The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> Re: Monotheism is Doomed

Re: Monotheism is Doomed
Posted by AssyrianMuslim (Guest) - Thursday, December 6 2007, 4:39:51 (CET)
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pancho wrote:
>If anything is clear, a single god doesn’t exist, never did…and he(always a “He”) never can. People will never agree on one kind of cheese…although in America at one time Velveeta and Wonder Bread were worshipped but that was only due to white man ignorance. People are simply too varied in their appetites to ever settle on one of anything…and that’s as it should be. With the world rubbing elbows more and more people are exposed to the wonderful variety of human creativity and custom which their relative isolation behind mountains, deserts and oceans had once led them to believe each community was unique and sufficient unto to itself with its own god. What a dull world it would be if we ever chose one of anything for everybody.
>
>When the three great religions were discovered, all of them, oddly enough, born from a primitive desert locale not that far from one another, nations had no effective police force, judiciary or relatively humane penal systems, if they had any at all. God turned out to be an effective policeman in bringing people to behave themselves. But eventually people found god’s laws lagged behind human intellect and even human compassion, which soon caught up with and surpassed God’s, and when the modern nation-state evolved God’s policemen were simply not up to the job; we needed a real constabulary that didn’t “wash” crimes away or leave the recreant to a distant Judgment Day…we wanted some law and order now. By today we have the Law, police, courts and an admittedly harsh and almost counter-productive and growing penal system, but at least we can work on it. The other way nothing was in our hands. While both systems have their drawbacks, I far prefer to live by laws within our control than to be left at the mercy of a god I know my next door neighbor invented, who seems far more forgiving of him than of me.
>
>The history of the modern world has been dominated by the conflicts between these three sister religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Their proximity to one another and their sibling jealously has caused the world untold buckets of blood hardly worth whatever gifts they brought. The pagan world had its wars but never as a result of one cult, Christianity, trying to shove it self down everyone’s throat. The other two have been forced to defend themselves from Christ and all of us have paid dearly.
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>Monotheism leads to a holier-then-thou smugness which too often finds expression in a hostile and active disdain for those who believe differently…especially those who believe in another only-one God. The heathen is merely misguided but the monotheist who stubbornly worships another one-god should know better and besides, his preference his one-God insults our one-God and we don’t take that kindly, Christians least of all. To its credit, though, Islam has tolerated other monotheistic faiths, certainly far more than Christianity ever has. Christianity’s murderous certainty, which turned against other Christians as well, could be the result of Christ’s supposed command to spread his Gospel, his “good word” to all the nations of the earth. Evangelism, which quickly failed, or rather did no better than Christ himself managed among his own people, became more and more belligerent as the good news fell on other than Hebrew deaf ears.
>
>The tension within Christianity may well be the result of its being forced by and onto people who were not Oriental, or Eastern to begin with. While Jews and Muslims derived their everything from the lands which gave them and their religions birth…Christianity was used by and then foisted onto people of a different background entirely who had the clear light of Greek reason and logic plus Roman chutzpah in their ancestry and not desert mysticism.
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>It was wise, shrewd or humane of Islam to leave Christians and Jews to their own beliefs. This alone must have startled people into wondering what other attractions the tolerant religion of their conquerors held in store. Jews never evangelized (except briefly). Their smugness came from a sense of being a specially chosen people, not one bearing a divine command to spread their superior faith far and wide. Christ’s last words could not let the Christian leave well enough alone, enjoy his religion and allow others to enjoy theirs. Once committed to taking to the road with a biblical sales pitch, the evangelical Christians grew increasingly frustrated at the number of doors slamming in their faces. This was unpleasant for it implied their bill of goods was less than spectacular, something they’d been led naively to believe.
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>If the Christians had minded their own business allowing people to live and let live, or held themselves aloof from those they considered unworthy of their religion, they could have prided themselves on their superior faith from the security and privacy of their own home or community. But evangelizing reminded the harassed Christian daily that what he revered held no interest for others…and this threatened, with each slammed door, his esteem for his own faith, a faith he’d been told mankind craved ….or should, if it was worthy of being “saved”. This gave him some minor consolation for it branded those who refused him as unworthy, even Evil…which washed his conscience clean when he next came back with an army and several howitzers at his back.
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>Years and years of this made Christians testy as well as desperate. If they had such “good news” why were people uninterested in hearing it? Their constant rejection by others must have caused them doubt…and since this only compounded their woes, they salved themselves by despising people so evil as to be interested in their own gods. Those who refused the evangelizing pains in the ass placed themselves beyond the pale of humane consideration. They weren’t just saying “no thank you” when told of Jesus…they were saying “are you crazy?”. Rather than blame themselves as the messengers…or the message…they began loathing those for whom the message was supposedly intended. Since this was supposed to be a message of “love”, the whole thing became farcical. Hence the harsh tone which increasingly crept into Evangelical sermons…most often ending in , “God loves you, you asshole!!”
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>Fortunately for their faith, the Roman Empire seized on Christianity and with the help of Roman arms, evangelicals were delighted at the rapid spread of this Good Word. It must have disturbed their sleep however because they created an Inquisition to mop up after the Evangelist/soldier…bringing the very people they’d forcibly converted up on a charge of being “insincere” or dissembling. Wullah you can’t win with these people. Thousands were tortured and put to death, on top of those killed for refusing outright, because their insincere conversions were seen as insincere conversions…and THEY were punished for it!
>
>But Evangelism is ultimately doomed to failure. People will not all run to one faith…any more than they will choose one kind of anything…and forcing them has only backfired, resulting in widespread insincerity and backsliding…when the authorities and God aren’t looking. The more we mix and match the more we come across delectable cuisines and combinations from around the world, the less satisfied are we all to eat only tuna casseroles and nothing but tuna casseroles. With a smorgasboard to choose from, who wants the same food every day? Monothesim is doomed…if it is enforced. Even if it isn’t, it’s unlikely people everywhere will give up their own god or gods…or adopt one where none is needed. And force, which Judaism only applied briefly a long, long time ago…well, it just produces insincerity. Which Islam understood all along.

You are absolutely correct that it can not be forced on people. I think you will find a great deal in the Quran about tolerance and of different people and that will explain why Muslims were more tolerant. Of course there will always be bad in every community but if Muslims live by their book, they will not harm others or treat them unjustly. The Quran offers a great deal on how God could have guided every soul if he wanted to but he didn't. So he doesen't need us to go around fighting people to convert them. Sometimes fighting becomes neccassary against tyranny, imjustice, oppression, etc but we are given clear rights to defend ourselves and to seek justice. That is why I may sound harsh sometimes or maybe like a fanatic(as Jumbo calls me) but I am not a fanatic. I just know that for Muslims, we must live according to our system(sharia) which is complete, great, it offers solutions to all the problems that I see today and it allows people to live, prosper, and defend ourselves.

You are absolutely right about having to wait for the "Day of Judgement" to bring some one to justice and we don't have to wait until then. We have every right to demand justice and to do what is right. We have the right and the system that backs it up and encourages it. I still can't get over it when I hear some Muslims running around saying Islam is "peace", yet they forgetting that Islam means "justice" and that is the first thing it offers. We don't have live oppressed nor do we have to listen to what others tell us to worship. We have every right and we have "free choice" or else God would have just made us all believers in him by compulsion without giving us a choice. Yes, humans will not always agree and people will choose to worship different things, but that don't mean we can't get along, respect one another and stand up for justice.

It is not our job to convert ppl by force. We are told many times throughout our scriptures(Quran and Sunnah) to give dawa(call others to the way) but it can not be forced or can't harrass ppl. The best way to do it is let it be known that Islam is available and ppl can take a look at it and choose. There is no reason to force anyone to convert to anything. That is the problem with many Christians(from my own experience). I had many friends and I still know some people like that. They'll try to preach Christianity, they become real annoying and even when the person is not interested they still go on forever. They then say "oh we can still be friends" but in reality it just goes down hill from there. They get angry, intolerant of others and eventually show a whole different side. I have been a Muslim for almost 3 years and Walahi, I never went knocking on ppls doors, harrassing people or get frustrted. In fact every interfaith talk that I had was brought up by others and that's how it always starts.

You are very right that not all will believe in the same thing and it can't be forced. People have to make choices for themselves and choose. Whatever decide to worship or believe, it has to be respected and they can not be harmed or treated unjustly. Islamic system respects and protects the rights of non Muslims and their over all history has proven that. I mean there are lands which never seen the Islamic empire yet they have high Muslim populations, and lands which were for long under Islam prospered, survived and became better. There is a good chapter which I think makes it clear and that is what Muslims base it on :

"Oh you who reject faith, I will not worship which you worship nor will you worship that which I worship, and I will not worship which you have been worshipping, nor will you that which I worship, to you be your way and to me be mine" (Quran 109).



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