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27th February 2005, 10:16 AM | #1 |
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Hotel literature in Riyadh
Forget the Gideons, folks. When you're a guest in a hotel in Saudi Arabia you receive a pleathora of books designed to convert. Fresh off the plane, The GM has the goods, compliments of someone who was a visitor to SA.
I have: What the Bible says about Muhummed, PBUH, by Ahmed Deedat Christ PBUH in Islam by the same author A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam by I.A. Ibriham And last but not least, Understanding Islam By the Islamic Center of Carbondale Compared to Chick tracts, these books blow him away in aestetics. Easily on par w/ the JWs work, but actually a little nicer to look at. According to Understanding Islam, 32% of the people in the world are Christians, 20% Muslim, 19% Atheist, 13% Hindu, 5% Buddhists, ..3% Jews, and 10% others. You atheists are gaining! *gasp* You may also request the following literature from these folks: 50,000 errors in the Bible, The God that Never Was, Resurrection or Resuscitation? and naturally, Is the Bible God's Word? I've only briefed through them, but they are actually more convincing in their arguments than a lot of Christian tracts I've come across. When I get around to it, I'll do a review. |
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"Wow. GM. There has never been anything more wrong. You are Wrongy McWrongstein IV."--LostAngeles "Careful, GM, I'm almost starting to like you." --DanishDynamite "DAMN GIRL! I just KNEW there was a reason I liked you!!!" --Roadtoad [/size] |
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27th February 2005, 02:36 PM | #2 |
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Funny, I never knew that 102% of the world's various religious denominations were accounted for, or did you mean .3% Jews, and I just screwed up?
I'm looking foreward to a review and synonpsis. Maybe you could scan any of the good art? |
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"Man would have been too happy, if, limiting himself to the visible objects which interested him, he had employed, to perfect his real sciences, his laws, his morals, his education, one half-the efforts he has put into his researches on the Divinity" -Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Necessity of Atheism |
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27th February 2005, 02:43 PM | #3 |
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I'm hoping to find some of the stuff online to refer people to, such as the 'people made of clay' which also means leeches commentary. If not, it's off to the scanner. But here's a little preview to whet your palate: "If we would like to know if a religion is true or false, we should not depend on our emotions, feelings, or traditions. Rather, we should depend on our reason and intellect." -A Brief Illustrated Guide to understanding Islam Amen, brother. Already makes it better than fundy lit. |
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"Wow. GM. There has never been anything more wrong. You are Wrongy McWrongstein IV."--LostAngeles "Careful, GM, I'm almost starting to like you." --DanishDynamite "DAMN GIRL! I just KNEW there was a reason I liked you!!!" --Roadtoad [/size] |
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27th February 2005, 03:21 PM | #4 |
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I'm guessing that what's refered to is resonand logic based on supposedly infallible scriptures?
Oh well, I still prefer it to 1inC's Holy armor against "smokescreen[s] of logic and reason". |
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"Man would have been too happy, if, limiting himself to the visible objects which interested him, he had employed, to perfect his real sciences, his laws, his morals, his education, one half-the efforts he has put into his researches on the Divinity" -Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Necessity of Atheism |
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27th February 2005, 03:53 PM | #5 |
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Review: A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam by I.A. Ibriham www.islam-brief-guide.org ISBN: 9960.34.011.2 This is a 75 page text, printed by the MAMY House Intl. for Printing and Publishing Distribution, Riyahd, SA. The cover is a computer animated Qur’an circling the globe (starting in South Africa and making it’s way into a spliced picture of the Haram Mosque in Makkah.) The back cover shows more CG northern lights type stuff in the sky w/ a spliced pic of the mosque in Madinah. A brief dedication on the inside over says, In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. The book is separated into three chapters. Chapter one: Some evidence for the truth of Islam, Chapter two: Some benefits of Islam, and Chapter three: General Information on Islam. The inside is well laid out for a tract of this type, and unlike its Christian counterparts, has the editorial blessing of seven professors and 6 pages of references to scientific sources that support the assertions made within the book. What these people are professors of, I have no idea. Chapter One: Here the author is laying out proofs that Islam is the real deal. Six types of evidence are discussed: The scientific miracles in the Qur’an, the great challenge to produce one chapter like the chapters of the Qur’an, Biblical prophecies about Muhammad, Qur’an prophecies that have come true, miracles performed by Muhammad, and the simple life of Muhammad. The Qur’an is said to be the literal word of God. As such, there are no authors like you find in the Bible. It was passed down to Muhammad through the angel, Gabriel. He memorized it, dictated it to his companions, and reviewed it w/ Gabriel once a year, and twice a year in his last year of life to make sure that it was accurate. The Qur’an was written 14 centuries ago. The first scientific proof offered that shows the infallibility of the Qur’an is that of conception.
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Skipping ahead to Chapter two: Here we get into the meat of the matter: How to get to Heaven. Simple, you need only to convert to Islam. There is a simple declaration of faith to be said aloud, and that’s it! Now you try to live a pious and good life, and Heaven will be waiting there for you at the end. If you don’t, it’s Hellfire for you. Simple as that. Chapter two is super short. So, on to chapter three. How does one be a good Muslim? You have to: believe in God, belief in angels, such as Gabriel, belief in the Qur’an, belief in the prophets, including but not limited to Muhammad, belief in the day of judgment (an interesting side note, the Qur’an seems to lay out Judgment day much like the JWs do. Everyone is resurrected, and then judged.) and finally belief in Al-Qadar (divine predestination). God knows everything, whatever God wills is what God wills. In the same paragraph we are told that we have free will, though God already knows what we’re going to do. A strange contradiction, but there it is. You also must believe in the sunnah, a book authored by Muhammad’s companions based on the teaching of Muhammad. There is some info on what the Qur’an is, basically a rehash of chapter one, who Muhammad was (born in Makkah in 570). We also learn that Jesus (another prophet, but not the son of God) was no crucified, but rather God took him away and a doppelganger was put in his place. So the fake Jesus was slain, not the real one. The book goes on to say that Muslims should not be bigots or racist, that women should be allowed their own property and should be treated very well by their husbands, that one should treat their parents w/ the utmost in respect, and that one should follow the 5 pillars of faith. You must testify your faith w/ convictions, pray five times a day, give to the needy, fasting during Ramandan, and pilgrim to Makkah at least once in your life. For a tract, it’s jam packed w/ information, citations, and illustrations. These guys are serious about converting you. Resistance is futile. edit: fixed tags |
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"Wow. GM. There has never been anything more wrong. You are Wrongy McWrongstein IV."--LostAngeles "Careful, GM, I'm almost starting to like you." --DanishDynamite "DAMN GIRL! I just KNEW there was a reason I liked you!!!" --Roadtoad [/size] |
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27th February 2005, 11:56 PM | #6 |
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While I find it touching (in about the same way as I find a solar-powered oil freighter) that Muslim apologists try to reconcile the Koran with science and general sanity, as opposed to eradicating the latter as our favorite people do State-side, their arguments require the same mental backflips and double think, and furthermore, carry exactly the same amount of validity.
http://www.infidels.org/library/mode.../islamsci.html [Non sequitur] I have tentatively concluded that Islam is scarier than Christianity because they managed to kill roughly the same number of people in less time. [/Non sequitur] |
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"Man would have been too happy, if, limiting himself to the visible objects which interested him, he had employed, to perfect his real sciences, his laws, his morals, his education, one half-the efforts he has put into his researches on the Divinity" -Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Necessity of Atheism |
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28th February 2005, 11:24 AM | #7 |
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Re: Hotel literature in Riyadh
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Tangential side note: A hotel I stayed at in Bangkok had the New Testament, and something called "Teachings of the Buddha". Already quite familiar with the first, I thumbed through the latter for the basic ideas. |
28th February 2005, 12:24 PM | #8 |
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Re: Re: Hotel literature in Riyadh
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Well, PBUY, too. We could all use a little of that, eh? My next review will be of Christ (PBUH) in Islam. A little footnote claims, "Christians, the meaning is not that they merely call themselves Christians, but that they are such sincere Christians that they appreciate Muslim virtues. They would say: It is true we are Christians, but we understand your point of view, and we know you are good men. THEY ARE MUSLIMS AT HEART, WHATEVER THEIR LABEL MAY BE." (emphasis, their's) I wonder if most Christians would agree? |
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"Wow. GM. There has never been anything more wrong. You are Wrongy McWrongstein IV."--LostAngeles "Careful, GM, I'm almost starting to like you." --DanishDynamite "DAMN GIRL! I just KNEW there was a reason I liked you!!!" --Roadtoad [/size] |
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28th February 2005, 06:10 PM | #9 |
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> So the most suitable word to describe mountains on the basis
> of this information is the word ‘peg,’ since most of a properly > set peg is hidden under the surface of the ground Huh?!? Say whazis now? A "properly set peg" is mostly above the ground. We know them better as "fence posts". And yes, even before cement was invented, most of the post was still above ground. And what do they mean "below ground", anyway? 30 miles down it's all lava. |
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"Great innovations should not be forced [by way of] slender majorities." - Thomas Jefferson The government should nationalize it! Socialized, single-payer video game development and sales now! More, cheaper, better games, right? Right? |
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1st March 2005, 04:56 AM | #10 |
A post by Alan Smithee
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At least the radical Christians are "only" trying to do it via the ballot box and school board science decisions... |
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