The Introduction Of The Book, " 100 Tough Questions about God And The Bible. " By Stephen M. Miller.

By Sodium

Since I intend to quote, in the next 10 blogs, every question that has been raised in the book titled, " 100 Tough Questions about God And The Bible " by Stephen M. Miller, I wish to let Mr. Miller convey in his own words, to the readers of this website, exactly how he feels and thinks in writing such a provocative book. I wish to do so because I cannot do it for Mr. Miller, regardless how hard I try, because of the obvious reason: I am not him. Below is the INTRODUCTION of the book titled, " 100 Tough Questions about God And The Bible " :

Quote
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                                                            Introduction

Not being a preacher, I am not inclined to preach to you.
So please do not expect me to tell you what to think.
    I did graduate from seminary, but before that I was a news journalist-- a newspaperman.
    I love hard hitting questions.
    I love digging for answers.
    I want the truth-- even when it 's contrary to what I think. Especially then.
    What I do not want are:
 
   * Cliches' based on nothing in particular.
   * Answers dodged because it's the safe thing to do.
   * One-sided sermons about complex problems.

   When I ask a question, I want an honest answer. Even if it's " I don't  know. "
   I can handle that.
   I think most Christians can, too. So can non-Christians and Bible newbies, especially those who        are genuinely curious about God and the Bible but do not know what to make of it all.
   Everyone respects openness and honesty.
   Inside this book are some hard questions I 've collected from Christians and non-Christians alike.
  As for the answers I won't be trying to sell on one over the other.
  Think of me as Switzerland.
  Neutral.
  I am a journalist covering the Bible beat. I ''ve tried to round up the best answers I can find and report them to you for your consideration.
  I think you will be surprised at some of the answers I found.
  I was. And so was my editor.

A word of thanks

Books don't usually run credits like a movie does. But they should.
  Books like this aren't a one-man show.
  They 'r a three-ring circus.
  Here are a few stars who deserve time in the spotlight:
  Steve Laube, my agent. He pitched the book proposal to select group of editors.
  Tim Peterson, acquisition editor.He caught the pitch.
  Dan Pitts, Ellen Chalifoux, Nancy Renich, Dan Malda, and all the others at Bethany House who helped this became become reality.
  God bless them. Every one.

Unquote
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Note: The next 10 blogs will embody the tough questions. I do hope that I shall be able to do that as promptly as possible.













  

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.