My challenge to you: Humans are not perfect; in fact they often mess things up pretty good. Every single word in the Bible was written by a human. God himself didn't manifest before you and hand you a copy; a human did. Your belief that God used his divine power to preserve the accuracy of the Bible was also taught to you by a human (and, ultimately, cooked up by a human). You simply cannot escape the element of human fallibility present in the Bible, and in all arguments made to it's final authority.
Thank you! I couldn't have posed the question any better my self. Yes I am a muslim, I have to say also I am educated in both the Islamic world and the US (Post Graduate) and my appreciation for religions just increased as I educated my self more.
Let me add this to the challenge. Since we are imperfect Human beings, we can not say without a doubt that the word that came from God is True or False. Assume it was false, then who cares? we are probably wasting our time with this discussion. But assume it was true, and coming from a perfect god, can we honestly say we can fully comprehend it? Can we ever reach a conclusion, without any doubt, about the source of problems in any religion? is it due to our misinterpretation? or the inaccuracy of the source?
I can talk about Muslims because I share their mindset and might understand where they come from with their arguments, and although we share many beliefs with Christians and Jews, there are some differences in our assumption and the way we approach religion that makes it difficult to agree on some matters. I am amazed that many slashdotters whom I assume the majority are educated and very open minded people easily generalize their assumption and beliefs to other religions which might lead you to erroneous conclusions about these religions that you don't fully understand. Even those of you that have read the Quran's translation, can you be sure that the translator was accurate since it was done by a human? are you sure that nothing of the original meaning is lost from translation?
My self, I can only talk about my understanding of Islam and Muslims. I see many wrong things that I don't agree with especially from people who call them selves devout Muslims and in the Muslim world. Will I ever be sure that they are following the true word of God? or am I the only person on the right tack? answer is a definite no. But let me share some insights about Islam that have allowed me to rationalize and accept this:
1- Quran was not revealed in one day to the Prophet Mohammed peace and blessings be upon him. It was revealed in parts over 23 years. Our prophet was an illiterate! and had a number of people transcribe the Quran. No matter what religious Islamic sect you belong to, the Quran is common amongst all of them in its Arabic form. There is not a single letter that is different. Which to me, adds weight to the argument that it might have been accurately preserved from its original form.
2- First word of the Quran that was revealed to the prophet Mohammed Peace and Blessings be upon him was "Read". It was repeated to him 3 times, and every time he would respond that he can't read. The first verse was "(my feeble attempt at translation which could be inaccurate): "Read in the name of your lord the creator, who created humans from blood, read by your lord the most Generous, the one who taught by the pen, and taught humans what they didn't know". Reading, learning by pen? Islam from the first minute was about knowledge and learning, and the choice of words would suggest that Quran was not meant to be literally interpreted.
3- Another verse "It is those that are most learned/scientific/knowledgeable that fear god the most". You can interpret this in many ways, one of which, you gain more appreciation of religion if you seek more knowledge. It also suggests, that knowledgeable people will be more fearful of god because they can see and appreciate things that normal people can't comprehend. Which ca
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ban lifted on youtube in kuwait
At least according to bloggers there
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/09/23/kuwait-youtube-ban-lifted/
if(x>5){doSomething();}else{doSeomthingElse);/*real programmers dont need new line or any contigous spaces*/}
this style makes your programs smaller and run faster!
while your at it, imagine a Beowulf cluster of those.
My challenge to you: Humans are not perfect; in fact they often mess things up pretty good. Every single word in the Bible was written by a human. God himself didn't manifest before you and hand you a copy; a human did. Your belief that God used his divine power to preserve the accuracy of the Bible was also taught to you by a human (and, ultimately, cooked up by a human). You simply cannot escape the element of human fallibility present in the Bible, and in all arguments made to it's final authority.
Thank you! I couldn't have posed the question any better my self. Yes I am a muslim, I have to say also I am educated in both the Islamic world and the US (Post Graduate) and my appreciation for religions just increased as I educated my self more.
Let me add this to the challenge. Since we are imperfect Human beings, we can not say without a doubt that the word that came from God is True or False. Assume it was false, then who cares? we are probably wasting our time with this discussion.
But assume it was true, and coming from a perfect god, can we honestly say we can fully comprehend it? Can we ever reach a conclusion, without any doubt, about the source of problems in any religion? is it due to our misinterpretation? or the inaccuracy of the source?
I can talk about Muslims because I share their mindset and might understand where they come from with their arguments, and although we share many beliefs with Christians and Jews, there are some differences in our assumption and the way we approach religion that makes it difficult to agree on some matters. I am amazed that many slashdotters whom I assume the majority are educated and very open minded people easily generalize their assumption and beliefs to other religions which might lead you to erroneous conclusions about these religions that you don't fully understand. Even those of you that have read the Quran's translation, can you be sure that the translator was accurate since it was done by a human? are you sure that nothing of the original meaning is lost from translation?
My self, I can only talk about my understanding of Islam and Muslims. I see many wrong things that I don't agree with especially from people who call them selves devout Muslims and in the Muslim world. Will I ever be sure that they are following the true word of God? or am I the only person on the right tack? answer is a definite no. But let me share some insights about Islam that have allowed me to rationalize and accept this:
1- Quran was not revealed in one day to the Prophet Mohammed peace and blessings be upon him. It was revealed in parts over 23 years. Our prophet was an illiterate! and had a number of people transcribe the Quran. No matter what religious Islamic sect you belong to, the Quran is common amongst all of them in its Arabic form. There is not a single letter that is different. Which to me, adds weight to the argument that it might have been accurately preserved from its original form.
2- First word of the Quran that was revealed to the prophet Mohammed Peace and Blessings be upon him was "Read". It was repeated to him 3 times, and every time he would respond that he can't read. The first verse was "(my feeble attempt at translation which could be inaccurate):
"Read in the name of your lord the creator, who created humans from blood, read by your lord the most Generous, the one who taught by the pen, and taught humans what they didn't know". Reading, learning by pen? Islam from the first minute was about knowledge and learning, and the choice of words would suggest that Quran was not meant to be literally interpreted.
3- Another verse "It is those that are most learned/scientific/knowledgeable that fear god the most". You can interpret this in many ways, one of which, you gain more appreciation of religion if you seek more knowledge. It also suggests, that knowledgeable people will be more fearful of god because they can see and appreciate things that normal people can't comprehend. Which ca