Category: Religion
I Agree with T. Friedman – A Geopolitical Earthquake Just Hit the Mideast

I Agree with T. Friedman – A Geopolitical Earthquake Just Hit the Mideast

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I rarely say good things about Thomas Friedman as he is typically too far left, in my opinion. However, I regularly read his columns (when the NYT doesn’t block me) and I think I have read all of his books because it is good to understand all sides of an argument.

This analysis of the recent deal in the Mideast is very well done. Probably the best that I have read. If you are not blocked by the NYT paywall, you should read it.

This deal is amazing. In a normal news cycle, this would be the top headline in every newspaper and every news site (but this isn’t a normal news cycle). This is a deal that no former POTUS has been able to pull off. Is it a Nobel worthy as what James E. Carter or William J. Clinton did? No. But it is a lot better than what George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, or Barack H. Obama did in the Mideast (and Obama received the Nobel prize just for giving good speeches not for actually doing anything). Trump won’t get a Nobel for this because the committee hates Trump. But even if you are a Trump-hater, you have got to give credit for getting this deal done.

Thankfully, Mr. Friedman does that and kudos to him to look past politics and focus on a great result that will make the world a better place. Friedman writes a lot about the Mideast and he knows a massive move forward when he sees it.

To allay the fears of some of you that have read this far, I am still not voting for Trump for re-election even though he accomplished one of the biggest international wins of the 21st century so far. I am still supporting Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian Party candidate as I feel that her platform is the closest to mine and I think this nation needs a change in the political discussion of something other than Left or Right but instead a focus on personal liberty and personal responsibility. If you believe in personal liberty and personal responsibility, please give an honest look at her platform and then join me in changing the US to be a better place.

Since NYT may block you from reading the article, here are the first couple of paragraphs but will keep it under 300 words to protect NYT copyright. The following are not my words but Mr. Friedman’s:

The agreement brokered by the Trump administration for the United Arab Emirates to establish full normalization of relations with Israel, in return for the Jewish state forgoing, for now, any annexation of the West Bank, was exactly what Trump said it was in his tweet: a “HUGE breakthrough.”

It is not Anwar el-Sadat going to Jerusalem — nothing could match that first big opening between Arabs and Israelis. It is not Yasir Arafat shaking Yitzhak Rabin’s hand on the White House lawn — nothing could match that first moment of public reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.

But it is close. Just go down the scorecard, and you see how this deal affects every major party in the region — with those in the pro-American, pro-moderate Islam, pro-ending-the-conflict-with-Israel-once-and-for-all camp benefiting the most and those in the radical pro-Iran, anti-American, pro-Islamist permanent-struggle-with-Israel camp all becoming more isolated and left behind.

It’s a geopolitical earthquake.

To fully appreciate why, you need to start with the internal dynamics of the deal. It was Trump’s peace plan drawn up by Jared Kushner, and their willingness to stick with it, that actually created the raw material for this breakthrough.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/opinion/israel-uae.html

Headstones Vandalized at Philadelphia Jewish Cemetery

Headstones Vandalized at Philadelphia Jewish Cemetery

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This is absolutely terrible. The perpetrators need to be in prison. There is simply too much hate in the US right now. This is especially cruel to the families of those that are laid to rest.

More than 100 headstones at a Jewish cemetery were vandalized in Philadelphia over the weekend, adding to a recent wave of anti-Semitic acts across the nation.

Police arrived at Mount Carmel Cemetery in the Wissinoming section of the city on Sunday morning to find someone saying three of their relatives’ headstones were damaged, according to the Philadelphia police department.

The officers inspected and found dozens of additional headstones knocked over. Police said the incident occurred on Saturday night, and they are investigating the crime.

The incident comes after as many as 200 headstones were toppled earlier this month at a Jewish cemetery in Missouri.

Bomb threats have also been made against Jewish community centers this month, according to the JCC Association of North America, an umbrella organization for local Jewish community centers around the U.S.

Source: Headstones Vandalized at Philadelphia Jewish Cemetery – WSJ
The Real Obama Doctrine

The Real Obama Doctrine

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It is clear that the president’s strategy is failing disastrously.

Since 2010, total fatalities from armed conflict in the world have increased by a factor of close to four, according to data from the International Institute of Strategic Studies. Total fatalities due to terrorism have risen nearly sixfold, based on the University of Maryland’s Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism database. Nearly all this violence is concentrated in a swath of territory stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Afghanistan and Pakistan. And there is every reason to expect the violence to escalate as the Sunni powers of the region seek to prevent Iran from establishing itself as the post-American hegemon.

Source: The Real Obama Doctrine

I don’t believe in a religion denomination but I believe in Jesus

I don’t believe in a religion denomination but I believe in Jesus

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I don’t agree with all of this but I agree with enough to post this video.

Personally, I would rewrite this and say that I am a Christian and I tolerate the formalized denominations of Christianity. That said, I do think there are religious denominations that are closer to the Bible than others. For that reason, I am a practicing Lutheran.

I found the words for this poem here and they seem to match up quite well.

What if I told you, Jesus came to abolish religion?
What if I told you getting you to vote republican, really wasn’t his mission?
Because republican doesn’t automatically mean Christian,
And just because you call some people blind, doesn’t automatically give you vision.
If religion is so great, why has it started so many wars?
Why does it build huge churches, but fails to feed the poor?
Tells single moms God doesn’t love them if they’ve ever been divorced
Yet God in the Old Testament actually calls the religious people whores
Religion preaches grace, but another thing they practice,
Tend to ridicule Gods people, they did it to John the Baptist,
Cant fix their problems, so they try to mask it,
Not realizing that’s just like sprayin perfume on a casket
Because the problem with religion is that it never gets to the core,
It’s just behavior modification, like a long list of chores.
Let’s dress up the outside, make things look nice and neat,
Its funny that’s what they do to mummies, while the corpse rots underneath,
Now I ain’t judging I’m just saying be careful of putting on a fake look,
Because there’s a problem if people only know that you’re a Christian by that little section on your facebook
In every other aspect of life you know that logics unworthy
Its like saying you play for the lakers just because you bought a jersey
But see I played this game too; no one seemed to be on to me,
I was acting like church kid, while addicted to pornography.
I’d go to church on Sunday, but on saturday getting faded,
Acting as if I was simply created to have sex and get wasted.
Spend my whole life putting on this façade of neatness,
But now that I know Jesus, I boast in my weakness.
If grace is water, then the church should be an ocean,
Cuz its not a museum for good people, it’s a hospital for the broken
I no longer have to hide my failures I don’t have to hide my sin,
Because my salvation doesn’t depend on me, it depends on him.
because when I was Gods enemy and certainly not a fan,
God looked down on me and said, “I want that man!”
Which is so different from religious people, and why Jesus called em fools
Don’t you see hes so much better than just following some rules?
Now let me clarify, I love the church, I love the bible, and I believe in sin
But my question, is if Jesus were here today, would your church let Him in?
Remember He was called a drunkard and a glutton by “religious men”
The Son of God not supported self-righteousness, not now, not then.

Now back to the topic, one thing I think is vital to mention,
How Jesus and religion are on opposite spectrums,
One is the work of God one is a man made invention,
One is the cure and one is the infection.
Because Religion says do, Jesus says done.
Religion says slave, Jesus says son,
Religion puts you in shackles but Jesus sets you free.
Religion makes you blind, but Jesus lets you see.

This is what makes religion and Jesus two different clans,
Religion is man searching for God, but Christianity is God searching for man.
Which is why salvation is freely mine, forgiveness is my own,
Not based on my efforts, but Christ’s obedience alone.
Because he took the crown of thorns, and blood that dripped down his face
He took what we all deserved, that’s why we call it grace.
While being murdered he yelled “father forgive them, they know not what they do”,
Because when he was dangling on that cross, he was thinking of you
He paid for all your sin, and then buried it in the tomb,
Which is why im kneeling at the cross now saying come on there’s room
So know I hate religion, in fact I literally resent it,
Because when Jesus cried It is finished, I believe He meant it.

I think I could like Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi

I think I could like Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi

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I think I could like Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi. I will likely never meet him as he is in prison in Iran and being tortured and relatives fear he is close to death.

Mr. Boroujerdi supports the traditional Shiite view that religious leaders should stay out of politics and preach their messages to the faithful in mosques (maybe a few Christian preachers in the US could learn that lesson). In his words, protesting in 2006, “the regime is adamant that either people adhere to political Islam or be jailed, exiled or killed. Its behavior is no different from that of Osama bin Laden or Mullah Omar.”

Mr. Boroujerdi has also preached tolerance of all religious beliefs, including atheism, on the grounds that faith must be freely chosen. Perhaps nothing bothers the Iranian regime more than religious pluralism: In recent years, the country has been swept by the arrests and executions of members of minority groups like the Bahais and Sufi dervishes.

In 2010, a message from Mr. Boroujerdi was smuggled out of Evin prison, delivering a message to the world’s Jews in celebration of Hanukkah. “Any religious belief that brings us closer to (God) is the truth,” he wrote. “This force will lead humanity towards enlightenment. On this great day, we celebrate the unity among the believers of God’s light.”

Yes, I think I could learn from this man. Too bad Iran will make sure he is dead soon.

Article from the Wall Street Journal talking about Mr. Boroujerdi.

Egypt and the Islamic world have more growing to do

Egypt and the Islamic world have more growing to do

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EGYPT-PROTEST/I am very saddened by the political happenings in Egypt right now. I was hoping the secular leaning people of Egypt could make Egypt a true democracy. I now think more pain and frustration is needed.

Muslims are very much about follow the rules and you go to Paradise when you die.  The religion is designed to be rule followers. Mohammed was the political, military, and religious leader of his time so there was no separation and that non-separation has continued.

In Christianity, it is about choice.  Granted some sects have veered from that over the centuries but for the most part it is a personal choice to believe.  In fact, New Testament actually says you cannot believe for someone else.  Therefore western culture evolved to independent choice with a respect to the 10 commandment laws.

Democracy gets along much better with independent christian-like thought processes.  Muslim thought processes are about obeying the rules set down by others and being deferential to the leader who is often ruling at the discretion of the religious leadership. It is hard for people that have been raised for centuries to do what they are told to now act independently.  This will happen over time but the birthing process is painful.

I don’t think that Islam and democracy are 100% at odds but I do believe that the separation of state must be allowed. The religious community cannot dictate to the political community. The reverse of this is true. One person cannot believe for another therefore laws and processes that dictate belief are ultimately doomed to failure.

 

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