worldwide.  This leaves various interpretations within countries and little protection for those who are affected.

Establishing this age limit is among the top priorities of groups like HRC which was responsible for publishing the 54-page report “How Come You Allow Little Girls to Get Married?”, documenting the lifelong damage to girls who are forced to marry at young ages.  Most pro age-limit organizations agree that 18 should be the legal age for marriage.

In February 2009, a law was created in Yemen that set the minimum age for marriage at 17. Unfortunately, it was repealed after more conservative lawmakers called it un-Islamic.

Jason may be the actual father of the unborn child.

Thank goodness action has been taken in official quarters against this unlawful act.
The poor kid has already started exhibiting signs of the Stockholm syndrome just like some of the rescued Chibok schoolgirls some of whom are already expressing a desire to reunite with their BH captors.
Ese will need all the psychological and trauma counselling she can get if she is ever to live life as a normal adult.

facheux:
Hmmmmm

Hmmmmm

Sheikh Ahmad Al Katani gave Aljazeera T.V. the following facts and figures: “In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity. Everyday, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity.” (note that even two professors and Imams of Egypt’s most prestigious Al Azhar University, Dr. Mustafa (now Mark Gabriel) and Dr. Mohammad Rahoumy (now Dr. Samuel Paul) have left Islam, because of the unacceptable teachings of the Koran.)

unphilaz:
deathstroke, can you show me where pastors encourage child-cradle marriage? Read here how grand mufti supports it.




http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2015/01/attempt-to-stop-child-marriage-in-saudi-arabia-fails/

Comprehensive and decisive.

seunwen2:
Fundamentalist Christians view the Bible as the inspired and inerrant word of God. They therefore say people should live according to biblical teachings. Modern analysis of the Bible, however, provides many reasons why the book cannot be considered a reliable guide.
In the first place, the contradictions contained in the Bible prove that numerous assertions in it are false, because two contradictory statements cannot both be true. Examples of the hundreds of biblical contradictions are the conflicting genealogies of Jesus (Mt. 1:1-16 vs. Lk. 3:23-38), the inconsistent stories of Judas’ death (Mt. 27:5 vs. Acts 1:18), and the contradictory accounts of Paul’s conversion (Acts 9:7 vs. Acts 22:9).
Moreover, the cruelties that the Bible says God ordered, approved, or committed make the book totally unacceptable to persons applying modern standards of justice and humaneness. Examples of biblical atrocities include Moses telling his soldiers to kill women and children (Num. 31:15-18), God sending two bears that killed 42 children because they were making fun of a prophet’s bald head (2 Kgs. 2:23-24), and the promise that non-Christians will be sent to the eternal fires of hell (e.g., Mt. 25:41; Rev. 21:.
Additionally, the Bible’s stories of events violating the laws of nature cannot be accepted by scientific persons today. They know it’s much more likely the writers of the Bible either lied or were mistaken than that incidents occurred such as sticks turning into snakes (Exod. 7:10-12), a donkey talking (Num. 22:28), a dead man reviving when his corpse came in contact with the bones of a prophet (2 Kgs. 13:21), and a man living for three days and nights in the belly of a fish (Jonah 1:17).
Other reasons the Bible is not the word of God include its false ideas about the structure of the physical world (e.g., 1 Sam. 2:8, where the earth is said to rest on pillars); its prophecies that have proved to be false (e.g., Mk. 13:24-30, where the prediction is made that the world would end within the lifetime of persons living in the first century C.E.); and its historical inaccuracies (e.g., Dan. 5:31, where one “Darius the Mede” is said to have captured Babylon in the sixth century B.C.E., whereas historians know it was Cyrus of Persia who did so).
Furthermore, the Bible is an unreliable authority because of its harmful teachings (e.g., Mk. 16:18, where believers are taught to handle snakes, drink poison, and rely on faith healing instead of medical science); its obscene passages; the fact that parts of it were written many years – and in some cases many centuries – after the events it purports to describe; and the fact that we have no idea who wrote most of it.
Findings of modern biblical scholarship support Thomas Paine’s position. The American patriot and proponent of common sense wrote in his book The Age of Reason: “People in general know not what wickedness there is in this pretended word of God. Brought up in habits of superstition, they take it for granted that the Bible is true, and that it is good. . . . Good heavens! It is quite another thing: it is a book of lies, wickedness and blasphemy.”
The application of reason, observation, and experience – what the great nineteenth-century agnostic Robert Ingersoll called “the holy trinity of science” – reveals that the Bible was written solely by humans who lived in a barbaric and superstitious age.
Those same methods of science, and not a reliance on religious dogma, are needed to expose falsehood and discover truth in all other fields as well.

Matthew and Luke actually give two different genealogies. Matthew give the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph, the legal, though not the physical father of Jesus. Luke, on the other hand, gives the ancestry of Jesus through Mary from
whom Jesus was descended physically
as to his humanity. This is a beautiful
fulfillment of prophecy and actually
testifies to the accuracy of the Bible.
Through Joseph, Jesus became the legal
heir to the throne while at the same time bypassed the curse of Coniah as
prophesied in Jeremiah 22:24-30. Both, of course, were in the line of David so that Jesus had a legal right to the throne as the adopted son of Joseph and was at the same time a physical descendent of David through Mary.
The Ryrie Study Bible gives an excellent
summary of the issues here:
Although Coniah had seven sons
(perhaps adopted; cf. 1 Chron. 3:17),
none occupied the throne. So, as far as
a continuing dynasty was concerned,
Coniah was to be considered
“childless.” Although his line of
descendants retained the legal throne
rights, no physical descendant (no man
of his descendants) would ever
prosperously reign on the Davidic
throne. The genealogy of Matthew
traces the descent of Jesus through
Solomon and Jeconiah (Heb., Coniah;
Matt. 1:12); this is the genealogy of
Jesus’ legal father, Joseph. Luke traces
Jesus’ physical descent back through
Mary and Nathan to David, bypassing
Jeconiah’s line and showing accurately
the fulfillment of this prophecy of
Jeremiah. If Jesus had been born only
in the line of Joseph (and thus of
Jeconiah), He would not have been
qualified to reign on the throne of David
in the Millennium. See note on Matt.
1:11.

Alleged contradiction in Paul's conversion

The Bible is replete with examples of where an event is recorded multiple times. Sometimes the repetition will be by different writers, as in the case of certain narratives in the books of Kings and Chronicles, or in the Gospel records. At other times a single writer may repeat the record of an event for the sake of a slightly different point of emphasis. Chapters 1 and 2 in Genesis are an example of such. In Acts, chapters 10 and 11, there are two accounts of the conversion of the Roman centurion, Cornelius. The first is Luke’s depiction of the event; the second is Peter’s rehearsal of the circumstances when he subsequently defends his actions before the Jews in Jerusalem.

Another New Testament illustration of this literary phenomenon is the record of Paul’s conversion, as set forth three times in the book of Acts (chapters 9, 22, and 26). This repetition has puzzled some Bible students. Others, searching for flaws in the sacred Scriptures, contend that the repetition is superfluous and contradictory, and thus constitutes evidence against the inspiration of the sacred narrative. One critic recently asked:

“If the New Testament is without contradictions, why does Paul give three totally different memories of Jesus appearing to him?”

In the first place, the author reveals his own lack of knowledge of the facts. The initial record of Saul’s conversion (Acts 9) is not Paul’s account; it is that of the historian Luke.

Secondly, the criticism fails to take into account the epochal nature of the conversion of Saul, and its importance in the divine scheme of things. Add to this the fact that there were different circumstances underlying the case histories the apostle later introduced, in defending his transformation from Judaism to Christianity (Acts 22,26).

Thirdly, the critic, doubtless sincere but lacking mature analytical skills, charges that the accounts contradict one another. They do not. Yes, there are differences; one record may supplement another narrative. But supplementation is not the same as contradiction.

The Significance of Paul’s Conversion
The conversion of Saul, that rabid persecutor of the early church, is one of the most significant events in the history of the first-century church. One historian has expressed the matter in the following way.

“In all the history of Christianity no single conversion to Christ carried with it such momentous results to the whole world, as that of Saul the persecutor, afterward Paul the Apostle” (J.L. Hurlbut, The Story of the Christian Church, Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1954, p. 30).
Another historian describes Saul’s conversion as “one of the most important events in the entire course of Christianity” (Kenneth Latourette, A History of Christianity, Vol. I, San Francisco: Harper, 1953, p. 70). Quotations of a similar nature could be multiplied many times over.

If the Holy Spirit saw fit to initiate four Gospel accounts of the death of Jesus Christ, surely no reasonable person can fault the divinely guided historian, Luke, in including three accounts of the conversion of Christianity’s greatest missionary — especially since there is unique purpose in each narrative.

The Three Narratives
Perhaps brief notice should be given to the nature of the three “conversion” records in the book of Acts.

Luke’s personal description of Saul’s dramatic conversion, and certain accompanying events, is found in Acts 9:1-30. The narrative may be divided topically into the following segments:


Saul’s mission of persecution to Damascus (vv. 1-2);
the zealot’s confrontation with the resurrected Christ (vv. 3-9);
the details of Saul’s conversion (vv. 10-19);
Saul’s immediate, post-conversion proclamation of the Christ (vv. 20-22);
the Jewish assassination plot (vv. 23-25);
the apostle’s eventual return to Jerusalem (vv. 26-30).
This section of Acts constitutes the primary historical record of this event. It is wonderfully condensed (which reflects an example of the restraint of the inspiration process), and is entirely accurate. This was forcefully illustrated by the research of noted archaeologist, Sir William Ramsay (1851-1939). Originally Ramsay doubted the credibility of Acts. However, after years of personal investigation and discovery, he championed the position that “Luke’s history is unsurpassed in respect of its trustworthiness” (The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979, p. 81).

The second narrative that contains a record of Paul’s conversion follows a vicious attempt on the part of certain militant Hebrews in Jerusalem to lynch the apostle — based upon the false charge that he had defiled the Jews’ temple (21:27ff). When Paul was providentially rescued from the bloodthirsty mob, he asked permission to address the crowd from the stairs of the fortress of Antonia. His request was granted.

The address delivered on this occasion was a benevolent, evangelistic polemic, the design of which was to present an argument to his Hebrew kinsmen, explaining why he had come to acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. He chronicles his illustrious background in Judaism, his days as a persecutor of the Christian faith, the details of his “new birth,” and his subsequent commission to proclaim Jesus. There thus is ample reason as to why this testimony was recorded by the inspired historian.
Agrippa II, who governed certain territories in northern Palestine, was the last Jewish ruler to wear the title “king.” Having been appointed by Claudius Caesar, he was a powerful political figure of that day. When Porcius Festus became the Roman procurator over Palestine, he found Paul imprisoned at Caesarea. Not knowing exactly how to deal with his famous prisoner, he sought the counsel of Agrippa. After some discussion, the two of them (together with Agrippa’s sister, Bernice) determined they would interview the celebrated apostle. Paul then had the opportunity to put his case before a Jewish official (allegedly an “expert” in Hebrew matters — 26:3), and a pagan governor; these were legal dignitaries. The apostle begins his address directly to Agrippa, but quickly broadens his remarks to include the others (as reflected by the plural pronoun — 26:.

That he made a devastating defense of his cause (thus also for the validity of Christianity) is evidenced by the response that he received from his hitherto hostile audience. After an initial explosive outburst from Festus (obviously to “save face”), the king, the governor, and powerful and wicked Bernice, had a private conference.

In this clandestine session, they discussed Paul’s case extensively (as suggested by the verbal tenses; “spoke” — imperfect; “saying” — present, v. 31). Their verdict was this: “This man is doing nothing worthy of death or imprisonment.” Agrippa even added that Paul deserved to be released, and likely would be, were he not under the restraint of his own appeal to Caesar (v. 32). Protocol demanded that that legal process be satisfied.
The late E.M. Blaiklock, former Professor of Classics at University College (Auckland, New Zealand), once raised the question as to whether the extensive inclusions relative to Paul’s conversion, as displayed in Acts, were justified. He responded in the affirmative. He called attention to the fact that Paul’s case was a great legal test for the authenticity of Christianity, and that the apostle’s eventual acquittal (as evidenced by the letters of 1, 2 Timothy and Titus) justifies the volume of Luke’s material, and demonstrates that the historian’s purpose was achieved (Acts of the Apostles, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959, p. 186).

Contradiction vs. Supplementation
Let us now give brief notice to the charge that the records of Paul’s conversion conflict with one another.

The most-frequently-cited example, that is said to mar the harmony of the narratives, is the alleged conflict between 9:7 and 22:9. The former, in earlier versions (KJV, ASV) states that the men accompanying Saul “heard the voice” of the Lord, while the latter text contends that they “heard not the voice.”

A common method of reconciliation has been to note that in 9:7 “hearing” (akouo) is used with the genitive case, which merely specifies that a “sound” was heard. On the other hand, akouo in 22:9 takes an accusative object, which indicates “extent,” i.e., though a sound was heard, the extent (the “meaning”) was not to the point of comprehension. A.T. Robertson, the prince of grammarians, declared that this approach is “perfectly proper” (Historical Grammar of the Greek New Testament, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1919, p. 506).

A contemporary scholar suggests that an appropriate harmony is explained best by Luke’s use of different sources to compose his document. Professor Daniel Wallace surmises that Luke preserved the precise phraseology of dual sources (cf. Luke 1:3), and that his record reflects the fact that both akouo (hear) and phone (voice) are capable of different nuances, e.g., hear/understand and sound/voice. Thus, no contradiction may be charged legitimately, even without the “case” argument (Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, pp. 133-134).
Factual “supplementation” (the addition of non-contradictory details), of course, presents no problem for the perceptive student who is aware of the nature of a genuine discrepancy. And the three “conversion” accounts do supplement one another quite richly. Consider but one example.

When Saul opened his eyes, following the brilliant vision, he was unable to see anything, and it was necessary that he be led by his companions into the city of Damascus. Even though these men also “beheld the light,” they were not blinded (22:9). Why not? This unique detail explains the matter. It was the “glory” of the light, i.e., the radiance of the Lord Jesus himself (22:11; cf. v. 14), that his companions did not see, that temporarily robbed Saul of his vision.
Yes, wonderfully complementary are the details, but no contradictions exist. The critic’s charge, as stated at the beginning of this piece, is without credibility. Truth ever triumphs.

sukkot:
https://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/35501969.jpg

Stu.pid is as stu.pid does.

SirShymexx:
Gathering of racist fvckers and brainwashed coons who celebrate their nonsense .

Chris Rock killed it. The smartest and most intelligent comedian of the post-Chapelle era. Only unemployed folks call for boycott especially when the woman who initiate the move cos of her husband that has always been a semi-coon did so cos of selfish reasons. I respect Jada but in as much as I admire Will Smith, he has never been down with the struggle lol.

Stacey Dash just made a fool of herself - the biggest coon since Uncle Tom's chronicles. Who added that prick to the show? She has always been a Z-list actress and if not for Dame Dash, no one cares about her trifling arse.

And fvck Leonardo DiCaprio's honkey arse as well. You know darn well you were not the best actor last year. Stop it, white boy.

Cc: sukkot

Don't get it. Hollywood has championed liberal causes such as civil rights and integration for probably the last 60 years and all of a sudden they have become the propaganda wing of the Klu Klux Klan just because they failed to nominate blacks for ONE academy awards ceremony. Awards are based on merit not affirmative action. When will black people grow back bones and stop this idiotic and immature craving for white acceptance and recognition? Asians don't behave that way and they are leaps and bounds ahead of you.
That m.o.ron Al Sharpton is the classic example of what black people stand for. Always willing to play the victim and wallow in the whiteman's pity.

Thank goodness these views are from a Muslim woman:

Saudi journalist, Nadine Al-Budair who lives in Qatar, penned an article in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai in which she wondered how Muslims would have acted if Christians had blown themselves up in their midst or tried to force their faith on them.

She presented the hypothetical question while calling on the Muslim world to be introspective and enact reforms, instead of condemning Western attitudes towards it.

“Imagine a Western youth coming here and carrying out a suicide mission in one of our public squares in the name of the Cross. Imagine that two skyscrapers had collapsed in some Arab capital, and that an extremist Christian group, donning millennium-old garb, had emerged to take responsibility for the event, while stressing its determination to revive Christian teachings or some Christian rulings, according to its understanding, to live like in the time [of Jesus] and his disciples, and to implement certain edicts of Christian scholar,” she wrote, according to a translation of the article by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).



“Imagine hearing the voices of monks and priests from churches and prayer houses in and out of the Arab world, screaming on loudspeakers and levelling accusations against Muslims, calling them infidels, and chanting: ‘God, eliminate the Muslims and defeat them all.’”

“Imagine that we had provided an endless number of foreign groups with visas, ID cards, citizenships, proper jobs, free education, free modern healthcare, social security, and so on, and later a member of one of these groups came out, consumed by hatred and bloodlust, and killed our sons on our streets, in our buildings, in our newspaper [offices], in our mosques and in our schools.”

“Imagine a Frenchmen or a German in Paris or Berlin leading his Muslim neighbor [somewhere] in order to slaughter him and then freeze his head in an ice box, in a cold and calculating manner… as one terrorist did with the head of an American in Riyadh years ago.”

She was referring to American engineer Paul Marshall Johnson, who was abducted and beheaded by Al-Qaeda operatives in Saudi Arabia in 2004. His severed head was found in an ice box in a Riyadh apartment approximately one month later.

“Imagine that we visited their country as tourists and they shot at us, blew up car bombs near us, and announced their opposition to our presence [there] by chanting: ‘Remove the Muslims from the land of culture.’”

“These images are far from the mind of the Arab or Muslim terrorist because he is certain, or used to be certain, that the West is humanitarian and that the Western citizen would refuse to respond [in this manner] to the barbaric crimes [of the Muslim terrorists]. Despite the terrorist acts of Al-Qaeda and ISIS [the Islamic State], we [Muslims] have been on [Western] soil for years without any fear or worry. Millions of Muslim tourists, immigrants, students, and job seekers [travel to the West] with the doors open [to them], and the streets safe [for them].”

“However, how much longer [will this last]? Today things are different. [Western] anger [at Muslims] is apparent, and they make scary declarations.”

“It is strange that we [Muslims] believe we have the right to condemn such statements rather than address the implications of some of our extremist curricula, our education, and our regimes, and be ashamed [of them]… It is strange that we condemn [the West] instead of addressing what is happening in our midst – the extremist ways in which we interpret the shari’a and our reactionary attitudes towards each other and the world. It is strange that we condemn instead of apologizing to the world.”

“How would you react if a European blew up a theater in your city or a café that your son frequents? What would you do if you heard curses against your religion and faith every Sunday, as they hear [against theirs] from some of our imams on Fridays and other days?

“Imagine being in Amsterdam, London, or New York and knowing that students [there] learn as part of their curricula that you are an infidel, and that killing you is jihad that leads to the virgins of paradise. Would you extend your stay there to the end of the summer, or stay away? [Would you] blow yourself up [as the Muslim terrorists do], or would you do less than that: [Merely] conquer your rage and demand to ban Christians from entering Arab countries. What would you do?

“[Imagine] the war that would break out had Westerners shed their values in the face of the bloody crimes committed by foreigners, and if Western or Christian counter-radicalism had emerged in our Arab cities?

“After all these farces, some Arab analyst comes out touting a pathetic message, and reciting the same words in his friend’s ear that he has repeated millions of times: ‘Those [Muslims who commit terrorism] do not represent Islam, but only themselves.’

“This is all we [know how to do] – absolve [ourselves] of guilt.”

By: United with Israel Staff
(With files from MEMRI)

DeathStroke007:
Telling lies is a sin.. May Allah never forgive you for quoting and framing lies against prophet Muhammad (saw)..




http://www.islamicstudies.info/tafheem.php/?sura=66&verse=1&to=5



this is the real translations and footnotes of the verse.. its in detailed expiation..


go read and learn .. and know that nothing except lie will always come out of this kufar mouth

It must be very painful to be obsessed with another religion. Especially when that religion considers you to be a nuisance. Poor abeed.

Even in the crookran Jesus receives more mentions than MUMUhaMAD

See what n Arsenal fan said he would do if Marcus Rashford scores

Nna see as market full ground berekete

dunkem21:
We have repeatedly said that "newspunch" is a zombie propaganda site ..

I don't want to come back from church and see this crap on FP ..

..I see a mod viewing

This "crap" will hit the Front Page, be rest assured. It is the kind of expensive "crap" that everyone likes to read about.

IslamOoooooo!!! Everyday I learn something new and ridiculous about this bastard religion. Chai! So Camel Urine is okay but alcohol consumption is punishable with prison? Bwahahaahahah!!!! Abeed people!!!

Horner:
I know we Somalis have good hair and features but why you guys so jealous and hating? you guys ugly with wide noses and big lips

We're not jealous of skinny starving Somalis;

We're not jealous of your terrorism (Al Shabaab);

We're not jealous of your piracy;

We're not jealous of your poverty;

We're not jealous of your backwardness;

If you hate Nigerians so much then f.u.ck off and find your way to a Somali Forum, if such a thing even exists.

Get off Nairaland, you cheap mogadishu I.d.iot.

A Romanian woman, Elena Smocot, 27, has been jailed for 18 years for callously killing her defenceless newborn child after realising how different he looked to her other children.

She was at home with her four-year-old
son, seven-year-old nephew, and her
newborn son when she realised the
differences between them.

She told police that as soon as she noticed the similarity with her lover, she had grabbed the child by the legs and swung him around, bashing his head against the furniture several times until
the child stopped screaming.

She then went outside, put it on the floor and stamped on his body repeatedly.

Her two other children in her care, who
heard her shouting, went outside and
then quickly ran away to raise the alarm with neighbours.

In the meantime, the mother grabbed a
broken tile and attacked the baby with it.

She then pulled out his intestines, put
them in the bath tub and then switched
on the shower where she stood inside
the same bath to wash herself.

The horrific murder that took place at the woman's home in the town of Barlad in Romania’s Vaslui County has shocked
the country.

During the court case, judges heard
evidence that the woman might have
been suffering from depression because
in both 2010 and 2012 she had suffered
from postnatal depression.

She said that nobody had known she
had a lover, and in interviews with
detectives she gave chilling details of the killing.

Mrs Smocot's sentence begins immediately and she will not be entitled to parole because of the exceptional gravity of her offence.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3465584/Romanian-mother-cut-newborn-son-half-broken-roof-tile-eviscerated-realised-looked-like-husband-lover-s-child.html

ObiOmaMu:
I can't confirm how true this photo is but according to Justice, this is what a LION has been reduced to in the old Jos zoo!


http://www.lailasblog.com/2016/02/see-what-lion-has-been-reduced-to-in.html

See as dem abandon King of the Jungle. Omashe.

Woah