Monday, December 29, 2014

Abrahamic Scripture: For All Mankind or Only Local Tribes?


J Arealia Crear[shared meme]



Gary Ballier Jr. - Abraham his women and his sons....if he had handled that differently, just saying !!!

Muhammad Rasheed - I like how that circle is completely missing both Mecca and Medina. lol

Muhammad Rasheed - "@AtheistWorld" sucks at geography and religion. smh

J Arealia Crear - You're correct. The circle would need to be slightly larger (approximately double its current size) to capture Mecca. The point remains, though, that there's a whole lot of people and faiths outside that circle. The rest of the world had organized religion, but many of those faiths were exterminated by the big three during global colonization.

J Arealia Crear - I'm a Christian, so this is not a knock on the big three. Sometimes, we need to reflect on WHY we believe what we believe.

Muhammad Rasheed - That's a good topic of discussion. Multi-layered.

Muhammad Rasheed - I can see a believer's viewpoint, and a secular viewpoint.

Muhammad Rasheed - J Arealia Crear wrote: "The rest of the world had organized religion, but many of those faiths were exterminated by the big three during global colonization."

Which ones were exterminated? It seems like all of the religions of world history are still hanging around. Unless you are referring to little local ethnic folk religions?

Renita Ward Williams - Clearly, the "@atheistworld" has not read the Bible. "Every single action" happened in the circle on his map? Actions in the Bible happened or will happen in modern day Ethiopia, Sudan, Yemen, other parts of Africa, Turkey, Russia, China, Greece, Italy, the Ukraine, etc.

J Arealia Crear - @Muhammad... That's exactly what I'm referring to.

@Renita... Russia? China? The person who created this meme must not be the only one who missed a verse or two. Can you please point to specific scriptures? I don't recall the bible even contemplating the existence of land outside the middle east/upper Africa. (Also note that I have conceded that the circle needs to be roughly double its size)

Muhammad Rasheed - J Arealia Crear wrote: "@Muhammad... That's exactly what I'm referring to."

Those pagan folk religions didn't go anywhere. They just hid inside of the bigger religions. Even in the Muslim world they believe so many of those pre-Islamic superstitious items right along with the Abrahamic faith. It sheds light on why the Qur'an was continuously admonishing the Arabs for it.

Renita Ward Williams - Magog is modern day Russia. Ezekiel 38:2, Revelations 20:8. Russia and China are the two horns mentioned in Revelations 13. China is currently the only country with a population large enough to produce an army of the size mentioned in Revelations.

J Arealia Crear - So, "number of followers" is the statistic that separates "pagan" "superstition" from a true faith?

Number of followers correlates to number of warriors/guns. The beliefs, themselves, are not any more or less legitimate. However, the smaller religions lacked the power to protect their beliefs. The big three are all conquest religions (The Crusades, etc). That is why they are the big three. It is not because their beliefs are somehow less superstitious than the religions that didn't make it. Who am i to scoff at tribal African religions, native American (north and south) faiths, traditional Chinese faiths? That's like saying we are alone in the universe. The thought process is so self - centered that my brain can't process the logical lapses.

J Arealia Crear - The location of Magog and other places that no longer carry their ancient name is the subject of much debate. You can logically believe it to refer to Russia. Some religious scholars logically believe it to be somewhere else. But as to this discussion, I don't know of any biblical story that has happened in a location outside this circle. People may have COME from far lands, but their actions all happened in the circle (this meme refers to past actions, only. Not future/Revelations. Not lands mentioned in passing. The actual locations of the actions). Does that not strike anyone else as odd?

Renita Ward Williams - I guess I would be swayed if I didn't study the Bible myself. Much of Paul's work was done outside of that circle. Acts and Romans speak of Paul's work outside of the area highlighted in the map. Paul taught in Rome, Greece, and Asia Minor.

Muhammad Rasheed - J Arealia Crear wrote: “So, ‘number of followers’ is the statistic that separates ‘pagan superstition’ from a true faith?”

No. During the Christ’s lifetime, a total of 15 people followed him, but what that messenger preached was very much a true faith. Noah’s followers probably totaled less than that. During the year that marked the beginning of the Hijrah, when the prophet Muhammad and the early Muslims needed to escape from the powerful pagan Meccan authorities determined to wipe them out, the believers were only a pitiful small band of a few dozen.

J Arealia Crear wrote: “Number of followers correlates to number of warriors/guns.”

There is no compulsion in religion, only in war and colonialism. When the battle-hungry leaders of these nations forcefully spread their cultures onto other people, the faiths that go along with them cannot be blamed for what greedy men decide to do.

J Arealia Crear wrote: “The beliefs, themselves, are not any more or less legitimate.”

What are you basing that on?

J Arealia Crear wrote: “However, the smaller religions lacked the power to protect their beliefs.”

An interesting statement. Then what is the point of praying to these deities, if none of them can protect that which is ascribed to them?

J Arealia Crear wrote: “The big three are all conquest religions (The Crusades, etc).”

Placing “The Crusades, etc.” inside of the parenthesis doesn't make the statement true. The Crusades were not religious in nature; they were a political land grab pretending to be religious.

J Arealia Crear wrote: “That is why they are the big three.”

They are the big three by virtue of numbers of adherents. The conquests associated to nations and dynasties were for the glory of kings, not for God.

J Arealia Crear wrote: “It is not because their beliefs are somehow less superstitious than the religions that didn't make it.”

lol That would only be because the conquered peoples never stopped following them, despite publicly proclaiming themselves to be believers in the Abrahamic faiths.

J Arealia Crear wrote: “Who am i to scoff at tribal African religions, native American (north and south) faiths, traditional Chinese faiths?”

When the One God who made you told you that He alone created reality, and that the other deities were but fictions invented by rebellious men, to doubt this jeopardizes your believer status. You only build up evidence against yourself for the Last Day.

J Arealia Crear wrote: “That's like saying we are alone in the universe.”

How?

J Arealia Crear wrote: “The thought process is so self - centered that my brain can't process the logical lapses.”

lol The One God is self-centered by virtue of Him being the only god.

Muhammad Rasheed - J Arealia Crear wrote: “But as to this discussion, I don't know of any biblical story that has happened in a location outside this circle. People may have COME from far lands, but their actions all happened in the circle (this meme refers to past actions, only. Not future/Revelations. Not lands mentioned in passing. The actual locations of the actions). Does that not strike anyone else as odd?”

I guess whether this was ‘odd’ or not depends on the point of the meme’s comment compared to the point and truth of revealed scripture. What do we have here? In the Qur’an, God said He rose up a prophet from among every people; some He told us about, while most He did not. The family of Abraham -- the Hebrew and Arab nations -- were chosen to carry and guard the final message that closes the canon of revealed scripture for posterity and for mankind. The scripture is a gift that enables mankind to check their behavior so that they will be in the Lord’s good graces, and as such, the allegories, tales, metaphors, and lessons it describes – using examples of behaviors from the prophets and their companions and enemies – function as a history/profile of those tribes themselves. Since the actions of humans are universal, any such sampling will do. The sins and virtues mentioned apply to all men, throughout all time periods.

In order for it to be ‘odd’ that the final messages of the scriptural canon are describing people and events from a small geographical area, intended as they are to apply to all of mankind, the meme’s message would have to demonstrate that men outside of the Semitic tribes do not murder, steal, covet, commit adultery, bear false witness, worship items/concepts outside of the One God, etc. But if other men outside of these groups do indeed perform these wrongs, then no, it is not odd that the message relevant to the Semites would be relevant to everyone else, too.

2 comments:

  1. Just pointing out anew that the "every single action" map is seriously flawed. Some have already pointed out that Mecca/Medina are not included. When it comes to the Bible, it also leave a lot out. There are portions of the OT that take place in Susa, and that does not look included. Portions of the NT take place in various parts of the wider Mediterranean, including Rome, Athens, Malta, Ephesus, and more.

    Whatever the purpose of this map may be, it is not served very well by lazy scholarship.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The purpose of the map meme is no less than anti-religion propaganda.

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