The Author Who Has Suggested To Think Of Him As " Switzerland . "

By Sodium

Perhaps, this is one of the shortest blogs I have written for publishing on this website. And it has to do with a daring author who has truly written critical questions concerning God and the Bible-both, The Old Testament and The New Testament. I have just finished reading his book titled, " 100 Tough Questions about God And The Bible. " And I must admit that I am highly impressed by his critical daring in thoughts and ability to express them in simple English.

Some of the readers of his book may consider his book as too provocative. Others may accuse him of being an atheist who want to condemn both The Old and The New Testaments of the Bible. Provocative ?  Yes, it is in the toughness of the questions he has raised and in the touch of objectivity he has been able to muster.

To conclude from reading the book that he is an atheist is difficult to conclude, because he has given the impression, at least to me, that he has attempted to find answers to tough questions.  Even if he is an atheist, the questions he has critically raised should be brought up in the open and in front and must be answered by devout Christians, devout Jews, as well as by Christian and Jewish scholars. That is one good way through which the narratives of both The Old Testament and The New Testament can be explored and understood, with a degree of objectivity.

What all of the above has to do with a country called " Switzerland " ?

In his attempt to convince the readers of his book that he is NEUTRAL in raising such tough questions about God and The Bible, the author of the book, Stephen M. Miller, has written in the Introduction of the book the following words:

" Think of me as Switzerland. Neutral. "

An original thought and impressive, indeed.

END.


  

Interesting Books.

By Sodium

Since the major book store in the U.S.A. has informed me, more than 10 months ago, that the book titled " Ibn Al-Haytham: First Scientist " is out of print, I have been trying to find a copy to read and possibly write a review about it and share it with the readers of this website. I finally have succeeded in obtaining a copy of the book through the Internet, but in the process of searching for the Ibin Al-Haytham's book, I came across the following interesting books:

~   The Genious of Islam By Bryan Barnard.
~   The House Of Wisdom By Jonathan Lyons.
~   Muslims In American History By Jerald F. Dirks.
~   Lost History By Michael Hamilton Morgan.
~   Wisdom Of The Native Americans. ( Known outside the United States as The American Indians )
~   The Ultimate Book Of Imposters By Ian Graham.
~   The Book of Random Oddities, Publisher: Publication International, Ltd.
~   The Missing Books Of The Bible, Volume I, Publisher: Media Solution Services.
~   The Origin Of The Bible By F.F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip Comfort and Carl F. H. Henry.
~   !00 Tough Questions About God And The Bible By Stephen M. Miller.

I have already purchased all of the books listed above. Some of them were purchased as second-hand, meaning as already used books and some of them were purchased new. I have purchased them out of sheer curiosity. The most provocative book among them all is the one titled, " 100 Tough Questions About God And The Bible " by Stephen Miller.

Whether or not I may publish a review about every one of the book listed above is really an open question. I just do not know, at this time. It all depends on the total content of each book and on the availability of time and on my own health circumstances. However, I must admit, at this point in time, that I am very much interested in reading carefully the most provocative book in the above list--meaning the book by Stephen Miller: " 100 Tough Questions About God And The Bible. "

Final Words:
=============
To those readers who love reading good books, it will be worthy of their time to read all the above books and it will be worthy of their money to purchase them, as well, if they can afford it, so that they may wish to have them as an integral part of their home libraries..

I have not read any of them from cover to cover, but I read few pages of everyone of them before I decided to purchase them.. Hence, this recommendation is simply based upon the pages I have already read of each book. I have been impressed by the content of the pages I have read. Otherwise, I would not have purchased everyone of them.

END.   





















 

Some Of Prophet Muhammad 's Teachings, As Interpreted By Karen Armstrong.

By Sodium

To those readers who are unaware of the writings of Karen Armstrong, the question is:

Who Is Karen Armstrong ?

In order to avoid burdening the readers with the meticulous details of Armstrong ' s  life since she was an idealistic teen ager, the following short comments about her earlier life, before she has become an accomplished writer, author and lecturer, will suffice for answering the question raised above:

Karen Armstrong is a British citizen who was a Catholic nun in her earlier life for 6--7 years. After leaving the covenant of the Catholic Church, she attended Oxford University, in England,  and eventually became a remarkable authors, since she has authored 20 books, the vast majority of has to do with religions. In order to provide the readers with a degree of appreciation of her accomplishments as a remarkable author, the following list of some of the books she has already
been authored by her:

*  Muhammad A Prophet For Our Time.
*  Islam: A Short History.
*  Holy War: The Crusades And Their Impact On Today ' s  World.
*  Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths
*  A History of God: The 4,000--Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
*  The Battle for God.
*  A Short History of Myth
*  The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions.
*  In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis.
*  Buddha.

The above list is not a complete list of the titles of books she has written and published, but it may provide the readers with an idea about her accomplishments in the field of theology.

Please notice that I have listed her book that has been titled as, " Muhammad A prophet For Our Time " at the top of the above list because, I must admit, it is my favorite of all her books. Reasons:

( 1 )  It was written and published immediately after the tragic events of September 11, 2001 when the Twin Trade Towers, in New York City and Pentagon building were attacked by using civilian airplanes as attacking missiles and 3000 innocent human beings were killed in the process. It was a barbaric and terroristic attack by any standard of measurement.

( 2 )  It takes a strength of character, integrity, dignity and enormous personal courage to publish a book to prove that Islam and its founder, Prophet Muhammad and his teachings have nothing to do with such criminal acts. In other words, Karen Armstrong has shown her metal in such a book of hers. She deserve admiration, indeed.

( 3 ) Add to the two reasons listed above the fact about the content of the book, which I can describe profoundly by one single word: " FACINATING. "

Read some of her books, especially the book titled, " Muhammad A Prophet For Our Time " and most likely you will be glad that you did, precisely as I had felt after I finished reading it.

I wish you all happy reading.

END.





 

For The New Year Of 2015.

By Sodium

The year 2015 has started yesterday. And on yesterday, I have tried to say something that might have made some sense to those who are dedicated readers of this website but regrettably I failed. Today, the second day of the New Year, I am still attempting to find better words than the usual words, " I wish you a Happy New Year " and still feel such words cannot possibly express what I really feel deep inside my whole being as a human being. Reasons:

( 1 )  Trends in big powers politics seem to be going into the wrong directions, at different places in the globe: Ukraine, Syria , Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Afghanistan and lastly but not least the Palestine-Israel conflict that has been going on for almost 50 years, with no hopeful resolution in sight.

( 2 )  The United Nations Organization has been founded immediately after World War Two, ( WW II ) to maintain peace in the world. The content of the Charter of the United Nations is a master piece of an  internationally respected document, but the whole United Nations' functions have been used and abused by certain big powers to serve their own selfish interest, instead of the interest of peace among the people of the world.

( 3 )  A deadly disease called Ebola is spreading and has already killed more than 3,000 human beings. In order to find a medical cure for this dangerous disease, a huge amount of financial resources is badly needed to defeat such a deadly killer, but the big powers in the world seem to be committed for their geopolitical competitions for hegemony of specific countries which either have strategic locations or natural resources the big powers want to exploit and control its productions and distributions. Meanwhile, the deadly disease continues to spread and flourishes. Add to such a human foolishness, the millions above millions of poverty enduring human beings who live on less than two dollars a day and you will get the idea of what this writer is trying to convey to the readers of this website.

There are more reasons to list, but the above three reasons are the main ones and suffice to explain the difficulties encountered in just wishing you " A Happy New Year."

Under such miserable human conditions, " Happy New  Year " has become meaningless and will not do you any good, let alone doing any good for the rest of the human race.

END.  

For Christmas Of 2014.

To: My Relatives, Christian Friends And Christian Readers Of This Website,

I wish you all a very merry and enjoyable Christmas of December 25, 2014.

Sincerely,
Sodium

Netanyahu: " Israel Is A Jewish State For Jews ( Only ) "

By Sodium

According to some Internet 's news reporting, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel and the majority of  the members of his government, have already approved and declared that Israel is a Jewish State for Jews only. The voting results amongst the members of his cabinet were 14 votes for such a declaration and 6 votes against it.

Mr. Netanyahu intends to submit what his government has approved, with regards to the Jewishness of the State of Israel, to the Parliament for approval and consequently making it a law. If the Israeli Parliament approves it by simple majority, it will become a law.

A question: If the Israeli Parliament approves such a fascist declaration what will happen to Israel 's citizens who are not Jewish ?

Answer: they will become more and more second class citizen, since they have already been treated as second class citizens by Ziofascists of Israel.

The writer of this blog has written in earlier essays, which have already been published on this website, that the current Zionist leaders in the current Israeli government are nothing more than a bunch of fanatical Ziofascists with distinction, Netanyahu and the majority of his government 's members have just given more credence to what the writer of this essay has already written and published on this website about them.

Since the actions of Netanyahu and the hard core Zionists in his government are louder than their words, no further comments and proofs are needed to prove, once more, that they are, indeed, a bunch of  Ziofascists, with distinction.

END.  

Some Interesting Information, Unknown To Most People Of The Globe.

By Sodium

While cruising the Internet, hoping to find a used book about Ibn Al-Haytham, as the first scientist in the recorded human history, I stumbled on a website, by sheer accident, to be caught in a complete surprise to read the following unknown information to me and, most likely, to most people of the world:

The Information:
================
" The total weight of all ants of the world is the same as the total weight of all Humans. "

My Response:
===============
It would be very interesting to know the methodology that was used for reaching such an incredible information.

The Information:
================
" Lighting strikes Earth 8 millions times a day. "

My Response:
================
The technology which was used to reach such a statistical conclusion must be revealed. Otherwise, I have to put a question mark, (? ), about such an formation.

The Information:
=================
" Only 20 percent of Americans have passports. "

My Response:
=================
That one is easy to believe, since all what one has to do is check with the Department of State of the Executive Branch of the United States of America.

The Information:
==================
" China produces more pigs than all other countries combined. "

My Response:
==================
One must check with the Ministry of Agriculture of China; and then collect all statistics available from the 196 countries which are members of the United Nations, to test the validity of such information.

The Information:
==================
" Whether you walk or run, you burn 100 calories per mile. "

My Response:
=================
I occasionally do some walking, but I have never known how many calories I have burned per mile, let alone knowing how many calories I burn if I can run.

The Information:
=================
" The Effel tower, (in Paris, France ), becomes 6 inches taller in the Summer."

My Response:
=================
Consult physics books on heat of metals, especially iron. 

The Information:
=================
" 97 %  of world water is undrinkable. "

My Response:
=================
If the operative word, " undrinkable, " means that the availability of the water in the world is really drinkable, (seas and oceans water ), but the human race has not made enough efforts to make it drinkable, that is just fine and I see no problem in the information given. But, if the operative word, " undrinkable " means that 97 percent of water in the world is so contaminated unfit for humans to drink, then and only then, the human race  is heading to disasters. Let us hope the former meaning applies, not the latter.

The Information:
=================
" The world consumes 2 liters of gasoline, ( Petroleum ), per person per day."

My Response:
=================
To test the validity of such an information, one must check with the OPEC countries, or with the Department of Energy of the government of the United States of America and then obtain a reliable information about the world 's population.

The Information:
=================
" Dolphins sleep with one eye open. "

My Response:
=================
Most likely, divers in the man-made pools for Dolphins, in Florida or California, have reported such an information. Ask them.

The Information:
=================
" Almost half of the people in Manhattan, ( part of the city of New York ), live alone."

My Response:
==================
Check with the office of the city government, ( Mayor 's Office ), of  the city of New York. They should have the statistics.

The Information:
===================
" Black cats are bad luck in the U.S.A., but good luck in Japan. "

My Response:
====================
Black cats are also considered bad luck in most countries of the globe. Japan seems to be the exception

The Information:
=====================
"Only 11% of the world 's surface is being used to grow crops."

My Response:
=====================
Perhaps, such an information is correct, if the suraces of the seas and oceans are included.

The Information:
======================
" Americans consume 120 apples per year. "

My Response:
======================
That is equal to only 0.33 apple per day. Not really much of consumption of apple per day, at all.

The Information:
======================
70 % of the red meat eaten world wide is goat meat."

My Response:
=======================
Perhaps, and only perhaps, checking with certain offices of the United Nations, or the U.S. Department of Agriculture may attest tlo the validity of such information.

The Information:
=======================
" The sun comprises 99 % of the total mass in our solar system. "

My Response:
======================
Ask some professional astronomers who work for NASA. They may confirm such a piece of most interesting information. Mother Earth must be extremely minute in comparison.

The Information:
======================
" People do not sneeze when they sleep. "

My Response:
======================
This piece of information can be attested by having a good recorder next to your bed when you sleep.

The Information:
======================
" Turtles can breath through their rear-end. "

My Response:
======================
A Knowledgeable zoologist can confirm such a piece of information or dismiss it

The Information:
======================
" Your heart beats 100,000 times per day. "

My Response:
=======================
Please ask your cardiologist, ( heart specialist )  He or she can confirm or dismiss such a piece of very interesting information.

The Information:
=======================
" Flamingos got their distinctive color from the food they eat."

My Response:
=======================
Since their distinctive color is pink or rather an orange color, perhaps and just perhaps, they eat a lot oranges, or probably mangos. I am guessing, here, because I really do not know .

The Information:
=======================
" Human brain is made up of only 2 % of human body, but requires 20 % of your oxygen and calories. "

My Response:
========================
A physician specializing in neurology may be able to confirm or dismiss this piece of information. If you know a person specializing in that field, ask him or her.

The Information:
========================
" Women blink twice as often as men."

My Response:
=========================
If such a piece of information is true, one may ask " why ? "  Perhaps a professional and knowledgeable psychologist can answer the " why ? ", with a degree of acceptability that makes sense.

Final words
========================
The list of information I have accidently encountered, on the Internet, is much longer than I have listed in the above list. I could not copy more information because each statement of information appeared only for few second on the screen of the computer. I took hand written notes as quickly as I possible could to share them with the readers of this website. That was the best I could do.

END
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