Selamat Datang to the next enticing episode of Astounding Tales! In this issue we kick the stuffing out of religion and question just what is understood by ‘Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain’. Connect the dots and make the connections as we tantalize yet again with another titillating tale. Run your eyeballs across, ‘The Straw Men of Religion’! Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
There are two faces to all religions but my case will involve mainly three. Those being Judaism, Christianity and Islam. All religions have two forms. The true form which lies in the root teachings of it’s related prophet and the straw man image of religion which dominates the psyche of most followers of these faiths today. I call it a straw man image because this image of religion is a false image and a fallacy and can be likened to the logical fallacy of a straw man argument, described below:
“The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person’s actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position. This sort of “reasoning” has the following pattern:
1. Person A has position X.
2. Person B presents position Y (which is a distorted version of X).
3. Person B attacks position Y.
4. Therefore X is false/incorrect/flawed.
This sort of “reasoning” is fallacious because attacking a distorted version of a position simply does not constitute an attack on the position itself. One might as well expect an attack on a poor drawing of a person to hurt the person.”i
90% of any arguments against the validity of any religion falls into this category but what is scary is that most people don’t understand this when they make their cases against any religion. The reason for this is that all religions have been long since covered up by a straw man image whether intentionally or unintentionally, by men of the past and this practice continues today. I will give examples from all three faiths I mentioned above.
The first example belongs to the faith of Judaism and is similar to the example in Islam. In Judaism, the book that is credited with the authorship of God is called the Torah. These five books are said to have been inspired to Moses by God and make up the first five books of the Old Testament which you can find in the bible. These being Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It is these three books which were intended to be the back bone of the Jewish faith but it didn’t stay that way. In fact, much of the modern day Old Testament is often severely criticized on it’s authenticity not only because of how old it is but also because of the many contradictions and scientific flaws contained within it as well as a lack of the existence of the original scriptures. Moses himself feared for the book’s safety as is seen in the following verses.
Deuteronomy 31:24-29
24 And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,
25 That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying,
26 Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.
27 For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?
28 Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.
29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt [yourselves], and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.
Above it was clear to Moses that he feared the books protection after he passed so he went to great lengths to prevent it from happening. None the less, the book would be corrupted. But it is not the Torah or Old Testament that is an issue here, it is the Judaic literature that came after which truly cemented the straw man image of Judaism into the psyches of man until now. The book I am speaking of is the Talmud.
If you don’t know what the Talmud is I’ll try to explain. The Talmud is a collection of Holy books which in Judaism are understood as being superior to the Torah, or book of Moses. To quote from Talmud itself, “Erubin 21b (Soncino edition):
“My son, be more careful in the observance of the words of the Scribes than in the words of the Torah (Old Testament).”
This book was written and collected over hundreds of years by Talmudic sages and Grand Rabbis. They are basically almost endless narrations of Rabbis adding there own laws to Moses faith and passing them down. These innovations to Judaism soon took center stage in the faith and today most Jews follow these teachings as divine law and writ. A straw man was weaved over the true teachings of Judaism and is now what most people see the faith as today. To quote one article on the subject of Talmud, “According to Maimonides’ Principles, p. 5, Maimonides “spent twelve years extracting every decision and law from the Talmud, and arranging them all into 14 systematic volumes. The work was finally completed in 1180, and was called Mishnah Torah, or “Code of the Torah.” I will give you a few examples of these writings taken from the Babylonian edition Talmud which I have. Keep in mind these writings make up a mammoth tome of literature and almost no man today has the time to sift through them all.
Talmud - Sanhidrin 57a
“But where a penalty is incurred, it is explicitly stated, for the commencing clause teaches: ‘For murder, whether of a Cuthean by a Cuthean, or of an Israelite by a Cuthean, punishment is incurred; but of a Cuthean by an Israelite, there is no death penalty’…A Cuthean and a shepherd of small cattle need neither be rescued [from a pit] nor may they be thrown [therein]!”
In modern terms the word ‘Cuthean’ii above, can also be referred to as ‘Goyim’. Goyim is you and I, (very similar to what many Muslims consider a kufir to be). That is, anyone who is not a Jew is considered Goyim, and according to Talmudic law, you can only be a Jew if your mother was a Jew. Goyim may also be understood as a Gentile. Though in Arabic this term literally translates to a person who is unread in scripture, it means to many Jews and Muslims, a person who is a pagan or one who is outside their realm of monotheistic divinely inspired understanding. Above it states that a Jew can Murder a Goyim without penalty but if it is the other way around the death penalty must be used. Further it equates Goyim to cattle and sheep by saying we are not worth the effort of rescuing from a pit nor the effort of being thrown in! Another below:
Talmud - Mo’ed katan 17a
“Because he had acted according to the dictum of R. Il’ai. For R. Il’ai says, If one sees that his [evil] is gaining sway over him, let him go away where he is not known; let him put on sordid clothes, don a sordid wrap and do the sordid deed that his heart desires rather than profane the name of Heaven openly.”
Above it tells of how if a Jew wants to commit any number of evil or sordid acts he is permitted to as long as he goes to a land in which he is a stranger. It is said by this source that a hidden sordid deed in a foreign land is better than an openly sordid deed among your neighbors or those that know you. As you can see, the above teachings stray far from the original faith of Moses. The above mentioned concept surely defies the common sense of most people. It may seem insignificant to someone who is not from a religious upbringing, but a majority of Jews in the world believe these to be holy law to be followed in their faith. Even if the person is an average citizen who most likely would not commit such acts, they have been raised and conditioned to believe these words to be law.
The straw man of Judaism lies not only in the uncertainty of The Old Testaments authenticity but most assuredly in these fabricated writings of later Jewish priests who believed they had the authority to change Gods laws and write them down as they see fit. Now onto the straw man of Christianity.
In Christianity, the straw man takes on a slightly different image. Because Jesus did not author any book with his own hand, the entire New Testament is written from a second hand and even third hand perspective retelling events that took place during the last recorded years of Jesus’ life. Although there are a few verses in the New Testament that try and attribute divine authority to whoever authored the various books within, we have to take these statements with a grain of salt as God himself is not giving this authority but it is given to the authors by their own penmanship. In fact the latest translation of Bible, namely the New International Version, makes use of several footnotes which question the authorship of many of the chapters contained within, as well as actually removing verses which did not appear in the earliest Greek texts available to study. Below are some quoted footnotes from the NIV Bible:
Concerning the Gospel of Mark:
“Although there is no direct internal evidence of authorship, it was the unanimous testimony of the early church that this Gospel was written by John Mark. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1488)”
Concerning Mark 16:9-20
“Serious doubts exists as to whether these verses belong to the Gospel of Mark. They are absent from important early manuscripts and display certain peculiarities of vocabulary, style and theological content that are unlike the rest of Mark. His Gospel probably ended at 16:8, or its original ending has been lost. (From the NIV Bible Foot Notes, page 1528)”
Concerning the book of Hebrews:
“The writer of this letter does not identify himself, but he was obviously well known to the original recipients. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1856)”
Concerning 1John:
“….Unlike most NT letters, 1 John does not tell us who its author is. The earliest identification of him comes from the church fathers…(From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1904)”
“The letter is difficult to date with precision….(From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1905)”iii
Modern Biblical scholars have much doubt as to the authenticity of many books contained in New Testament. But the real straw man of Christianity comes in the adored modern day image and life of Jesus Christ. This is the straw man image that most people use to attack Christianity. This false image of Jesus is cloaked with these main traits. His birth and divine nature, his crucifixion and the concept of atonement and trinity. I will touch on only a couple for now.
Concerning Jesus’ birth, it is only mentioned twice in the four foundational gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; foundational according to some because they emphasize the life of Jesus. These birth stories appear in Mathew and Luke and of course make no mention of an exact date that he was born. I am alluding to the myth of December 25th being the birth date of Jesus thus the traditional holiday. Bible scholars all admit that there is no clear consensus on just when Jesus was born but many conclude that the 25th of December was later inserted by Pagan Romans who had adopted the Christian faith to coincide with their winter solstice which fell on the same date. Of course this later pagan insertion has become a big straw man for people to attack the authenticity of Christianity but you cannot attach these pagan insertions to the true Jesus. The same holds true for the false association of Easter with Christianity.
Easter which is supposed to represent Jesus’ resurrection after being crucified is also a pagan insertion into Christianity. These celebrations could not have nor would they have been taught by Jesus himself. This pagan ritual was inserted during the Nicean Council, overseen by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine, who was later baptized on his death bed. This occurred in the year 325 C.E. It was also during this council in Nicea that thousands of gospels were burned and lost forever further covering up the true meanings of Jesus and his teachings.
Much of the straw man concepts in Christianity can be attributed to Paul, whose words in New Testament constantly contradict what Jesus taught and these include the the false concepts of atonement and the trinity but I wont go into those now and get to the main point of this discourse, which is the straw man concepts of abrogation that exist in the Muslim faith. Like atonement in Christianity, Abrogation has no place in Islamic faith and this false concept is nowhere supported in Al Quran. I believe it is important to get an overall perspective of religious history if you want to understand not only the condition of Islam today but religion in general. And the main straw man of Islam is called Hadith.
Ahadith are books almost identical to Talmud in composition and history. These books are thousands upon thousands of hearsay narrations that have been attributed to Muhammad and wrongfully and willfully attached to Islamic teachings, and it is this straw man of Islam that 90% of people who oppose Islam attack. Below are a few examples of these ridiculous narrations:
“’Ubayd Allah Ibn Musa informed us on the authority of Usamah Ibn Zayd, he on the authority of Safwan Ibn Sulaym, he said: The Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him, said: Gabriel brought a kettle from which I ate and I was given the power of sexual intercourse equal to forty men.” (Vol. 1, p. 438; cited from Islam As It Sees Itself…, Nehls, p. 39)
Bukhary, Volume 1, Book 4, Number 234: Narrated Abu Qilaba:
Anas said, “Some people of ‘Ukl or ‘Uraina tribe came to Medina and its climate did not suit them. So the Prophet ordered them to go to the herd of (Milch) camels and to drink their milk and urine (as a medicine). So they went as directed and after they became healthy, they killed the shepherd of the Prophet and drove away all the camels. The news reached the Prophet early in the morning and he sent (men) in their pursuit and they were captured and brought at noon. He then ordered to cut their hands and feet (and it was done), and their eyes were branded with heated pieces of iron, They were put in ‘Al-Harra’ and when they asked for water, no water was given to them.” Abu Qilaba said, “Those people committed theft and murder, became infidels after embracing Islam and fought against Allah and His Apostle .”
These twisted narrations were not divinely inspired but instead fabricated by men and added into Islam beginning nearly 200 years after Muhammad had died. You will find concepts of Abrogation within these narrations, but nowhere will you find this in Quran. Now I will show you what Quran says about these so called Abrogations:
Quran 6:115
The word of your Lord is complete, in truth and justice. NOTHING shall abrogate His words. He is the Hearer, the Omniscient.
Quran 18:27
You shall recite what is revealed to you of your Lord’s scripture. NOTHING shall abrogate His words, and you shall not find any other source beside it.
Quran 78:37
Lord of the heavens and the earth, and everything between them. The Most Gracious. NO ONE can abrogate His decisions.
It is clear from the three verses above that God himself says that NOTHING and NO ONE can abrogate his words or decisions. If this is the clear case, then why do so many Muslims today say that it is possible and where does this idea come from? Well it basically comes from two verses which writers of hadith have used to justify their own false teachings of abrogation. The verses are below:
Quran 2:106
When we abrogate any miracle, or cause it to be forgotten, we produce a better miracle, or at least an equal one. Do you not recognize the fact that GOD is Omnipotent?
The word in question in the verse above is the Arabic word ‘ayah’. This word has four basic meanings and is represented in Quran by each one. They are sign, miracle, example and verse. The above translation was done by the late Rashad Khalifa and he chose to use the word miracle. Most traditional translators who were influenced by ahadith always translate ‘ayah’ in the above verse as ‘verse’ but this is an erroneous translation. Especially if we consider the 3 seemingly contradictory verses above which clearly state that NOTHING can abrogate Allah’s words. 2:106 is basically telling us that God can choose to abrogate any sign or miracle he so chooses but his word and law stand firm and never change. Here is a quote from one article on the concept of Abrogation:
“The abrogation of Quranic verses, arguably the greatest lie against the Quran, was originally invented during the fourth century A.H. (late 10th century A.D.) by some Muslim scholars notably Ahmed Bin Ishaq Al-Dinary (died 318 A.H.), Mohamad Bin Bahr Al-Asbahany (died 322 A.H.), Hebat Allah Bin Salamah (died 410 A.H.) and Mohamad Bin Mousa Al-Hazmy (died 548 A.H.), whose book about Al-Nasekh and Al-Mansoukh is regarded as one of the leading references in the subject. This concept invented originally by these scholars, claims that there are some verses in the Quran that have been abrogated and invalidated by other verses! The verse that is the abrogator they call (Al-Nasekh) while the abrogated verse they call (Al-Mansoukh). These scholars have come up with hundreds of cases of abrogated verses to the extent that they have formulated a whole science of the subject filling lengthy books and references. Although the concept was originally invented by Muslim scholars as a result of their poor understanding of the Quran, yet it has been widely exploited by non-Muslim writers to tarnish the perfection and divinity of the book.”iv
Considering verse 2:106 there are numerous reasons why ayah cannot be translated as verse. First, the words ’cause to be forgotten’ would make no sense if ayah was translated as verse. Even if one verse was later abrogated by another, the abrogated verse would still exist as part of Quran so how could it be forgotten. Second, when it says ‘or at least an equal one’ makes no sense at all, for why would God abrogate one verse only to replace it with one that was the same? However if it is translated as sign, miracle or example it would complete the verse and make perfect sense. All three things can be forgotten in time and be replaced later with another of equal value. The idea that miracles can and will be replaced with greater ones is confirmed in Quran in the following verse:
Quran 43:46-48
“And We have sent Moses with Our Ayah’s (miracles or signs) to Pharaoh and his elders proclaiming : ‘I am a messenger from the Lord of the universe’. When he brought them our Ayah’s they laughed at him. Every Ayah We showed them was greater than the one that preceded it.”
The other verse that traditionalist or Bukharite Muslims use to justify abrogation is this:
16:101
“When We substitute one Ayat (revelation) in place of another, and God is fully aware of what He reveals, they say, ‘You made this up’. Indeed most of them do not know”
I will again quote from the same article on the topic which basically sums up this argument:
"The substitution spoken of here is concerned with one of two things:
a- The substitution of one Scripture in place of another.
b- The substitution of one verse or law within a Scripture with another in a subsequent Scripture.
a- The first meaning is given evidence to in the following verse:
Quran 5:48
“Then we revealed to you this scripture, truthfully, confirming previous scriptures, and superseding them.”
Here, the words “superseding them.” confirm that the previous scripture were substituted with the Quran.
b- The second meaning is also given evidence to in the Quran where various issues that were prohibited to the previous people of the book were made lawful in the Quran.
As an example, we are told in 2:187 that sexual intercourse between married couples during the nights of the fasting month was made lawful, while it was prohibited previously.
We are also told in 6:146 that God prohibited for the Jews all animals with undivided hoofs; and of the cattle and sheep the fat was prohibited. These were made lawful in the Quran.
This verse 16:101 does not speak about the substitution of one verse in the Quran with another.”v
Finally if we look at the words ‘you made this up’ we can see that the Quran’s authenticity is being challenged by people who followed previous scriptures as the followers of Muhammad would never have made this statement. It is clear that in 16:101 Allah is confronting those who doubted Muhammad and Quran that he has the ability to replace one scripture with another and has done so, but God never once claims in Quran that he has abrogated earlier revelations with others.
So you see that this concept of abrogation is just another straw man in a long line of scarecrows that hide the true nature of all religions. All three religions I have touched on in this article are all victims of human plagiarism, that is, the true teachings have been disguised and distorted by arrogant men. It is these straw men of religion that draw attack from people who dislike religion. It is also these religious scarecrows that have turned the majority of the followers of these faiths into idol worshipers who only follow conjecture and the imperfect words of men. In truth, all religions come from the same God but all religions have been corrupted by men. The sad part is that anyone who wishes to come to this realization has to put a lot of hard work into uncovering the truth, but unfortunately most people are too busy with their TV, ipods, movies, magazines and mirrors to bother putting in the effort.
Peace
References:
i http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/straw-man.html
ii http://talmud.faithweb.com/articles/wages.html
iii This website contains the quotes I used from New Revised Edition of the Bible.
http://www.allaahuakbar.net/us/authors_gospels.htm
iv From the book ‘The Lie of Abrogation’, can be referenced at this link. http://www.submission.org/abrogation.html
v http://www.submission.org/abrogation.html
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Dont miss the next misadventure that never fails to Astound! Don’t collect dust as you await the upcoming extravaganza entitled, “What is everyone waiting for?” It might make you want to shake your bus drivers hand….! Coming sooner or later in Astounding Tales #9!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Astounding Tales #8 - The Straw men Of Religion
Monday, November 3, 2008
Astounding Tales #7 - The Smell
Welcome to the seventh installment of Astounding Tales! In this issue I reveal a personal and true tale that occurred in my life just over a year ago. Take a deep breath and prepare your olfactory senses for this inebriating narration, this remarkable recounting that can only be called.....
The Smell
Introduction
It was an average Jakartan day when I awoke to my small cubicle like room. It was 11:30 in the morning. As I write this now I can’t seem to remember why I was sleeping so late. Maybe it was during one of my periods of part time employment. Maybe it was a Saturday, but the one thing I remember being in the fore front of my mind at that time was the fact that it was almost Salaat Zuhur, the second prayer of the day, which in Jakarta, comes at around noon everyday of the year. The convenience of equatorial living I suppose; if you’re a Muslim anyway. It was an interesting time in my life for a number of reasons, most of which I won’t get into now, but at that time I had taken up the practice of joining various Jemaat Tabliq groups around Jakarta. For those of you that don’t know what that is I will now explain.
Jemaat is an Indonesian word that has been borrowed from Arabic, which basically means group in English. Tabliq is roughly the work of propagating Islam in a more passive way, at least to the average outside observer. These groups of Muslims are very dedicated to following the Sunnah of Muhammad and are also, for not want of a better explanation, obsessively compulsive in following the writings of the ahadith. They appear all over the world and believe in spreading the message of Islam as it was done traditionally by the companions of the prophet Muhammad. They will choose a masjid and spend on average three days to a week in that Masjid, studying the writings of ahadith, praying together, eating together and not least, going door to door among the local community asking fellow Muslims to join them at the masjid and take part in Jemaat activities. You will recognize these Muslims when they come to a neighborhood near you from their long, usually white robes and their long, usually disheveled beards. That’s a brief description, but now onto the rest of the story.
The reason I was so conscious of the five daily prayers was precisely because I was taking part in these groups. At the time I never missed a prayer and always in a Masjid, and this day was no different. On awaking and seeing the time, I scratched my beard, among other places, and got up to wuduh. Refreshed and purified, I headed off to the closest Masjid, which in Jakarta is no further than 100 meters from anyone’s front door.
A breaking of the wind
As I walked outside the small store that was the front of my small rented cube room, something happened that at the time didn’t seem so unusual but later proved to be quite amazing. The first thing I noticed was that the wind was blowing quite hard, which is unusual in Jakarta, but there also appeared to be a strong odor carried with it. As I remember, this odor blasted my proboscis like an explosion of potpourri. I immediately recognized it as being similar to vanilla and very sweet. I thought this was quite odd as the smells I was familiar with in Jakarta could be more likened to garbage, rotting fish or pollution. My first idea was that it was some kind of incense burning near by that happened to get lifted by the wind and find its place in my nostrils. Regardless, I continued my short jaunt around the corner to the Masjid.
During the entire three minute walk to the Masjid, the air maintained its sweet smelling quality and did make the brisk trip a little more pleasant. On arriving, the smell still persisted and did so throughout the entire salaat ritual and my brief social musings with the locals afterwards. The unusual aroma continued as I walked home and even after I returned to my room. It was at this time that I first suspected something out of the ordinary.
Back inside my tiny room with the door closed, I could still smell this odor and it hadn’t reduced in its potency. I sat and began to speculate as people often do on a Saturday afternoon. Where was this smell coming from? Why was it still so strong in the air? Did an incense factory explode somewhere nearby? To balance my reflections which bordered on the unreasonable, I had to admit that the masjid was an open masjid. That is, it was not contained by four walls so the air and wind could easily permeate it. Also, though my bedroom was small and contained, the window was open allowing the outside air and any odor it might be carrying to enter. I decided to rest on the idea that it was probably originating from some nearby source and would soon dissipate. Case closed; time to get on with my average day.
After showering and changing out of my 15th century Arabic garb into something more modern, I once again left my diminutive domicile to visit my wife and son at her mother’s house. As suspected the smell persisted and not only did I smell it as I walked to my mother-in-laws but I could also smell it in her house. Still, I didn’t mention it as so far, everywhere I had been in the past few hours was within about a 500 meter radius in my neighborhood. “Just an incense factory incident” I thought to myself again. As the day waned, so too did the smell along with my suspicions of anything unusual about the whole odorous occasion. ‘Beat’
Deja pew
The next day was not unlike the last. I found myself preparing for Salaat, doing the washing ritual of wuduh in my bathroom. Then, as I leaned over and splashed water on my face, like a Sam Raimi scene from Evil Dead, the same odor came flying out of nowhere and blasted my olfactory senses. There it was again! The very same vanilla, flowery odor surrounding me! I paused, stood up and began inhaling deeply, poking my nose in one direction and another. How could this be? Here I was in the bathroom 24 hours after my first fragrance fiasco and I was once again faced with this penetrating perfume! Slightly perplexed, I headed for the masjid and mulled over the occurrence in my mind.
Needless to say, the smell again persisted throughout my walk, during salaat and afterwards. Still I kept the whole experience to myself. What then struck me as unusual, more than the smell itself, was that no one else seemed to pay it any mind. While inside the masjid, I peered around looking for burning incense somewhere. I began sniffing people inconspicuously to see if I could find the origin of the odor, but to no avail. After a little small talk with the locals I headed home, but the only difference between this day and the last was that the smell continued and followed me until I fell asleep later that night.
When I awoke the third day, the smell was absent, but sure enough about thirty minutes into my day, it suddenly reappeared. Like the previous times it came like a blast and without warning. It was most likely on this third day, or one of the following that I began to understand that this experience was truly extraordinary. I finally came to this conclusion when no matter where or how far I traveled, the smell stayed with me. Whether I was at work, at home, in the masjid or even traveling on a motorcycle, the sweet perfume stayed with me as if it had found a permanent home on my upper lip. This prompted me to often grab my upper lip, force it into my nostrils and inhale deeply as if it might give a clue as to what this smell was. It wasn’t long after this that I was forced to share this unusual experience with a few of my friends and family members.
Do you smell what I smell?
The longer this smell persisted the more I became aware of the fact that no one else seemed to notice it. In the beginning I never mentioned it because the smell to me was so powerful that it was obvious everyone else must have smelled it, but this was not the case.
The first person I approached about this perplexing situation was a good Indonesian friend of mine who often joined me on my Tabliq excursions. I don’t remember exactly how it went but I basically asked him if he could smell anything unusual but sweet. His short answer was no. This disturbed me because at the time of my asking the smell was so strong I should have been noxious if not for its pleasant intoxicating effect. And this was also something odd I noticed about the smell. I couldn’t quite place what it smelled like but it was familiar to vanilla, and it was also at times, so powerful that if it were any normal perfume I probably would have been sickened by it. But this was never the case. In fact the stronger it got, the more pleasing I felt. There were often times during my salaat that it was so strong I would become distracted from my prayers and just sit and inhale as deeply as I could, as if I couldn’t get enough.
Anyway, I began to explain to my friend about what I was experiencing and had experienced over the last few days. I even asked him to smell me and insisted. He amused me and began sniffing my face and clothes but could smell nothing but perhaps a little body odor. My friend really didn’t know what to say and whether or not he believed me at the time, offered no explanation. It was at this time that I finally realized that I must be the only one who could smell this often overpowering scent. But to be sure I had to ask others.
Over the next few days I approached more people, but because the whole thing was a little strange I kept it between me and as few people as possible. The next person I told was my wife. She basically had the same response as my friend. She looked at me strange and insisted she smelled nothing, even after entertaining my request of a full body sniffing, including parts I would never ask my friends to smell. This scene repeated itself when I asked a few other Tabliq friends, seeking either confirmation that I wasn’t alone in my scented senility or in the very least, an explanation of it all. But again to no avail. Not only did it seem I was the only one with an over active olfactory gland but no one seemed to have any explanation, or experience to draw from to form an explanation about this happening.
So here I was, with an ominous, but sweet odor following me everywhere like a shadow, only no one else was aware of it. I began losing sleep over trying to understand the meaning of it. Was it the scent of flowers in jannah (heaven), like a few of my bearded comrades proposed? Was there significance behind the whole experience? What did it mean? Why was I the only one who could smell it? Was I just going crazy? I actually did entertain the idea that I might be losing my mind, or at least a reliable sense of smell, but no matter how hard I tried to understand the whole thing, I never found a satisfying answer.
Ode to an odor
To this day it is hard for me to accurately describe what this scent smelled like. The closest I can come is by comparing it to a mixture of vanilla and sweet honey or flowers. Whatever it was it smelled very good. Over a period of about 2 or 3 weeks it would come to me on waking or shortly after, and persist throughout the entire day no matter where I went until I fell asleep and no one else was ever able to smell it. There were often times it seemed to be more powerful. Sometimes when I was doing the washing ritual of wuduh or actually in the middle of salaat, the smell would become so strong and intoxicating that it would overwhelm me, but it never became noxious.
I soon gave up trying to understand what it was or what it meant and just surrendered to this perplexing and persistent perfume. It became like a close friend or a pet. It followed me everywhere and always kept me in a good mood. Then on what was about the third week, I noticed that each day the smell would appear later in the day and disappear sooner. I also noticed that it slowly decreased in potency over the last week that I experienced it. Until one day I awoke and the smell never returned.
This whole odorous anomaly took place over about a three week period just over a year ago and it left quite an impression on me. I often think about it but still have no explanation for it. What began with an explosion of aroma carried on the wind, quietly and slowly vanished. But what I find most interesting is what happened after it was gone. Perhaps no more than two weeks after this unusual smell left its final fragrance in my nostrils, did I become aware of Submission, or the Quran alone movement in Islam happening all over the world. I have long since shaved my beard, hung up my desert robes, disowned the ahadith and now consider myself a Muslim who submits to God alone and recognizes Al Quran as the only source of Islamic deen and sunnah of Allah. Was this coincidence? I don’t know.
Whatever this smell was I may never know, but I thank God for this most incredible experience. Regardless of its cause or purpose, it did play a part in strengthening my faith in my Creator and left a unique and positive mark in my life. So was it a celestial scent from heaven? Or was it some unexplained secular stench of the world? I’m afraid, my dear readers, that this is for you to decide.
Amin
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the next illustrious issue of Astounding Tales we present a perplexing paradigm which leaves no tin man un-oiled, no cowardly lion untamed and no brick road un-followed. Prepare for the profound in... "The Straw Man Cometh!"
Friday, October 10, 2008
Astounding Tales #6 - The Only Thing To Fear...
Welcome to the long awaited sixth edition of Astounding Tales! Brace yourself for this terrifying and awe inspiring tale that will leave you cowering in the corner! What is it about, you say? Read on as the title says it all. I now present to you...
The Only Thing To Fear....
Part 1.
To Fear God
Being of a western mind myself, I have come to find that the concept of fearing God is quite alien and unfamiliar to many western people. Thus I wish to try and explore and clarify the concept within this writing. The following is a collection of thoughts inspired from research, personal experience, and above all, Almighty God.
In Islam, one learns that one of the most important lessons a Muslim can grasp is the concept of fearing God. There are numerous quotes from Al Qur’an that express the importance of this concept which I will try and place throughout this writing.
To begin, I wish to elucidate a common rhetoric that I have encountered many times when engaging in conversation with people about the fear of God. It often goes something like this. I say something like, ‘It is of utmost importance for a human to understand what it is to fear God,’ and often the response is, ‘I don’t fear God, I love God.’ Keep in mind; it has been my experience that this response is most common to a western mind. It is as if the person fear’s the word ‘fear’ itself and finds some kind of solace or protection in proclaiming that love is their master, not fear when it comes to approaching our creator. However, this romantic concept is an illusion and a fallacy. Let me expand on this…
Part 2.
Love and God’s Qualities
Love is an emotion or quality which must be expressed through an act of nurturing or giving. If one feels love for someone else, in order for that quality to be expressed and in turn be effective, one must show it by providing something to the one who would receive it. For example, when a mother loves her child she gives attention, affection or even just basic needs to provide for her child’s life. Often love is even expressed by giving material object as gifts. Love is essentially a quality that manifests through action. How often do people criticize one another for only saying ‘I love you’ and not showing it? Any other romantic concepts of love are unreal and based in fantasy. It is clear that love is something that must be given in one form or another in order for it’s qualities to be effective and ‘real.’ However, what many westerners are unaware of is that this is impossible to accomplish when approaching our creator.
In Al Qur’an, it says that God is perfect, whole, absolute, without equal and incomparable. In other words, He is absolutely unique within and without all of creation. Below are some verses which support this claim:
40:15
Possessor of the highest degrees, and Ruler of the whole dominion. He sends inspiration, bearing His commands, to whomever He chooses from among His servants, to warn about the Day of Gathering.
2:115
To GOD belongs the east and the west; wherever you go there will be the presence of GOD. GOD is Omnipresent, Omniscient.
6:103
No visions can encompass Him, but He encompasses all visions. He is the Compassionate, the Cognizant.
17:20
For each one of them we provide; we provide for those and these from your Lord's bounties. Your Lord's bounties are inexhaustible.
23:88
Say, "In whose hand is the sovereignty of all things, and He protects while there is no protector against Him, if you know?"
34:3
Those who rejected said, "the moment will not come upon us!" Say, "Yes, by my Lord, it will come to you." He is the Knower of the unseen, not even an atom's weight or less than that or greater can be hidden from Him, be it in the heavens or the earth. All are in a clear record.
Yes, even an atoms weight cannot be added to or taken away from God, therefore it is futile and ridiculous for a man to believe that he can give God anything. God needs nothing from man nor is it even possible for man to give anything to God.
Part 3.
The Table and The Carpenter
(I will now use a metaphor to further explain my concepts of what it is to fear God. Keep in mind it is only a metaphor to bring ‘bigger than life’ ideas down to Earth or to a level closer to human experience and understanding.)
Can the table possibly give anything more to the carpenter who created him, than the form and function of its qualities that the carpenter made it with? Even if the table could desire to give something more to it’s creator it could not. If it chose to show love to the carpenter by assisting him in his carpentry it could not. If it wanted to fetch food and drink for its creator after a hard days work it could not. If these concepts seem ridiculous to you, imagine how much more ridiculous it is to think that a human can give anything to God, who in essence, is far more separated from man in capacity, then a table is from the carpenter.
It is clear that love is a quality that manifests through action of giving and receiving, so, in essence, it is something that is meant to be shared and expressed between humans, not humans and their creator. In fact the most a human can do to express a form of love to its creator is by just being human. That is by using the qualities that God created us with in accordance with his will. The table must simply be content with being a table.
Now on the other hand, rather than trying to give love to its creator, it would be more sensible for the table to fear him. Since the table can do nothing but be a table, would it not make more sense if it feared the carpenter and his wrath? Would it not be in the table’s better interest to be content with being a table so that it can competently perform the functions that it was created to do? As long as the carpenter can sit down at the table and eat from it, the carpenter is happy and content with its creation. If the table was able to, and decides to get up and perform another function against its nature, the carpenter’s meal time would continually be upset and eventually the carpenter might dismantle the table thinking that it is of inferior design, and simply create another table. Thus shouldn’t the table, in his contentment of being a table, be better off to pray to his creator that he is a good table who functions properly so as to not risk destruction? And would it not make more sense if the table also prayed to its creator asking for protection from other things that may destroy it or make it unable to function properly such as termites and rain, since it is only the carpenter that can do this? This is what it means to fear God.
Part 4.
Fear
Before I continue my discourse on fearing God, let me present some verses from Quran which explore what it is to fear God, and God willing, we will begin to see that the concept of fearing God is not as black and white as many people understand it to be but instead, is quite multi-dimensional.
2:150
Wherever you go out, you shall set yourself towards the Restricted Temple. Wherever you may be, you shall set yourselves towards it; that the people will have no room for debate with you, except those of them who are wicked. You shall not fear them, but fear Me so that I may complete My blessings upon you and that you may be guided.
3:175
It is only the devil trying to create fear for his allies, so do not fear them, but fear Me if you have acknowledged.
6:15
Say, "I fear if I disobey my Lord, the retribution of a great day!"
9:13
Would you not fight a people who broke their oaths and intended to expel the messenger, especially while they were the ones who attacked you first? Do you fear them? It is God who is more worthy to be feared if you are those who acknowledge.
Fear is an emotion whose qualities are manifest in its receiving, not its giving. If a man induces fear in another man, it is the man who is being made to fear that feels its qualities more than the man who is giving it. Because of this, it is clear that God gave man the capacity to feel fear for one purpose and one purpose only; to fear God. Again I will clarify.
Historically we can see that it is fear that inspires man to worship, not love. Our ancestors fell into pagan worship because of fear. When a man feared the dark, the unknown, phenomenon of weather like thunder and lightning etc, he inevitably began to worship these things. History is full of stories of men worshiping the sun and the weather or even a rock or dark cave all because they began to fear it. Fear and awe of the unknown has made many a civilization sink into the sin of pagan worship. And it is the sin of worshiping other Gods beside Almighty God that is the worst sin of all. It is the one act that man can do that God despises above all others. What would be more insulting and crippling to a mother who, after carrying her child for nine months and nurturing and loving it until maturity, was then forsaken by her child and replaced with another parent? And how much more care, attention and love was put into our lives by our creator? The quality of fear was given to man by God, for God and nothing else. By fearing God and His all powerful will, we are protected. Thus we see how merciful and compassionate our creator is. So, like the table which can only pray that its creator is happy with its function and does not destroy it, we too must turn to our God in fear and respect, and constantly ask for forgiveness and protection from those things which might misdirect our fear and trap us in sin.
Love does not usually inspire such profound worship. If you truly love your child, your spouse or your sibling, the concept of worship does not come to mind as how you might feel or act towards them. Love tends to inspire instead, a feeling of pride and satisfaction. More often, mortal men are mistakenly worshipped by ignorant people because they are afraid of them, not because they truly love them. Of all the mighty dictators in the world’s history that inspired worship by their people, how many of these autocrats were revered in such a way because they were truly loved by the masses? Man has been deceived into believing that he can give love to God. In this way *Satan, or The Devil, ensures that man will easily become weak and fear other things thus fulfilling Satan’s wishes and falling into terrible sin. The popular romantic concepts of love are fleeting and insubstantial. The devil is a romantic but God is a realist. In a sense, by reserving our fear for God and His power alone, we protect ourselves from falling into the inevitable transgression of shirk or idol worship when we fear other things besides God. It is best for us to fear God; to be in awe of His power and glory and pray that he protects us from that which may turn us to sin, and pray that we can function and use the qualities God gave us in the way that He desires for us. Surrender to God and you truly experience what it is to fear Him. This is one dimension of fearing God; a dimension that opens up the way for us to hold deep reverence and respect for our creator; a dimension that guides us to the next level of understanding ourselves and our relationship with our Creator.
*(Yes the devil. Stay tuned to upcoming issues of Astounding Tales for insight into this infamous character from religious lore.)
Now it is time to point out that there is a form of love that a person can feel and direct towards his Creator. This love is a real love that is unique and much higher than the love commonly shared between humans. This real love can only be experienced if a person first becomes aware of what it is to fear God, and then finally and personally, experiences what it is to fear God. A man must fear God in order to realize that he must surrender to Gods will, and in doing so, a man will act, function and behave only according to the qualities that God has put within him. That is, he will behave as a true human being, or… the table will be content in being a table knowing that it can’t possibly give anything to the carpenter. Then, if God wills, we won’t become subject to the consequences of going against His laws and He will keep us safe from any dangers which may lead us off the straight path. Fear of God is love for God, and by fearing God, a believer will have nothing to fear. All praise to Almighty God.
5:69
"Those who acknowledge, those who are Jewish, those who are the followers of other religions, and the Nazarenes… Whoever acknowledges God and the Last day and does good works, then they will have nothing to fear nor will they grieve."
Amin
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Don't miss the next impossible but irresistible issue of Astounding Tales! Was it a gift sent down from the divine? ....Or just an 'out of this world' odor? Next time we proudly present...
"The Smell!"
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Astounding Tales #5 - The Good, The Bad and The Indecisive.
Welcome to the fifth installment of Astounding Tales. Within the palatable pages of this issue lies a story steeped in some of the greatest mysteries of all time. Be amazed as we investigate the almost inscrutable implications of Evil, Sin, Wisdom and Free Will! Brace your self as we enter the Astounding! I present to you...
The Good, The Bad and The Indecisive.
Evil and Sin
Evil, and or sin, are willful acts, therefore they are, by their nature, contrived or manufactured. By this I don’t mean that they are unnatural or unreal, but that one must willfully conspire to bring them into fruition. Therefore evil and sin that is present in the world today, is not spontaneous or unplanned phenomenon, but long nurtured conspiracy. To further clarify my point I will now give a brief definition of evil and sin.
The Tenth edition of the Oxford Concise Dictionary defines sin as ‘an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law’ or ‘an act regarded as a serious offense’. It defines evil as, ‘something profoundly immoral and malevolent, embodying or associated with the forces of the devil, harmful or intending to harm’. I have also heard sin defined as conscious evil, or the willful commitment to perform an evil act which contradicts divine morality and evil as a wrongful or immoral act committed out of ignorance of divine laws or morality. Thus the only difference between the two is whether or not the one performing the deed is ignorant or not of what he does when his actions are weighed against divine morality. See how God addresses this in Al Quran Al-Nahl 16:119.
Yet, as regards those who fall in sin out of ignorance then repent thereafter and reform, your Lord, after this is done, is Forgiver, Most Merciful.
And again in Al Quran Al-Ahzab 33:5,
You do not commit a sin if you make a mistake in this respect; you are responsible for your purposeful intentions.
However, the one thing that these two concepts have in common is that even though an evil act may be committed unintentionally or out of ignorance, one must still consciously and willfully choose to act in order for an evil or sinful deed to be executed.
In opposition to evil and sin we have divine law and morality. Because these two things are in opposition we know that one will logically exist in the absence of the other, or when one acts against divine morality, one is committing evil or sin depending on his level of awareness of divine law. In religion we are taught that divine law is the will of God, therefore one who commits evil or sinful deeds is acting contrary to the will of God. This is clearly stated in the Bible, I John 3:4.
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
Regarding divine morality, or God’s will, we find that one need not exercise his own will in order for action to occur, which is motivated by intentions to follow the will of God. In fact, since God is the creator, controller and sustainer of all things, perfect, first and last, he is, by his nature, ‘normal’ and His will, can be considered the natural state of existence. Therefore any act which contradicts his will is essentially going against nature or the natural flow and progression of life. In other words one need not act willfully in order to conform to God’s will, but instead willingly surrender to God. Here, Younus 10:61 of Al Quran shows us how all things in existence are maintained and known by God, thus it is God’s will that is natural or normal order of things.
You do not get into any situation, nor do you recite any Quran, nor do you do anything, without us being witnesses thereof as you do it. Not even an atom's weight is out of your Lord's control, be it in the heavens or the earth. Nor is there anything smaller than an atom or larger that is not recorded in a profound record.
Further, in Al-Baqarah 2:112 we are reminded to submit to this natural way; God’s way.
Indeed, those who submit themselves absolutely to GOD alone, while leading a righteous life, will receive their recompense from their Lord; they have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve.
This concept of submission is found also in the Bible as seen here in James 4:7.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Man has a dual nature. He is capable of both sinful and good acts but God’s nature is singular. We learn in religion that God is unified and one, without equal and completely unique in all the cosmos. Therefore although God is capable of creating beings with the capacity to sin, He Himself is incapable of such acts. In Islam, God teaches that He is perfect, infinitely merciful and perfectly just. Now tell me, does evil contain such qualities? It certainly doesn’t. Below are some examples of God’s oneness and goodness from Bible and Al Quran.
Al Quran, Al-Baqarah 2:163
Your god is one God; there is no god but He, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Ali-'Imran 3:6
He is the One who shapes you in the wombs as He wills. There is no other god besides Him; the Almighty, Most Wise.
Al-Nesa 4:79
Anything good that happens to you is from GOD, and anything bad that happens to you is from you…
The Bible, Mark 12:32
And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
James 2:19
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Mark 10:18
And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God.
God’s will, can be compared to a flowing stream. It is guided and directed flowing one way. One needs only let go, or submit, and be at the mercy of the current in order to flow in the right direction, but if one willfully struggles against the current, one will find himself in difficulty and eventually grave danger. When we surrender to God’s will we need not act willfully. And since mans will is connected with his thinking mind and his desire filled heart, these things must be abandoned in order for us to achieve such a state and avoid evil and sinful acts. All that is required is the willingness or desire to let go and allow God’s will to guide us. It is ridiculous to believe that the imperfect qualities of mans nature can alone govern and influence his life in a positive way. See Al-Nesa 4:79 above and Al-Baqarah 2:269 below.
He bestows wisdom upon whomever He chooses, and whoever attains wisdom, has attained a great bounty. Only those who possess intelligence will take heed.
Wisdom
We have learned that evil is essentially the younger sibling of sin, separated only by ones level of awareness or ignorance, that is, their cause may be slightly different but their effects are one in the same. And the only remedy for the debilitating disease of ignorance is wisdom and knowledge.
Many people foolishly believe that wisdom is simply equated to accumulated experience, however this is a mistake. In fact, experience is only an opportunity to gain wisdom, not a cause. The entire equation of wisdom must take into account the state in which a person exists in during a certain experience. Experience is temporal, meaning limited to time or the perpetual movement of matter within space. Therefore, time and its passage are necessary in order for experience to take place and provide an opportunity for wisdom to be gained.
The other measurable effect resulting from temporal experience is conditioned behavior. Conditioned behavior is the result of interpreting experience with limited and imperfect human willfulness, whereas wisdom is the result of interpreting experience while surrendered to the will of Almighty God. Or while following Gods laws as are written in Holy Scripture such as the Bible and Al Qur’an.
Many people also believe that conditioned behavior is a quality of animal life but this is not so. Animals live in a state of willing surrender not willful action. Science calls this instinct, though the term must be used loosely here. Animals behave according only to how God has, for lack of a better word, programmed them. Although an animal may learn through trial and error and alter their behavior based on temporal conditioning, they are incapable of going against the will of god, or sinning. See below:
The Bible, James 3:7
For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
Al Quran, Al-Hajj 22:18
Do you not realize that to GOD prostrates everyone in the heavens and the earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and the animals, and many people?
An animal acts only as God wills it and behaves within the limitations of their God given nature, whereas humans have the capacity to act against their nature or swim against the current, so to speak. Therefore, when a man submits only to his own will and desires, and as a result accumulates only conditioned behavioral patterns when experiential opportunity presents itself, he is acting on a level even lower than that of the animals. In other words, so much more is expected of man according to the destiny God has designed for us.
Al Quran, Al-A’araf 7-179
We have committed to Hell multitudes of jinns and humans. They have minds with which they do not understand, eyes with which they do not see, and ears with which they do not hear. They are like animals; no, they are far worse-they are totally unaware.
So it is clear that wisdom, as well as other virtuous qualities derived from the divine, such as love, honor, justice, mercy, etc are a privilege not a right, and a man must earn this privilege through sincere submission and surrender to the will of Almighty God. In no way can a man attain such virtuous qualities through his own will and determination. The best that can be hoped to achieve through the latter way is but a shadow of the real thing.
Basically, sin and evil, or the wisdom one arrives at to attain virtuous qualities, are dependent on mans one choice. The choice to surrender to Gods will or not. We must keep in mind that this is only one choice, not a palette of choices, that those who prescribe to the romantic illusion of human free will believe exist. Again I will use a metaphor to explain the concept of free will and how it works. However keep in mind it is only a metaphor to allow a reader to get a glimpse into the greater whole of the truth.
Free Will
Man and his limited choices can be likened to a fish in an aquarium. The aquarium and all it contains represents mans limited scope of reality, whereas that which exists outside the boundaries of the aquarium, represent all that is outside mans conscious or visible reality. If we observe a fish in the aquarium, it moves to and fro looking for food in one corner or inspecting another. It almost appears to be making a choice as to where it goes and what it does, much the same way a man believes he is in charge of his own destiny. However, unknown to the fish is that its world is very limited and infinitesimal when compared to the larger invisible world around it. The fish does not realize that all its actions, which one might interpret as free will choices, are completely limited and utterly dependent on something bigger; the keeper of the tank. Although the fish feels free to swim here and there in search of food etc., its entire existence is dependent on the will of the keeper, whether passively or actively. Again see Al Quran Younus 10:61 above and Al-Hajj 64:11 below
No affliction comes about but by Allah's permission; and whoever believes in
In its passive form, the will of the keeper acts as such. By limiting his actions to simply observing the fish exist, he passively affects the life of the fish, and eventually, if the keeper does nothing, the fish’s environment will become unclean and it will eventually die of starvation, no matter how often and where it looks for food. So all the fishes actions, no matter how strong its will, can not save it from its fate.
Actively, the keeper can interfere with the fish and his environment in any way he sees fit. Whether he gives the fish food or pulls the fish from the tank in order to clean it or simply to flush our ill fated fin bearing friend down the toilet. So you see, from the perspective of the keeper, any idea of free will is ridiculous. The human concept of free will is born of arrogance and ignorance to a greater world outside our own, but we already touched on what the remedy for that is. It is more accurate to call it ‘a very limited free choice’… one in fact. If we reflect on the following verses from Al Quran we get a strong reminder of how limited our free will is.
Al Quran, Al-Kahf 18:23-24
You shall not say that you will do anything in the future, without saying, "GOD willing." If you forget to do this, you must immediately remember your Lord and say, "May my Lord guide me to do better next time."
In conclusion, man must willingly and sincerely surrender his limited will to that of his creator. By doing so, he will exercise the one choice he has to open up a world of endless possibilities and unlimited wisdom, and follow a path absent of evil and void of sin. All praise to the One Almighty God who knows best, and may He forgive me if my words are out of place.
--------------------------------------------------------------------Next time we bring you a creepy composition of shock and suspense! Don't be afraid to read the next terrifying issue of Astounding Tales entitled 'The Only Thing To Fear...'!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Astounding Tales #4 - What's Love Got To Do With It?
In this issue we will examine the concept of love and it's conditions completely from the perspective of the Bible. Take a load off, put up your feet and prepare to be astounded by a tragic tale of that funny thing called love, but really... who's laughing? Welcome to Astounding Tales #4!
Whats Love got to do with it?
Today’s passive Christians seem to have love branded on their bottom lip. They wear their bleeding hearts on their lapels; stigmatic testimonials to an over zealous admiration of what they consider to be the teachings of Jesus Christ. To them an unconditional love is the answer and Jesus had it all figured out long before John Lennon came along. Although the word love reels from their mouths like a runaway roll of toilet paper, one has to wonder if they really know what it means.
The
Love as a verb describes the action which is motivated by its objective counterpart. Take the most abused phrase, ‘I love you’. Here the indefinable emotion is expressed from the subject, I, and transformed into measurable action which is experienced by the object, you. Love now becomes, in essence, ‘real’ and escapes the bondage of broken-record lip service to the Christian mantra of its noun form. In this form lies the real power of the word and what it stands for so we should look at verses from the Old and New Testaments in order to find out exactly where the passive Christians of today are learning this song.
In all 4 verse the ‘love’ that is mentioned is an action or expression towards God, and this expression of love comes with a reward of blessings from the object of our love, God, as seen in Deuteronomy 30:16. Here certain conditions begin to form around the action of expressed ‘love’ depending on the receiver. As the receiver here is God, we are granted wonderful rewards for expressing our love towards him. Certainly this condition applies only if the object of our love is God as no human has the capacity to reward our giving’s of love as God can. Even though humans have a limited capacity to return our loving favors, how often do these returns go unfulfilled? Further we are told not to just ‘love’ God but to love Him with all our hearts and souls. Again another condition presents itself depending on the object of our love. It is not enough to express love to God our creator in the form of passive lip service but it must be done with deep sincerity.
(It must be noted that our love towards God is a unique situation as God himself is absolutely unique in all existence. Being perfect and absolute, God really has no need for our love, but it is us who need to love him for ourselves and our own benefit. In this unique situation, it is the subject, us, who benefits entirely from this expression of love, whereas in all other circumstances the object of our love always benefits somehow from our expressions of love towards it/him/her.)
1John 4:21. And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
It would be reasonable to assume that similar conditions would apply to loving enemies as it would be to loving neighbors and God. For example, God has commanded us not love the unrighteous and wicked, therefore we can assume that if our so called enemies are among those that commit unrighteousness and wickedness that similar conditions would apply. Also is it even logical to say that we should love our enemies or the wicked the same as we would love our righteous neighbors and friends? Let us consider Matthew 22:37-40. In these verses we see Jesus answering the Pharisees who ask Jesus to tell them of the greatest commandment.
37. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38. This is the first and great commandment.
39. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Matthew 10:34-37 34 ‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
He brings a sword. Why the sword if we don't need justice or have no need to defend ourselves? I know the sword is metaphorical but these are strong words from a so called unconditionally loving pacifist. Plus he shows that our love is indeed conditioned as he says we can not even love our mothers and fathers more than him. Yes Jesus is preaching conditioned love because he was a realist not a romantic.
Matthew 5:17. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
Here Jesus is quoted as saying he hasn't come to destroy the prophets or law. The law is the law given to Moses. The Old Testament is a tribute to that law. God clearly loves Justice in the Old Testament and it is an integral part of the Ten Commandments. Jesus' own words say he follows God's law and God's law does not include unconditional love.
Luke16
13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.
15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
16 The law and the prophets [were] until John: since that time the
17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
These verses start with Jesus giving a clear definition of love conditioned by justice. No man can serve two masters. Why? Because inevitably their will be conflict of interest. To deny justice and remove all conditions of love is to follow another master besides God, namely your fanciful desires to follow a romantic and illusory concept of love. To be fair and just and truly love we must follow one master. And the last verse again restates that the law shall not change. And I love the metaphor he uses to describe the impossibility of this act. It's easier for the heavens and the earth to pass than it is for the law to change; and love conditioned by justice is part of that law.
Matthew 21:12
[Jesus at the
Here are the actions of a man who not only loves justice but actively involves himself when injustice is done. This is not an unconditionally loving pacifist. If Jesus truly believed in turning the other cheek and not resisting evil, he would have left these corrupt people be.
Love is not unconditional. This is an impossibility, especially in this life on this world. God does not only love, he is also fair, just, merciful etc. His qualities are many but all are absolute and perfect. If God loved unconditionally then the wicked would never be punished and the victims of injustice would be shown no mercy. How is this love?
Paul himself says here (if indeed Paul was the author of Romans):
Romans 12:9. [Let] love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good
Paul is giving conditions to the love we are to express. It must be without dissimulation or not hidden; which means we cant just run around giving lip service to a fantastical love but we must act. And second he is stating that we must abhor evil.
Finally, here are some quotes from the Bible on Justice for it would appear that justice is truly what God and Jesus were calling for.
Psalms 7:9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.
Psalms 82:3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Psalms 89:14 Justice and judgment [are] the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
Proverbs 3:33 The curse of the LORD [is] in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.
Proverbs 10:7. The memory of the just [is] blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.
Proverbs 17:15. He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both [are] abomination to the LORD
Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Matthew 13:49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
James 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only
and so on....
In truth, it seems that true or real love is love which is tempered by justice, fairness and mercy. By holding on to these true concepts of love I believe we will begin to see real and perceptible change in a positive direction between the relations of all mankind on Earth.
Peace and may REAL love find you.
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