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  •  If you look at (none / 0)

    a Buddhist (or Hindu, I know I'm terribly uneducated in this department) point of view. There is no way to prove any existence other than your own. So if this holds true, would it be possible that all of these terrible things you speak of, are merely trials and tests set by God to see how you react?

    (Mind you Buddhists dont belive in a God per se, and Hindus are polytheistic)
    within Buddhism I believe there are 8 different sects?)

    Another way to look at it, I forget where i heard this but, "all paths lead to the same summit." so no matter what religion you're going to the same place.

    I dunno I take what Ive learned from other religions and science and formulate my own thoughts, because, hey, God gave us free will right?

    by BoxinLeprechaun on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 07:52:28 PM EST

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    •  well (none / 0)

      If there is a God who tests us by letting millions die, i think there may be horns growing on his head.

      Just killin it

      by sbrooker on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 07:58:48 PM EST

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      •  It's not God (none / 0)

        letting millions of people die, it's we as humans who are letting millions die.

        Bethel Park Black Hawks - 12-0 - Nxt. game vs Gateway at Heinz Field - WPIAL Championship, baby

        by ajABE on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 08:28:52 PM EST

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        •  asdf (none / 0)

          But if the people "you created" - inherently "us" - were killing each other in your name, why would you not stop it?  

          NXE FTW!

          by Major Silva on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 04:22:47 PM EST

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          •  That's an open-ended question (none / 0)

            Each religion is different. Muslims, for example, believe that killing "non-believers" (there is a specific word for that, just can't think of it) in the name of Allah, will decrease the time they will spend in their purgatory.

            Now that doesn't apply to the killing going in Darfur, Tibet, or any other place for that matter. They kill because they believe God created them racially supreme to others. (what the Nazi's did in WW2)

            That's just my take on it.

            Bethel Park Black Hawks - 12-0 - Nxt. game vs Gateway at Heinz Field - WPIAL Championship, baby

            by ajABE on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 07:43:08 PM EST

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            •  Wow (none / 0)

              That is a very uninformed and ignorant statement to make about the Muslim religion.

              Just killin it

              by sbrooker on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 02:09:59 AM EST

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              •  I'll be honest, (none / 0)

                but how? From what I learned, the Muslims are pretty much like that. And you didn't have to jump on him like you did either. I would say that was pretty ignorant on your part.

                This is our decision, to live fast and die young. We've got the vision, now let's have some fun.

                by Grymm on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 03:06:38 PM EST

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                •  Well (none / 0)

                  If "the Muslims are pretty much like that" there would be a suicide bombings in 100 different countries every single day.  There would be no Muslim friendlies in Iraq or Afghanistan. USA would never be able to have bases or military presence in these countries without 100 times the casualties they already have.  I don't understand how me pointing out how someone stereotyping a whole religion by what they have heard about a group of Muslim extremests on amazingly biased North American news networks makes me ignorant?

                  Just killin it

                  by sbrooker on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 04:29:24 PM EST

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              •  That actually is what they believe...unfortunetely (none / 0)

                by SweetTea023 on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 03:22:24 PM EST

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            •  How utterly well informed! (none / 0)

              The Qur'an says "Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight and persecute you, but commit no aggression. Surely, Allah does not love the aggressors." (2:190)

              Thus, under certain circumstances warfare (and the unfortunate byproducts) are necessary.
              Even Jesus saw the necessity of war when he said "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Matthew, 10:34).

              Thus, it would appear Islam permits fighting (and killing) for two reasons:

              1. Personal Defense; I can't recall the specific verse, but the Prophet of Islam practiced this rule when he told some of his followers to go to Abbyssinia and later himself migrated from Makkah to Madinah.

              2. Defense against incursions by others and to avoid persecution (against believers) and lawlessness. ("Killing is bad, but lawlessness is even worse than carnage" -2:217).

              Even the status of women in the Qur'an is better than expected.
              "And from the same stock He created his spouse" -4:1
              "And Allah has made for you mates from your own stock" -16:72

              Of course, the "noble savage" Aryan belief held by Adolf Hitler and like minded people has little to do with God (indeed, the return to pseudo Paganistic "Father Germany" religious beliefs resulted in few Hitler Youth Kool Aid drinkers holding much belief in the Christian or similar patriarchal religious views).

              Of course, the very insinuation that a religion with a following of approximately 1 billion (that's million with a "b") is at all equivocal to Nazism leads me to hope that you're being sarcastic. Of course, every single Mormon in the world is also a polygamist cultist from West Texas, aren't they?

              I don't mean to imply that anyone is foolish, but I really can't stomach the idea that Islam is any more a racist or violent religion than any other (I'd direct you to the "re-education" of most every indigenous people discovered by Europe from ~1492-1750 and their religious destruction, or religious chokehold on Europe from ~1000-1700).

              This isn't to say any religion is better than any other; only that every state, religion, and people have had highs and lows, and to make a blanket statement regarding a billion people is something I really can't handle.    

              "We can categorically state that we have not released any man eating badgers into the area." -Major Michael Shearer, UK military spokesman

              by Sparton 501 on Sun Apr 27, 2008 at 05:42:30 PM EST

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      •  If it were heaven on earth (none / 0)

        what would be the point of heaven?

        Not all who wander are lost

        by Zoso Fan on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 10:41:49 PM EST

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