A twist on "why do you believe?"

[Jay!]

With regard to the OP, I offer two Richard Dawkins quotes:
"We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."

"Out of all of the sects in the world, we notice an uncanny coincidence: the overwhelming majority just happen to choose the one that their parents belong to. Not the sect that has the best evidence in its favour, the best miracles, the best moral code, the best cathedral, the best stained glass, the best music: when it comes to choosing from the smorgasbord of available religions, their potential virtues seem to count for nothing, compared to the matter of heredity. This is an unmistakable fact; nobody could seriously deny it. Yet people with full knowledge of the arbitrary nature of this heredity, somehow manage to go on believing in their religion, often with such fanaticism that they are prepared to murder people who follow a different one."

Originally Posted by quincyguy

Muslims do NOT believe on the God of Abraham.
If they do, then ask yourselves why they kill Jews!!!!

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religion
"Islam originated in the 7th century, in the Arabian cities of Mecca and Medina. Although not a dissident branch of either Judaism or Christianity, it is believed to be a continuation and replacement for them. According to the Qur'an, holy book of Islam, that book (Qur'an) was the final word of God and its message was that of all the prophets. As an example of the similarities between the faiths, Muslims believe in a version of the story of Genesis and in the lineal descent of the Arabs from Abraham through Ishmael, who was conceived through Abraham's servant Hagar."

also:
"Muslims believe that the Jewish God is the same as their God and that Jesus is a divinely inspired prophet, but not God. Thus, both the Torah and the Gospels are believed to be based upon divine revelation, but Muslims believe them to have been corrupted (both accidentally through errors in transmission and intentionally by Jews and Christians over the years). Muslims revere the Qur'an as the final uncorrupted word of God brought through the last prophet, Muhammad, and Islam is viewed as a final correction of Judaism and Christianity."

It seems that Islam would view Christianity as making the same error as Christianity sees in Judaism - Failing to believe that thier one last guy that showed up was the one to whom you were all supposed to be paying attention.

In any case, they sure do seem to all be talking about the same Abraham.

Originally Posted by quincyguy

Gott mit uns

...said the belt buckles of the Nazis (the vast majority of whom were Christian) as they, too, slaughtered the Jews. Is that the connection you meant to imply?

[LjasonL]

Originally Posted by quincyguy

Muslims do NOT believe on the God of Abraham.
If they do, then ask yourselves why they kill Jews!!!!

Indeed they do. So the story goes, God told Abraham he'd have a child, but Abrahams wife was like 90 years old and they didn't think she could give birth, so they decided Abraham should procreate with one of his wifes servants. She had a kid named Ishmael. THEN Abrahams 90 year old wife really did have a kid named Isaac. Christianity claims descent from Isaac and Islam from Ishmael. Both claim Abraham as the father of their people.

A few days after being judicially tortured to death in plain view if his own mother (!), Jesus met His schocked and afraid buddies and told them He'd
be leaving them soon, and rose to be with His Father.
ALL OF THESE GUYS SUFFERED HORRIBLE DEATHS later on.
Would they have suffered such for a lie?

You're assuming all that stuff really happened. What reason to you have to believe that?
All these other religions also have stories about people who suffered and died for their beliefs. The question is what makes your religion different that you believe it's story and not the others?

[mellowboy]

Originally Posted by quincyguy

Muslims do NOT believe on the God of Abraham.
If they do, then ask yourselves why they kill Jews!!!!

Its a bad habit if you speak without thinking first. Anyways, JAY! and LjasonL covered it pretty much.

[mellowboy]

Originally Posted by Shpyder

Bin Laden, for instance, requires that all US forces must leave Saudi Arabia, stop supporting Israel, and the Kingdom must be de-throned.

And theres nothing wrong with what he said. Im not supporting Bin Laden by any means but if he did really say that, then he is correct. Lets get on to US Forces:

1.US forces are considered non-muslim forces 2. Supporting a foreign army is also frowned upon in Islam and since we do not believe taking our fight outside our land 3. Saudi is a Muslim country, supporting non-Muslims to attack Muslims it is like betraying your family members.

For the Kingdom:

1. No land or country in this life deserves to be called "Kingdom." That name and place is already reserved for Heaven and since nothing in this world or life represents or even comes close to looking like Heaven, what makes them think they can call there land Kingdom? 2. To call yourselves Kings (as ruler of all ppl) is one of Allah's names. To name yourself Malik (King in arabic) is fine as long as your intentions are for the love of Allah(swt) and not having the intention to call yourself King in order to glorify yourself.


This is far as my knowledge tells me. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[mellowboy]

Originally Posted by LjasonL

My question is: Why don't you believe in any other gods?
What does your god have that the others don't?

To make it short. All religions besides Islam makes it seem that God is weak.

[03cavPA]

Originally Posted by mellowboy

To make it short. All religions besides Islam makes it seem that God is weak.

I might be able to see your point. A god who leads his followers to hijack civilian aircraft and cut up people with boxcutters in order to fly those planes into buildings loaded with occupants must be a very powerful god, indeed.

Now THERE is a god who truly must be feared above all others, huh?

[mellowboy]

Originally Posted by 03cavPA

I might be able to see your point. A god who leads his followers to hijack civilian aircraft and cut up people with boxcutters in order to fly those planes into buildings loaded with occupants must be a very powerful god, indeed.

Now THERE is a god who truly must be feared above all others, huh?

Right on the money!

[03cavPA]

Then you agree that it is acceptable to commit such acts in your god's name? You condone this sort of behavior as a proper command from your god?

Is this what makes him strong, this command to kill the infidel?

Are the others weak because they don't preach this?

Bear in mind you did say that all religions beside Islam make it seem that God is weak.

[mellowboy]

Originally Posted by 03cavPA

Then you agree that it is acceptable to commit such acts in your god's name? You condone this sort of behavior as a proper command from your god?

Is this what makes him strong, this command to kill the infidel?

Are the others weak because they don't preach this?

Bear in mind you did say that all religions beside Islam make it seem that God is weak.

Wow. Can't take sarcasm huh? God according to Christianity made him seem weak. Meaning, they he slumbers/blind/wrestles with a human being. That is what I meant. In the Qur'an, God does not sleep/nor is he blind. You definitely misunderstood my post. Im not goin to argue with you because you lack the ability to understand Islam according to your posts. So I decide not to bother with you. Feel free to reply if you like but I already know that nothing will get through your head. So its basically pointless talkin to a wall.

[03cavPA]

Works for me.

[Jay!]

Originally Posted by 03cavPA

Then you agree that it is acceptable to commit such acts in your god's name? You condone this sort of behavior as a proper command from your god?

Hey, remember the Spanish Inquisition? Or the Crusades?

[03cavPA]

Originally Posted by Jay!

Hey, remember the Spanish Inquisition? Or the Crusades?

Not from personal experience, since I wasn't there, but I've read about them.

And the point would be what? That the Catholic church "makes their god seem strong"? That they're just as badass as the followers of Islam?

Sure. Why not? Why should the Islamists have all the fun?

[Ian Szgatti]

If you believe in one God and turn out to be wrong, your screwed, if, on the other hand you try to be as good as you can and let judgment come as it may, a truely merciful God would understand that you were made imperfect. If I get punished still... than God is a complete ass

[hotrod_chevyz]

I believe in one christian god. I believe his son is named jesus. I know if you believe in some other god or religion, your risking your eternity.

For the most part tho, i believe most religious cultures fight over who has the best imaginary friend. If you think your god causes tornadoes or earthquakes or some stupid crap like that, be prepared to burn in hell.

[Moppie]

Originally Posted by 03cavPA

Sure. Why not? Why should the Islamists have all the fun?

When it comes to killing people in the name of "god" islam is very, very new to the sand pit, and has a lot of catching up to do.
If you want to be nice, you had better let them have a turn with the digger.