What Does the Bible Say About Gambling? Is it a Sin?
Is Gambling a Sin? What Does the Bible Say About it?
Is gambling a sin? What does the Bible say about gambling ...
What the Bible Says About Gambling - Bible Resources
Is Gambling Wrong? - Plain Bible Teaching
Gambling - Is it a sin? - Christian Truth
why is gambling wrong biblically
why is gambling wrong biblically - win
Islam appears as if it ways made up by Primitive, medieval Arabs who didn't know anything about the world outside from their local area nor had interactions with a divine being.
ISLAM- The belief that an All-Knowing, All-Powerful God decided to reveal his doctrine for mankind, to a 7th century illiterate Arab slave trader(slave and sex slave owner who had regular sex with his 9 year old wife) ,in a cave where no one else was there to verify, through Angel Gabriel over 23 years rather than just beaming it into his brain.
Islam is an extremely Arab-centric religion, it seems as if it was completely made up by an Arabic person/people. The more a religion is tied to the culture of whatever society created it, the less likely it is to be legitimate. An omnipresent All-Knowing God wouldn’t care where on earth the primates he gave sentience to come from. This is what I will be discussing.
THE KAABAThe holy site for pilgrimage is very conveniently located in their backyard (Saudi Arabia.) This would be like a religion of Japanese origin claiming the holy site for pilgrimage is in Tokyo. Muslims have to pray towards the Kaaba which is located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Pre-Islamic Arabia was extremely underdeveloped and primitive. Literature wasn’t important and credible texts were rare so sometimes historians have to go with the biased Islamic perspective. According to the Abrahamic religions(Islam included), Abraham lived at around 2100-2200BC which is thousands of years before Islam was born in the 7th century. Islamic sources claim Abraham built the Kaaba for Islamic practises and it was his most important accomplishment. However the Bible never mentions the Kaaba and some Muslims claim Allah is the same God of the bible. Strangely the Kaaba was never mentioned in Judaism and Christianity. Only Islamic sources claim Christians and Jews also respected the Kaaba religiously. It was difficult to unify the many sects of Judaism and Christians on many things but not one sect of either religion mentioned the Kaaba. This suggests this idea was entirely fabricated. Islamic sources claim that the Kaaba in Mecca was a well known, important trade centre. Most Historians agree this is false as there was no mention of the Kaaba by the powerful Roman Empire, and the neighbouring Persian Empire and neighbouring Northern African Rulers until the birth of Islam . All historical evidence indicates the Quran was built by Arab Pagans a few centuries before Muhammad, not Abraham, yet again another false Islamic claim made by early Muslim Arabs or Muhammad.The Zamzam Well is a well located in Mecca, Saudi East of the Kaaba the holiest place in Islam. According to Islam, it is a miraculously generated source of water from God, which sprang spontaneously thousands of years ago when Ibrahim (Abraham's) son Ismael (Ishmael) was left with his mother Hajar (Hagar) in the desert, thirsty and crying. Ibrahim made a request to Allah- 14:37: "{O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in an uncultivable valley by Your Sacred House (the Ka'bah at Makkah) in order, O our Lord, that they may perform Salah (prayer). So fill some hearts among men with love towards them, and (O Allah) provide them with fruits so that they may give thanks.}" Muslims believe Zamzam was the first among many fruits provided to Ibrahim by Allah. provided to Ismail and Hajar were in the desert. Very conveniently the Holy Water in Islam is located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The water is so holy it is taught to heal diseases and sickness; there is no scientific evidence to support this. This appears to be a knock-off version of a biblical story (one of the many in Islam) where Abraham’s concubine and his son Ishmael were left in the desert of Paran in Palestine. The Hadith Sahih Muslim 31:6046 says that ZamZam water is special, can quench hunger,feed you and make you gain weight;there is of course no scientific evidence to support these claims. Islam makes it appear as if it is a miracle that there is water well in the desert which is expected coming from primitive Arab desert dwellers with little scientific knowledge. Water is underground in most deserts because as rainwater falls, it is absorbed underground and flows through the underground including under a desert.
IMPORTANCE OF ARABIC Allah stated His holy book must be written, memorised and taught in Arabic(conveniently Muhammad's language) to Prophet Muhammad even though there are thousands of other languages in the world. Vulgar Latin or Middle Chinese were the most spoken language in the world in the 7th century when the Quran was revealed,English and Mandarin are the most spoken languages in the 21st century. Only 5% of the world's population today speak Arabic (Arabic is the 5th most spoken language in the world) so it is illogical, confusing and absurd why God wanted "the most important words for mankind" to be specifically delivered in Arabic. If Allah had revealed his doctrine to all cultures and corners of the world, there would be an independently verifiable method to confirm that every language in the world received the same message from the same God. This would be very powerful evidence in favour of Islam. It is a shame he decided against this: Quranic Verses on Importance of Arabic: 41:3- "A Scripture whereof the verses are in detail, a Lecture in Arabic for people who have knowledge" 7:1: "Alif, Lam, Mim, Sad (These are the names of letters of the Arabic alphabet and in this sequence only Allah knows their meaning here;this is one of Allah's many miracles)." 12:2: "We have sent it down as an Arabic Quran so you people may understand/use reason" 14:44: "We have not sent any Messenger except with the language of his people (Arabic) so he can make things clear to them. Allah misguides anyone He wills and guides anyone He wills. He is the Almighty, the All-Wise." 42:7: "So We have revealed an Arabic Quran to you, in order that you may warn the mother of cities(Mecca) and all who live nearby..." 44:58: "We have made the Quran easy in your language (Arabic) so that they might be reminded." 26:198 - "And if We had revealed it (this Qur'an) unto any of the non-Arabs" - 26:199. "And had Muhammad recited the Quran unto them, they would not have believed in it " 41:44: "If We had made it a foreign Quran, they would have said, ‘If only its verses were clear! What? Foreign speech to an Arab?’ Say, ‘It is guidance and healing for those who have faith, but the ears of the disbelievers are heavy, they are blind to it, it is as if they are being called from a distant place."- Could Allah's book not also be unclear to Non-Arabic speakers which was the vast majority of the world in the 7th century and the 21st century? Why the Almighty God would have a preference for one language over the thousands of others is unclear. Muslims believe Arabic has a special status in Islam. It is compulsory to learn Arabic to be a Muslim and perform activities like the 5 daily prayers, recite the Shahadah and read the Quran. Millions of Muslims around the world memorise the Quran and verses for prayer which are entirely in Arabic whilst not knowing the meaning of what they are saying when they pray everyday and read the Quran. It is estimated up to 10 million Muslims around the world (the majority not Arabic speaking in countries like Nigeria, Indonesia and Pakistan) have memorised the whole Quran. Most of them barely understand a word of what they have memorised It seems likely an All-Wise, All-Powerful God would be able to come up with a better way for people to show devotion to Him than reciting words in a foreign language they don’t know. God’s chosen messenger was an Arabic Person. Islam is filled with Key Arabic terms like Hajj, Shahadah, Taqwa, Taraweeh, Ramadan, Zakat and encourages Arabic customs like keeping a beard, eating dates and women covering their hair. SPLITTING OF THE MOON 54:1 The Quran states: "The Hour draws near; the moon is split in two". And if they see a miracle they turn away and say 54:2 "Passing Magic," Sahih Bukhari 4:56:81 Narrated Anas states : \"*That the Meccan people requested Allah's Apostle to show them a miracle, and so he showed them the splitting of the moon."*The Quran and Hadith claim that the people of Mecca,Saudi Arabia asked Muhammad to prove that he had divine powers so he miraculously split the moon into two pieces and then, presumably, put it back together again. There is absolutely no scientific evidence whatsoever that the moon has ever been split into two. Since the moon is visible to half the planet at any given time, we should expect to see numerous accounts from different parts of the world attesting to this event if it actually happened. The Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Persians, Chinese and Indians had avid astronomers who should have seen this event and recorded it in their histories. The absence of historical record from other civilisations, contemporary to Muhammad, is a strong indication that this event never happened. Yet again another Islamic lie. The Quran states in 4:82 "Do they not then consider the Qur'an carefully? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found some contradictions." The Quran appears to tell us it certainly didn't come from God as we have clearly found a contradiction in the book between what it says and what actually happens/happened in reality as the moon never split. The Quran also says in 2:256 "Whoever believes in Allah, then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold(The Quran) that will never break. And Allah is All-Hearer, All-Knower." Clearly the Quran is broken and is not trustworthy as it has lied to us and tried to deceive us about Science. The lie of the splitting of the moon disproves many of Allah's 99 names such as AL-HAQQ(The Absolute-Truth,) AR-RASHEED(The Infallible Teacher,) AL-ALEEM (The All-Knowing,) AR-RAQEEB(The Watchful One,) AL-HAKEEM(The All-Wise,) ASH-SHAHEED(The All Observing Witnessing, AL-MAJEED(The Glorious-Most Honourable,) AL-HAMEED(The Praiseworthy,)DHUL-JALAALI WAL-IKRAAM(Possessor of Glory and Honour, Lord of Majesty and Generosity.) DESCRIPTIONS OF HEAVEN/PARADISE The invention of an afterlife by religions such as Islam is to serve our primitive desires to stay alive and is a result of the fear of One's mortality. The invention of an afterlife is also means to satisfy our primal desires to feel pleasure and Islam provides this as it sates in 41:31- "You will have therein(Paradise) whatever yourselves desire, whatever you want." The sole purpose of a Muslim's life is to enter Paradise and according to 29:64- "This life is nothing but diversion and play (to distract you from the ultimate goal of paradise)" The way heaven is described in a religion is usually reflective of the culture the religion originated from; this is expected as religions are fabricated by humans not sourced from divine beings.
The Islamic Paradise (Jannah) is described in the Quran and in Hadith as a place with lots of magnificent gardens, nice greenery and weirdly obsesses on how there are many rivers and sources of water in Paradise. Here are some verses on the Islamic Paradise: 36:34 - “And We have made (In Paradise) therein gardens of date-palms and grapesand We have caused springs of water to gush forth therein.”3:193 -“But as to those who are careful of (their duty to) their Lord, they shall have gardens beneath which rivers flow....”16:31 -“The gardens of perpetuity, they shall enter them, rivers flowing beneath them; they shall have in them what they please...”47:15 - "The description of Paradise which the righteous have been promised is that in it are rivers of water the taste and smell of which are not changed..."5:119- "...There are gardens, with rivers flowing beneath – their eternal Home. Allah is well-pleased with them, and they with Allah. That is the great salvation."9:72- "Allah hath promised to Believers, men and women, gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein, and beautiful mansions in gardens of everlasting bliss."61:12 - “These it is (Paradise) for whom are gardens of perpetuity beneath which rivers flow,”54:54 - "Verily, The Righteous, will be in the midst of Gardens and Rivers in Paradise."18: 33. "Each of those two gardens brought forth its produce, and failed not in the least therein, and We caused a river to gush forth in the midst of them." The fascination with gardens and water appears to be a reasonable depiction of heaven coming from primitive desert dwellers who didn’t have much access to greenery and vast areas of water. Most people don't think of water when they think of a heaven except of course primitive Arabs who lived in the sweltering heat of the desert. Islam is famous for having an extensive list of things which are forbidden under the religion (Haram) . There are customs like drinking alcohol, gambling, wearing gold and women being able to dress freely, and beautifying one's appearance which was and is part of most cultures including Pre-Islamic Arabia that were subsequently banned under Islam. I believe the reason religions like Islam ban trivial, inconsequential thing like beautifying one’s appearance is because if you can force people to give up something so intrinsic to their society and to being human, it is much easier exercise control. Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: The world is a prison-house for a believer and Paradise for a non-believer. Sahih Muslim 2956. The purpose of tedious rules is to make its adherents cement themselves more concretely to the religion. Muslims are being controlled massively by the the commands of a fictional being(Allah) and unfortunately do not seem to understand that. There is no other reason. The rules do not benefit you but the business. Every time you follow these rules with no evidence they came from a divine being, you are paying another subscription fee until you decide you are being used and drained to the religions benefit, not yours. Muslims are obligated to follow the Quran and it's rules as it is supposedly the word of God- 4:59- "O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger (Muhammad ), and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority and if there is deviation amongst yourselves, refer back to Allah, His Messenger (and Quran ), if you believe in Allah and in the Last Day. That is better and more suitable for final determination." FASCINATION WITH WINE IN PARADISE The fascination with wine in the Islamic heaven indicates that the Arabic authoauthors were into alcohol all along. Allah is clearly a confused man who doesn't even understand and abide by his own words as he says in 5:90 that alcohol consumption is the work of Satan but then promises alcohol in heaven for righteous Muslims. 5:90- "O you who believe! Intoxicants (all kinds of alcoholic drinks), gambling, Al-Ansab, and Al-Azlam (arrows for seeking luck or decision) are an abomination of Shaitan's (Satan) handiwork. So avoid (strictly all) that (abomination) in order that you may be successful." It seems weird to condone something in Heaven that you said is bad to do on Earth.Here are Quranic verses on Alcohol in Paradise:76:5 -"Indeed, the righteous will drink from a cup [of wine] whose mixture is of Kafur."76:17 -“And they will be given to drink a cup [of wine] whose mixture is of ginger. “47:15 -“The description of Paradise is that in it are rivers of water the taste and smell of which are not changed; rivers of milk of which the taste never changes;rivers of winedelicious to those who drink; and rivers of clarified honey (clear and pure)....” FASCINATION WITH WOMEN AND SEX IN PARADISE The Quran forbids men and women especially women from beautifying themselves, tells men to lower their gaze, tells men and women to be modest in dress and behaviour, and discourages the provocative sexual display of their bodies and and discourages hyper-sexuality however extensively discusses sex and the beauty of the women in heaven. Yet again, it seems weird to condone something in Heaven that you said is bad to do on Earth. 24:31 -“And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts, etc.) and not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent (like palms of hands or one eye or both eyes for necessity to see the way, or outer dress like veil, gloves, head-cover, apron, etc.), and to draw their veils all overJuyubihinna(i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms, etc.) and not to reveal their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husband's sons, their brothers or their brother's sons, or their sister's sons, or their (Muslim) women (i.e. their sisters in Islam), or the (female) slaves whom their right hands possess, or old male servants who lack vigour, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And all of you beg Allah to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful.” Here are Quranic Verses regarding the beauty of the women in Paradise: 2:25- “...they shall have thereinAzwajun Mutahharatun(purified mates or wives), (having no menses, stools, urine, etc.) and they will abide therein forever.” This means God will provide pure women for men to have sex with in Paradise.55: 70-“Therein (In Paradise) will be fair (wives) good and beautiful.”37:48- -“And with them (believing men) will be chaste females, restraining their glances (desiring none except their husbands), with wide and beautiful eyes.” 37:49. “(Delicate and pure) as if they were (hidden) eggs (well) preserved.”2:25- "Virgins await those who enter paradise." 78:31-34 - “Verily for the Righteous(men) there will be the fulfilment of (the heart´s) desires; Gardens and vineyards, And a cup(of wine) overflowing; And women of equal age with big and firm breasts” Quran 55:54-56 - “They(righteous men) will recline on Carpets...In them will be houris(virgins) restraining their glances, and no man or Jinn has ever opened their hymen with sexual intercourse, which of your Lord’s blessings would you deny? The obsession and fascination with women's beauty and sex in the Islamic Paradise and lack of regard for female sexuality with no Quranic verses appealing to a Woman’s desire for sexual gratification clearly illustrates this was made up by sexually aroused Arabian Men who were implementing their sexual fantasies into their ideal paradise. It is oddly suspicious that there are no Islamic verses describing the handsome men in Paradise for women. The misogynistic objectification of women by portraying them as commodities and treating them like prizes to be won if One is faithful to Allah is typical of the ideals of the time, where women in most civilisations were treated as second class class citizens and had limited rights compared to men. Bonus Quranic verses on women in Islam: 4:34- "Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom you fear rebellion from, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and beat them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great." This verse means men are in charge of women, because Allah made men to be better than women. Women must obey men, and if they refuse they must be punished. Refuse to have sex with them and beat them into submission. 2:223- "Men,your women are soil for you (to cultivate/farm) so go to your soil as you please, and send (good deeds) before you for your souls, and fear Allah, and know that ye will (one day) meet Him. Give glad tidings to believers, (O Muhammad)." In the mind of Allah, women are like a dirty field for men to put their penises through. Plough them whenever you like (as long as they're not menstruating, of course.) 4:24- "Also forbidden for men to marry are women already married, except those whom your right hands possess(captive women aka sex slaves)." This verse means Allah permits men having sex slaves. OBSESSION WITH DATES Islam has stressed the holiness of the date and the date palm more than any other religion. In fact, the Prophet Muhammad said that Ajwah dates—grown in the Madinah region of Saudi Arabia—are from paradise. The date palm, mentioned more than any other fruit-bearing plant in the Quran 22 times is a symbol often associated with Muslims. Muhammad argued that seven dates in the morning protected one from poison and witchcraft. The Quran states that Mary was advised to eat dates while in labour with Jesus, to ease childbirth and strengthen the body. The Prophet was once reported to have said, “People in a house without dates are in a state of hunger.” Some of the many Islamic verses on date-palms:The Hadith - Jami’ at-Tirmidhi 3464 states: “ The prophet says: whoever says: Glory is to Allah the Magnificent, and with His Praise, a date-palm tree is planted for him in Paradise.”36:34 - “And We have made (In Paradise) therein gardens of date-palms and grapes, and We have caused springs of water to gush forth therein.”55:11 - ”Therein are fruits, date-palms producing sheathed fruit-stalks (enclosing dates)."(This verse means thankfully Allah has provided humans with date-palms on Earth)17:91- "Or you have a garden of date-palms and grapes, and cause rivers to gush forth in their midst abundantly."55:68- "In them (both) will be fruits, and date-palms and pomegranates."80:29- "And olives and date palms"54:20- "Plucking out men as if they were uprooted stems of date-palms."(Allah bragging about the punishment and torment he inflicted on innocent disbelievers using a strong wind) It seems very convenient and oddly suspicious that God has created a special status for date-palms in his religion and talks about dates an awful lot, given the fact dates are a staple food in Saudi Arabia (It’s eaten regularly and mass produced in the Arabic World). It is very easy for a culture that loves and places great value on dates to then say that God also gives dates a special status. Why the creator of the universe would have a liking to the common fruit in the Middle East over all the thousands of fruits that exist is unclear. It would be suspicious if the God of a religion of Japanese origin claimed Sushi is a holy,special food and described how much sushi there would be in heaven e.g "For those that believe, there will be plates of sushi for them in Paradise."
PORK The Quran offers no explanation as to why pork is impure is it states in 6:145 when God says, in reference to the flesh of swine (pig), “for that surely it is impure.” Arabs generally didn’t eat pork and thought it was an unclean animal before Islam came so it was very convenient that Allah said Muslims shouldn’t eat pork as it was unclean and impure. This highlights how the Arabs were scientifically illiterate and didn't know proper cooking kills pathogens. Why would the creator of the universe view some foods the mere humans he created eat as disgusting but others perfectly fine for them to eat. This seems like a human trait that is usually dependent on One's culture. For example, a person from the USA may view eating snails and horse meat as disgusting whilst a person from France may view this as perfectly normal. SPREAD OF ISLAMIslam was spread by Arab Conquest & War and Arab traders. The most Islamic regions of the world are in the Middle East/Arabic countries. Doesn't Allah know his "beautiful words of wisdom" for mankind would be spread through violent ways and evil dictators who forced it upon lands they conquered. Allah is All-Knowing, Benevolent and All-Powerful therefore he could have stopped these from happening or created a better way for his doctrine to spread through Mankind. Quran 2:256 states: "There is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path." and 15:9 states: "Verily We: It is We Who have sent down theDhikr(i.e. the Qur'an) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption.)" This verse clearly means the All-Powerful Allah and his Angels dramatically failed on their promise to protect the Quran from corruption and misuse as we know how much evil that has been committed in the name of the Quran throughout history especially given the infamous rise of Radical Islamic Terrorism over the last few decades. 99% of all terrorist attacks that occurred throughout the world from 2010-2020 were Islam related. This disproves many of Allah's 99 names such as AL-MUHAYMIN(The Preserver of Safety,) AR-RASHEED(The Guide, Infallible Teacher,) AL-HAQQ(The Absolute Truth,) AL-AZIZ(All Powerful,) AL-MUHAYMIN AL-‘ALEEM(The All-Knowing.) Doesn't Allah realise that by revealing his doctrine exclusively to Arabs, he engineered the cultural isolation of the rest of the world from his doctrine, he engineered the circumstances of Unbelievers' disbelief that live in the far corners of the world like South America,New Zealand and the Pacific/Remote Islands of the world therefore he created a punishment (Hell) for a situation he knowingly created. It is very suspicious that Allah is Arabic-speaking, Arab-centric, yet will punish non Arabs millenniums later for not believing the message they received through a game of telephone. RENAMING OF JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN FIGURES The Quran also arrogantly claims that key figures: Jesus(Isa), Abraham(Ibrahim), Noah(Nuh), David(Dawud), Ishmael(Ismail), Isaac(Ishaq), Joseph(Yusuf), Ezekiel(Dhulkifl), Moses(Musa), Solomon(Sulayman) ,Jacob(Yaqub) in the centuries old religions of Judaism and Christianity were actually Muslim and Islamic Prophets and gave them Arabic names instead of their Aramaic and Hebrew names. ARABIC NAMES ARE BRACKETED. FASTING“The month of Ramadan [is that] in which was revealed the Quran, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it; and whoever is ill or on a journey – then an equal number of other days. Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship and [wants] for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you, and perhaps you will be grateful.” (Quran: 21:85)Fasting in Ramadan is one of the 5 pillars of Islam and must be performed if One is fit,healthy, not pregnant,not ill and not menstruating. Islam requires fasting from dawn till dusk in the holy month of Ramadan which is approximately 12 hours in Saudi Arabia. If the authoauthors were in Northern Europe where dawn till dusk can last up to 22-23 hours in the summer months, leaving a 1-2 hour window to eat a day for a whole month, they probably wouldn’t have made this difficult, extremely unhealthy and dangerous task a requirement. The author is also clearly unaware that there are parts of Northern Europe near the North Pole where the sun never sets in the summer months. This phenomenon is colloquially known as the Midnight Sun. For example Svalbard, Norway is known for having a Midnight Sun. In Svalbard, Norway there is no sunset from April to August and no sunlight from November to January. Islam was born 1400 years ago so how would people living in these parts of the world be able before the invention of mechanical clocks 600 years ago is unclear. The Quran makes no provisions for Muslims living in these areas, the Quran states in 6:38- " We did not leave ANYTHING out of this book," this is weird given the fact the Quran is meant to be the perfect,final word from the All-Knowing All-Powerful God who knows about the existence of the midnight sun. THE ONLY ANIMALS,PLANTS, CITIES AND PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THE QURAN ARE THE ONES FOUND IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
The only animals and plants mentioned in the Quran are the ones found in the Middle East. Never ones specifically in Australia, Europe, Antarctica North America or South America. The only cities, nations and continents mentioned in the Quran are the ones found in the Middle East area. Never ones specifically in Australia, Europe, Antarctica North America or South America. The people mentioned in the Quran all lived in the Middle East area.The Quran doesn’t mention people living in Australia, Europe, Antarctica, North America or South America. The Quran never mentions smoking even though it was popular and existed in the Americas long before the 7th century when the Quran was written. All the miracles in the Quran occurred in Saudi Arabia and nowhere else in the world. No miracles from Allah. No miracles in the Quran in Australia, Europe, Antarctica, North America or South America.
ISLAM'S OBSESSION WITH ARABIC AND ARABIAN CULTUREReligions are fabricated by humans, consequently, they are tied and intrinsic to the particular culture it originated from and Islam is no exception. Religious and Non-Religious people agree that 99.99%+ of religions are fabricated by humans as there are thousands of religions that make incompatible claims,each claiming to be sourced from a divine being. Islam is obsessed with Arabic and Arabic culture, every page you turn to you see a reference to Arabic culture, this isn't the case for Christianity. The Majority of people don't think of Israel, Hebrew and Israeli culture when they think of Christianity. Like I said, the more a religion is tied to the culture of whatever society created it, the less likely it is to be legitimate. An omnipresent All-Knowing God wouldn’t care where on earth the primates he gave sentience to come from. A religion that professes its universality and its suitability for all mankind, 81:27 "Verily, this (the Quran) is no less than a Reminder to (all) the'Alamin(mankind and jinns)," seems rather centred around a specific group of people (Arabs). All evidence points to the fact Islam and the Quran was a completely made up by Arabic People and/or Muhammad who had no contact with a Deity and other cultures beside Arabic culture adding to the fact it is filled with hundred of contradictions, inconsistencies and scientific inaccuracies. The fictional character ,Allah, was clearly obsessed with Arabs and Arabic culture and couldn't go a few pages without a reference to Arabic culture; this guy is meant to be the creator of the universe. Islam appears to be a local Arab folklore to unite nomads under the banner of one God through the violent political campaign of Muhammad. Islam claims to be global but all knowing Allah forget to send prophets outside of Arab world. The evidence of contradictions, both big and small serves as clear evidence of human tampering. If the Quran came from Muhammad it was nothing more than fabrication from a power hungry megalomaniac, with his claims of divine inspiration being nothing more than an attempt to conquer Arabia and Islam being nothing more than just another false desert cult to emerge from a sea of desert cults.
Islam appears as if it ways made up by Primitive, medieval Arabs who didn't know anything about the world outside from their local area nor had interactions with a divine being.
ISLAM- The belief that an All-Knowing, All-Powerful God decided to reveal his doctrine for mankind, to a 7th century illiterate Arab slave trader(slave and sex slave owner who had regular sex with his 9 year old wife) ,in a cave where no one else was there to verify, through Angel Gabriel over 23 years rather than just beaming it into his brain. Islam is an extremely Arab-centric religion, it seems as if it was completely made up by an Arabic person/people. The more a religion is tied to the culture of whatever society created it, the less likely it is to be legitimate. An omnipresent All-Knowing God wouldn’t care where on earth the primates he gave sentience to come from. This is what I will be discussing.
THE KAABA The holy site for pilgrimage is very conveniently located in their backyard (Saudi Arabia.) This would be like a religion of Japanese origin claiming the holy site for pilgrimage is in Tokyo. Muslims have to pray towards the Kaaba which is located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Pre-Islamic Arabia was extremely underdeveloped and primitive. Literature wasn’t important and credible texts were rare so sometimes historians have to go with the biased Islamic perspective. According to the Abrahamic religions(Islam included), Abraham lived at around 2100-2200BC which is thousands of years before Islam was born in the 7th century. Islamic sources claim Abraham built the Kaaba for Islamic practises and it was his most important accomplishment. However the Bible never mentions the Kaaba and some Muslims claim Allah is the same God of the bible. Strangely the Kaaba was never mentioned in Judaism and Christianity. Only Islamic sources claim Christians and Jews also respected the Kaaba religiously. It was difficult to unify the many sects of Judaism and Christians on many things but not one sect of either religion mentioned the Kaaba. This suggests this idea was entirely fabricated. Islamic sources claim that the Kaaba in Mecca was a well known, important trade centre. Most Historians agree this is false as there was no mention of the Kaaba by the powerful Roman Empire, and the neighbouring Persian Empire and neighbouring Northern African Rulers until the birth of Islam . All historical evidence indicates the Quran was built by Arab Pagans a few centuries before Muhammad, not Abraham, yet again another false Islamic claim made by early Muslim Arabs or Muhammad. The Zamzam Well is a well located in Mecca, Saudi East of the Kaaba the holiest place in Islam. According to Islam, it is a miraculously generated source of water from God, which sprang spontaneously thousands of years ago when Ibrahim (Abraham's) son Ismael (Ishmael) was left with his mother Hajar (Hagar) in the desert, thirsty and crying. Ibrahim made a request to Allah- 14:37: "{O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in an uncultivable valley by Your Sacred House (the Ka'bah at Makkah) in order, O our Lord, that they may perform Salah (prayer). So fill some hearts among men with love towards them, and (O Allah) provide them with fruits so that they may give thanks.}" Muslims believe Zamzam was the first among many fruits provided to Ibrahim by Allah. provided to Ismail and Hajar were in the desert. Very conveniently the Holy Water in Islam is located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The water is so holy it is taught to heal diseases and sickness; there is no scientific evidence to support this. This appears to be a knock-off version of a biblical story (one of the many in Islam) where Abraham’s concubine and his son Ishmael were left in the desert of Paran in Palestine. The Hadith Sahih Muslim 31:6046 says that ZamZam water is special, can quench hunger,feed you and make you gain weight;there is of course no scientific evidence to support these claims. Islam makes it appear as if it is a miracle that there is water well in the desert which is expected coming from primitive Arab desert dwellers with little scientific knowledge. Water is underground in most deserts because as rainwater falls, it is absorbed underground and flows through the underground including under a desert.
IMPORTANCE OF ARABIC Allah stated His holy book must be written, memorised and taught in Arabic(conveniently Muhammad's language) to Prophet Muhammad even though there are thousands of other languages in the world. Vulgar Latin or Middle Chinese were the most spoken language in the world in the 7th century when the Quran was revealed,English and Mandarin are the most spoken languages in the 21st century. Only 5% of the world's population today speak Arabic (Arabic is the 5th most spoken language in the world) so it is illogical, confusing and absurd why God wanted "the most important words for mankind" to be specifically delivered in Arabic. If Allah had revealed his doctrine to all cultures and corners of the world, there would be an independently verifiable method to confirm that every language in the world received the same message from the same God. This would be very powerful evidence in favour of Islam. It is a shame he decided against this: Quranic Verses on Importance of Arabic: 41:3- "A Scripture whereof the verses are in detail, a Lecture in Arabic for people who have knowledge" 7:1: "Alif, Lam, Mim, Sad (These are the names of letters of the Arabic alphabet and in this sequence only Allah knows their meaning here;this is one of Allah's many miracles)." 12:2: "We have sent it down as an Arabic Quran so you people may understand/use reason" 14:44: "We have not sent any Messenger except with the language of his people (Arabic) so he can make things clear to them. Allah misguides anyone He wills and guides anyone He wills. He is the Almighty, the All-Wise." 42:7: "So We have revealed an Arabic Quran to you, in order that you may warn the mother of cities(Mecca) and all who live nearby..." 44:58: "We have made the Quran easy in your language (Arabic) so that they might be reminded." 26:198 - "And if We had revealed it (this Qur'an) unto any of the non-Arabs" - 26:199. "And had Muhammad recited the Quran unto them, they would not have believed in it " 41:44: "If We had made it a foreign Quran, they would have said, ‘If only its verses were clear! What? Foreign speech to an Arab?’ Say, ‘It is guidance and healing for those who have faith, but the ears of the disbelievers are heavy, they are blind to it, it is as if they are being called from a distant place."- Could Allah's book not also be unclear to Non-Arabic speakers which was the vast majority of the world in the 7th century and the 21st century? Why the Almighty God would have a preference for one language over the thousands of others is unclear. Muslims believe Arabic has a special status in Islam. It is compulsory to learn Arabic to be a Muslim and perform activities like the 5 daily prayers, recite the Shahadah and read the Quran. Millions of Muslims around the world memorise the Quran and verses for prayer which are entirely in Arabic whilst not knowing the meaning of what they are saying when they pray everyday and read the Quran. It is estimated up to 10 million Muslims around the world (the majority not Arabic speaking in countries like Nigeria, Indonesia and Pakistan) have memorised the whole Quran. Most of them barely understand a word of what they have memorised It seems likely an All-Wise, All-Powerful God would be able to come up with a better way for people to show devotion to Him than reciting words in a foreign language they don’t know. God’s chosen messenger was an Arabic Person. Islam is filled with Key Arabic terms like Hajj, Shahadah, Taqwa, Taraweeh, Ramadan, Zakat and encourages Arabic customs like keeping a beard, eating dates and women covering their hair. SPLITTING OF THE MOON 54:1 The Quran states: "The Hour draws near; the moon is split in two". And if they see a miracle they turn away and say 54:2 "Passing Magic," Sahih Bukhari 4:56:81 Narrated Anas states : \"*That the Meccan people requested Allah's Apostle to show them a miracle, and so he showed them the splitting of the moon."*The Quran and Hadith claim that the people of Mecca,Saudi Arabia asked Muhammad to prove that he had divine powers so he miraculously split the moon into two pieces and then, presumably, put it back together again. There is absolutely no scientific evidence whatsoever that the moon has ever been split into two. Since the moon is visible to half the planet at any given time, we should expect to see numerous accounts from different parts of the world attesting to this event if it actually happened. The Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Persians, Chinese and Indians had avid astronomers who should have seen this event and recorded it in their histories. The absence of historical record from other civilisations, contemporary to Muhammad, is a strong indication that this event never happened. Yet again another Islamic lie. The Quran states in 4:82 "Do they not then consider the Qur'an carefully? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found some contradictions." The Quran appears to tell us it certainly didn't come from God as we have clearly found a contradiction in the book between what it says and what actually happens/happened in reality as the moon never split. The Quran also says in 2:256 "Whoever believes in Allah, then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold(The Quran) that will never break. And Allah is All-Hearer, All-Knower." Clearly the Quran is broken and is not trustworthy as it has lied to us and tried to deceive us about Science. The lie of the splitting of the moon disproves many of Allah's 99 names such as AL-HAQQ(The Absolute-Truth,) AR-RASHEED(The Infallible Teacher,) AL-ALEEM (The All-Knowing,) AR-RAQEEB(The Watchful One,) AL-HAKEEM(The All-Wise,) ASH-SHAHEED(The All Observing Witnessing, AL-MAJEED(The Glorious-Most Honourable,) AL-HAMEED(The Praiseworthy,)DHUL-JALAALI WAL-IKRAAM(Possessor of Glory and Honour, Lord of Majesty and Generosity.)
DESCRIPTIONS OF HEAVEN/PARADISE The invention of an afterlife by religions such as Islam is to serve our primitive desires to stay alive and is a result of the fear of One's mortality. The invention of an afterlife is also means to satisfy our primal desires to feel pleasure and Islam provides this as it sates in 41:31- "You will have therein(Paradise) whatever yourselves desire, whatever you want." The sole purpose of a Muslim's life is to enter Paradise and according to 29:64- "This life is nothing but diversion and play (to distract you from the ultimate goal of paradise)" The way heaven is described in a religion is usually reflective of the culture the religion originated from; this is expected as religions are fabricated by humans not sourced from divine beings. The Islamic Paradise (Jannah) is described in the Quran and in Hadiths as a place with lots of magnificent gardens, nice greenery and weirdly obsesses on how there are many rivers and sources of water in Paradise. Here are some verses on the Islamic Paradise: 36:34 - “And We have made (In Paradise) therein gardens of date-palms and grapesand We have caused springs of water to gush forth therein.” 3:193 -“But as to those who are careful of (their duty to) their Lord, they shall have gardens beneath which rivers flow....” 16:31 -“The gardens of perpetuity, they shall enter them, rivers flowing beneath them; they shall have in them what they please...” 47:15 - "The description of Paradise which the righteous have been promised is that in it are rivers of water the taste and smell of which are not changed..." 5:119- "...There are gardens, with rivers flowing beneath – their eternal Home. Allah is well-pleased with them, and they with Allah. That is the great salvation." 9:72- "Allah hath promised to Believers, men and women, gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein, and beautiful mansions in gardens of everlasting bliss." 61:12 - “These it is (Paradise) for whom are gardens of perpetuity beneath which rivers flow,” 54:54 - "Verily, The Righteous, will be in the midst of Gardens and Rivers in Paradise." 18: 33. "Each of those two gardens brought forth its produce, and failed not in the least therein, and We caused a river to gush forth in the midst of them." The fascination with gardens and water appears to be a reasonable depiction of heaven coming from primitive desert dwellers who didn’t have much access to greenery and vast areas of water. Most people don't think of water when they think of a heaven except of course primitive Arabs who lived in the sweltering heat of the desert. Islam is famous for having an extensive list of things which are forbidden under the religion (Haram) . There are customs like drinking alcohol, gambling, wearing gold and women being able to dress freely, and beautifying one's appearance which was and is part of most cultures including Pre-Islamic Arabia that were subsequently banned under Islam. I believe the reason religions like Islam ban trivial, inconsequential thing like beautifying one’s appearance is because if you can force people to give up something so intrinsic to their society and to being human, it is much easier exercise control. Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: The world is a prison-house for a believer and Paradise for a non-believer. Sahih Muslim 2956. The purpose of tedious rules is to make its adherents cement themselves more concretely to the religion. Muslims are being controlled massively by the the commands of a fictional being(Allah) and unfortunately do not seem to understand that. There is no other reason. The rules do not benefit you but the business. Every time you follow these rules with no evidence they came from a divine being, you are paying another subscription fee until you decide you are being used and drained to the religions benefit, not yours. Muslims are obligated to follow the Quran and it's rules as it is supposedly the word of God- 4:59- "O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger (Muhammad ), and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority and if there is deviation amongst yourselves, refer back to Allah, His Messenger (and Quran ), if you believe in Allah and in the Last Day. That is better and more suitable for final determination." FASCINATION WITH WINE IN PARADISE The fascination with wine in the Islamic heaven indicates that the Arabic authoauthors were into alcohol all along. Allah is clearly a confused man who doesn't even understand and abide by his own words as he says in 5:90 that alcohol consumption is the work of Satan but then promises alcohol in heaven for righteous Muslims. 5:90- "O you who believe! Intoxicants (all kinds of alcoholic drinks), gambling, Al-Ansab, and Al-Azlam (arrows for seeking luck or decision) are an abomination of Shaitan's (Satan) handiwork. So avoid (strictly all) that (abomination) in order that you may be successful." It seems weird to condone something in Heaven that you said is bad to do on Earth.Here are Quranic verses on Alcohol in Paradise: 76:5 -"Indeed, the righteous will drink from a cup [of wine] whose mixture is of Kafur." 76:17 -“And they will be given to drink a cup [of wine] whose mixture is of ginger. “ 47:15 -“The description of Paradise is that in it are rivers of water the taste and smell of which are not changed; rivers of milk of which the taste never changes;rivers of winedelicious to those who drink; and rivers of clarified honey (clear and pure)....” FASCINATION WITH WOMEN AND SEX IN PARADISE The Quran forbids men and women especially women from beautifying themselves, tells men to lower their gaze, tells men and women to be modest in dress and behaviour, and discourages the provocative sexual display of their bodies and and discourages hyper-sexuality however extensively discusses sex and the beauty of the women in heaven. Yet again, it seems weird to condone something in Heaven that you said is bad to do on Earth. 24:31 -“And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts, etc.) and not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent (like palms of hands or one eye or both eyes for necessity to see the way, or outer dress like veil, gloves, head-cover, apron, etc.), and to draw their veils all overJuyubihinna(i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms, etc.) and not to reveal their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husband's sons, their brothers or their brother's sons, or their sister's sons, or their (Muslim) women (i.e. their sisters in Islam), or the (female) slaves whom their right hands possess, or old male servants who lack vigour, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And all of you beg Allah to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful.” Here are Quranic Verses regarding the beauty of the women in Paradise: 2:25- “...they shall have thereinAzwajun Mutahharatun(purified mates or wives), (having no menses, stools, urine, etc.) and they will abide therein forever.” This means God will provide pure women for men to have sex with in Paradise. 55: 70-“Therein (In Paradise) will be fair (wives) good and beautiful.” 37:48- -“And with them (believing men) will be chaste females, restraining their glances (desiring none except their husbands), with wide and beautiful eyes.” 37:49. “(Delicate and pure) as if they were (hidden) eggs (well) preserved.” 2:25- "Virgins await those who enter paradise." The obsession and fascination with women's beauty and sex in the Islamic Paradise and lack of regard for female sexuality with no Quranic verses appealing to a Woman’s desire for sexual gratification clearly illustrates this was made up by sexually aroused Arabian Men who were implementing their sexual fantasies into their ideal paradise. It is oddly suspicious that there are no Islamic verses describing the handsome men in Paradise for women. The misogynistic objectification of women by portraying them as commodities and treating them like prizes to be won if One is faithful to Allah is typical of the ideals of the time, where women in most civilisations were treated as second class class citizens and had limited rights compared to men. Bonus Quranic verses on women in Islam: 4:34- "Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom you fear rebellion from, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and beat them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great." This verse means men are in charge of women, because Allah made men to be better than women. Women must obey men, and if they refuse they must be punished. Refuse to have sex with them and beat them into submission. 2:223- "Men,your women are soil for you (to cultivate/farm) so go to your soil as you please, and send (good deeds) before you for your souls, and fear Allah, and know that ye will (one day) meet Him. Give glad tidings to believers, (O Muhammad)." In the mind of Allah, women are like a dirty field for men to put their penises through. Plough them whenever you like (as long as they're not menstruating, of course.) 4:24- "Also forbidden for men to marry are women already married, except those whom your right hands possess(captive women aka sex slaves)." This verse means Allah permits men having sex slaves. OBSESSION WITH DATES Islam has stressed the holiness of the date and the date palm more than any other religion. In fact, the Prophet Muhammad said that Ajwah dates—grown in the Madinah region of Saudi Arabia—are from paradise. The date palm, mentioned more than any other fruit-bearing plant in the Quran 22 times is a symbol often associated with Muslims. Muhammad argued that seven dates in the morning protected one from poison and witchcraft. The Quran states that Mary was advised to eat dates while in labour with Jesus, to ease childbirth and strengthen the body. The Prophet was once reported to have said, “People in a house without dates are in a state of hunger.” Some of the many Islamic verses on date-palms: The Hadith - Jami’ at-Tirmidhi 3464 states: “ The prophet says: whoever says: Glory is to Allah the Magnificent, and with His Praise, a date-palm tree is planted for him in Paradise.” 36:34 - “And We have made (In Paradise) therein gardens of date-palms and grapes, and We have caused springs of water to gush forth therein.” 55:11 - ”Therein are fruits, date-palms producing sheathed fruit-stalks (enclosing dates)."(This verse means thankfully Allah has provided humans with date-palms on Earth) 17:91- "Or you have a garden of date-palms and grapes, and cause rivers to gush forth in their midst abundantly." 55:68- "In them (both) will be fruits, and date-palms and pomegranates." 80:29- "And olives and date palms" 54:20- "Plucking out men as if they were uprooted stems of date-palms."(Allah bragging about the punishment and torment he inflicted on innocent disbelievers using a strong wind) It seems very convenient and oddly suspicious that God has created a special status for date-palms in his religion and talks about dates an awful lot, given the fact dates are a staple food in Saudi Arabia (It’s eaten regularly and mass produced in the Arabic World). It is very easy for a culture that loves and places great value on dates to then say that God also gives dates a special status. Why the creator of the universe would have a liking to the common fruit in the Middle East over all the thousands of fruits that exist is unclear. It would be suspicious if the God of a religion of Japanese origin claimed Sushi is a holy,special food and described how much sushi there would be in heaven e.g "For those that believe, there will be plates of sushi for them in Paradise."
PORK The Quran offers no explanation as to why pork is impure is it states in 6:145 when God says, in reference to the flesh of swine (pig), “for that surely it is impure.” Arabs generally didn’t eat pork and thought it was an unclean animal before Islam came so it was very convenient that Allah said Muslims shouldn’t eat pork as it was unclean and impure. This highlights how the Arabs were scientifically illiterate and didn't know proper cooking kills pathogens. Why would the creator of the universe view some foods the mere humans he created eat as disgusting but others perfectly fine for them to eat. This seems like a human trait that is usually dependent on One's culture. For example, a person from the USA may view eating snails and horse meat as disgusting whilst a person from France may view this as perfectly normal.
SPREAD OF ISLAM Islam was spread by Arab Conquest & War and Arab traders. The most Islamic regions of the world are in the Middle East/Arabic countries. Doesn't Allah know his "beautiful words of wisdom" for mankind would be spread through violent ways and evil dictators who forced it upon lands they conquered. Allah is All-Knowing, Benevolent and All-Powerful therefore he could have stopped these from happening or created a better way for his doctrine to spread through Mankind. Quran 2:256 states: "There is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path." and 15:9 states: "Verily We: It is We Who have sent down theDhikr(i.e. the Qur'an) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption.)" This verse clearly means the All-Powerful Allah and his Angels dramatically failed on their promise to protect the Quran from corruption and misuse as we know how much evil that has been committed in the name of the Quran throughout history especially given the infamous rise of Radical Islamic Terrorism over the last few decades. 99% of all terrorist attacks that occurred throughout the world from 2010-2020 were Islam related. This disproves many of Allah's 99 names such as AL-MUHAYMIN(The Preserver of Safety,) AR-RASHEED(The Guide, Infallible Teacher,) AL-HAQQ(The Absolute Truth,) AL-AZIZ(All Powerful,) AL-MUHAYMIN AL-‘ALEEM(The All-Knowing.) Doesn't Allah realise that by revealing his doctrine exclusively to Arabs, he engineered the cultural isolation of the rest of the world from his doctrine, he engineered the circumstances of Unbelievers' disbelief that live in the far corners of the world like South America,New Zealand and the Pacific/Remote Islands of the world therefore he created a punishment (Hell) for a situation he knowingly created. It is very suspicious that Allah is Arabic-speaking, Arab-centric, yet will punish non Arabs millenniums later for not believing the message they received through a game of telephone.
The Quran also arrogantly claims that key figures: Jesus(Isa), Abraham(Ibrahim), Noah(Nuh), David(Dawud), Ishmael(Ismail), Isaac(Ishaq), Joseph(Yusuf), Ezekiel(Dhulkifl), Moses(Musa), Solomon(Sulayman) ,Jacob(Yaqub) in the centuries old religions of Judaism and Christianity were actually Muslim and Islamic Prophets and gave them Arabic names. ARABIC NAMES ARE BRACKETED.
FASTING “The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Quran, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it; and whoever is ill or on a journey – then an equal number of other days. Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship and [wants] for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you, and perhaps you will be grateful.” (Quran: 21:85) Fasting in Ramadan is one of the 5 pillars of Islam and must be performed if One is fit,healthy, not pregnant,not ill and not menstruating. Islam requires fasting from dawn till dusk in the holy month of Ramadan which is approximately 12 hours in Saudi Arabia. If the authoauthors were in Northern Europe where dawn till dusk can last up to 22-23 hours in the summer months, leaving a 1-2 hour window to eat a day for a whole month, they probably wouldn’t have made this difficult, extremely unhealthy and dangerous task a requirement. The author is also clearly unaware that there are parts of Northern Europe near the North Pole where the sun never sets in the summer months. This phenomenon is colloquially known as the Midnight Sun. For example Svalbard, Norway is known for having a Midnight Sun. In Svalbard, Norway there is no sunset from April to August and no sunlight from November to January. Islam was born 1400 years ago so how would people living in these parts of the world be able before the invention of mechanical clocks 600 years ago is unclear. The Quran makes no provisions for Muslims living in these areas, the Quran states in 6:38- " We did not leave ANYTHING out of this book," this is weird given the fact the Quran is meant to be the perfect,final word from the All-Knowing All-Powerful God who knows about the existence of the midnight sun.
THE ONLY ANIMALS,PLANTS, CITIES AND PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THE QURAN ARE THE ONES FOUND IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
The only animals and plants mentioned in the Quran are the ones found in the Middle East. Never ones specifically in Australia, Europe, Antarctica North America or South America. The only cities, nations and continents mentioned in the Quran are the ones found in the Middle East area. Never ones specifically in Australia, Europe, Antarctica North America or South America. The people mentioned in the Quran all lived in the Middle East area.The Quran doesn’t mention people living in Australia, Europe, Antarctica, North America or South America. The Quran never mentions smoking even though it was popular and existed in the Americas long before the 7th century when the Quran was written. All the miracles in the Quran occurred in Saudi Arabia and nowhere else in the world. No miracles from Allah. No miracles in the Quran in Australia, Europe, Antarctica, North America or South America.
ISLAM'S OBSESSION WITH ARABIC AND ARABIAN CULTURE Religions are fabricated by humans, consequently, they are tied and intrinsic to the particular culture it originated from and Islam is no exception. Religious and Non-Religious people agree that 99.99%+ of religions are fabricated by humans as there are thousands of religions that make incompatible claims,each claiming to be sourced from a divine being. Islam is obsessed with Arabic and Arabic culture, every page you turn to you see a reference to Arabic culture, this isn't the case for Christianity. The Majority of people don't think of Israel, Hebrew and Israeli culture when they think of Christianity. Like I said, the more a religion is tied to the culture of whatever society created it, the less likely it is to be legitimate. An omnipresent All-Knowing God wouldn’t care where on earth the primates he gave sentience to come from. A religion that professes its universality and its suitability for all mankind, 81:27 "Verily, this (the Quran) is no less than a Reminder to (all) the'Alamin(mankind and jinns)," seems rather centred around a specific group of people (Arabs).
All evidence points to the fact Islam and the Quran was a completely made up by Arabic People and/or Muhammad who had no contact with a Deity and other cultures beside Arabic culture adding to the fact it is filled with hundred of contradictions, inconsistencies and scientific inaccuracies. The fictional character ,Allah, was clearly obsessed with Arabs and Arabic culture and couldn't go a few pages without a reference to Arabic culture; this guy is meant to be the creator of the universe. Islam appears to be a local Arab folklore to unite nomads under the banner of one God through the violent political campaign of Muhammad. Islam claims to be global but all knowing Allah forget to send prophets outside of Arab world. The evidence of contradictions, both big and small serves as clear evidence of human tampering. If the Quran came from Muhammad it was nothing more than fabrication from a power hungry megalomaniac, with his claims of divine inspiration being nothing more than an attempt to conquer Arabia and Islam being nothing more than just another false desert cult to emerge from a sea of desert cults. PS: I am Ex-Muslim
[Worstverse] Ok, first of all, I learned that if I leave my laptop sitting out with the file open, that certain room mates who think I have a "limited" vocabulary sneak in little changes while I'm not looking to make me sound more eloquitated. I appreciate the gesture, but it makes me feel like they think I'm simple or something. Just cause I got a little gambling problem don't mean I'm stupid. So this time I'M gonna use big words without anyone's help. Not even one of those dinosaurus books. So after I get the rundown of the weird brass looking bar thing, Lezley escorts me out of my room and back to the elevator. Once we exit on the 8th floor he walks me over to the room marked with a number 1. "Ok, this is the custodial nexus for this floor." He explained. "You take your number 1 key like this and unlock the door." We then entered the room and I was shown over to another door on the far side that had a large panel of key holes numbered 2-260. Pointing to the panel he spoke again. "This is your room directory. Put your number 1 key into the key hole of the room you need to go to and then open the door. Remember to take your key in with you otherwise when you leave the room you'll have to walk all the way back from whatever room you were in at the time. But as long as you have the key, when you open the door it will bring you back to the custodial nexus." He continued. He then showed me a large whiteboard covered in names and numbers. "This is where you'll find your room assignments once you get them. They change from day to day based on who's on non-custodial duty at any given time, so be sure to always check it. Room work is pretty standard." He said, turning me the other direction to face shelves of fresh sheets, towels, cleaning supplies, trash bags, carts, and so on. "Just load up your cart like so, change the sheets, blankets, and pillow cases, give the bathroom a wipe down, vacuum, dust, take care of any other small things you notice, and you're all set. Then you bring the dirty crap back here and drop it down the laundry shoot. Sound easy enough?" He asked once he finished. "Um, yeah I guess. That still doesn't explain why I need this crazy police baton from hell though." I said, gesturing to the metal bar on my belt. "Ah yeah yeah, that's coming up next. Now that you know what to do up here, we go down to Mr. Giggles' fun time room." He answered. "Is that really what it's called?!" I asked, seeing the name printed over the entrance to the room. "I thought you were screwing with me!" "Yeah, but that's just to soften the blow of being one of the worst experiences of your life." He replied before suddenly shoving me in and slamming the door behind me. I looked around for a second to take in my new surroundings, Lezley's words echoing in my brain. The first thing I noticed was how plain the room was. It was very clean, almost im... imaclate... It was spotless, but practically empty. Then I realized the floor was covered in padded gym type mats from one side to the other. "Welcome friend." A strange voice snaked across the room from an unseen source. "Were are you? How are you hiding in here?" I asked the voice. The voiced answered back, "I was not aware the standing behind someone counts as hiding." I spun around on my heel as fast as I could but I wasn't prepared for what I saw, or... what I didn't see I guess. I don't know, it's still pretty hard to explain. It had the basic from of a human, you might even say a man, but within that outline was just absence. No light, no shapes, no dimension, nothing. You can't really appreciate it without seeing for yourself. It was difficult to even look at. It wasn't like empty space but... more like the thing's appearance was based on information human eyes aren't able to detect, so my eyes couldn't see in that specific area. I was basically looking into blindness... in the shape of a man. My eyes started to hurt so I turned away and sat on the padded floor. "Mr. Giggles I presume." "I do ever so hate that. It's Jhigless, but the staff have given me that awful nickname." He responded. "Oh I'm sorry Mr. Jhigless." I said. "It's quite alright young man." The entity known as Mr. Jhigless replied in his ethereal voice. "Now shall we begin your training? We have a very long way to go. Many months before the door will open again." "Yeah I guess... WAIT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN MONTHS?!" I barked as I stood to face him. "Do not worry. You will have everything you require in here and for those outside it shall only seem to have been but a moment between when you enter and when you exit. And by the time you leave you will be among the ranks of the finest warriors on the face of the earth." He tried to explain. So after pitching another legendary shit fit, it was explained to me that the entity I was sequestered(I been to court enough to know that word well) with was responsible for training the hotel staff in the use of this weird weapon stick thing they just called a cudgel. Once you get the hang of it you can pretty much change it into any kind of weapon you need at the time or just prefer. And we were about to spend the better part of a year(or so I was led to believe) giving me the works on how to use as many variations of that thing as possible and even how to fight without it. But even through all that I never got a straight answer as to why... I lost track of time in that place. No days or nights. Food would just show up and disappear. Every now and then I'd get new clothes after my old ones started to fall apart on my body. There was a shit bucket. I'd rather not talk about the shit bucket. I did learn that I had a rare talent for splitting the cudgel in half and turning one half into a sword and the other half into a shield. Apparently there's only one other member in cluster 8 that can even do that. And I always liked that movie Troy and fighting with a short sword and a shield made me feel like Achilles, so I kinda formed a preference for that. The training was miserable however. My waking hours that weren't dedicated to drills or repetitive motions or physical fitness were allotted to sparring with Mr. Jhigless that increased in intensity until by the end I felt as though each session was a for real struggle for my life. My countless injuries were treated with strange and potent balms and medicines that healed me in hours. I knew nothing but combat for what quickly became an unnumberable amount of days. I felt my sanity beginning to slip away. Then all at once, without any warning the door suddenly creaked open allowing the hall lights from outside to shine in. I slowly edged my way out. "Damn man! Mr. Giggles must have really seen something in you. You were in there for like 3 whole seconds. I've never even heard of that! I was only in there for like one. Maybe one and a half! That must have been brutal." I heard Lezley speak to me. I turned and had to give my mind time to readjust to seeing actual shapes and colors within a human profile. After that I walked slowly over to him, took both hands and grabbed the collar of his shirt, and pulled his face close to mine as I took a deep breath. "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" I screamed into his face at the top of my lungs, the infinite hours of pent up insanity all pouring out at once. "He prefers Mr. Jhigless..." I said softly before pushing him away. "Boy you really were in there for a while weren't you? Alright, now that's out of the way, time to take you to see The Manager." He said and began leading me down another hall. A few minutes later we were at the door to the manager's office. This is the kind of experience you never ever forget, no matter how messed up in the head you are at the time. "Ok, I'm gonna take off back to the main desk and try to get some work done. So you just knock and enter when you're told to. And you might want to mind your manners in there." Lezley cautioned. It didn't take long to understand why. As he turned and walked back the way we came I reached out to give a few raps on the door but before I could, "Come in" sounded through the wood. It was a old voice. Like what you'd expect a grandfather who's also a lumberjack to have. Soft and stern. Aged and wise. I felt a tingle of reverence run down my spine before I ever turned the knob. As I entered I noticed that this room looked very much like a normal everyday office you'd see at any hotel. Finally some normalcy you might think. But then I notice that I was again seemingly alone. Until the far wall... Well the far wall behind the desk literally molded into a vaguely human shape, taking a seat at the dest as it did. "Please Travis, come have a seat my boy." The... wall said, gesturing to the chair on the opposite side of the desk. "Now, I'm sure you have a lot of questions." The strange entity protruding from the wall spoke. "Uh yeah, but the wall thing and the room... Was in there so long. Kinda forgot what they were." I answered quietly as I looked around the room from my seat. "Oh yes yes. Don't worry. It takes a few hours but most of the memory of the time spent in there will fade away before long to seem like a mere dream." The manager explained. "Oh... Ok." I mumbled, noticing that I was still tightly grasping the cudgel. I had got used to keeping it ready to fend off Mr. Jhingless's surprise attacks. I got to where I could take the thing from a solid bar to a sword and shield in about half a second and be ready to fight. "Come come, no need for that in here." The Manager said, noticing me fiddling with it in my hand. "Oh, ok." I repeated, sliding it back into its pouch for the first time in what felt like ages. "I suppose you're probably wondering what all of this is." He said, gesturing around in a broad motion. "Well to put it as plainly as possible, it's me. Yes, me. I am the hotel. I am also responsible for the initiation of the various dimensions that this hotel connects." "I um, wait. Wouldn't that make you... God or something?" I asked as a sensation I still can't adequately describe washed over me. "Ah, well yes and no. If you mean in the Biblical sense, then very much no. If you mean as the catalyst for the thing you know as the universe, then I am afraid so. But please, try not to think of me that way. There are many different beings native to many of the various dimensions that call themselves gods, yours included. And yes, even the one in the Bible. Though I must admit I'm not overly fond of that one myself. But as it stands, I only have my staff intervene in issues that involve a being from one dimension causing problems in another that they aren't native to." He explained. "So wait... If you're God, does that make me an angel? AM I DEAD?!" I yelled, leaping up from my chair. "Oh sit down. You aren't dead and you're hardly anything close to an angel." He said. "Though if you do ever run into one do be a dear and get rid of it for me. Awful, arrogant, meddlesome things they are. That cudgel can kill anything in any dimension. I make the metal myself so you can bet the farm on it. And I believe after spending... Oh my goodness, five years with Mr. Jhingless, oh dear dear dear. You poor boy." The Manager said standing from his chair and placing a hand on my shoulder causing a mixture of excitement, nausea, and reverence to all wash over me at once. "You go back to your room. He knows better than to keep someone for that long. Get some rest and come back tomorrow and we'll talk some more, ok?" "Yeah, yeah. I think I'll do that." I replied, stirring back to my feet and making for the door. As I past by the hall that leads to the front desk on the way back to the common room I could hear a commotion in the distance. It sounded like screams! I took off full speed down the hall to investigate. I slid to a halt as I ran head first into a nightmare. Strange giant insect, spider like creatures were scuttling everywhere. Suddenly I heard a massive WHOOSH and felt a wave of heat from my left. Lezley was wearing an actual flamethrower and was blasting fire up and down the walls scorching the bug things as he went. Every puff of flames sending more of the monstrosities shrieking and scurrying for dear life in their final moments. In a flash something lunged at me, knocking me down to the floor. As soon as my ass hit the ground one of those things took off full speed straight towards me with a ear splitting cry. I recoiled and covered my face, ready for the sharp, pointy legs to grab hold of me. But before it could I heard a earth shattering SMASH and felt the ground lurch beneath me a little. I opened my eyes to see that Pete had crushed the bug into a million bloody pieces with a gigantic mallet. Then in one motion he snatched the hammer from the massive crater in the floor and swung for my head. I jumped sideways as the mallet slammed into the wall behind me causing a sharp squeak from the creature it just obliterated. "Welcome to Thunderdome bitch." He said with his trademark slimy grin before prying his hammer from the wall and continuing on his bug smashing rampage across the main lobby. By the time I got back to my room the thoughts in my head had plenty of time to swirl into a hurricane of frustration. I snatched open the door and started to yank and pull at my tattered staff shirt. "FIVE YEARS! FIVE FUCKING YEARS IN THAT ROOM WITH THAT WALKING HEADACHE MONSTER and I couldn't even kill a BUG!!" I exclaimed, throwing my staff shirt across the room in anger. "It takes some time." A voice from behind me said. "AH JESUS!! Oh... You're here." I said to my room mate who had all but faded from my memory over the last five years. "Sorry, I didn't realize you were in here." "It's ok Travis. It takes time for the memories from the time in the room to fade and the memories from before to take their place. And you were in there for longer than anyone so I have heard. It may take longer for you, but it will happen. We have all gone through this. I promise." She said. "Oh boy am I actually glad to see you again." I said to the porcelain white being I shared a room with. I was beginning to remember our talk. It began to feel more like last night again and less like years ago. "So I just have to wait for all that stuff to kick in?" I asked. "Yes. Before long everything you learned and practiced in the room will come back to you." She answered. I sat down on the bed next to her, resting my head in my hands and running my fingers through my hair as I spoke. "Oh boy oh boy. First day on the job and I'm already five years into the job. Ain't that some shit..." Which caused my room mate to laugh loudly in response. "Yes, this is a very different place, but I will help you through." She said, taking my hand in hers. I didn't notice at first, but at that moment was when I realized, hey... she's kinda... pretty. I felt a sharp pain against my temple as the sound of metal clanging on the floor rattled across the small room. "You left your 1 key in the fun-time room jackass." Sasha the she-beast barked at me from the door before storming off. "Fuck you very much!" I replied. "WHAT WAS THAT?!" She exclaimed, poking her head back around the corner. "I... uh, said thank you for bringing the key back. Appreciate it." I stammered. "Oh leave him alone Sasha. He just spent five years in there." My room mate scolded. "Hmmm...." The woman shaped ball of attitude mumbled, squinting her eyes at me before retreating back down the hall. "I... think I'm going to take a shower. I haven't had one in forever. I've been taking sponge baths for the last... No wait, I had one the other day. Or, hold on..." I trailed off, trying to square away whether my last shower was a few years or a few days ago. "Ah see? It's already happening. Your memory is fixing itself." My room mate said excitedly. "Yeah... guess so." I replied. "Maybe the shower will help." "Oh yes! What a good idea! I was just planning to take one as well." She said. "Also my name is Eena." "Um right, Travis." I said smiling. A smile that faded the instant I remembered the the bath house was... coed. A heat wave washed over me that felt like I just stuck my face in an oven. It took me several minutes to even start to bathe on account of most of my focus being devoted to keeping my eyes aimed at the floor and off of the nudity that presented itself in an abundance of various, strange forms all over the bath house. You don't even want to know what some of the got. And yeah, for all the nosey little perverts out there, I did sneak a peek at Eena, and I was admittedly somewhat relieved that she's really similar to your average human female. In general appearance that is. I couldn't say for sure if the hardware matched up. Keep it in your pants there sickos. The next morning as I got dressed for my first "day" on the job I hear a knock on the door. I opened it to the sight of Lezley again. "You're going to the library today." He chirped. "What library?..." I yawned in response. "Oh you'll see." He answered with a smirk. "You're going to be an escort for one of the travelers. All you gotta do is keep them safe and make sure that not a single book leaves that place. Simple enough right?" "Um, yeah sure." I said, stifling another yawn. I was then led to an elevator door that was situated not too far from The Manager's office. Waiting in front of the door was a man, based on appearances, but I started getting a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach the second I laid eyes on him. Dressed in all black he wore an old timey flat brim hat and dark glasses with those oldschool round lenses. The hem of his long black coat hovered just over the ground next to his glossy black shoes. As I got closer I could tell that he was pale as a ghost and slim beneath his clothes. "Hey how you doing?" I said, forcing myself to extend my hand to introduce myself. "I'm sure the pleasure's all mine." The man said sarcastically, refusing my gesture. The man's acidic voice oozed through the air. I wanted to be mad at the guy but I was too busy being caught up on his voice. It sounded deep and kinda foreign, like if Alan Rickman had a sore throat or something. "Damn guy, I that's some voice you got there. Bet you could make a killing on audio books." I said before thinking, causing Lezley to slap me on the shoulder. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" He snapped. "Ow shit! My bad..." I replied. "Either way, you'll be accompanying our guest while he visits the library." He added, pointing towards the door the man stood in front of. "Try to behave." "You telling me this guy can't find his way around a damn Books a Million?" I asked, agitation now apparent in my tone. "This ain't no book store buddy. And aside from it making the library at Alexandria look like a Scholastic book fair, not a single book is allowed to leave that place, not ever. The guest can take notes or copy information, but not a single book leaves. Aside from keeping an eye on the guest you're also there to act as a bodyguard in the more isolated regions." Lezley explained. "No. No more talking, he's waited on you and your bullshit long enough." He continued, slapping the only button next to the elevator, which showed a crude image of a book. The door dinged as it parted and I entered after the strange man. He then reached out and pressed a button identical to the one on the outside, causing the doors to close and the elevator to descend. After about a minute I noticed that the bottom of the elevator began to drop down pass a border of some kind. Turns out the inside doors were glass and once you pass a certain point you can, well... you get to see the library. And you really need this view to truly appreciate this place. By the time we were able to see through the glass we were what had to be no less than a thousand feet up. The elevator is built into one of the colossal natural stone columns that descended from the ceiling to the ground below. As I looked down on the library I almost fell to my knees. Not from the vertigo like you might expect. No, what almost made me drop was not just the fact that I was looking out into an underground library that seemingly had no end. Not just that, but that I slowly started to notice that the patches of light began to define themselves as we got closer. They were cities. Small buildings and houses and all kinds of ina... astructure.... Roads and bridges an shit. Entire cities separated from one another by expanses of darkness in a second world of endless night. Pressing my hand against the glass for a better look, I let a single sentence escape my lips. "Oh my god..." I whispered. "I remember my first time seeing it." The man spoke from behind me, damn near causing me to piss myself. I forgot he was in there with me and that Dracula voice didn't help. Once we hit the bottom and stepped out the real shocker hit me. Everything was a library. I mean everything. The sides of the buildings and houses were all shelves covered top to bottom in books of every shape, size, and color. The public benches, book shelves. The bases of statues, books shelves. The god damn trees, BOOK SHELVES! The actual tree trunks grew in the shape of book shelves and where all covered in the damn things. And people, well... when I say people I mean all kinds of people. Like the ones back up top in the hotel people. Anyway, people were just walking around like this is normal. Of course some of them looked like they were made of vapor and some were literally glowing, so take the word normal with a grain of salt. "This is supposedly the only place were people from all the different clusters can coexist in their natural states." The shady man next to me mentioned. "The rumor even says The Manager had to bind himself to the hotel to make this place. If he ever left I imagine this place would fall into turmoil and chaos almost immediately." The man spoke again. "Now, no time to waste. Long trip ahead of us." He added, pulling a map from his coat and beginning to walk. We stopped by a small shop first and bought packs and a considerable amount of supplies with a some coins in a small bag Lezley handed me, before we headed into the seemingly endless labyrinth of bookshelves. And when I say bookshelves I mean they are similar to the structures in the town, but more crude. Stone shelves rose from the ground stories high along side more of the mysterious book trees. I even spotted old scrolls and tablets from time to time. The deeper we traveled the fewer and fewer people we crossed paths with. Occasionally I would see a person appear heading the opposite direction back into town pulling an empty wagon, and seeing as when we left we were accompanied for a short time by several others pulling carts of their own full of books, I assumed that they were workers who's job was to take new additions to the library to their proper place. Once I realized this... the haggard and scarred appearance they all shared brought me no ease at all. Each of them looked more like gladiators than librarians. Some even wearing armor. I even saw one missing a leg that had been replaced with a pro-proseethical? A fake one made of wood carved into the shape of the leg that used to be there. "Jesus... What the hell goes on in this place?" I asked the man, but got no response. We walked and walked and walked until we finally settled down and made camp for the... Well not exactly the night because it's always the same and once you reach a certain point the light of the town fades and you're left with just the glow of the few, I guess "natural" lights that grow from the tree trunks, and whatever lightsource you brought with you. Luckily our lamps were bright enough to set our half assed camp by. The first time we stopped I had the thought to read some of the books that surrounded me, but I couldn't even find one in a language I recognized, never mind one I could read. So that was the only time I attempted that. Turns out the earpiece doesn't work on text... Bumer. Things started to get weird the second stop. I know "weird" is very relative and subjective in this case, but you get what I'm saying. After we both laid down to sleep I began to hear things. They sounded like chirps at first, like birds in the distance. But as time went on they got closer... and sounded a lot less like chirping. The sounds began to remind me more of someone screaming into a pillow very loudly and at a very high pitch. Now I started to freak out a bit... My holy-shit-o-meter maxed out when I began to notice the sounds were encircling us. And I could hear scratching as whatever made them crawled over and around and through the bookshelves and trees and across the ground. I crawled over to the man in a panic. "Hey, HEY! There's something around us in the dark!" I whispered sharply, trying to shake him awake. "Yes I already know." The man answered, apparently already awake. "Now be still and shut up and they'll leave you alone, or don't, and be dragged screaming and dying into the dark. I really, absolutely could not care less either way." He said, rolling over on his side to face the direction opposite to me. "Why the fuck would you say that?! You hateful motherf-" I started to say, but one of the muffled shrieks in the distance made me stop. I crawled slowly back to my pallet and wrapped myself in the blanket. I didn't sleep at all. Once we packed up and began to walk again, against my better judgment, I started asking more questions. And boy did I get answers. Granted I think he was as bored as I was or he likely would have told me to leave him alone. My first question was obviously what the hell were those things I heard. Short answer, basically alligator sized giant lizard jackal things that can run down a gazelle and change their skin like an octopus. Also they're poisonous. Or... not poisonous, the one where they bite you and you die, not you bite them and you die. That one. And are part of the reason Hotel staff are sent to escort visitors. But all things considered this guy seemed more like he'd eat one of them then the other way around. Second question was how the hell he even knew about this place. I wasn't really ready for the answer. "I used to work here. Many, many years ago." He explained. "I used to make those cudgels you're carrying on your hip right now." "What for real? You're serious?!" I croaked. "How long ago we talkin? Like what year?" "Oh who's to say?" He pondered. "Let's see... My brother James had just set sail for the states. He was a first mate if I recall. Cornwallace had surrendered not too long before. I remember having to put down my slaves before I left." "Oh whoa whoa! Did you just say 'my slaves', like you owned people and put them down like animals?!" I barked in disgust. "Well of course. I worked them pretty hard, and I couldn't sell them off. Nobody wants to pay good money for a worn out negro." He said so casually it made me physically ill. "You're an appalling son of a bitch aren't you?" I hissed at his back. "Now now, let's not get off topic." He hummed. "About the time I left I believe the automobile was just coming into fashion. What a delightful uproar they caused. Nobody knew how to drive, no real laws or regulations, people dying in the streets left and right. You should have seen it." He finished with a chuckle. "How they hell is that even possible? That was like 500 years ago." I asked Mr. Grand Wizard. "Ah well you see, you don't age while you work at the hotel. One of the perks. You can stay and work there as long as you want and never lose a second of your precious little life." He answered. "As long as that key is in your hand you don't have to worry about dying of old age." "But that still don't explain how you're still here walking around. I mean you look old but you'd basically be a mummy by now." I stated. Not fully registering that someone just told me I was basically Highlander. "And normally that would be absolutely correct and possibly the smartest thing you've said since we met. However this is not my first pilgrimage through this place." He said, motioning his hand to our surroundings. "I've spent an ample amout of time in this place learning little known secrets of the universe. Longevity being one of many. Anything I can to separate myself as far and completely as possible from the human condition." "Jeez guy, most people just get some tattoos and some crazy piercings or something." I mumbled. "So what's your shady ass doing down here this time?" "Minding my own business." He said in an unnervingly sudden threatening tone. After several days of mindless wandering with the constant sound of those jackalgator things following us the whole way, we finally came to another village. "Ahhh, finally." The man sighed in relief. "Is this where we're looking for?" I asked. "Indeed it is. This particular town is called Collector's Canyon. Many of the inhabitants here run small shops where they collect very specific, top quality books from around the library and sell the opportunity to read them for a very steep price. Each shop usually deals in books of a specific subject. One shop might offer you a scientific breakthrough that could change the world, or another one might be where you can read the most terrifying horror stories ever written, or perhaps the single greatest mystery novel in hundreds of dimensions." He explained. "Why so expensive though? There's books out the ass in this place." I asked. "Yes that's exactly why the service exists at all. Billions and billions of books and no means of categorization? There's no way for the average person to find what they're looking for in several lifetimes. These are professionals with closely guarded trade secrets on how to search for the very best books." He answered. "Now we are looking for a particular shop, which according to this map is... this way." "Hey, why is it called Collector's Canyon if there's no-" I began to ask, but I was answered before I could finish. After walking past a few small houses I was now looking out into a massive crack in the earth. I remember going to the Grand Canyon as a kid and let me tell you... You could fit several of them in this thing. And what's more, from the canyon walls there were what looked like sideways stalactites that jutted out far into the air. The were almost the size of skyscrapers, but even more amazing was they looked like they were hollowed out, little specs of light shinning through what looked like windows. It took the man bumping into my shoulder as he walked by to bring me back to my senses. Following behind I asked in astonishment, "Yo. YO are you seeing this?!" "Hm? Oh yes yes, very amazing." He murmured to himself as he checked the map once again. "We need to make our way to the bottom." My Bond villain of a ward directed. After some time we finally reached the bottom and worked our way through to a small corner of the canyon wall. There we found a small shack of a shop situated just benieth the base of where one of those sideways stalactite things met the wall. I read the shop's sign... "Curses: Mythology and Science, Theory and Application"
several years back evangelicals weren't comfortable at all saying trump was a christian. before and during trump's campaign conservative evangelicals were all over the map on where they stood concerning his faith: in 2015 dobson said,'I am very wary of Donald Trump,” Dobson said in his email, citing Trump’s business in gambling. “I would never vote for a king pin within that enterprise. Trump’s tendency to shoot from the hip and attack those with whom he disagrees would be an embarrassment to the nation if he should become our Chief Executive. I don’t really believe Trump is a conservative. Finally, I would never under any circumstance vote for Hillary Clinton'. in 2016, and to this day, dobson says on his 'family institute' website, 'If anything, this man is a baby Christian who doesn’t have a clue about how believers think, talk and act.' in 2011 franklin graham told christianity today: ' “No question, the guy’s got a lot of baggage. He owns casinos. He’s had multiple marriages. I did not endorse him.” when trump evangelical bouncer, robert jeffress, defended trump on fox news, regarding stormy daniels' announcement she had a sexual encounter with Trump and was paid to keep quiet before the election, Jeffress explained [to] Juan Williams that evangelicals 'knew they weren’t voting for an altar boy.' eric metaxas in responding to the hollywood access video of trump, [in] an email to 'RNS [... said he] rejected the characterization that he has strongly backed Trump, saying his support “has always been tepid and tremendously qualified." [...] in addition, 'James MacDonald, pastor of the Chicago-area megachurch Harvest Bible Chapel and a member of Trump’s evangelical advisory board, also withdrew his support after the video aired, calling the candidate “letcherous and worthless.' in 2016 mike huckabee tweeted: 'Trump may be a car wreck, but at least his car is pointed in the right direction. Hillary is a drunk-driver going the wrong way on the freeway'. the family research council president, tony perkins, put his support this way: 'You know what? Nations are built on calculated risk. Yeah. You could say we’re taking a calculated risk, but we’re at a point where we have to as a nation because what we have seen in the last seven and a half years has put the nation fiscally and culturally on the edge.' of course, we can't forget jerry falwell's endorsement as early as january of 2016: [...] “In my opinion, Donald Trump lives a life of loving and helping others as Jesus taught in the great commandment,” he said. “He cannot be bought, he's not a puppet on a string like many other candidates ... who have wealthy donors as their puppet masters,” he said. “And that is a key reason why so many voters are attracted to him.” at this time there's no direct evidence, nor cohen's testimony that there was a quid pro quo for falwell's endorsement. the falwell's and trump's have been friends since 2012 when trump spoke at liberty univ. it was falwell's endorsement that opened up the evangelical base to trump and ultimately cut ted cruz out of the race. but it can't go without saying that knowing the past 4 or 5 years of both trump and the falwell's lives, the entanglement is very deep, as you will see. so, given the lack of evangelical consensus, the lack of a solid biblical argument, and the life of trump, the location of where to put him, while retaining some evangelical dignity and avoiding hypocrisy, a charismatic evangelical named lance wallnau enters the story with his best selling book, 'God's Chaos Candidate' on oct of 2016, as well as his piece in 'charisma news', 'Why I Believe Trump Is the Prophesied President'. wallnau argued trump 'is a “modern-day Cyrus,” an ancient Persian king chosen by God to “navigate in chaos.' he even added a little numerology: trump's the 45th prez and cyrus is god's anointed in isaiah 45, so trump's anointed. makes sense right? anyway, aside from us living in a democracy, the idea grew, even to the point of netanyahu comparing him to cyrus. now many evangelicals are compare him to king cyrus. two years have now passed and it was a month before the 2018 midterms and a movie came out called, 'the trump prophecy.' the film was a partnership between 'reelworksstudios' and (-wait for it-) liberty univ's arts program, where it attempted to make the comparison of cyrus and trump. popularity grew when fox news' jeanine pirro touted the film, along with many other radio and tv hosts . while the idea of the cyrus-trump connection is still being floated it doesn't make sense now. why? due to trump openly stating he's changed his faith. more specifically, when trump himself, a couple weeks ago became a non denominationalist, it closed the personal distance between him and jesus, it, theoretically, should bring him closer to jesus, which negated the cyrus typology, which gave him distance from jesus; that's the point of changing one's faith isn't it, to get closer to god. as that distance is now gone, as cyrus was a pagan, and trump is claiming he's a reflective christian -a genius-, having deepened his faith, how can he still be compared to a pagan king? -especially with being surrounded by evangelicals for 4 years. over the past 40 years non denominationalists have grown over 400%, and a 1/3 of all evangelicals are nondens.. who are the nondens? they're basically the largest protestant denomination, and made up many southern baptists, with provisos.. it's unusual for a very stable genius billionaire, to self identify with nondens, but paula white has a 6,000 sq ft home, former trump faith advisor in the 1950s (check out 'the family' on netfix). so, perhaps trump is an eisenhower type, having changed his faith for political profit? if he did, one thing is certain; he can't use the cyrus connection any longer, for attempting to now makes him a public con. trump has stated, 'i'm the chosen one.' he was joking, somewhat, but like so many of his supposed jokes, they usually appear two-sided; they're like a reverse irony found under a bulimic joke, like: “Suburban women, will you please like me? - Please. Please,” he said in PA last week. his other "jokes" we have to wait several hours or a day later to discover if it really was a joke: “When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases,” Trump said. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’. again, '"And then I see the disinfectant, that knocks it out in a minute.. and is there a way you can do something like, by injection, inside, or almost to clean... It sounds interesting to me.' and again, 'russia, if you're listening, i hope you're able to find the 30k emails that are missing.'. these dormant jokes a day or so later are fairly common and have created lots of confusion. i bring this up 'cause trump uses religious language more than any other past presidents in a 100 years, more than twice as eisenhower, and figuring out what he's really saying regarding faith, in politics, isn't any better than his policy discussions, and some might say it's worse -- as he weaponizes/attacks it, too:
when one looks at trump's photo op at st. john's church, as the clergy and protesting faithful and others were cleared with force and gas, just moments later trump took their place on the church sidewalk, standing alone, fixated on cameras, fumbling a bible, then holding it next to his head, never praying, nor mentioning god. during that time, he said two times, 'we have the greatest country in the world,' then walked to the front steps of the church, stood with his back to the steps, as the other pics must have somehow lacked his authority, called some of his staff and bill barr to stand with him while they posed for more pics, stating twice again, ' we have the greatest country' or words to that affect. here one say that trump weaponized the church equating it to a dominating power over those who disagree with trump's edicts. it was a symbol for what constitutes christian nationalism, in my view.
“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” the president said. “Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you,’ when they know that that’s not so.” Later, in front of dozens of members of Congress at his acquittal celebration at the White House, Trump singled out Pelosi and Romney by name, going further by accusing her of neither praying for him, nor praying at all. “She doesn’t pray. She may pray, but she prays for the opposite. But I doubt she prays at all,” the president said.
...
trump said of ted cruz: "but I've never seen anybody that lied as much as Ted Cruz. He goes around saying he's a Christian. I don't know. You're going to have to really have to study that. yes"
a trump tweet on cruz: 'How can Ted Cruz be and Evangelical Christian when he lies so much and is so dishonest?
trump in ohio:'[biden] will take away your guns, take away your Second Amendment. No religion, no anything.” [...]there will be no god is biden is elected', and biden 'will hurt the bible, hurt god,'
finally: Trump responded swiftly at a campaign event in South Carolina, saying: “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful.” “No leader, especially a religious leader, has the right to question another man’s religion or faith,” he told a packed room at a golf course resort.
of course, trump's not the only person to weaponize god-talk. pastor paula white does it as well: christians will 'stand before god if they vote against trump'. of course, she's known as the most adamant evangelical that says trump is a christian. sadly, she's had her run-ins with heresy regarding the trinity, is a prosperity gospel preacher, gone off the rails publicly more than once, has been investigated by the senate, published a book in oct of 2019, that 'christiantiy today' called, disturbing, depressing, narcissistic, dishonest, materialistic, lacking self-awareness, shallow, and trumpesque. so, she's really something -- and of course she's probably trump's top spiritual adviser that works in the white house. the same failure of christian virtues can be said of jerry falwell jr, the president of one of the nation's largest christian colleges, but truly, his narrative doesn't need repeating, except the new sage of he and his wife's game of 'would you rather'.. the same also goes for pastor franklin graham, who is a xenophobe and weaponized 'opposition to President Donald Trump to “almost a demonic power”, metaxis agreed, although he didn't like the 'almost'. finally, to end our sampling, there's pastor robert jeffress statements that anti-trump 'evangelicals are morons. They are absolutely spineless morons, and they cannot admit that they were wrong.' [...] “We cannot afford to be like German Christians who, in the rise of the evil reign of Adolf Hitler, just remained neutered. They remained silent. And you saw what happened there,” Jeffress said. “I think there’s a similar wave of godlessness that is rising in our country right now, and we must push back against that tide.' this is not an argument of guilt by association, these individuals have shown evidence of a failure to abide with the teachings of jesus and the church. their miscarriage is aligned with trump's, and perhaps more so, as they for decades have studied christianity. yet, they aren't running the country and lying daily about the covid virus as thousands die weekly; they aren't constantly attacking and damaging the usps,, mail in ballots,, the press, race, climate science, fauci, the fbi, even saying doctors are profiting off of covid deaths and inflating the dead numbers, attacking impeachment accusers, his sexual misconduct accusers, gold star families ...the list of trump attacks are almost found everywhere and everyday now. therefore, if he's not cyrus, not a christian, is he a con? i think the evidence is abundantly clear. for much of the attacks and weaponizing of people, institutions, and things, the gop has also been silent. they are silent on race, the media, even their own institutions. i'd be something if they came out and supported him in numbers, but they don't. paul states in 1 cor: 11: Do as I do, for I am doing as Christ did. i don't see that happening much in the gop or trump's staff or trump himself, given he's the most religiously rhetorical president in over a 100 years, and that the nondens are the true believers; in fact, the evidence appears to indicate the opposite conclusion. donald trump is a con of the highest order, a chronic liar, a cheat, and devious. therefore, evangelicals should ask themselves ‘what would jesus do about this?' the answer would be, 'don't vote for trump.’
[Essay Contest] What do the Cold War, Evangelion and Disney have in common? The answer is Nadia.
Reality – a behemoth of connections, layers and trends between facts and the imagination. The world – a puzzle none can truly solve. Humans – forayers into the complexes that are experience and knowledge. Life – an interesting web of tales. Hello readers and welcome to my entry for the anime writing contest. Human experience is truly a fascinating thing. The very world we live in is a place with the uncanniest connections and relations between what we would think are discrete factoids. The late Stephen Hawking was born on and died on the exact same days as Einstein and Galileo. The Simpsons "predicted" Donald Trump’s election. And the parallels between the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln are unnerving. Seemingly mundane events can often serve as points of connection between several other major events. Such is reality. What’s interesting though, is how these degrees of separation allow us to tell brand new, fascinating stories about overlooked happenings. That is precisely what I hope to do by the end of this essay about the anime: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water and how it ties in to the world around it. So please, sit tight, buckle up, and see how reality unfolds itself.
Chapter 1 – Backgrounds/Evangelion/You Can (not) Produce
As a heavily styled art form, anime has undoubtedly transformed significantly over the decades. The oldest known Japanese animated picture, Katsudō Shashin employed stencilling techniques to create a unique and distinctly Japanese production, possibly preluding the works of famous American animators such as Winsor McCay and James Blackton. Fast-forward to the 1960s and Astro Boy) ( Tetsuwan Atomu) broke new ground in the Japanese television scene, airing on 40% of the Japan’s screens and becoming the first anime to cross the Pacific and air in the US. Other iconic productions such as Kimba the White Lion, Speed Racer and Cyborg 009 would help lay the foundations for the rapidly evolving niche, and over the 1980s, space operas (inspired by the explosive popularity of Star Wars), martial arts, sports and mechas took the industry by storm as they began to set the stage for contemporary tropes, genres and themes. By 1998 the otaku community had a palpable presence and anime had already proven itself to be a cultural behemoth capable of enrapturing a growing global audience. More anime than ever before was produced, more experiments were performed and new tropes ossified into the medium. It was here that numerous iconic series we know and love today – Neon Genesis Evangelion, Princess Mononoke and Cowboy Bebop to name a few – were conceived and aired. It was here that Sailor Moon, Digimon and Pokémon captivated a younger generation, shaping childhoods and breeding a new generation of loyal fans, many of whom remain so to this day. The rest is fairly recent history, and over time the anime industry has only ever moved forward in innovation, diversity and creativity (if punctuated by what appears to be moments of thematic exploitation e.g. the isekai harem trend). Anime clearly has its fair share of maestros. And the anime canon clearly has its classics as well, all of which deserve their immortality. And yet, like any mature and popular corner of the entertainment industry, there is a growing disconnection between the shows many fans enjoy today and historical wave-makers in the industry. This is not to criticize the anime fandom. It is only natural that newer, more consumer-relevant shows are given more attention. And the fact that the industry churns out multiple shows of excellent quality across genres is a sign of vibrancy if anything. That said, there is a cost to this. “The wages of progress is death”. And what dies is the knowledge of solid and charming, albeit less ground-breaking shows as they slip away from our present-oriented consciousness. To go by analogy, millenial film-goers are largely uninterested in movies produced before 1970 such as 12 Angry Men and Casablanca. Of course, several iconic films stand out and have seared themselves into Occidental (and perhaps even international) public consciousness (think The Sound of Music), The Godfather and Gone With the Wind), but many other gems have been lost to the annals of time. Once again this is not a critique of contemporary culture, but an observation of trends in the relevance we assign to shows. Parallels to this phenomenon exist within the anime community, with some choosing to not watch any old anime at all and others simply not willing to gamble on older shows in hopes of finding a victim of MAL’s contentious rating scheme. In hopes of convincing the former and informing the latter, I have written this essay on a show which captured my heart after I stumbled across it on…Youtube. Ladies and gentlemen, enthusiasts and casual watchers, allow me to introduce the heart-warming, terrifying, charming and ambitious – Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. Introductions are in order. Nadia initially existed as a concept owned by Toho Company Ltd inspired by Jules Vernes’ 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The project was initially slated to be a television series developed by the esteemed Hayao Miyazaki, but it never reached the production stage. Instead, on the brink of the 1990s, two studios colluded to produce an anime based on the concept: Group TAC Ltd, which went bankrupt in 2010, and the notorious, influential and stylistic Gainax. Strikingly, the soon-to-be-acclaimed masterful director of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Hideaki Anno was put in charge of writing and directing the anime. As a matter of fact, in some ways Nadia is what made NGE possible. But we’ll get to that later. Suffice to say that some corporate drama followed, but eventually agreements were made and the series began airing on April 13 1990.
Our story begins in France, 1889 where a young inventor, Jean Roque-Lartique, and his grandfather intend to participate in an aircraft engineering contest. As our optimistic and bespectacled protagonist saunters through the Parisian complex, he chances upon an exotic jewel that instantly enraptures him. Her name is Nadia, and with her is a grey lion cub by the name of King. In the spirit of a true romantic, Jean spares no effort acquainting himself with the pretty little lady. She’s fairly belligerent, however, and especially protective of the stone –sapphire, like her eyes– hanging on her necklace. She and Jean part, only to be united later when three individuals who pilot a mysterious robot show up looking for Nadia and, in particular, the Blue Water (the jewel) she possesses. Several events follow, and soon Jean and Nadia find themselves thrust into a grand adventure that they never before dreamt of. On their way they make several friends, enemies and uncover mysteries as they reveal the secrets behind the Blue Water. The above paragraph sets the premise for the show, but for a deeper understanding of Nadia’s themes, it is vital to account for the context under which the show was greenlit, produced and aired. Between 1947 and 1991 the world was embroiled in a state of tense international relations as the two dominant forces of capitalism and communism/socialism squared off against one another. While little direct conflict occurred between the US and the Soviet Union, proxy wars in less powerful political entities, espionage, propaganda and political manhandling were more or less the order of the day. The fact that both of the major participants were nuclear superpowers greatly deterred any form of direct warfare. And perhaps at no point was the tension between the two parties as high as during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Pardon the historical rambling, but again it is necessary to understand the backdrop of Nadia’s production. The point of fact is that technological progress, which promised to liberate mankind from all manners of inconvenience and hardship, seemed, for 13 terrifying days, poised to wreak the very civilization it had helped construct. The ideologies and distrust that have typified human relations for thousands of years, when combined with powerful means of annihilation raised the threat of human extinction beyond anything in the two thousand years preceding it. This is exactly the point that Nadia makes throughout its runtime. As the plot progresses the titular heroine and Jean encounter a sea vessel with technology that far outstrips anything 19th century Europe could produce. The Nautilus, captained by the enigmatic and charming Captain Nemo (lovers of Jules Verne will instantly recognize both names) is a submarine powered by nuclear fusion. A behemoth of inhuman innovation and creativity. It’s attack, detection and camouflage systems dwarf anything that human beings have accomplished, and Jean, a lover of all things related to engineering is instantly taken aback by its beastly mechanics (much to Nadia’s chagrin). But the secrecy with which Nemo conducts his operations, and the justification he gives for not sharing his technology with the world all point to a clear message: Humankind, given its propensity for greed, destruction and short-sightedness is better off gaining the wisdom to use technology before gaining access to its means. And the fact that Nadia aired in 1990 (shortly before the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union) is, I think, a clear nod to this. Our protagonists, Jean and Nadia represent the ends of the spectrum of views on the subject matter. Jean, a true inventor, is a staunch optimist who can only imagine the possibilities and brilliance that can emerge from the accumulation of technological knowledge. Onwards and upwards, moving forwards whilst never looking back – such is Jean’s creed. Nadia on the other hand is wary and a lot less comfortable with utilizing technology without regard for its consequences on existing lifeforms. The natural is good enough. The artificial is dangerous, risky, fake and destructive. Both points have their strengths, but by the end of the series, both individuals gravitate nearer to the middle. And I think it’s very fair to say that the truth truly lies there. If the modern western world, the so-called peak of human civilization, once approached the brink of disaster following a leap in technology but not wisdom, does that not provide a useful precedent for today’s digital landscape? Are convenience and the prevalence of social media truly good things? How can they ruin us? Should technology simply be embraced as “the future” without concern? Such philosophical questions are interesting, but are ultimately beyond the scope of this essay and Nadia. Ultimately, what Nadia has to say is that caution and curiosity must go hand in hand lest we, like Icarus, fall in our attempt to reach the sun. Religion is another important sub-theme that lovers of Anno would instantly recognize. Biblical symbolism and narratives are reflected within the story both overtly and within its very plot structure. Man’s creation, the cost of wisdom, Noah’s ark, obedience towards the creator and more. Crosses recur throughout the show, highlighting Anno’s unique (and some might say “pretentious”) taste. Such symbolism is a very good thing for individuals brought up cognizant of the bare basics of Christianity. The audience can instantly connect the dots and recognize where the story is headed as well as what kind of story it is exactly. Nadia also touches at certain points on the necessity of vegetarianism, but it’s hardly a major theme and is not developed as deeply as the threat of humanity’s wisdom undoing it. By all means that is its strongest message. Character-wise, I found Nadia (the anime) to be truly heart-warming. I think it’s an amazing thing when the interactions between what should be mere pixels and sounds are capable of gently moving the viewer and investing within him or her a sense of contentment. Nadia does just this, with a cast of characters that are neither too complex nor so archetypal and tropey that there’s little about them to explore. Its cast combination is fairly unique, though not at all alien. We have the fiery (some would say self-righteous) Nadia, the stoic Nemo, the suave and hilariously charming Sanson, the precocious Grandis and the dream-eyed Jean. All these bring their own flavours into a remarkable assortment of engaging character interactions. Some might find Nadia’s entitled personality irritating, but I think there’s much to like about her if one spends just a bit of time looking. But to each their own. For prospective viewers, I think she’s definitely worth a shot, and her character development leaves little to be desired. Side note, I watched the entire series (asides from 2-3 episodes) on YouTube which had the dubbed version. I was pleasantly surprised by how well it fit. The 2-3 episodes I saw in Japanese were okay, but ultimately when I rewatch it, it’s going to be in dubs, not subs. I round off this section with a short discourse on the fatal flaw of Nadia, and why perhaps the anime isn’t rated very highly today (despite winning multiple prestigious awards in the year it aired). The few who have seen Nadia will undoubtedly know what I’m getting at. But for those who haven’t seen it, I’m referring to what are called, the “Island Episodes” and the Africa arc. I won’t get into the contents of these because the former is largely filler while the latter is a downright travesty that might set your blood boiling even if you appreciate the former (I know mine did). Many who recommend Nadia advise prospective watchers to skip the episodes 23-34 where the titular heroine and her friends are stranded on an Island. It’s understandable why. The plot doesn’t progress at all, the animation quality drops and the whole series assumes a wacky air that many would argue is out of place. I think these are fair criticisms, but I also think that half of why they’re so damning is due to the mind-set of viewers who “expect things to happen”. Expectation is the mother of all disappointment, and as I had none when entering, it was easy to take pleasure in the zany dramas of the island arc. The other half, and this might be heretical, is that they consumed it in the wrong way. Now for the record, common sense dictates that we watch a series from episode one to the end sequentially. That’s fair. But in this case, viewers might torture themselves if they do that. Some dishes require strange techniques of preparation to fully bring out their flavour. The puffer fish is a commonly cited example. Prepared poorly and it’s the literal death of two things: a person and its chef’s career. With some careful slicing and surgery on the other hand, you have a full-blown delicacy with a taste to die for (the healthy way). Such is Nadia. But really, I think this applies to any and all anime with filler. Pushing through chronologically or sequentially is the laziest course of action, but not always the most rewarding. Because I expected nothing from it, the Island arc was a pleasant breath of fresh air where I could see the characters I loved interact constantly without being driven by the plot’s demands (think Carnival Phantasm?), and that in itself can be a kind of treasure. Of course, it can be a chore to power through a whole anime season’s worth of filler and so I recommend prospective viewers to do this instead: skip the entire Island and Africa arcs at first (they weren’t directed by Anno anyways), then once you’ve finished the anime, come back to the Island episodes if you haven’t had enough of the characters and pretend like the Africa arc doesn’t exist (it’s so bad I won’t waste my word-count on it). I guess you could watch it out of morbid curiosity, or to test your cringe tolerance, however. In summary, I would say that Nadia is thematically heavy and raises some important questions about the nature and future of humanity. It can be critiqued from multiple angles and even the bare plot alone is enough to warrant a significant degree of enjoyment.
Nadia took a huge toll on Hideaki Anno’s mental health. Following the end of the series, Anno would fall into a deep depression before returning with the industry-shattering work that is Neon Genesis Evangelion. Artistic disagreements between him and the producers led to him taking a break from the show (during which the notorious Island arc and horrific Africa arc were produced). A large part of this was due to its unexpected popularity. In fact, various cash-grabs in form of videogames and movies would follow, with none being even a tenth as significant as their predecessor. Nonetheless, in many ways the spirit of Nadia was carried forth into Anno’s next work. The use of Biblical allusion and directive choices in NGE all ring with similar notes. And maybe we can say that the deep melancholy that Nadia might have helped plunge Anno into was in some significant way responsible for the poignancy, rawness and sheer brilliance of Evangelion. But there was another possible inheritor to Nadia. Disney’s 2001 feature film, Atlantis is cited by many as a spiritual successor (if they’re being nice) or downright rip-off (if they’re not) of Nadia. There are many thematic similarities between the two, and some might even argue that some elements of their plots are similar. But ultimately, I wonder if it even matters. Atlantis was more or less a flop, but I think if more people come to know, watch and love Nadia like I do, then a hundred rip-offs would still be a good price to pay. Nadia, an unsuspecting collection of megabytes I found packing dust in the emptiest alleys of Youtube, turned out to have not just one, but two truly amazing stories. The one of human nature that it tells to those who watch it, and the one of how an industry titan fulfills an ozymandiac destiny. I really hope you can give it a try. Edit: formatting and wordcount
Having difficulty reconciling Christian gay marriage with scripture.
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV Here, in what is essentially a single sentence, Paul condemns 1) sexual immorality, 2) idolatry, 3) adultery, 4) homosexual activity, 5) theft, 6) greed, 7) excessive drinking, 8) reviling, and 9) swindling all as sinful. He also says “such were some of you”, indicating that the faithful are to cease such sinful behaviors and make every effort to avoid relapsing. Millions, if not billions, of people have been or continue to be tempted by at least one of the sins listed above by Paul. And Jesus tells us (using very hyperbolic language) in the Sermon on the Mount that we are to remove ourselves from the things which tempt us to sin. Suppose then for instance a Christian is dealing with alcoholism, and is tempted to drink daily. If this person chooses to become a bartender, they will have voluntarily injected themselves into a situation which enhances their temptation and likelihood of succumbing to it. Therefore, we as fellow Christians would not condone such a decision by this brother or sister who is constantly tempted by alcohol, and instead encourage them to actively avoid such settings which entice them to act on this temptation, even if it is to be a lifelong commitment. Biblically speaking, I see no reason for gay marriage to be treated any differently. It seems more and more Christians these days argue that gay marriage itself is not inherently sinful, but regardless, Paul makes it clear that homosexual activity certainly is. Why then do they encourage gay brothers and sisters in Christ to enter a lifestyle (gay marriage) of constant temptation (homosexual activity)? Why stop here, are we to start encouraging the alcoholic Christian to become a bartender as well? Or the gambling addict to spend his nights at casinos? Of course not, so why then do these Christians make an exception for this one sin? Why not others as well? Again, did Christ not tell us to “cut off” (remove) that which causes us to sin? And who are we to question the spiritual insight of Paul? If he was wrong about homosexuality then please explain how you know this, and if you do not know, then why would you trust your own judgment more than he who composed nearly half the New Testament and who, by the grace of God, was granted the power to personally perform miracles in His name? I’m just trying to understand because at present it’s seems as though condoning gay marriage is spiritually concerning and irreconcilable with scripture. Hopefully this is already abundantly clear, but just to be sure, this is not about the legality of gay marriage, but it’s status and acceptance within the church.
Having warned them regarding the danger of apostasy in committing themselves to the Law of Moses (cf. Galatians 1:1-5:16), the Apostle Paul reminded the Galatian Christians regarding the conflict between the desires of the flesh and the ways of God in the Spirit, and exhorted the Galatian Christians to manifest the fruit of the Spirit and resist the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:17-24). These “works of the flesh” are delineated in Galatians 5:19-21:
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Many of the first “works of the flesh” centered on challenges and temptations which would prove especially acute for Christians who had recently come out of the Greco-Roman pagan milieu: sexual temptations like sexually deviant behavior, uncleanness, and lasciviousness; idolatry; and sorcery. Paul then established the “works of the flesh” which prove especially pernicious in relationships: enmities, strife, jealousy, wrath, rivalries, divisions, sects, and envy. Paul concluded the list of specific “works of the flesh” with sins of excess: drunkenness and carousing. But what about behaviors not listed here? Did Paul intend to give an exhaustive overview of all that could be deemed the “works of the flesh”? By no means! He concluded his discussion of the works of the flesh by also condemning “the things like these,” and reiterated how those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21). Paul might well be using a common rhetorical device akin to our use of “et cetera.” Paul would mention other sinful behaviors in other passages not listed explicitly among the “works of the flesh” in Galatians 5:22-24. These would include murder (not found in Galatians 5:19-21 in the best manuscripts), covetousness, theft, deceit, lying, gossip, slander, and foolish talk (Romans 1:28-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Ephesians 5:3-8, Colossians 3:5-9). In condemning these behaviors Paul frequently used the same type of contrast between the ways of our holy God above from the ways of the corrupt world below; thus we should understand such things as much as “works of the flesh” as those explicitly identified in Galatians 5:19-21. Thus Paul at least intended for the Galatian Christians to understand “things like these” to refer to other behaviors clearly identified as sinful. Yet the phrasing of the term itself also suggests Paul wished for the Galatian Christians to recognize how many behaviors might be akin to a “work of the flesh” even if not explicitly identified as such. A major such example involves sexual transgressions: in Galatians 5:19-21 Paul condemned sexually deviant behavior, uncleanness, and lasciviousness, whereas in other passages specific forms of these behaviors are condemned, like same sex sexual relations and adultery (e.g. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). The Galatian Christians were expected to understand how these behaviors were “things like” sexually deviant behavior since they fit by definition. Covetousness is explicitly condemned on its own but is also equated to idolatry in Ephesians 5:3, Colossians 3:5: thus Paul would have the Galatian Christians understand how covetousness is a “thing like” idolatry. This principle extends beyond that which is explicitly condemned in Scripture to the chagrin of many. What God has made known regarding righteousness and sin inverts man’s desires and expectations. Man would like a comprehensive list of what not to do and to assume that whatever is not condemned is approved and righteous. In truth, in Scripture God has equipped those who would follow Him with every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17); Paul confessed that whatever is not of faith is sin, not whatever is of sin is faith (Romans 14:23). The Christian’s confidence lay in God’s revelation of Himself, His character, and His righteousness in Jesus who lived, died, was raised in power, ascended, is lord, and will return soon (2 Corinthians 5:7, Hebrews 11:1); thus, we may know what is right, good, and holy, for it is seen in what God accomplished in Jesus, and we should do likewise (Romans 12:1-2). To this end we can understand why the “fruit of the Spirit” is a fully defined list of characteristics but the “works of the flesh” are left open (Galatians 5:17-24): righteousness is fully embodied in Jesus, but the human heart is very deceitful, inventing evil, looking for ways to justify and rationalize the desires of the flesh and heart (Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 1:30, 1 John 2:15-17). Thus, it is not enough to say, “well, God never said not to,” or, “God nowhere explicitly condemns this or that.” Paul recognized how people would be easily tempted to “repackage” some sin or another in a different guise and think it justifiable; thus, not only are the explicit things mentioned in the “works of the flesh” condemned, but also anything similar to them. To this end Paul called upon the Galatian Christians, and Christians in general, to exercise discernment to understand whether a behavior is a “thing like” the works of the flesh or manifests the fruit of the Spirit. Such discernment must be exercised according to faith in God lest the Christian seek to rationalize their fleshly desires with a righteous veneer and entirely resist the point of Galatians 5:17-24, to crucify the flesh and its desires. To this end we must first consider the evidence at hand. Did God speak regarding the behavior under consideration? Does it manifestly violate any specific command God has given? Does the behavior run afoul of consistent Biblical principles? If we feel the answers to these questions are ambiguous or allow for justification, we can then consider the profitability of the behavior (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:23). Will this practice commend me before God? What spiritual benefit would it provide? What fruit of the Spirit would it manifest? In short, we are wondering: is this behavior the kind of thing in which we would expect Jesus our Lord and Master to participate? Many behaviors prevalent in modern society fall under condemnation in this way. Elective abortion may not be explicitly condemned in Scripture, but it is more a thing like murder than anything commended by God in Christ, and thus falls under the same condemnation. Pornography is a thing like uncleanness and lasciviousness. Many think of gambling as harmless fun, yet the entire premise of gambling is covetousness, a thing like idolatry. Recreational drug use would fall under the purview of pharmakeia; those who practiced sorcery also made potions, and many a recreational drug user lives as under a spell. Paul has listed many ungodly and immoral behaviors as “works of the flesh” in Galatians 5:19-21; those who do such things without repentance will not inherit the Kingdom of God. We must never fall into the legalistic trap of assuming that only that which is explicitly condemned is wrong: Paul’s list of the “works of the flesh” is not exhaustive, nor was it designed to be; humans invent all kinds of new and innovative ways to transgress the purposes of God in Christ. Thus we must understand the “works of the flesh” as representative, and we should not only avoid those specific behaviors, but also anything which is akin to them. We must use our discernment to put all things to the test according to the faith; we ought to live by faith, trusting in the Lord, and doing all things with full conviction of their authority and righteousness based on what God has revealed in Christ according to the Scriptures. May we manifest the fruit of the Spirit, avoid the works of the flesh, and glorify God in Christ! Ethan
After my arrival in America, what impressed me most were many towering churches and neat rows of European-style houses. Many kinds of flowers were planted in the yard of these houses. Many small ceramic animals were placed on small lawns, and they were lifelike and cute. I heard a friend say that the main reason why America is especially rich and powerful is that American worship God and have His blessings. “IN GOD WE TRUST” was even printed on their money. I was drawn to my friend’s narration deeply, and I felt that it was a great thing to believe in God and have God’s blessings. Therefore, I went to his church and believed in the Lord after him. At first, I was especially enthusiastic. I seriously read the Bible and attended gatherings. Besides, I often watched Christian videos and listened to sermons online. Gradually, I understood that the Lord Jesus had not only atoned for mankind by being crucified but given them greater blessings and promises—to enter the kingdom of heaven and to receive eternal life. Pondering God’s love, I was often moved to tears. So, I worked harder in my pursuit, strictly observed the Lord’s teachings and acted according to His words. However, unknowingly, our church changed. The pastor’s sermons didn’t have enlightenment; it often happened that the workers fought both openly and in secret, excluded each other and formed cliques; many believers gambled at cards, drank and quarreled with others. And I couldn’t follow the Lord’s teachings, either. When my children didn’t obey me, I couldn’t help scolding them angrily; when encountering something not to my liking, I would complain to God. These things made me feel troubled. One day, I saw these scriptures: “Be you holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). I suddenly realized: My pastor often said, “As long as we pray, worship and contribute money every week, we can enter into the kingdom of heaven.” However, entering the kingdom of heaven wasn’t as simple as he said it to be. Rather, we need to attain purification. Judging from the current situation of the church and my spiritual condition of repeatedly committing sins and confessing them, I haven’t been purified at all. I was anxious and confused by this. Therefore, I asked my pastor about the way of no longer committing sins and confessing them. But he said: “You will attain purification and enter into the kingdom of heaven when the Lord returns, as long as you remain in the church, listen to the sermons, and repent.” Later, someone introduced some online famous pastors to me, and advised me to listen to the sermons about entering into the kingdom of heaven. At first, I felt their sermons seemed to make some sense. However, after pondering carefully, I felt their words were ambiguous and gave no path. Instead, the more I listened, the more confused I was. One day in December 2017, I met a sister on the street. We hit it right off. I found the sister’s views and opinions of some things were really insightful and were beyond my thoughts. Thereupon, I told her about my doubts that I had had for many years, and then the sister invited me to join their Bible study group so that we could discuss about these questions together. I was happy to accept her invitation. In New York in December, the warm sun was shining on the earth, bringing warmth to those people who traveled in cold winter. Bathed in the sunshine, I felt especially released and happy. At the appointed time, I came to the Bible study group with the sister and met several brothers and sisters there. They each gave a warm introduction about their own backgrounds and experiences of faith in the Lord. Gradually, I became one of them and told them what confused me: “My pastor said that, as long as we pray, repent and contribute money in the church, we can be raptured into the kingdom of heaven when the Lord returns. What do you think of this?” At that time, a brother suggested that before starting the formal fellowship we first pray to God and let God lead our gatherings and fellowships. Seeing their attitudes of piety and hearts of revering God, I felt released somewhat in my heart. After praying, Brother Liu, a preacher, said: “As believers in the Lord, we should listen to His words and act according to His words. In this way, we cannot possibly be wrong. As to who may enter into the kingdom of heaven, the Lord Jesus had made it very clear. Let’s read these words together: ‘Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven’ (Matthew 7:21). God’s word also says, ‘Be you holy; for I am holy’ (1 Peter 1:16). From God’s words, we can understand that we must attain purification and follow God’s will if we want to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Apparently, the pastor’s saying doesn’t conform with the criterion of entering into the kingdom of heaven that the Lord Jesus set. Just think: Do these people who pray, repent and contribute money free from the bonds of sin? Are they those who do God’s will? We all know: The people in the churches widely pray, repent and contribute money, but these people can’t still extricate themselves from living in the conditions of confessing sins and committing them. This is an undeniable fact. Perhaps someone says that God will forgive all sins of man as long as we confess sins and repent. In fact, the Lord Jesus’ forgiveness of our sins only means that we are not of sin. But our satanic corrupt dispositions, namely, arrogance, selfishness, deceit, evil, and so on, still remain inside us. These things are deeper and more tenacious than sin. If these corrupt dispositions and satanic nature haven’t been solved, we cannot help but commit sins or resist God. The Lord Jesus said: ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant stays not in the house for ever: but the Son stays ever’ (John 8:34-35). The Bible also says: ‘… holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord’ (Hebrews 12:14). All people who pray, repent and kept contributing money still have sinful nature. Even though they seem reverent from the outside, their hearts are filled with filth, and they often commit sins and resist God. This is a fact. So, the opinion “as long as we stay in the church, pray to the Lord and repent, we needn’t resolve our sinful nature and can enter into the kingdom of heaven” is only our human notion and imagination and isn’t in accordance with the truth or God’s word.” “What the brother fellowshiped conforms with the Bible and God’s will. God is holy, so His kingdom must also want people without filth. How are we fit to enter into God’s kingdom who commit sins and confess them every day? Through the fellowship I also understand this: The reason why we live in sin all the time is that we have sinful nature; as long as we resolve it, we can attain purification. Then, how can we resolve our sinful nature and free ourselves from sin?” At this thought, I said: “Brother Liu, I can understand and agree with your fellowship. The pastor’s opinion indeed has no biblical basis and is unbelievable. But there is still a question: How can we free ourselves from sin and attain purification?” The brother nodded, and opened his lectures with various pictures on his computer, saying: “If we want to get rid of sin, we must understand several points: First, the source of sin; second, whether we can get rid of sin by ourselves or not; third, how God works to resolve our sins when we cannot extricate ourselves from living in sin.” I was very interested in these questions that the brother just raised. The fellowship of integrating the words, pictures, and chapters of the Bible had a good visual effect. I never had so lively and vivid a meeting, so all that he fellowshiped was very refreshing to me. He clicked with his mouse on the picture of Adam and Eve eating the fruits of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, and said: “Adam and Eve didn’t listen to God’s words, and they were tempted by the devil to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so that sin entered man’s heart. This was the source of sin. From then on, man became deceitful, vicious, greedy, evil and arrogant, denying God and being enemies of God. Under such circumstances, God set forth more than six hundred commandments through Moses. When one committed sins, he must offer corresponding sacrifices according to the laws. Only in this way could his sins be forgiven, that is to say, God demanded that man resolved the problem of sin through offering sacrifices. This was the way to resolve the sin during the Old Testament age. At the end of the Age of Law, mankind committed more and more sins, so that they couldn’t offer qualified sin offerings according to the laws and all mankind were facing death. Under the circumstances, the Lord Jesus was incarnated to be among people, willingly assumed the sins of man by being nailed to cross, and finally redeemed all of mankind. At that time, man would no longer be condemned by laws and man’s sin would be forgiven as long as he accepted the work of the Lord Jesus and prayed in the name of the Lord Jesus in all things. This was the true meaning of sin being forgiven, and was also a way to resolve the condemnation of man by laws in the New Testament era. But, it only meant that man’s sins were pardoned, while it didn’t mean that man would no longer commit sin. Judging from ourselves, we still often tell lies and deceive others for our interests, fame, and status; when problems arise, we use sophistry, even shirk responsibility and get other people in trouble; when confronted with natural and man-made disasters, or trials and tribulations, we complained against God, and judged and resisted God. Although we believed in God, we often made deals with Him: We do our work and run the course to enter the kingdom of heaven and enjoy eternal blessings, and in our hearts, we neither love God nor fear God; after having positions, we will exalt and bear witness to ourselves, or form gangs and bands, establish our own independent kingdoms and so on. The fact that we can still commit sins and resist God shows that we still belong to Satan, are enemies of God, and will definitely be condemned and punished by Him. Just as the Bible says: ‘For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries’ (Hebrews 10:26-27). But God didn’t hope that the mankind created by Him was destroyed in this way. So the Lord Jesus had long ago prophesied that He would definitely return and save us in the last days. “Then, how would God save us from sin? We continued to read the several verses: ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come’ (John 16: 12-13). ‘Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth’ (John 17:17). ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches; To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the middle of the paradise of God’ (Revelation 2:7). ‘And I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven, having the everlastinggospelto preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters’ (Revelation 14:6-7). These verses and prophecies in Revelation tell us an important message—the truth can rid us of our corrupt disposition and cleanse us. These words ‘what the Spirit says to the churches’ ‘having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth’ ‘his judgment’ tell us that, when the Lord Jesus returns, there will be another stage of work and He will speak His word, express the truth to carry out the work of judgment beginning with God’s house, and use the truth to eliminate the root of man’s sin and to carry out the work of chastising, judging, purifying and changing man. Let’s read several passages: ‘In the last days,Christuses a variety of truths to teach man, expose the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes it over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only methods of this kind are deemed judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of thewill of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God.’ “‘By means of this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt substance within his own self, and he will be able to change completely and become clean. Only in this way can man become worthy to return before the throne of God. All the work done this day is so that man can be made clean and be changed; through judgment and chastisement by the word, as well as through refinement, man can purge away his corruption and be made pure. Rather than deeming this stage of work to be that of salvation, it would be more apt to say it is the work of purification.’” After reading these passages, I felt the words were unusual, having authority and showing us how God saved us from sin. The brother continued to say: “From these two passages, we can see that in the last days, God judges and chastises corrupt mankind through expressing the truth. All the words God judges man with are the expression of His righteous disposition and of what He has and is, and they are the words that can be man’s life. For corrupt mankind, these words of truth are judgment, condemnation, chastisement, searching, and purification. God uses the words to purify the satanic disposition within corrupt mankind, and to resolve their nature and substance of resisting God. In the judgment work of the last days, Christ of the last days expresses truth to reveal all the mysteries of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, clearly reveal the purpose of God’s three-stage work of salvation and the substance of each stage of work, and especially point out the path for man to transform in disposition and attain purification. Meanwhile, He thoroughly reveals man’s nature and substance corrupted by Satan, the truth of his corruption, and the root of his sin. Then man understands that his nature is the nature of Satan, and sees that he is living in the likeness of Satan the devil, so he truly repents, willingly accepts God’s judgment, chastisement, trials and refinement, and pursues the truth and the transformation of his disposition according to God’s words’ guidance. And he gradually frees himself from the controls and bondage of his satanic corrupt disposition, thoroughly forsakes Satan and returns to God. In this way, man’s sinful nature is resolved at the root. What’s more, by experiencing and practicing God’s word, man unknowingly understands many truths, such as what is being saved, what is salvation, what is doing God’s will, what is following God, what is following man, whom God saves, and whom God eliminates, and so on. Most importantly, in the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, man practically experiences that God’s righteous disposition is intolerant of offense. Because of knowing God, man comes to fear God and shun evil and live by God’s word. As man understands the truth and knows God more deeply, he’s more obedient to God and has more reality of practicing the truth. So man unknowingly gets rid of sin completely and becomes cleansed. This result can never be achieved by the Lord’s believers who refuse to accept God’s work of the last days. So, only by accepting the judgment and chastisement of God’s word in the last days can man understand the truth and know God, thoroughly break free from the influence of Satan, cast off his satanic disposition and attain purification.” At his fellowship, I felt clear and bright in my heart. I got answers to the questions that made me confused all the time, and I had the path to getting rid of sin. Therefore I was more grateful that God arranged meeting the sister for me. This encounter made me find the church that has truth, and I had the hope of getting rid of sin and attaining purification. All of this was God’s mercy and grace. In the subsequent gatherings, the brother fellowshiped different aspects of truth to us, such as incarnation, three stages of work, how to hear God’s voice, how to distinguish between true and false churches and so on. I understood God’s six-thousand-year management plan of saving man and the purpose and meaning of God creating man and saving man. Their fellowships over the past few days made me gain many harvests and satisfied my spirit. Finally, the brother bore witness to God’s name. At that time, I suddenly realized: It turned out that the Lord Jesus had already returned, and that He was Almighty God who was rumored and condemned by CCP, pastors and elders. I was very excited. God’s work had expanded vigorously throughout the universe, and there were all kinds of testimonies, such as movies, videos, gospel choir, hymns, experience testimonies, and so on. Now, it has been almost six months since I accepted the work of Almighty God in the last days. I attend gatherings, enjoy God’s word and fulfill the duty of a creation with my brothers and sisters every day. When some things fall upon me, I will know my corruptions through reading God’s words. So I lead a full and happy life every day. 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As gambling spreads to more and more states, Christians need to have the Bible’s instruction about this money robber. The Bible declares that it is wrong to bet money on the possibility of becoming instantly rich. He who oppresses the poor to get gain for himself, and he who gives to the rich will surely come to want. Proverbs 22:16 . States who legalize lotteries and gambling are oppressing ... Study the following Bible verses about gambling and see why God encourages us to stay away from it. Find scripture quotes about gambling and the love of money in this collection of Bible verses: Acts 20:35. Chapter Parallel Compare. 35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed ... He goes on to say, “Gambling is also wrong because of the motives involved. Some people gamble for thrills and excitement. Others gamble because they have a greedy and covetous attitude about money. Some gamble out of a false belief in luck. All of these motives are wrong for the Christian, for they are all self-centered and materialistic.” Passages in the Bible which warn against greed and covetousness are Exodus 20:15, 17; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; and Colossians 3:5. Gambling corrupts these values and replaces them with greed and selfishness. Rather than depending upon hard work, gamblers depend instead upon luck and chance. Third, gambling destroys families. Gambling is a major cause of family neglect. Many of the social costs associated with gambling come from its mindset. As people get caught up in a gambling frenzy, they begin to neglect their families. Money spent on lottery tickets or at horse tracks is frequently not risk capital but is ... So what does the Bible say about gambling? It all depends upon your perspective and interpretation. The Bible doesn't directly address gambling and such silence provides the fertile ground for ... Gambling itself has been around for a very long time, and universally, the Church has taken a dim view of it. For example, an early second century sermon preached in a North African church contained the following description of gambling: "The game of dice is an obvious snare of the devil. He presides over the game in person, bringing to it the deadly venom of the serpent and even inducing ruin ... The fundamental reason why gambling is wrong is because of the Bible’s condemnation of covetousness (Romans 1:29; 13:9; Colossians 3:5). All gambling – even casual gambling in moderation – involves covetousness. Some may object to that statement, but the whole point of gambling is to obtain something that belongs to someone else. If someone says they are not interested in winning someone else’s money (or whatever has been wagered), then they do not need to gamble. That is ... Subject to Import Tax. Please be aware that these items are sent out from our office in the UK. Since the UK is now no longer a member of the EU, you may be charged an import tax on this item by the customs authorities in your country of residence, which is beyond our control. What is wrong with gambling? Gambling is a difficult issue because if it is done in moderation and only on occasion, it is a waste of money, but it is not necessarily evil. People waste money on all sorts of activities. Gambling is no more or less of a waste of money than seeing a movie (in many cases), eating an unnecessarily expensive meal, or purchasing a worthless item. At the same time ... Gambling, even for small amounts, can arouse a destructive love of money. —1 Timothy 6: 9, 10. Gamblers often rely on superstitions or luck. However, God views such beliefs as a form of idolatry, which is incompatible with his worship. —Isaiah 65:11. Rather than promote a desire to get something for nothing, the Bible encourages hard work.
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Proven Biblical Money Principles - Dave RamseyLive Like No One Else - Part 4 (Skip to the message at 0:44) www.seacoast.org1. LIVE ON A WRITTEN BUDGETFor whi... Say goodbye to debt forever. Start Ramsey+ for free: https://bit.ly/35ufR1qVisit the Dave Ramsey store today for resources to help you take control of your m... Resources Mentioned In This Video:Are you ready to break free from the controllers in your life? If so, sign up for Dr. Carters brand new course Free to Be H... GotQuestions.org Video Got Questions? The Bible has answers! We'll help you find them! Addiction to pornography has destroyed countless lives and marriages, even in the church. What is at the root of this addiction, and how can this and all des... You will learn to think biblically about everything so you can deal with false teaching, know what Scripture says about specific issues, prove Christianity is true, go deep into theology and ... 5 Lessons To Live By - Dr. Wayne Dyer (Truly Inspiring)Speaker: Dr. Wayne Dyer: www.drwaynedyer.comMusic "Sounds of Soul" by Fearless Motivation Instrumental... A part of a Derek Prince video called, How To Be Delivered From Demons And Demonic Oppression.The link for the whole teaching called, How To Be Delivered Fro... How To Know If You're A Victim Of Witchcraft: Signs of Curses and Spells. Read the entire article here: https://lovemagicworks.com/find-someone-witchcraft-on... Learn about the evolution of Satan through history, including the origins of the symbols commonly associated with the depiction of the devil, in this collect...
