September 12, 2012

You can't compare the two because of context, timing, intention, and especially recent history.

The filmmaker has an agenda which appears to be inflammatory
and hateful, at a time when violent Islamic fundamentalism is a
huge deal in the world. I don't think the Monty Python gang had
a similar intention with their movie.

Many believed the Iraq war was a religious and righteous
war. There are plenty of anecdotes about this view from
Christians in the US military. I won't even try to provide links
to back this up but I think you can research if interested.
Killing for God, killing for Jesus, but legalized because there's
a "war"

I believe at times it is appropriate to provoke a festering illness,
cause it to expose itself, so as to cause the body large to purge
it. This happens in nature and in medicine. But it's hard for me
to justify it happening when it involves human beings who can
make choices.

Hatemongers incite other hatemongers, both for their own side,
and hatemongers among the hated. Hating the hate in each other
and not able to look beyond and see we are human beings.

Look at what has risen up on the far right since 2008. It's a horrible
thing that has emerged, and we've seen its hunger for power.

In the short term, it's a few small minded people with extreme
views and an agenda for war. I don't think this is really about Islam
the religion, and certainly not Muslims in general.

September 5, 2012

update (unimportant, hardly worth reading)

the umbrella may be green after all.

http://www.2dayblog.com/2007/02/07/the-fore-casting-umbrella/

September 2, 2012

I believe this person ought to speak

September 1, 2012

What's Hell Like for Mormons? (Slate)

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/explainer/2012/01/what_do_mormons_like_mitt_romney_believe_about_heaven_and_hell_.html



In his convention speech last night, Mitt Romney joked that he didn’t ask his church to invest in Bain Capital because he didn’t want to go to hell if the company failed. But did he mean the “telestial kingdom” or the “outer darkness”? Earlier this year, Forrest Wickman explored the different levels of Mormon heaven and hell, as well the theological principles behind them. His original article is printed below.

Asked for the first thing he would do as president if informed of Fidel Castro’s death, Mitt Romney said that he would "thank heavens that Fidel Castro has returned to his maker and will be sent to another land." What are Mormon heaven and hell like?

There are three heavens and one hell. The three heavens are ranked from most holy to least by their “degrees of glory." The celestial kingdom is the most desirable, and serves as the destination for all those who accept Jesus, are baptized within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (whether before or after death), and remain faithful throughout their lives. People who die before the age of 8, when Mormons are baptized, also go to the celestial kingdom. The next most desirable heaven is called the terrestrial kingdom, which holds all those who don’t fully accept Jesus on Earth, but who are basically good people and accept him after death. The telestial kingdom is for those who never truly accept Jesus, and includes murderers, as well as “liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie.” These unbelievers must first suffer for their sins, but eventually end up in a blissful place “surpassing the great understanding of men.”

If you don't get into the one of the three heavens, you're consigned in death to a place called “outer darkness.” This is reserved only for those who have God revealed to them and then deny Him anyway. While the residents of the telestial kingdom are thought to be “as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon the seashore,” few are bound for outer darkness. These include Cain, Satan, and anyone who joined up with the devil before the creation of the Earth. LDS founder Joseph Smith is supposed to have compared this unpardonable sin to “say[ing] that the sun does not shine while he sees it.” more at link