The book ‘Infidel’ by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

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Suzy
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The book ‘Infidel’ by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Post #1

Post by Suzy »

I have been looking closer at the Islam Faith. I have watched lots of debates on the religion lately. Is it a religion of peace? Is it a religion that presents a danger to society, to the world even?
I have also obtained a copy of the Quran to see for myself what that really says.

Now I have just finished reading the book ‘Infidel’ by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Have you read it?
How can anyone feel good about Islam after reading it? But is it a good and fair representation of Islam.

Your thoughts please.

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Post #2

Post by Divine Insight »

The extreme danger of Islam is clearly apparent from recent historical events as well as from current events. There can be no denying this. Sure, there may be "peaceful" sects of Islam around, but that's truly a moot point.

This is why Christians need to renounce Christianity as being nothing more than mythological rumor. Christians don't realize this but their continued support and belief in these ancient fables only serves to feed the flames of Islam. By accepting that Jesus is the demigod Son of the God of the Old Testament they are actually condoning and supporting a belief in that very God, which basically is the God of Islam.

The same is true for peaceful sects of Islam. They too need to renounce their own religion as nothing more than totally undependable rumors and myths from ancient times.

Any support for these religions at all is actually support for what's written in these ancient rumors. And the bottom line truth is that these ancient scriptures portray a jealous God who hates anyone who doesn't worship and obey him. And these scriptures are filled with reasons to renounce people as being "Heathens" or enmities of God.

Even the Christians spread emotional hatred by suggesting to those who don't believe in these ancient myths that they are somehow "rejecting God" and refusing to obey his commandments.

The commandments were violent, prejudiced and hateful toward groups of people.
Even Jesus renounced the judging of others and taught people not to cast the first stone. But Christianity as a religion is precisely the opposite of that. They judge everyone in Jesus' name, and they cast constant emotional stones that cut into people's feelings.

The entire Abrahamic Picture is based on a "Jealous God Religion" and nothing but hatred and bigotry can ever come from that.

Jesus himself has been overwhelmed by the hatred of the Old Testament. Hatred that he himself had tried to renounce but miserably failed to do so. Today the religion of "Christianity" simply uses Jesus' name as an excuse to go around passing all manner of judgment on everyone, especially on those who refuse to believe that Jesus was the demigod so of the God of Islam.

The sooner we put these jealous God religions to sleep on the self marked "Mythological Fiction" alongside Greek Mythology the better off we will all be.

There can never be peace as long as people are hating each other in the name of their jealous Gods.
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Post #3

Post by Overcomer »

Hi, Suzy!

There are certainly verses in the Koran that speak of peace. However, they come before the verses that tell Muslims to kill any infidels that will not submit (the word "Islam" means "submission"). Muslim scholars go by the rule of abrogation. This means that, if the Koran says one thing early in the book and, later on, states the opposite, the latter statement replaces the former. That means that the statements about living in peace were replaced by the statements about dealing violently with those who don't follow Islam.

There is a good explanation for this. Mohammed decided that he would create a religion and use it to unify the many different polytheistic tribes. He planned on doing that peacefully. However, he found out that people weren't willing to jump on his band wagon.

It took awhile, but eventually, he had enough adherents to pose a violent threat to anybody who rejected him and his religion. That's when he started using force and that's why he added the passages about killing infidels.

Muslims today follow the same pattern. In countries where they represent a small minority, they will preach peace re: living with their neighbours (such as the U.S. and Canada).

In countries where they represent a larger minority (at least one-third of the population), they will be vocal about anything they feel is a threat to Islam and strike out at the "enemy" which is anybody who says anything unpleasant about Islam or Allah, etc. We see this in countries such as the Sudan.

In countries where they represent the majority, they oppress anybody who isn't a Muslim to the point where people either join the religion or leave. We see that in many Middle Eastern and Asian countries today. At one point, all of the Middle Eastern and North African countries were dominated by Christians. But the Muslims forced them out. The country that is seen most often in the news with regard to persecution of Christians today is Egypt where Muslims are working to eradicate the Christian Coptic Church.

David Wood is one of the foremost experts on Islam. You can check out his material on the web at Answering Islam.com. Ravi Zacharias has a good book entitled Jesus Among the Gods which is also very good. Erwin Lutzer has one entitled The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent.

Re: violence in the Old Testament -- God chose to implement his plan of salvation for humanity through the nation of Israel. Israel had a penchant for joining the pagans in their evil practices. If God lost Israel, then he would lose his plan of salvation and all of humanity would be lost. Therefore, he had to protect Israel from the nations around her.

God always made it clear that, if people didn't clean up their acts and stop their debauchery, he would have to act against them. He gave them plenty of time -- usually several generations over a century or two in fact. When people refused to toe the line and Israel might be lost, he acted just as he said he would.

It's like this: If you told an Osama bin Laden-type that, if he stopped his murdering ways, you would forgive him, but warned him that, if he didn't, you would take measures to stop him, and he refused, would you be wrong to track him down and capture him or kill him to protect people from him? I don't think so. Yet some people insist that God should have let all the evildoers go scot-free in Old Testament. That's just crazy!

When Christ came, the plan of salvation was implemented in him. Therefore, there was no longer the need to protect Israel and that's why the violence of the Old Testament days ended.

As for God being jealous, it is important not to make God in man's image. If a man is jealous because his girlfriend flirts with another man, he is selfishly jealous because it's all about him and what he wants. That's being jealous OF someone.

However, God's jealousy is FOR humankind. It's about what he wants FOR us. He knows that following the idols will result in grief and pain for us. He doesn't want that because he loves us. When God says don't do something, he is saying don't do that because you will get hurt and I don't want you to get hurt. His jealousy is focused on us and our well-being.

Lastly, when it comes to enemies, Christ tells us we are to love them. This stands in stark contrast to the Muslims who are told to convert or kill their enemies.

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