Glad to see you can laugh

Submitted by J.M. (United States), Nov 20, 2006 at 23:30

"Please put up a decent argument next time or I wont bother replying."

Actually, you only replied once to me when you addressed the passage in Genesis, which reply made no sense at all on your part since your quoting the verses demonstrated my point, namely, that there was light provided by God which preceded the existence of the sun and the moon.

As for the rest, you failed to reply at all...:

-no comment on Islam's bloody history of territorial conquest and expansion from its inception, nor its bipolar categorization of the world.

-"Every Muslim knows that a correct translation can never be given..." This is a cop out and a total evasion on your part. I understand things can be lost in translation, however it's also been my experience that when two people of different language want to communicate with each other and explain something in their language, they are normatively able to do so. Logically, either you can...or you cannot...read the Arabic of the Qur'an. If you cannot, then your basis of understanding is little different than my own, simply based on the language.

I may not share the worldview of your culture (whatever that may be apart from Islam), but that is something that can be studied and understood. If however, you can read the Arabic of the Qur'an, would it not be simpler, more effective, and more direct on your part to simply explain the verses I mentioned and put them into "proper" context? It's conspicuous that you make no attempt to do so.

The simplest reason I can think of that you might not do this is because I did understand them in context and if you were to elucidate their meaning, you would reinforce my point. Whatever the reality, you had a clear opportunity to explain parts of the Qur'an and "correct" me, but you did not do so. You instead hid behind the language barrier.

Given your writing in this forum, you seem competent to express yourself in English; your failure to address the verses I quoted is therefore all the more obvious. Incidentally, I didn't use "internet resources" to obtain the verses. Do you see the contrast between this, and Christians who work extremely hard to make the Bible understandable and transparent to speakers of other tongues, who work tirelessly, to explain the Good News of Jesus Christ to others? If you cannot or won't explain the verses, readers can only conclude you are being less than transparent in your motives.

-You mention several times the beauty of Islam. Sadly, the beauty of a thing is not a guarantee that the thing is true. The Bible warns that the devil appears as an angel of light; obviously, he's not interested in truth.

So, Mu'een Ud Deen, who ever you are, know that immersion in empty, human religion replete with dead works will not save you. If you want the truth, read the Bible.

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