shadman's old Musings

Seems I forgot to post my April 15th Yahoo 360 blog entry ... so here it is. Before I begin – just wanted you all to know that I have not received any reply from the History Channel (see previous blog entry), not that I expected one. Maybe some day they'll get the hint, but its doubtful. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. (Luke 6:35) Let not the believers Take for friends or helpers Unbelievers rather than believers: if any do that, in nothing will there be help from Allah. except by way of precaution, that ye may Guard yourselves from them. But Allah cautions you (To remember) Himself; for the final goal is to Allah. (Qur'an 3:28) I'm sitting here on a Sunday morning, a little sick, so I'm staying home from church and writing a blog entry instead. I just got done watching the movie, “United 93”, about the passe...

No one is good except God alone. (Mark 10:18) The Jews say, “Allah's hand is chained.' May their own hands be chained! May they be cursed for what they say! By no means. His hands are both outstretched: He bestows as He will.” (Qur'an 5:64) I believe the real quote is that there are “lies, damn lies and statistics”, but I only need the first two parts of this quote. It was my intention, for my last blog, to talk about the myths about Islam. I got a little side-tracked and a bit strong but I don't apologize for telling the truth. That's why what follows may shock you as much or even more than what I blogged last time. So, are you ready? Too bad if your not ... Let discuss the perception that Islam is responsible for the great advances in the sciences and the arts. If you haven't heard that, then, just where have you people been – under a rock? Did you sleep through your LIBERAL arts classes in high school? Oh, right, they were taught by liberals so y...

I just got done watching a couple of programs on the History Channel. Before I get to my blog post, I want you to know that I'm a big history buff. I really love just about anything historical: WWI, WWII, Civil War, Pilgrims, presidents, technologies, scientists. But really I love reading about earlier Christian history between 100 and 300 AD (not CE). I just love it! Yes, I know that probably sounds a little strange. So I know things that a lot of things that most people just don't know about the early church. Like, did you know that during Constantine's time it was common to be baptized on your death bed because they were afraid of loosing their salvation for sinning after baptism? Or that the books for the NT were pretty well decided by ca 180 AD? Or that until 1945, the only thing we know about Gnosticism came from the apologetic writings of a guy by the name of Irenaeus, who would explain what the Gnostics believed and then refute their beliefs from the OT and accepte...