Friday, 27 May 2011

  • Prophecies

    The other day I was on Facebook when I saw a video entitled "Muhammad predicted in various religions"

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfornnd9q88&feature=share

    Now this may seem like something I wouldn't even answer being that I am not a Muslim nor a student of the vadas nor of Zoroastrianism. Yet I feel that this is something that we as humans seem more apt to believe a religion if it claims it fulfills an ancient prophetic destiny. Christ claims He fulfilled the law and due to the accuracy of some of the prophecies there is no doubt that He fulfilled many very specific prophecies including the prophecy in Psalms, which describes His death, that describes crucifixion hundreds of years before it's invention. Again He also fulfilled the prophecy of where He would be born as well as other uncontrollable events. However the prophecies in this video are taken out of context or distorted beyond all reason to cause these religions to become subjugate to Islam.

    He uses a total of 6 prophecies in this video to claim that Muhammad was predicted before his birth the only problem is the one from the Hindu vadas states that Muhammad was born a total of 21 times. Each reincarnation is not only declared to be distinct in time and place but also in form of deity! That is right if this Prophecy were to be taken seriously Muhammad not only is a prophet but in very nature God!

    Bhagavata canto 1 chapter 3

    In His sixteenth incarnation [as Bhrigupati or Paras'urâma] He acted twenty-one times against the ruling class that negated the intelligentsia. Seeing the common people as being less intelligent He seventeenth incarnated as Vyâsadeva taking birth from Satyavatî with Parâs'ara Muni as His father, in order to divide the desire tree of the Veda into several branches. Next He performed superhuman in controlling the Indian Ocean having assumed the form of a divine human being [Râma] in order to act for the sake of the godly.  Nineteenth as well as twentieth He appeared as Balarâma and Krishna from the Vrishni family and thus Bhagavân removed the burden from the world. Thereafter in the Age of Kali His birth as Lord Buddha from Añjanâ in Gayâ will take place in order to delude the ones envious of the theists. Next, at the conjunction of two yugas when there is hardly a ruler to be found who is not a plunderer, the Lord carrying the name of Kalki will take birth as the son of Vishnu Yas'â."

      "O twice-born ones, the incarnations of the Lord that appeared from the ocean of goodness are as innumerable as the thousands of streams found from the lakes.

    Most Muslims would tremble at such a heresy against the very premise of there religion. Again the speaker claims that Muhammad is Kalki and that Muhammad came to fulfill the very Hindu vadas that he would end the age of ignorance (Kali in Hindu). The only problem with this is that the book the speaker is quoting is Sri Kalki which proclaims that the end of the age of ignorance is the end of the world (according to my understanding of this book).

    Later the speaker claims that it even predicts the name of his father and when and where Muhammad was born. The problem is that magha the Hindu month he spoke of is based on the rotation of the earth in respect to the stars. It matches up pretty well with the Christian Gregorian calendar. The Muslim calendar is based on the rotations of the moon and is consistently shorter then the Hindu calendar. Because of this it would seem that the likelihood of the month of Magha and Rabi’ al-awwal matching up perfectly around 570 AD is rather small.  

    The last 3 prophecies are found in Zoroastrianism. The first two originating in Zend Avesta the last in dasaatir. The prophecies in Zend Avesta reads as follows:

    Farvardin yast chapter 28 v129

    129. Whose name will be the victorious SAOSHYANT and whose name will be Astvat-ereta. He will be SAOSHYANT (the Beneficent One), because he will benefit the whole bodily world; he will be ASTVAT-ERETA (he who makes the bodily creatures rise up), because as a bodily creature and as a living creature he will stand against the destruction of the bodily creatures, to withstand the Drug of the two-footed brood, to withstand the evil done by the faithful

    And

     

    Zamyad yast chapter 16 v 93-95

    That king Vîstâspa bore, when he victoriously maintained Holiness against the host of the fiends and took off the Drub from the world of the good principle

    94. He with the eye of intelligence shall look down upon all the creatures of the Paêsis her of the evil seed: he shall look upon the whole living world with the eye of plenty, and his look shall deliver to immortality the whole of the living creatures.

    95. And there shall his friends come forward, the friends of Astvat-ereta, who are fiend-smiting, well-thinking, well-speaking, well-doing, following the good law, and whose tongues have never uttered a word of falsehood. Before them shall Aêshma of the wounding spear, who has no Glory, bow and flee; he shall smite the most wicked Drug, her of the evil seed, born of darkness.

    Once again I am not a student of Zoroastrianism, but this appears to speaking of a man who will have control over "bodily-creatures" (animals?) and withstand against the faithful. Other then the bodily creatures this could refer to anyone who has waged a religious war. The faithful could be a term even used to describe the crusades. The problem with this prophecy and the next is ambiguity.

    The next prophecy seems to be very twisted to suit the speakers interests. The speaker claims that this states that Muhammad and his companions will be fighters against evil. Yet the verse states that they are fiend-smiters, and according to my dictionary the definition of fiend is: 1.An evil spirit; a demon, 2.The Devil; Satan., 3. A diabolically evil or wicked person. The verse alludes to "her of the evil seed, born of darkness" and the "drug". It is unlikely that definition 1 or 2 could be used in light of these two references one would be hard pressed to state that the verse is speaking of anything other then demons or some sort of evil spirits. 

    This brings to my next complaint about most prophecy. It seems that non-biblical prophecy is at best ambiguous and at worst lends to interpretation. Nostradamus is claimed to be a prophet like no other that has ever come to earth, yet in his books his prophecies are vague enough to be interpreted how the reader wishes.  

    Don't believe me? Watch this video with 100s of nostradmus' prophecies!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4ccoU7OCcQ

    The speaker then speaks of the Dasaatir, in which it is stated "a man will arise from the desert and conquer the arrogant Persians". Persia is found in modern day Iran, let us look at the likelihood of this occurring , that is that a conqueror from a desert will conquer them. Below is a map of the world and the red dot is where Iran is found.

     

     

     

Tuesday, 24 May 2011

  • Re: A prominent evengelical conspiracy theory

    Yesterday I read a very interesting blog posted by one of my friends and debate partners on here. He was presenting a deeply researched topic of morality and conspiracy that seems prevalent in Christianity. That is the idea that morality is strictly related to judeo-christian ethics. The problem with this theory is that it lends itself to abuse so easily. It certainly is not true and most shocking of all it definitely not biblical.

    We really like to think of ourselves as saviors, super-heroes even. The belief is that we as Christians have true morality and because of that the world must have false morality. This is once again not biblical. We turn and say "Look the world promotes homosexuality, euthanasia, abortion, and drug abuse surely we have the better way!" but if you look at the secular world as a whole there are many groups that are completely against all four. We then say "Certainly sex before marriage is wrong! Clearly we have the better way!" but in the end there are many non-believers that abstain from sex altogether (don't believe me ask a Tibetan monk). You may then say "Certainly those of other religions are doing this to get into heaven! When Christians do good they do it out of the good stored up in their hearts!" but even this isn't true for most Christians I know are doing this to please God and they feel that God's love is dependent on whether or not they act in a way honoring to Him. 

    As Christians as the idea of God's love being based on our actions it is clearly not Biblical. The Bible talks about good works a couple times in regards to our relationship to God and none of the verses even hints that God's love is dependent on our works. In Isaiah 64:5b-7

                                                  How then can we be saved?
                                         All of us have become like one who is unclean,
                                          and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
                                                      we all shrivel up like a leaf,
                                           and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
                                                    No one calls on your name
                                                   or strives to lay hold of you;

                                           for you have hidden your face from us
                                             and have given us over to our sins.

    Later Jesus said in Matthew 5:14-16    “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Do you understand what these verses are saying? It is not for God's pleasure that we do good but for the benefit of men and society that they may glorify the God we serve! 

    James, Jesus' half brother, later wrote:  'What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?  Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.'

    This brings me to the last point, righteousness is not only found in faith. However it should always  be found in believers! How do I know? Because Paul wrote in Romans 2:

    "For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law.  They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)"

    Do you know what this is saying!? It is saying not only are there moral unbelievers, but many times they are more moral then believers! But certainly you are wondering about the moral differences between us and them. Yes homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, sex outside of marriage, and drug abuse are all wrong but in the end we cannot legislate morality outside of the Church. Paul even spoke of this when speaking of Church discipline in 1 Corinthians:

    "I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sisterbut is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside."

    P.S. This is a response to a blog posted by Agnophilo to see the original blog type in: http://agnophilo.xanga.com/747816395/a-prominent-evangelical-conspiracy-theory/

     

Friday, 21 January 2011

  • old stuff: climb

    life is the power for those who take it
    wondering if death is on their heels
    knowing this feeling many men try to break it
    instead of preparing for that which is real

    they say to themselves death is for the weak
    I'am strong yet, I have life for awhile
    not realizing death is on their trails to seek
    young life that has yet to walked mile

    they run in vain for many great things to keep
    they love those things for but awhile
    they cannot understand why at night they weep
    when they do not know why lifes a trial

    when they run in vain for temporal things corrupted
    "the next great thing will give me peace"
    they say in vain to themselves, never once has thinking erupted
    to say look to the "owners manual please"

    never once have they thought look to the owner above
    and ask how is life supposed to measure
    owner would answer my unit was made for perfect love
    not for seeking lifes great pleasure

    so men run to and fro never watching where they go
    as life winds down by days
    those know the truth watch they never christ's love do show
    never looking thru the haze

    to see death at their friends dark door waiting the call of fate
    never taking the time
    fear drives those who know far away until it is too late
    death calls him "mine"

    if only he had known that pleasure climb was his last
    he would have known the toll
    that the pleasure climb was too fast
    and the payment was his soul

  • old stuff: eternity

    we mess our lives up royally
    when we mess with with all reality
    we whine about life unfair
    we dare not follow the rules there
    we scream about sex and guns
    when we dare not make the rules un-fun
    where is our train of thought
    when were the rules first brought

    we cant follow nature's rules
    cause and effect is taught in school
    when do we follow it as law
    we think were luck's slaves is all
    what happens when love gone
    is that why keep moving on and on
    where is our train of thought
    when where the rules first brought

    we hear of the good book
    who's rules we soon forsook
    we say "that book isnt fun
    can there be life beyond this one?
    nah there aint lets party again,
    thinking hurts our pleasure insane"
    where is our train of thought
    and when where the rules first brought

    in the end we say "life is too fast,
    it is also search for fun, it just wont last
    while our dreams turn to dust
    we slowly die like a car that rusts
    the golden rainbow out of reach
    runs out of color as if struck by bleach
    where is our train of thought
    when where the rules first brought

    the solution to our problems lie
    to stop and think about when we die
    the bible along was right and well 
    once to die then either heaven or hell
    our destination is left to us
    will we turn or will we fuss
    will continue to walk in sin
    or will we turn to Jesus to let us in

  • old stuff: love

    love as a fire burns
    always burning
    always churning
    love, coldness never learns
    Never learning
    Never spurning
    Love, revenge never reaps
    Never reaping
    Never seeking
    Love, a record never keeps
    Never keeping
    Always leaping
    Love is faith reborn

    Love as a fire consumes
    Always consuming
    Never Assuming
    Love, hate entombs
    Never assuming
    Always resuming
    Love as passion germinates
    Always blooming
    Never looming
    Love as passion abates
    quickly cooling
    sometimes ruling
    Love is passion held

    Love as a fire burns
    always burning
    always churning
    Love passion relearns
    is always patient
    is sometimes latent
    Love by time is sustained
    sometimes ascending
    sometimes rescinding
    Love as a phoenix is inflamed
    prepared to rise
    from demise
    Love is hope reborn