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D'Anne Marc, why are you posting, why are you not listening to Thom's broadcast like a good liberal? Are you slipping in your fealty? We'll have to keep an eye on you!
Seriously though, the great (Jewish, Marxist, Freudian) psychoanalyst, Eric Fromm, saw the story of the Garden of Eden, and subsequent expulsion from it, in Genesis as an ancient metaphor for the human life story, more specifically, for a child's coming of age. The Garden of Eden represents care free childhood which ends when one eats from the "tree of knowledge of good and evil". Thereupon the child is driven out from the garden never to return. Thereafter the child must think on their own and only "by the sweat of your brow" will they survive. Gone is the freedom from care and the innocence of early years.
Personally, I accept about three or four of the Ten Commandments.
PFNELKAK ~ You make some strikingly good points. Your reference to the Garden of Eden for example. Remember, Eve rebelled against GOD by eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Could it be that the entire trip from NYC to LA is nothing more than the digestion of that fruit? What about that "little book" spoken of in REV 10:2-10? The book the angel gave John that tasted sweet in his mouth but turned his stomach bitter? Could that book have been the Bible; and, could that book have been the essence behind the digestion of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil?
Oh, what a bitter pill knowledge can be! If you want to take GOD into your life you have to accept his covenant--the Ten Commandments. One of them clearly states--Thou Shalt Not Kill! Yet, throughout the Bible, God commands his followers--through his Prophets--to kill in his name. No one ever stands up and says, "If GOD contradicts himself he is not perfect. If he is not perfect, he is no god." Yet, every ounce of good logic would dictate that this argument would be true. Certainly, anyone who has accepted GOD into themselves is capable of independent critical thinking? Certainly, GOD wants more from his children than to be blind, mindless followers?
I agree with you. People must accept GOD in their own way and in their own time. I do not believe that acceptance of GOD through any organized religion is genuine. Only on the personal level. As far as the Bible is concerned, or the Quran for that matter, it should be taken lightly, as a guide, and nothing more. To tout these pieces of literature as the WORD OF GOD is deceptive at best. For every wise, good, and accurate quote you can dig out of the work, I can dig out ones to justify murder, rape, riots, slavery, genocide, and even global war. The time has come to recognize evil for what it is, in all of its forms, and put away this bitter book. Maybe then, and only then, might we--as a species--reach the promised land of LA.
Sure, you shouldn't shoot a bunch of people but you also shouldn't make fun of the Prophet Muhammad. France has a large immigrant Arab and Muslim population and the racism against them is very widespread and very virulent.
I don't think the staff of of Charlie Hebdo "deserved" to get shot up but neither do I think they were entirely innocent victims. chicagotim might, I think, be right that this wasn't so much, in the strictest sense, terrorism as a targeted mass assasination.
Loren Bliss: Your comment on theological hatefulness brought to mind Thomas Paine. "All religions are in their nature mild and benign, and united with principles of morality. They could not have made proselities at first, by professing any thing that was vicious, cruel, persecuting, or immoral. Like everything else, they had their beginning; and they proceeded by persuasion, exhortation, and example. How then is it that they lose their native mildness, and become morose and intolerant?"
"It proceeds from the connection which Mr. Burke recommends. By engendering the church with the state, a sort of mule animal, capable only of destroying, and not of breeding up, is produced, called The Church established by law. It is a stranger, even form its birth, to any parent mother on which it is begotten, and whom in time it kicks out and destoys." ....Rights of Man I 1791
I confess to giving into terror...I still get nervous around religious fanatics that look like Tim McVeigh!
Loren, thank you for clarifying. I'm not a "regular" here so I'm not really familiar with the philosopies of those who are. But after putting up my question, I figured you were referring to the American "left," who are actually centrist/"progressives," terrified to be labelled liberal or "left" and also terrified to remove their "blinders."
Your salvation, my salvation, our mothers salvation, is not based on what church we attend, how much money we have or have not, or what party we group with, it is souly on each one's own works (the 10 commandments) & our relationship with JESUS CHRIST (grace). rev. 22:11-21
All through the history of this earth, each person struggles, fights to do good or evil. Even the children of Israel did evil, judges 13:1. JESUS condemns the jewish leaders, Matthew chapter 23. Even today, the religious right moves to help themselves instead of helping the poor. But the battle for your soul is with you and satan. And the victory can only be won with GOD on your side. Let him in. Matthew 11:28-30.
Paul
Reading a book once or twice or even ten times, there is always something new to learn from the authors perspective, for truth is progressive. I've been studying the bible for over 30 years now, and can still learn something new. And since religion has been the attack here of " being hateful & deadly to one's life", I must direct you to what you are not seeing. If you remember at the beginning that eve was lured (tempted, deceived ) by the serpent ( the devil, Satan ) to not believe GOD but believe him. Eve did, Adam followed, and it's been hell on earth ever since.
The bible is a time line and a record of GOD's people on their journey from Eden lost to Eden restored. Like a journey from N.Y.C. to L.A., meeting every foe & disease & thorn satan can throw at you to get you to turn away from GOD or to blame GOD for. And when you turn away from GOD's calling, satan uses you to hurt others, by words or by actions, he uses you. But GOD runs after you, to help you see HIM as HE really is, a GOD of love.
We are almost to L.A., for JESUS is about to return, the last call, to take those with HIM who want to be with HIM. So what is your choice? Will you search for more truth?
REF. : use K.J.V. -
gen. chapter 3; rev. 20:1,2; 1john 3:8; romans 5:12-15; romans 3:10-31; exodus 20:1-17; romans 6:23; 1john4:8-21; 1john1:8-10;
1john2:1-6; Matthew 18:11-14;rev. chapter 21 & 22; psalms chapter 27; john 3:16,17
Paul
Absolutism leads to this kind of disregard for life. The ideological trap doesn't just exist in religious dogma. Whether it be masked gunmen slaughtering people over a fictional religious figure, or a state warship firing missiles into a populated city killing countless innocent people to achieve military objectives, ideological absolutism is failure of humanity.
Greenthumb...This is my third attempt to respond to your comment. Each of the other two were wiped out by Internet spasms -- something that rarely happens to me. So I'll try one more time.
The Left -- not the entire global Left but certainly the vast majority of the USian Left (and especially the Second Wave feminist movement) -- insists on defining Muslim terrorism as an expression of economic and/or political anger rather than of theological hatefulness. Thus -- in defiance of 800 years of history -- this very large and influential Leftist faction argues that Jihad is a revolution against capitalist imperialism rather than (another) of the periodic (and invariably sadistic) efforts at world conquest that characterize all the Abrahamic religions.
At the same time, to further reinforce its claim Jihad is anti-capitalist revolution rather than a war to impose theological misogyny and myriad other forms of religion-motivated persecution, this segment of the Left argues that religion <i>per se</i> is no longer politically or economically significant. And on that basis it denounces as "paranoids" those of us who are aware of the looming threat of Christian theocracy being formally imposed on the U.S.
Thus -- by refusing to acknowledge the relevant theological precepts -- it is able to support Jihad as revolution even as it tries, unsuccessfully, to battle the imposition of Christian theocracy in the imperial homeland.
The abject failure of this battle, in large part due to the Left's politically "correct" refusal to recognize the religious nature of the enemy, is evident in the fact vast portions of the United States, including all the South and most of the Northern Interior, are already <i>de facto</i> theocracies. This is proven by the abolition of reproductive rights, the conversion of public education into bible school and the blending of misogyny, homophobia, racism and the doctrines of Ayn Rand with the god-sanctioned malevolence of the Prosperity Gospel to spawn a uniquely USian form of Nazism.
Were the Left to recognize that the enemy of Nature and therefore of human survival is in fact Abrahamic religion -- that the murderous hatefulness at the core of Christianity is also the murderous hatefulness at the core of Judaism and Islam -- it would then be compelled either to set aside its historically false characterization of Jihad as revolution (rather than conquest motivated by religious fanaticism), or be subject to condemnation for the obvious hypocrisy of opposing two vectors of Abrahamic murderousness while supporting a third.
I made no mention of the Right in this discussion for two reasons. One, the USian Right is itself an expression of Abrahamic -- mostly Christian -- hatefulness. Two, what the Right does or does not do is (or should be) irrelevant to any effort to clarify Leftist thinking on these matters.
FYI,,, The link will not post to FB.. I THINK THE problem is the apostrophe in "let's."
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Perfectly said Tim. But are the "Islamic extremists" who did this also terrorists because they are trying to frighten all news media. I would think all media is at risk that would offend them.
Interesting blog topic. I definitely agree that the wrong acts are being called "terrorism", but differ in my classification. I would suggest that all of these cases are "mass shootings" or "mass murder"..... But terrorism to me suggests an act largely done to frighten the broader public and create a sense of unease or panic. The guys in Boston or the 9/11 hijackers were "terrorists", for example. I would agree that the crazy guy in Norway was a "terrorist" too. The crazies in France killed specific individual for creating what they considered offensive cartoons. The public at large was never at risk. They're not "terrorists", they're "Islamic extremists" or something. And while we're on the subject, what are the gun laws in France?
Reagan started it with reclassifying catsup a vegetable to save tax dollars on the backs of poor kids. We renamed hunger food insecurity to white wash the pain. The Republicons renamed the Democratic Party the Democrat party, and we all follow in line. Up is down, day is night. This is what we get.
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On a related note, whenever a person of color commits a serious crime or multiple murders, he or she is immediately labeled as an animal who is representative of his or her ethnicity's propensity for violence.
Whereas, when a white person who commits mass murder, then immediately the media discusses his mental health, his history of being victim of bullying or physical abuse. At the same time, attacks are made against the "left-bias" media for sensationalizing the tragedy and for using the tragedy as an excuse for bringing up the "gun control" issue.
Vegasman, you make some good points in your #3 post. But how can you say “free” trade raised the standard of living in Mexico when we have all these destitute Mexican farmers sneaking over the border to find work here?! Doesn't quite add up. - AIW
Loren, I agree with you. But what do you mean by "the Left's" refusal in the first sentence? Why didn't you also include "the Right's"?
An excellent analysis of the 'sins' of religion, Loren; if only we could get everyone to see the real truth.
Me too, Loren! And by the way, happy new year!
Loren Bliss ~ Well said! I agree!
The real problem is the Left's refusal to recognize the terrorist threat implicit in the hatefulness at the core of all the Abrahamic religions. Indeed the common principle of Judaism, Christianity and Islam is hatred -- of women, of Nature, of anyone defined as spiritually "inferior."
And it is this same refusal to recognize the inherent hatefulness of all three of these religions that facilitates denial of some threats (for example the Islamic threat, as implicit in Mr. Hartmann's essay above) and emphasis on others (for example the Christian threat, again as implicit above). Or <i>vice-versa</i>, as in the imperial U.S. emphasis on the Muslim threat and concurrent denial of the Christian threat.
The truth -- proven beyond dispute by history -- is the threat of fanatical terrorism is endemic to all three religions, including Judaism, for examples of which note not only the genocide applauded by the Old Testament but the present-day fact that Hassidic Jews in Israel now routinely assault Israeli women who wear modern clothing and otherwise refuse to submit to Hassidic misogyny.
Those who remain in denial about the inherent malevolence of Abrahamic religion should also note that capitalism -- which has already abolished human freedom and is now threatening all life on this planet -- is the direct derivitive of the Abrahamic worldview.
It's an Islam vs Christian thing. However, both religions obviously have some pretty big flaws. Both The Quran and The Bible are full of contradictions that make the justification of almost anything possible. The people who manipulate and interpret those contradictions need scapegoats to focus the energy of their followers. Henceforth anywhere fundamentalists pop up in power you are going to have a slanted media. The same goes for the other side. Thanks Thom for pointing out that hypocrisy and shedding some light on such a dark and dangerous subject.
It seems like our war on terror is not a war on all terrorist but instead a war on Muslim extremist terrorist only. The war on Terror should be called " The war on Muslim terrorist" because that is exactly what it is.