God and all

[Varenne Rodin]

mazHur, I love that video. Thank you. It's nice to hear that I am in such prestigious company.

[mazHur]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...4WSK_NlQ#at=40

I had earlier sent the first 50 academics. This makes it 100.

The Big Question

Is Religion a Force
for Good or Evil?

Witch burning, mutilation, slavery, and genocide are mandated in the Old Testament, says Christopher Hitchens. Religion is not only untrue, it produces immoral beliefs. Monotheism is akin to living in a dictatorship like North Korea. Hold on, says Dinesh D'Souza. Christianity was a force for good in India. It enabled individuals to escape the caste system and share in universal brotherhood. India would be less modern, less prosperous if western religion had not been introduced to its citizens.


http://fora.tv/2008/12/07/Dinesh_DSo...o_Christianity

[Calidore]

Religion is neither--it's a tool, like a hammer or money, that can be used according to the character of the person wielding it. Good people use religion to make themselves better and help others. Bad people use it to bring themselves power and strength, usually by the numbers of the weak people they attract as followers.

It's funny--I don't believe in a God, but I still hate seeing Him blamed for things He had nothing to do with.

[mazHur]

Religion is neither--it's a tool, like a hammer or money, that can be used according to the character of the person wielding it. Good people use religion to make themselves better and help others. Bad people use it to bring themselves power and strength, usually by the numbers of the weak people they attract as followers.

It's funny--I don't believe in a God, but I still hate seeing Him blamed for things He had nothing to do with.

butbut...............isn't it that all types and grades of people adhere to some kind of religion??? Why??

[G L Wilson]

butbut...............isn't it that all types and grades of people adhere to some kind of religion??? Why??

Do you have faith? Is that what you mean, mazHur? Put that way, I can only say yes. Don't we all? The hatred that I hold for religion is a test of my faith in humanity, in humour, in the essential goodness of man. The human race is not my religion, it is my faith or my bond.

[mazHur]

Do you have faith? Is that what you mean, mazHur? Put that way, I can only say yes. Don't we all? The hatred that I hold for religion is a test of my faith in humanity, in humour, in the essential goodness of man. The human race is not my religion, it is my faith or my bond.

the other day a pastor gave this sermon!

-- Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of England, said, "I remember being taught by my parents from my earliest childhood, that the one thing about being British was you did not have to be told what to do. You rose to your responsibilities and took the initiative. Religious belief played a fundamental part in shaping that character because, whether you take the Old Testament or the New Testament, it puts the emphasis on the dignity and responsibility of the individual. You are accountable because you have freedom."

We, too, have freedom which is a priceless privilege. However, some people, because of this freedom, seem to think they can do as they please both before man and God. As such they are not free, but are in bondage to their own selfishness and passions. They are also boundary busters with little or no respect for other peoples' person, property, or principles. They have confused liberty with license forgetting that the price of freedom is still eternal vigilance—which includes moral and ethical responsibility.

If we abuse our privileges, ultimately we lose them.

With freedom comes responsibility and with responsibility, accountability. We are accountable to our fellow man and above all we are accountable to God.


source: The ACTS

and look what this guy says....


O end of every beginning,
O beginning of every end,
O manifest of every hidden,
O hidden of all revealed!

The light of Your beauty
In every believer's eye does shine;
The sign of Your anger
In every denier's heart we find.

You thank him and he is You,
Himself giver and receiver,
Himself the gift and the thanking.

None but You, the worshipped;
None but You, the worshipper;
None but You, the witness;
None but You, the speaker.

When the Saqi gave Maghrabi the wine
Of eternal life
He was annihilated and eternal.
He was non-existent and existent!

O End of Every Beginning
By Muhammad Shirin Maghribi
(1349 - 1406)

English version by Mahmood Jamal

[G L Wilson]

I owe no honour to God, only to my family do I owe honour.

[osho]

Religion is neither--it's a tool, like a hammer or money, that can be used according to the character of the person wielding it. Good people use religion to make themselves better and help others. Bad people use it to bring themselves power and strength, usually by the numbers of the weak people they attract as followers.

It's funny--I don't believe in a God, but I still hate seeing Him blamed for things He had nothing to do with.

But to speak the truth, with due respect of all religions, today we are divided along religions lines. Some of the wars were waged in the name of religions. However despite some of the abominable things being done in the name of religions some great acts, I call godly acts are done by religious people. I can give many examples and one is of Mother Teresa. She was truly a mother and so many disadvantaged and socially and economically deprived were helped by her mission. Not that she was not reproved for what she has done. Nobody can live without going thru criticisms in this world. If you do something criticism arises and if you do not do anything still you will be criticized. Of course acts of religion had to bear with criticism yet there were some real saints who braved all else and persevered their missionary deeds. Osho had to face criticism and yet he was really a bold person and braving all these arrows he succeeded in accomplishing his mission

[mazHur]

I owe no honour to God, only to my family do I owe honour.

and to your country and people??



Enjoy these quotes...

“HONOR” is a Primary Principle and prime virtue, is the feeling and the expression of admiration, respect, or esteem accorded to another as a right or as due. Honor refers to virtue, purity, a keen sense of ethical conduct, and integrity. We honor God as Personality, but are loyal to God as Principle. A Master learns Honor, and polishing ethics and morals. "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God" sets the keynote of Honor to God above all things. Honour (or honor) comprises the reputation, self-perception or moral identity of an individual or of a group.

Be not ashamed of thy virtues; honor's a good brooch to wear in a man's hat at all times.
Ben Jonson

.................................

Don't look for more honor than your learning merits.
Jewish Proverb

...........................

The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

[G L Wilson]

"Be not ashamed of thy virtues..." I agree with this.

[mazHur]

I thought I must share this brilliant piece with you..

Victimology vs Personal Responsibility

"So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God."(Romans 14:12 (NIV))

Chuck Colson reports in Breakpoint how Gregg Easterbrook in his book, The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse, says that there is as much as a "ten-fold increase in unipolar depression in industrial nations in the postwar era."

After giving one or two other reasons for this increase Colson says, "Another mistaken idea contributing to depression is the 'postwar teaching of victimology and helplessness.' Intellectuals, politicians, tort lawyers, and the media have worked to identify and designate new classes of victims. As Martin Seligman [of the University of Pennsylvania] notes, more and more Americans identify themselves as victims of one sort or another. The result is a sense of helplessness. Americans, especially the young, claim to have less and less control over their lives at the same time that they enjoy unprecedented personal freedom." (Breakpoint, August 26, 2004 http://www.breakpoint.org/bp-home )

As I've reported on several occasions, in my experience having taught in divorce recovery and relationship classes over the past couple of decades, one of the biggest causes I have seen for failure in relationships is this victim mentality. At least 90 percent of divorcees and those in failed relationships I have worked with primarily blame their partner for their unresolved conflicts, while failing to admit that they shared equal responsibility (even if it was just being too passive and/or too codependent).

Furthermore, almost none even consider what flaw it was in them that caused them to be attracted to their partner in the first place. The reality is we are as sick as the people we are attracted to [or as healthy]. Sadly, as long as people play this blame-game, they will never recover. Even worse, they will continue to repeat their past mistakes. It's either resolution or repetition.

"Up to a point a man's life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him. Then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, 'This I am today; that I will be tomorrow.'" (Louis L'Amour)

Or we could put it this way, "This is the way I am today. That, by the grace of God, is what I will be tomorrow."
source: ACTS

[G L Wilson]

I thought I must share this brilliant piece with you..

Victimology vs Personal Responsibility

"So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God."(Romans 14:12 (NIV))

Chuck Colson reports in Breakpoint how Gregg Easterbrook in his book, The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse, says that there is as much as a "ten-fold increase in unipolar depression in industrial nations in the postwar era."

After giving one or two other reasons for this increase Colson says, "Another mistaken idea contributing to depression is the 'postwar teaching of victimology and helplessness.' Intellectuals, politicians, tort lawyers, and the media have worked to identify and designate new classes of victims. As Martin Seligman [of the University of Pennsylvania] notes, more and more Americans identify themselves as victims of one sort or another. The result is a sense of helplessness. Americans, especially the young, claim to have less and less control over their lives at the same time that they enjoy unprecedented personal freedom." (Breakpoint, August 26, 2004 http://www.breakpoint.org/bp-home )

As I've reported on several occasions, in my experience having taught in divorce recovery and relationship classes over the past couple of decades, one of the biggest causes I have seen for failure in relationships is this victim mentality. At least 90 percent of divorcees and those in failed relationships I have worked with primarily blame their partner for their unresolved conflicts, while failing to admit that they shared equal responsibility (even if it was just being too passive and/or too codependent).

Furthermore, almost none even consider what flaw it was in them that caused them to be attracted to their partner in the first place. The reality is we are as sick as the people we are attracted to [or as healthy]. Sadly, as long as people play this blame-game, they will never recover. Even worse, they will continue to repeat their past mistakes. It's either resolution or repetition.

"Up to a point a man's life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him. Then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, 'This I am today; that I will be tomorrow.'" (Louis L'Amour)

Or we could put it this way, "This is the way I am today. That, by the grace of God, is what I will be tomorrow."
source: ACTS

God, mazHur, if you left God out of it, you would be an existentialist.

[mazHur]

God, mazHur, if you left God out of it, you would be an existentialist.

Existentialism says existence precedes essence. In this statement he is taking existentia and essentia according to their metaphysical meaning, which, from Plato's time on, has said that essentia precedes existentia. Sartre reverses this statement. But the reversal of a metaphysical statement remains a metaphysical statement. With it, he stays with metaphysics, in oblivion of the truth of Being. Heidegger

[G L Wilson]

Existentialism says existence precedes essence. In this statement he is taking existentia and essentia according to their metaphysical meaning, which, from Plato's time on, has said that essentia precedes existentia. Sartre reverses this statement. But the reversal of a metaphysical statement remains a metaphysical statement. With it, he stays with metaphysics, in oblivion of the truth of Being. Heidegger

Heidegger must have been an idiot if that was the sum of his powers. The existent is made substantial beyond metaphysics by existentialism. Heidegger is postulating an ideal that is not only outmoded, it's fascist.

[mazHur]

Heidegger must have been an idiot if that was the sum of his powers. The existent is made substantial beyond metaphysics by existentialism. Heidegger is postulating an ideal that is not only outmoded, it's fascist.

I cannot say that about him..at least he had the 'courage' to criticize the so-called 'existentialists'. Also, it must be remembered that Kierkegaard and Nietzsche are not the last word!
a word without a predicate has no meaning!! Such as
A rose is red..
The sky is blue..
God is Great
In God We trust!!