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RetroGamer87
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28 Feb 2018, 4:06 pm

Mikah wrote:
DarthMetaKnight wrote:
This is an internet forum, not a modern art gallery.


Mmm. I wouldn't go as far as saying he shouldn't post like that, but perhaps he should be aware that I never, ever read his posts and I suspect I am not the only one. A shame really, there could be hidden brilliance behind that awful eye-perforating formatting.

Seconded.


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aghogday
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28 Feb 2018, 5:23 pm

RetroGamer87 wrote:
Mikah wrote:
DarthMetaKnight wrote:
This is an internet forum, not a modern art gallery.


Mmm. I wouldn't go as far as saying he shouldn't post like that, but perhaps he should be aware that I never, ever read his posts and I suspect I am not the only one. A shame really, there could be hidden brilliance behind that awful eye-perforating formatting.

Seconded.


Hehe; are 'you' trying
to vote me off of 'your' Island;
Trust me or not; just came by for some extra
Credit dArk Muse to finish MY own personal
Milestone in 120K words of my own style now
oF A Trilogy in 21 days; just about done; with ya'll for now.
But seriously; the 'logical thing' to do would be to pretend i don't exist;
And carry on with the Topic
at hand of the Bible
Vs the Quran;
i covered that
topic already
And
i do
exist
and
that's
enough for me, too.
Life is Good Baby and Fun too
when lived for Free never worrying
what other folks think about you at all.
Trust me or not too, if you ever arrive
where i am now; you'll do stuff no one else has done before too;
who knows; you might do more than me; and i'll just applaud with a smile as usual..;)


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Wolfram87
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01 Mar 2018, 7:07 am

RetroGamer87 wrote:
Mikah wrote:
DarthMetaKnight wrote:
This is an internet forum, not a modern art gallery.


Mmm. I wouldn't go as far as saying he shouldn't post like that, but perhaps he should be aware that I never, ever read his posts and I suspect I am not the only one. A shame really, there could be hidden brilliance behind that awful eye-perforating formatting.

Seconded.


I question the merit of allowing posts by someone someone who by his own admission is uninterested in participating in discussions and is being intentionally disruptive with the formatting even after having been told multiple times by mods to cut it out.


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aghogday
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01 Mar 2018, 10:24 am

Wolfram87 wrote:
RetroGamer87 wrote:
Mikah wrote:
DarthMetaKnight wrote:
This is an internet forum, not a modern art gallery.


Mmm. I wouldn't go as far as saying he shouldn't post like that, but perhaps he should be aware that I never, ever read his posts and I suspect I am not the only one. A shame really, there could be hidden brilliance behind that awful eye-perforating formatting.

Seconded.


I question the merit of allowing posts by someone someone who by his own admission is uninterested in participating in discussions and is being intentionally disruptive with the formatting even after having been told multiple times by mods to cut it out.


I'll have you know, the owner; Yes, the Owner Alex that i know; has no problem with the Art of me.
And as far as interacting with folks; look at the record as i've never left reciprocal social communication cold.
I am a very busy man; if I leave here for months; it will be 'cause there are places with more civil discourse than here.
And quite honestly, more open minds than what I find here in what is designed for a home for Neuro-Diverse Minds.
Any Way, Jesus F in Christ, quit attempting to bully folks who are different than you. You would never have the courage to
do this to me face to faceless avatar in the flesh ; I promise you that for I live in
"Red-State, USA, where no one dares do that to me;
dancing ballet in broad public purview; Hehe;
have a nice Day and leave me the F alone and
go on about the business of on topic if you can and will.
Alex asked me to be a Moderator here; I thanked him and said no;
i've already done my time in prison of Hall Monitor for the Federal
Government for a Quarter of a Century for just that. And like I said;
I'm going on Vacation; anyway, for a while more from the Wrong Planet;
Just leave it be Dude; there is nothing about me worth your time or effort.


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Gravatar is one of the coolest things ever!! !

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The_Face_of_Boo
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01 Mar 2018, 3:16 pm

Now, about the topic....



Minder
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01 Mar 2018, 7:37 pm

The Quran is a lot tougher to read than the Bible, since it rarely provides any context for what it is describing. The Quran assumes that the reader is already familiar with Biblical stories and Arabian geopolitics of the 6th century. I read a translated and annotated copy. If it had not been for the annotations, I would not have been able to understand anything.

I would say the Quran is about as violent as the Old Testament (maybe a bit less, but they're comparable). It is considerably more violent than the New Testament.

Thing is, the Quran is not a book of stories the way the Bible is. It's basically a series of sermons, often addressing issues at the time of the writing. This is why it is somewhat difficult to understand, since the book assumes you are part of an informed audience.

So as an example, there are suras where it talks about fighting the unbelievers. Often, this is specifically referring to one of the Arabic tribes hostile to Islam. However, the Quran never specifically states this. You can only get that if you read annotations.

You can see why this might be a problem if someone reads it without annotation. They will just get: "Oh, I should fight unbelievers". I've known some Muslims, and they've generally been pretty good people. They'd provide context to people who ask. But there are also crooked imams who would not provide context or who don't believe context matters, and tell the reader that it means to do just that. Likewise, some of the times when it talks about battling Christians, it actually means fighting the Eastern Roman Empire, but the book itself doesn't make this clear.

There are also the hadith and the biographies of Muhammad. I'm not as familiar with those, though I've read portions of the hadith. They are more like reference books. I've heard that the hadith have more violent or oppressive content. The hadith are the collected sayings of Mohammad. However, they were collected long after his death. The Umayyad Caliphate sent out special scholars to determine which of the various sayings attributed to Mohammad actually came from him. I'm sure the scholars did the best they could, but they weren't using modern research methods either (nor were the records necessarily good).

I don't think the Quran is particularly bad by the standards of the time in which it was written. Both the Jews and early Muslims lived in violent and chaotic areas where you had to fight to survive. Their writings reflect this.

The New Testament was created in the Roman Empire, which was a lot safer. Yes, the empire persecuted Christians, but Christians didn't have to worry about some rival tribe attacking them. They had a lot more food and economic security. As long as no one knew they were Christians, they'd still enjoy protection of the law. I think this is why the New Testament is a more peaceful book. The Romans were so overwhelmingly powerful that it would have been stupid to fight them, plus people benefitted from their protection. So it was just smarter to try and get along with them.

The big problem with the Quran is that it is seen as the direct word of God. This makes Muslims reluctant to critique their holy book the way many Christians do. Even Christian fundamentalists will usually acknowledge that the Bible was written by people, albeit "divinely inspired". Muslims pretty much have to believe that the Quran is God's literal word. But people still interpret it their own way because that's just what people always do.

I am an agnostic.