May 10, 2009 4:13pm
I have complete my first selection of posts on the reading the Qur'an. I definitely need a break from these surahs. The prophet has an almost compulsive behaivor of returning to the concept of Judgment Day. Numerous times I became frustrated with the monotony of the subject. To say the least, none of his examples proved that this Day would occur. He rambled on about what the Day would be like and used every possible representation you could imagine. But that is the problem with most spiritual ideas: they are in our imagination and have no physical representation.
I am glad to take a break from that and have begun to cover some of the Dead Sea Scroll Tractates that deal with the Book of Genesis. These include a series of "Last Words of..." and a few Meditation and even a Sermon. It is definitely something completely different, from the Qur'an but also from the Old and New Testament.
April 3, 2009 3:21pm
I am working my way backwards through the Qur'an. It is very interesting to read. Almost always the commentaries are useful. On occasion, there are some miscommunications and the Prophet was some what short winded. His explaination require great caution before taking it the wrong way. I will be continuing this for about another 23 days.
I am updating two section on this website. First, as I finish each surah from the Qur'anI will be placing a link to that post. Second, I have started a new post topic that I call: personal belief. These posts of my personal beliefs can be found under the Atheism tab.
March 19, 2009 11:29pm
I have completed my readings from the Apocryphon of James in the Nag Hammadi Library. Both links are to the Gnostic Society Library, which has the complete translation of the Nag Hammadi available on-line. Links to those post are avaiable under the appropriate Tab in the heading.
March 7, 2009 4:54pm
I have decided to include links to my posts on Atheism from this website. I have been debating about it for some time, since Atheism is not a religion, it is not a belief system. It is a philosophy, that can replace the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish religions. As a philosophy it has many of the same values that the Abrahamic religions espousce. This of course, does not mean that human-kind was endowed with a spiritual seed from a supernatural being. Atheism also hold some of the same values as Buddhism, Toaism, and Hinduism. What this means is that as humans learned to live in societies, certain rules had to be obeyed, or complete chaos would insue.
Laws on theft, murder, adultery, treason, envy, hatred, divisiveness, and the like were required. Threats and fear were the most motivating factors to keep primative human-kind from breaking these Laws. Hence, religion was used. But religions become top heavy, like any corporation. Those inforcing the Laws and those teaching the Laws required income (tithes). As societies became bigger, more money was required to keep the Inforcers and the Teachers "comfortable". Some Teachers did not see things the same way as others and fractures would appear in each religion. These fractures would become sects, and these sects would become out-right "heretical" religions. Many where destroyed by the dominate power-keepers, like the gnostic christians. Others would separate more peacefully and survive, like Christianity and Islam. Older religions would be wiped out, their lies no longer believed (the lies required to keep the society cohesive), and would become the stuff of legends: Greek, Roman, Egpytian, Celtic, and Viking mythologies.
Atheism offers all the benefits of religion, but does not require the impossible...living up to non-human standards. In my new tab on Atheism I have two sections at the moment. One is the experiences that I have been exposed to that reveal the truth about the Christian Laws. The second section are my posts on what Atheism offers in return to people who reject the religious lifestyles.
March 2, 2009 9:50pm
I have made links to my introduction to both the Holy Qur'an and the Dead Sea Scrolls. I am taking the Qur'an slowly because it has my weakest understanding of the implications. The subtly within the book is something I do not want to overlook. Just recently I have had a converstation with a Muslim from outside of the US. It has been quit an influencial experience. As a result, I must think about how best to proceed with that topic. The link provide above is to Maulana Muhammad Ali's The Holy Qur'an: with English Translation and Commentary.
As far as the Dead Sea Scroll, well, that is more scientific. The authors of the Scrolls do not have any living representation here in the present. It is quite obvious from my studies that they favored the Saducees during the civil war between the Saducees and the Pharishees in the 1st century BCE. When the Temple was destroyed in 70CE all the Saducee sects were either distroyed or slowly disolved. The most difficult part about the Scrolls is the fragmentation. As a result, I am starting with the Damascus Document. One copy of this document was discovered in the 19th century and was published twice in the 20th century.
Both the introductions and the posts that I have created on the two Holy documents are under their respective tabs at the top of the page.
February 27, 2009 6:35 am
The shear size of the information on this website has increased by the accidtion of the Holy Qur'an, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi Library, and the Jewish Apocrypha (The Apocrypha Index at Sacred Text). Organization of this information will need to change. I am now using the side bar to the right as a place holder for some of the different topics within one "concept". Take a look deeper into this website by clicking the pages to the right.
October 5, 2008 2:14pm
I am building a site to use the Bible to teach, rebuke, and correct those that claim to be christians.
2Ti3:16-17
2Ti 3:16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,2Ti 3:17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
I know that by stating that I am an atheist and a gay man that many “christian” will claim that my interpretation of the Bible is invalid. That would only validate my claim that these people are not christians. The pride, arrogance, and judgmental attitudes of many christians must be corrected. The proof that a god exists and that chirstianity is the correct method of worship cannot be validated if those who profess the faith cannot be taught, rebuked, and corrected by the very source of their faith.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------