LastDays Visionaries Lunacy

Whenever I find a theist lunatic on the internet I hesitate as I am not sure whether I should be laughing or crying at what I am witnessing. So it was with a bittersweet feeling when I found the following lunatic on YouTube. I will be honest, as I have stated before, I do enjoy the quirks of these crazies. This is certainly one of these fabulous finds, and its from our friend over at LastDays Vissionaries (or LASTDAYS VISSIONARIES if you enjoy the real Caps Locks feel that just makes you know this is legit).

I wish I could sum up exactly the lunacy that goes through this mans mind, but its difficult so let us use his words instead from his about page on the YouTube channel for this most magnificent crazy.
"LEADING OVER 11,000 TO CHRIST THROUGH US MISSIONS & GLOBALLY WITH THIS CHANNEL, I STAND AS A WATCHMAN TO INFORM YOU THAT THE LARGEST & FINAL ECONOMIC CRASH IS IMMINENT, FOLLOWED BY A DECLARATION OF WWIII & MARTIAL LAW. THEN A PLANNED CHINESE, RUSSIAN, & ISIS EMP NUCLEAR INVASION OF THE USA OCCURS. ANTICHRIST OBAMA WILL TAKEOVER THE UN & SUSPEND THE PRESIDENCY, INSTITUTING A 1-WORLD GOVT. IN CAHOOTS WITH BEAST POPE FRANCIS'S 1- WORLD RELIGION. 

 HOMES WILL BE UNLAWFULLY SEARCHED & GUNS CONFISCATED, PEOPLE PUT IN FEMA CAMPS & MICROCHIPPED WITH THE MARK OF THE BEAST, WHILE A NEW 1-WORLD CURRENCY IS IMPLEMENTED AND FOOD & PRECIOUS METALS PRICES SKYROCKET. 

 YOU MUST STORE AWAY WATER & FOOD IMMEDIATELY FOR THE TUMULTOUS NEXT 4 YEARS BEFORE THE RAPTURE, AT WHICH POINT THOSE LEFT BEHIND WILL BE TOLD BY OBAMA & FRANCIS, THE LIE THAT WE WERE THE BAD GUYS AND WERE ABDUCTED BY ALIENS SO THE WORLD COULD HAVE PEACE."

If your mind is screaming at you to stop go back tease apart the words, and then eventually give up I understand completely. If you mind said nothing, bar that makes sense, go immediately to this link. Another aspect that needs to be said is that this guy is also a major conspiracy theorist who gives Alex Jones a good run for his money. I mean how else can you believe the Obama is giving Californian Desert to the Saudi's, that Obama had Judge Scalia murdered, the cold weather over the last months actually means the East Coast should prepare for a Tsunami, The Zika Virus is Gods plague for our sins, Kanye West is the Devils tool, etc etc. Okay, I think you get my point this guy makes my work easy for me, as all I have to do is point and the laughter comes naturally.

Unfortunately, some people actually believe this lunatic as is evident in some of the YouTube comments. Comments like "We just had another shark attack today ...... Pray for all those who are still surfing. They think that everything will be alright." or "I am seated in heavenly places and ready for the RAPTURE!" or my personal favorite "I hate demons and satan I keep getting attacked by demons each time I sleep. Its more like sleep paralysis but more intense attack. I really hate satan and his stupid demons. I just want to beat them up with a bat and split the demons skull open." Sad that this happens, but just goes to show that people will believe the most crazy shit out there. This is why reasoning needs to be taught, as ideas like this can really hurt you.

Here is one of the clips that got me interested in the lunacy. I still have no idea how I stumbled upon this clip actually. But I guess it was worth it?

Somebody go get the white coats.

Reading the Koran - Sura 2 Verse 177 - 182

The last entry in our reading of the Koran introduced some of the rules to live by. This reading and many to follow continue with these laws to live by, and today's topic is that pleasant topic of what to do with murderers, the needy, slaves and importantly how to write a will and some of the important aspects related to will writing.

As with most Koran reading we start of with some Allah stuff, where we get told that the idea of facing East is not as important as the actual prayer. That is ritual is not important, but rather the actions one takes to be faithful are important. My guess is that man modern day Muslims do not adhere to this after all why would we be getting beheading's and the like for cartoonists drawing a silly picture.
Piety is not to turn your faces to the east or the west; rather, piety is [personified by] those who have faith in Allah and the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets
Importantly here again we should see that we cannot only believe in Allah, we also have to believe in angels, the Koran and the prophets to truly be a Muslim. This does not necessarily mean that we have to worship the angels and book, but we surely have to believe in them. I just wish that at some time the Koran would give some evidence for this belief that we have to maintain.

As in the last post we get told that believers should give to the needy and get rid of slavery.
and who give their wealth, for the love of Him, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveller and the beggar, and for [the freeing of] the slaves,
So does this happen in Islam? Well the simple answer is no, as statistics show that Islamic countries have high rates of poverty, or their poverty rate is not reported. Poverty rates in Islamic countries (Iraq and Afghanistan not given as they have war) Saudi Arabia, 33 %, Indonesia, 12 %, Pakistan, 21 %, Yemen, 34 %, Turkey, 18 %, Tunisia, 15 %, Libya, Iran, Lebanon, not reported. And what about population in slavery? Qatar, 1.3 %, Pakistan, 1.1 %, U.A.E., 1 %, Saudi Arabia, 0.3 %. Granted these values may not be the highest, but they are high when one considers what the Koran teaches. But not to worry those that have hardship will be saved by Allah, because Islam will prevail.
maintain the prayer and give the zakāt, and those who fulfill their covenants, when they pledge themselves, and those who are patient in stress and distress, and in the heat of battle. They are the ones who are true [to their covenant], and it is they who are the Godwary

Modern Incidence of Slavery.(Source)

So, what to do with murderers? Well simply put the murderer should pay for their crimes with death. Additionally, there should be no one that has to pay the penalty like other family members, which makes a lot of sense.
Retribution is prescribed for you regarding the slain: freeman for freeman, slave for slave, and female for female
However, if a person whose family member has been killed want they can accept blood money from one of their brothers instead. Blood money is the concept of paying off the aggrieved so that they do not place the charge of murder on you. Naturally, this only works for males, as the Koran is clear when it mentions brothers only can be forgiven for these crimes.
But if one is granted any extenuation by his brother, let the follow up [for the blood-money] be honourable, and let the payment to him be with kindness. That is a remission from your Lord and a mercy; and should anyone transgress after that, there shall be a painful punishment for him.
Naturally, this paying of blood money is only acceptable one time by the all loving Allah, as thereafter the murderer can not be forgiven by the all merciful god. So remember if you are a Muslim you only have one free murder.

The Koran also asserts that the death penalty works as a deterrent.
There is life for you in retribution, O you who possess intellects! Maybe you will be Godwary!
Naturally this is bollocks, as states with death penalties have higher murder rates than states without death penalties. Although, violent crime does track death penalty support. So perhaps the Koran is correct on the use of the death penalty as a deterrent?

Next up the Koran looks at laws surrounding the writing of wills, and it strongly recommends that assets of a dead person should be equally divided amongst parents, spouse, children and other family.
Prescribed for you, when death approaches any of you and he leaves behind any property, is that he make a bequest for his parents and relatives, in an honourable manner, —an obligation on the Godwary.
To be fair, this is a great idea as it avoids unnecessary family arguments after a death. However, the Koran is not going to maintain this idea of equality forever as we will see when we get to Sura 4.

Next we see that wills should not be changed by a person that takes down or witnesses a will. If a person has to do this, they will be punished by Allah. This is rather righteous of Allah, but the next verse blows my mind as it then allows the family to contest the will of a dead person if they feel the taker of the will (or the will) is lying to them. For contesting a will their is no punishment from Allah. In other words, a dead persons words should not be changed, but a dead persons words do not have to be believed even if they are unchanged.

And should anyone alter it after hearing it, its sin shall indeed lie on those who alter it. Indeed Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing 

But should someone, fearing deviance or sin on the testator’s behalf, set things right between them, there is no sin upon him. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.

On that head scratching moment, I will see you next week.

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The version of the Koran I am reading is the John Meadows Rodwell translation. An online version can be found at the al-quran.info website
Additionally, for commentary I am utilizing the commentary of Maulana Muhammad Ali which is available at muslim.org/english-quran/quran.htm

Reading the Bible - Genesis 17

As we saw in Genesis 15 Abram saw god in a dream or reality, however we now see that Abram actually sees Jehovah without any doubt. As hinted to in the previous post this is important, as we will learn later that no one has ever seen Jehovah. Imagine the Bible filled with inaccuracies, yet people still take it as truth. Moving on we see Abram is assigned a difficult task, as god asks him to walk before him faultless. Remember this is the same Abram of lies, rape and disrespect for his wife.
When Aʹbram was 99 years old, Jehovah appeared to Aʹbram and said to him: “I am God Almighty. Walk before me and prove yourself faultless.
Well as is expected, Abram is found faultless by Jehovah and so Jehovah seals his covenant with Abram (again, and again as was discovered last week) by changing his name from Abram to Abraham. I should also point out that in this story not only does Abram change his name to Abraham, but Sarai gets to change her name to Sarah too. The rest of this chapter focuses on the covenant, and what will needed to be done to assure the covenant.

As a refresher we again learn what the covenant is,
And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land in which you lived as a foreigner—the entire land of Caʹnaan—for a lasting possession, and I will be their God.”
This is rather interesting, as why did the Israelite's have to get enslaved in Egypt if Jehovah had already promised the entire land of Canaan. The only sensible answer is that the god referred to in the Bible is actually as pathetic as us atheists think, i.e. he cannot even make true on simple promises.

So what would a person have to do to get Jehovah's blessing? Turns out the answer is simple, its a simple as cutting a part of your penis off actually.
Every male among you must get circumcised. You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it will serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you.
I guess Jehovah has a penis fascination. But, not only this, we get to learn a whole lot more about this circumcision covenant.

Now the one thing Christians like to flaunt is that circumcision should be 8 days after birth, after all this is what the Bible says.
Throughout your generations, every male among you eight days old must be circumcised
Problem is that this is not true, as can be found by doing a simple Google search where we can find that in fact the shorter the time after birth (1 to 3 days) the better for circumcision.

(A circumcision knife: Source)

Interestingly, the covenant is not only to be with the Israelite's as it can be with anyone who has been circumcised specifically those slaves that Abraham or other Jews may own. This is great, as it shows another contradiction in the Bible as we learn that the Israelite's are the chosen race, but here Jehovah is allowing pretty much anyone to be the chosen race.
Every man born in your house and every man purchased with your money must be circumcised, and my covenant in your flesh must serve as a lasting covenant.
However, beware those that do not get circumcised. These people will get cast aside by Jehovah, which once again is showing Jehovah's love for the penis I can only gather. Amazingly, Jehovah decides on this self mutilating covenant and then gets angry when someone will not adhere. Perhaps this is why Abraham fits so well with Jehovah, as they both truly are weird in many ways.
If any uncircumcised male will not circumcise the flesh of his foreskin, that person must be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”
I guess if you are not cut, you get cut.

Part of gods covenant is that he tells Abraham that Sarah will become pregnant. Naturally at this Abraham laughs, as after all this goes counter to what we know about modern biology. Then again, the fact that people were living to old ages of over a hundred during a time of zero medical treatments is remarkable in itself.
Will a man 100 years old have a child born to him, and will Sarah, a woman 90 years old, give birth?”
But never mind, I mean god can do anything right?

Now the son Jehovah promises is to be named Isaac, and god promises that Isaac will be the father of a nation. This begs the question, what to do about Ishmael? Well, Ishmael as we know will be highly despised, however Jehovah will make Ishmael a great nation as well. That Ishmael will be despised is rather weird, as Ishmael also gets circumcised so why would he not be part of Gods covenant?
21: However, I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this appointed time next year.
23: Abraham then took Ishʹma·el his son and all the men born in his house and everyone he had purchased with money, every male in the household of Abraham, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that very day, just as God had spoken with him. 
I guess Jehovah makes covenants and breaks them without thinking ahead to much about what these covenants mean. Poor Ishmael we can only gather that his penis was not up to Jehovah's standards. I mean why else would you not want to keep someone in the fold that was in the fold through the mutilation required.

Another week, another bunch of contradictions.

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All verses come from the New World Translation Of The Holy Scriptures.
Online version available at the Jehovah's Witnesses official website

The Worlds Best Selling Book is the Bible

Yes, the Bible is the world's best selling and most printed book. As such, it is not a far stretch to assume that the Bible is the world's most popular book, or at least the world's most read book. Let me add the obvious here, even though it is the world's most popular and best selling book, this does not mean that all Christians have actually read there Bible.

(Source)

OK, now that we have the obvious out of the way, and now that we have accepted that the Bible is a bestseller, what does this mean? Many Christians would have you believe that just because the Bible is so highly published that there must be truth to it. In fact you may even get told that the reason that it is so highly printed is that its Gods way of making his message heard across the entirety of mankind. Or, the reason the Bible has stood the test of time is because it is a true message that many adhere to and have seen the benefit in following.

What many people tend to forget is that even if the Bible is the best selling book ever, this does not make it true. This line of reasoning is the logical fallacy Argumentum ad populum, which includes other great rationales like fifty million cola drinkers think Pepsi is the best.

Another line of reasoning that many Christians seem to forget is that the world's dominating and colonising powers for many years came from Europe. Many of these countries not only colonised though, they also exported their breeds of Christianity which in many ways spread and asserted the Bible as true. This in turn created a new market for Bibles where there never was a market just due to sheer force. This then surely translates into a favorable market just as we would say for the Little Red Book or Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, which is another of the most published books in the world. Yet, I do not see everyone claiming that communism is clearly the only system that works as the book promoting it is has been around for many years and it has sold so many copies.

So what does the best selling book in the world mean? It simply means it has sold more copies that any other book. This does not make a book true, this does not make a book holy, it just makes it a bestseller.

Here are some other bestsellers for you to look at. And people have actually read these books from cover to cover!

150 million sales (Source)

140 million sales (Source)

 107 million sales (Source)

Reading the Koran -Sura 2 Verse 164 -176

Verses 164 to 167 of Sura two focuses on the unity of Allah, which is in stark contrast to the polytheistic beliefs that we read about last week. In fact what it comes down to is that every natural wonder, every sunrise, every ant that walks, etc etc etc is proof of the unity of Allah. The only reason atheists and other non-Muslims cannot see this simple unity is due to us not understanding.
Indeed in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, and the ships that sail at sea with profit to men, and the water that Allah sends down from the sky —with which He revives the earth after its death, and scatters therein every kind of animal— and the changing of the winds, and the clouds disposed between the sky and the earth, are surely signs for a people who apply reason.
So basically Islam is supplanting the same reason that every other religion uses that their god is the one and true god. Rather pathetic as there is still no evidence except for claims that nature is proof.

Luckily, as with most gods, Allah gets straight to the point about what will happen to those who do not believe in the unity of Allah. Simply put, those that worship idols or other gods will burn in hell.Of course there is a random part of verse 165 here that I cannot just leave out, it is the one which tells us that believers have stronger faith than those who believe in other gods.
-but the faithful have a more ardent love for Allah-
What does this even mean? Its delusional clearly, but also a throw away comment in the middle of nothing.

Lastly verse 166-167 tell us that false religions will destroy themselves, because they divide themselves when they realize that they are not in unity with Allah. Interestingly, we also see here that the punishment for false belief will be fire and there will be no respite even for those that beg forgiveness.
Thus shall Allah show them their deeds as regrets for themselves, and they shall not leave the Fire.

(Source)

Verse 168 - 176 deal with food and what happens to those people that do not eat good food. It is important to realize that the food laws referred to here are the Mosaic laws from the Bible such as don't eat pork or shellfish.
‘We will rather follow what we have found our fathers following.’
Naturally foods that are not allowed are temptations from Satan.
O mankind! Eat of what is lawful and pure in the earth, and do not follow in Satan’s steps. Indeed he is your manifest enemy.
Naturally, those that do not understand why one cannot eat certain foodstuffs can be simply explained by us being infidels who just do not understand Allah's laws.

Now comes a good part in the Koran, we hear that Muslims should provide food to others. Or, polytheism as we can mean food given by other gods.

O you who have faith! Eat of the good things We have provided you, and thank Allah, if it is Him that you worship.
I would like to think it is self sacrifice by Muslims for other Muslims and non-believers. However, as we have seen with Saudi Arabia and Syria I am not sure that this means charitable givings. So again after talking about unity we are lead to the conclusion that Islam is a polytheistic faith.

Interestingly, we do get to hear that people who eat: meat from pigs, animals that have died of old age, or blood will not be punished by Allah if they do these acts without lust or will in their hearts. This is a major joke, after all how can you eat something without the will of wanting to eat it.
He has forbidden you only carrion, blood, the flesh of the swine, and that which has been offered to other than Allah. But should someone be compelled, without being rebellious or aggressive, there shall be no sin upon him. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.
Needless to say those that eat unlawful food will be sent to.......you guessed it hell. In fact they will have to eat fire in hell.
Indeed those who conceal what Allah has sent down of the Book and sell it for a paltry gain —they do not take in, into their bellies, [anything] except fire, and Allah shall not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection, nor shall He purify them, and there is a painful punishment for them.

Lastly, we get told that if anyone denies or disputes the Koran they will surely go to hell. So I guess that is me that also is going to hell.......again.

See you next week, and remember if you like bacon or prawns you are going to hell.

Hell food (Source)

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The version of the Koran I am reading is the John Meadows Rodwell translation. An online version can be found at the al-quran.info website
Additionally, for commentary I am utilizing the commentary of Maulana Muhammad Ali which is available at muslim.org/english-quran/quran.htm

Reading the Bible - Genesis 16

As we discovered last week Abram suffered from some problems about not having any children. Initially I thought it was impotency problems, however it turns out that it was not his problem but his wife's problem. But not to worry, the Bible has a way out of everything, so here we go into the journey of the pregnancy/rape of Hagar by Abram.

One of the possessions that Sarai (Abram's wife) brought from Egypt was her slave Hagar. Now, Sarai decided that as she cannot have children it would make a lot of sense to her to give Hagar to her husband so that he can father a child with her.
So Sarʹai said to Aʹbram: “Please now! Jehovah has prevented me from bearing children. Please, have relations with my servant. Perhaps I can have children by means of her.”
In essence Sarai was giving Hagar to Abram to rape, as Hagar had no choice in this. But to get through this apologetic's the Bible quickly comes up with an answer as it allows Abram to wed Hagar. However, we cannot forget that as Sarai is property this cannot count as consensual marriage.
After Aʹbram had lived for ten years in the land of Caʹnaan, Aʹbram’s wife Sarʹai took her Egyptian servant Haʹgar and gave her to her husband Aʹbram as his wife.
Luckily we know that polygamy is an acceptable biblical standard to live by, and perhaps rape is also okay?

After her what I would gather was multiple rapes Hagar became pregnant, and on learning of her pregnancy she came to despise Sarai. Why Hagar despised Sarai is not elaborated on, but I can only gather it was for her actions which were rather disgusting by allowing her husband to take her and use her to his content. However, Sarai now places the blame for Hagar's hate towards her on squarely on Abram.
At this Sarʹai said to Aʹbram: “The injury done to me is your fault. I was the one who put my servant in your arms, but when she realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise me. May Jehovah judge between me and you.”
This is mental, as it was Sarai's choice to begin with. However, Abram allows his wife Sarai to act anyway against the women he has impregnated. As such again we are seeing Abram in his true light, that of the villain he truly is.
So Aʹbram said to Sarʹai: “Look! Your servant is under your authority. Do to her whatever you think is best.” Then Sarʹai humiliated her, and she ran away from her.
So, Sarai then abuses Hagar to such an extent that she runs away from the father of the child she is carrying. What a perfect screwed up couple. They truly could be in line for couple of the year the way they carry on.

We now find Hagar in the wilderness at a spring called Be'er-la'hai-roi, where she is found by one of Jehovah's angels, who is basically there to give Hagar Jehovah's message. So what words of wisdom does god have to give to this lady that has been abused and raped?
Jehovah’s angel then said to her: “Return to your mistress and humble yourself under her hand.” Then Jehovah’s angel said: “I will greatly multiply your offspring, so that they will be too numerous to count.” Jehovah’s angel added: “Here you are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son, and you must name him Ishʹma·el, for Jehovah has heard your affliction. He will be a wild donkey of a man. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him, and he will dwell opposite all his brothers.”
Now some how this is meant to make Hagar feel better. The fact that she will have a child that is largely hated by Jehovah's people. Not sure if there is any logic to this, but somehow Hagar decides to go back.
Then she called on the name of Jehovah, who was speaking to her: “You are a God of sight,” for she said: “Have I here actually looked upon the one who sees me?” 
From some commentaries I have read, it seems that she went back as Jehovah's angel appeared to her. But it really seems that there is not much consensus as to why she went back. Personally, I am sure she went back so that Abram and Sarai do not look like the horrible abusive couple they are. Maybe Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka are an accurate description of this power couple that were the beginning of Gods chosen people.

Interestingly, even though Ishmael is not going to be a superstar, he is the first person in the Bible that got given a name by Jehovah before his birth. This is remarkable really as some other pre-named people are those lesser know biblical characters like Jesus and Solomon who were also cast aside. Yes, I was being ironic.

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All verses come from the New World Translation Of The Holy Scriptures.
Online version available at the Jehovah's Witnesses official website

Is this how belief works?

While reading the Bible and the Koran to prepare for my series of posts I got to thinking about why do people believe the stuff in these holy books? After all, there are clearly so many flawed arguments or false statements in these mythology texts. So with some of these questions I went to a few religious people I know and asked them why the believe what I consider to be definite errors. The way I see the general result is rather interesting and so I decided to share it with my readers.

But to understand the theists position, first try understand mine and see if it is reasonable. When I look at either text, I expect said text to be self contained, coherent and completely true. For example, I do not expect to see any contradictory statements.I expect stories to be the same, and most importantly I expect these stories to reflect history accurately. Now, maybe I am expecting to much, but to me this seems completely reasonable and in fact to many believers my demands are reasonable.

So, why do they believe?

In a nutshell, theists do not see the contradictions, as simply put non-believers do not understand the finer nuances of what is actually been said. So to them there are no contradictory statements. When different stories are getting told for the same event, all that is happening is that the text is just filling in some gaps from another perspective. As such the texts are completely coherent. Lastly, if the history in the text is out of tune with real archaeological finds then simply put the archaeology is wrong. After all the holy text cannot be wrong, and in time we will find out that we were wrong with the archaeology. As such, the holy texts are historically prefect.

In this way all my demands for a self contained, coherent and completely true text are met. But the hoops you have to jump through take more imagination than I could ever muster.

Reading the Koran - Sura 2 Verse 153 - 163

The next portion of the Koran we will be reading relates to faithful followers of the laws laid out in the Koran, as well as the explanations of how Allah treats the unfaithful. In fact we start of with a simple verse that explains we should be patient with Allah and pray. Let me just be upfront and say that this really is good advice, after all we know prayer does not work.

O you who have faith! Take recourse in patience and prayer; indeed Allah is with the patient.

Next up we get told that those who die in the name of Allah, or those that die in the faith, are in fact not dead but alive. In fact, we hear that if we do not believe in Allah we are just not aware of the true way and as such we really cannot understand why the faithful dead are not actually just dead.

And do not call those who were slain in Allah’s way ‘dead.’ Rather they are living, but you are not aware. 

Beside the fact that we will live forever, we also know that the hungry and the poor will be fed, never mind that we will be healed from sickness. If you are an ex-christian, you will know this is very similar to the hook that Christians use to show why their god is the true way, after all we all want to believe that the poor will no longer be poor, and the needy will no longer be needy. But please realize, that all these blessings can only truly be understood and received by those true believers of the one and only true god aka Allah.

In last weeks post I mentioned the fact that I believe Islam is truly a polytheistic faith. Luckily for me I did not have to read to far into the Koran to learn that idolatry is not a bad thing in the eyes of Allah. It is very clearly stated in verse 158 that the mountains Al-Safa and Al-Marwah (containing the idols Usaf and Nailah) which are part of the Hajj are  not things that upset Allah in any way that could be perceived as idoltary.

Indeed Safa and Marwah are among Allah’s sacraments. So whoever makes ḥajj to the House, or performs the ʿumrah, there is no sin upon him to circuit between them. Should anyone do good of his own accord, then Allah is indeed appreciative, all-knowing.

So basically those that do what Allah says will be rewarded.......but on the other hand those that do not, as well as those that conceal the truth like the Jews, are going to be cursed into hell by the merciful Allah.

Indeed those who turn faithless and die while they are faithless, —it is they on whom shall be the curse of Allah, the angels and all mankind.

And even then if you are in hell just know that their is no respite from the all loving, all merciful Allah.

162 They will remain in it [forever], and their punishment shall not be lightened, nor will they be granted any respite.

163 Your god is the One God, there is no god except Him, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful. 

I wonder if the person that wrote the Koran actually saw any irony with putting verses 162 and 163 so close together. Seriously you could not write comedy that good. I suppose it just goes to show that belief is a very special thing, so special in fact that you have to leave your brain at the door to truly understand it.

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The version of the Koran I am reading is the John Meadows Rodwell translation. An online version can be found at the al-quran.info website
Additionally, for commentary I am utilizing the commentary of Maulana Muhammad Ali which is available at muslim.org/english-quran/quran.htm

Reading the Bible - Genesis 15

Genesis 15 or, the more aptly named is he asleep? Or is he awake?

We start of this chapter realizing that Abram has serious problems, as he is complaining to Jehovah that he will never have a son (or child) who can take over his household. Naturally this happens in a vision (or sleep state) as is explicitly stated, I mention this as it becomes important later.

After this the word of Jehovah came to Aʹbram in a vision, saying: “Do not fear, Aʹbram. I am a shield for you. Your reward will be very great.”

Interestingly, Abram seems to be a very insecure person when it comes to Jehovah. After all at this point Jehovah has blessed him numerous times, given him great wealth and allowed him to defeat an army of kings. This does lead me to wonder more about what kind of great and faithful servant God is looking for if Abram is meant to be any example to follow. However, as Jehovah does, he once again placates Abram by showing him exactly what he has in store for him. Amazingly God has never bothered to offer this evidence for any living human that has doubt, and for this reason we can be sure that Abram must surely be blessed. Importantly, at this point (and this will be relevant for our later studies) we see that Abram sees God for the first time.

He now brought him outside and said: “Look up, please, to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to do so.” Then he said to him: “So your offspring will become.”

Now, we get to some complications. If Abram was having a vision. Then why does he fall asleep? Is this a dream in a dream, is this where Christopher Nolan got the idea of inception from. Or is this just the Bible showing its just a story and not meant to be credited as being true.

When the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell upon Aʹbram and a great and frightening darkness descended on him. 

(Source)

Lastly, we get to see what a right ass-hat God can be. He has already promised Abram that he will give him everything. However, it will not be easy as for some reason God feels he needs to punish the Israelite's before they have even done anything wrong.

Then He said to Aʹbram: “Know for certain that your offspring will be foreigners in a land not theirs and that the people there will enslave them and afflict them for 400 years.

So why would God decide to punish the Israelite's? Apparently it has to do with the Amorites. That's right the Amorites had made an error and as it had not reached its climax yet, the Israelite's were getting punished. What a colossal dickhead!

But they will return here in the fourth generation, because the error of the Amʹor·ites has not yet reached its full measure.”

Naturally the Bible in itself is showing here that its made up history is crap, as it forgot that the Amorites have in fact been defeated in Genesis 14:7. The only other question that we can possibly raise is that of, who are the Amorites? Well according to Wikipedia they are any of the tribes of Canaan, who are descendants of Ham who even were classified as giants by some. Of course, this is all heavily criticized as their is no real evidence for Biblical Amorites, even though there were a tribe of people that were called Amorites.

Still if this point if you think God is justified in punishing the Israelite's for the Amorites sin, it would be good to point out that some Amorites even helped Abram in his warring conquest against the kings of Elam, Goiim, Shinar and Elasar. In other words God uses and casts away as he deems necessary to his needs. Personally, I think the 400 years of persecution is necessary to give this tale its epic twist. So once again we have the Bible making shit up so that the story is more interesting.

Genesis 15 ends with Abram sealing the deal as such with Jehovah, as it is at this point that once again Abram gets promised everything by God with a covenant.

On that day Jehovah made with Aʹbram a covenant, saying: “To your offspring I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Eu·phraʹtes: the land of the Kenʹites, the Kenʹiz·zites, the Kadʹmon·ites, the Hitʹtites, the Perʹiz·zites, the Rephʹa·im, the Amʹor·ites, the Caʹnaan·ites, the Girʹga·shites, and the Jebʹu·sites.”

And that was the excellent journey of Abram who may have or may not have been asleep.

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All verses come from the New World Translation Of The Holy Scriptures.
Online version available at the Jehovah's Witnesses official website

Prepare to be disgusted again by Christian pseudo-medicine

All pictures in this blogpost are screen shots from the video presented, and are not my own work.
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Meet Brain Chambers, a medical researcher and science writer, this is the person who is introducing you to Mark Stengler. Dr Mark Stengler aka Miracle Mark, the man that can cure cancer, diabetes, back pain, and anything else that has ever plagued you.

If you have time you can hear the tear jerking stories of cancer patients that have been cured from stage four cancer. You also get to hear what a great guy Dr Stengler is as Brain lives out his man crush online. You too can get fooled into giving money so that you can get well. Unfortunately you have to go to the webpage to watch this video and so I cannot embed it here, as the file is not on YouTube or any other public domain server which allows embedding. Honestly, if you do not know how frauds work I would suggest you go watch that link.

How can I be sure this is a fraud, well just for one thing the name has changed from the "Matthew 4 Protocol" to the "Garden of Eden protocol" from the first time I saw the video (2015) until I re-watched it for this post (January 2016). Next, the studies they say exist to support this "protocol" do not exist.

Of course I always feel that I should give credit where it is due. So there is one thing I certainly can agree with in the video? When they say people are desperate they are right. If you are dying you will try anything, and you can more easily get mislead into trying stupid natural solutions that do not work. Just ask Steve Jobs why natural remedies are not a good idea.

Additionally, you get told that you can get a book free from this great Christian healer. So I decided to apply for the book. Unfortunately the book is not free, and there is no surprise there after all it is a massive fraud. All you need to do is sign up for Dr Stenglers Health Revelations which has a minimal cost of 20 cents a day. Luckily for the world, they also say that this book will never get sold in store.

Naturally at  this point in the fraud I got told that I only have 19 minutes to apply for the treatment, and that I am only one out of 400 that will get all the benefits. Amazingly this video has been online for over a year and there are still only 400 people that have seen this video. Its truly is incredible how lucky I am! Yes, that is me being ironic.

At the end of the day all we need to do is to go all natural. Why are we wasting our time with medicine? Of course it has to be the correct natural medicine. You know not that carrot on the left but the one on the right.

Pseduo-medicine, pseudo-science and a hack selling false dreams to people that are dying already. Disgusting.

Reading the Koran - Sura 2 verse 142 - 152

From the previous reading we got to see why Islam is the religion far above the Jewish and Christian traditions. Now we go a step further, as we get 11 versus from the Koran telling us how wonderful and great Mecca is, and why the Kaaba is so great. In deed there are two versus which tell Muslims to face Mecca and the Kaaba when they pray.

144: We certainly see you turning your face about in the sky. We will surely turn you to a qiblah of your liking: so turn your face towards the Holy Mosque, and wherever you may be, turn your faces towards it! Indeed those who were given the Book surely know that it is the truth from their Lord. And Allah is not oblivious of what they do.  

149-150: Whencesoever you may go out, turn your face towards the Holy Mosque. Indeed it is the truth from your Lord, and Allah is not oblivious of what you do. And whencesoever you may go out, turn your face towards the Holy Mosque, and wherever you may be, turn your faces towards it, so that the people may have no argument against you, neither those of them who are wrongdoers.¹ So do not fear them, but fear Me, that I may complete My blessing on you and so that you may be guided.

I do find it rather remarkable that a religion that venerates a single god so much puts so much emphasis on a specific mosque. In fact the reverence that Muslims hold for the Black Stone that is set in the Kabaa in  itself feels rather strange. One would say it feels like a form of deity worship in itself, at least that is how I felt on my first reading of this section of Sura 2. However, this view is rebutted by Maulana Muhammad Ali in his commentary when he very specifically goes out of his way to say that the Black Stone and the Kabaa are in no way meant to be considered idols. To me it seems that the following commentary is going out of the way to try explain away an inconvenient polytheistic truth in the Koran "it must be remembered that the Ka‘bah has never been supposed by any Muslim to possess any Divine attribute" and "It should also be borne in mind that the famous Black Stone was not one of the Arab idols, nor can the kissing of it in performing the pilgrimage be looked upon as a remnant of idolatry. That Stone stands only as a monument:"

(Source)

Personally, I do not care if Islam is polytheistic or monotheistic. However, after this reading I have to say I wonder if I can truly ever be convinced that Islam is truly monotheistic. Additionally, if I look at this issue in conjunction with the fact that Muhammad is treated like a god by most Muslims, to such a degree that even drawing a picture of the pedophile will lead to a death sentence, I can only come to the obvious conclusion that either 1) Islam is a polytheistic faith or 2) that every Muslim is an idolater according to the Koran.

The Koran is very specific in Sura 1 verse 2 and 5 in what it says about Allah.

2: All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds

5: You [alone] do we worship

As such we have to reason that if the Kabaa, Black Stone or Muhammed are held in such reverence that they are being praised, but that cannot be as all praise belongs to Allah. After all, even if we accept that the Hajj is not idoltary in some way, we have to wonder why drawing a picture envokes such rage. I guess Muslims will deny these observations and claim its not polytheistic worship, but that kind of response is only kept by madmen for their gods.


Interestingly, as the number of people attending the Hajj have increased over the years, it is no longer necessary to kiss the Black Stone (thereby emulating Muhammad) on every circle around the Kabaa. Apparently, Now all you need to do is point towards it. Truly amazing how these important parts of Islam, like the obligatory Hajj are diluted according to what is possible in reality.
I feel this post is rather short, but I think it is too important to dilute. See you next time.

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The version of the Koran I am reading is the John Meadows Rodwell translation. An online version can be found at the al-quran.info website
Additionally, for commentary I am utilizing the commentary of Maulana Muhammad Ali which is available at muslim.org/english-quran/quran.htm

Reading the Bible - Genesis 13-14

In the last edition of Reading the Bible we got to see how God blesses Abram, and basically that this blessing is not justified in anyway. Abram truly carries on like a lunatic with no faith in the God that blesses him and curses anyone that gets in his way. At the end of his time in Egypt Abram walks away with immense riches for acting in a completely inappropriate and weak way. It is at this point that we pick up the story of Abram and Lot as the move away from Egypt to Canaan and the river Jordan area.

Due to the large numbers of people and livestock that are traveling with Abram and Lot, tied in with the lack of resources, the inevitable happens and the herders get into an argument. This argument gives Abram a chance to redeem his dubious nature, as he offers Lot a solution to this argument between the herders by saying they should split camps. However, its not just splitting camp he offers Lot the opportunity to choose where he wants to take his people and the Abram camp will take the less desirable option.

Please, separate from me. If you go to the left, then I will go to the right; but if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.” So Lot raised his eyes and saw that the whole district of the Jordan was a well-watered region (before Jehovah destroyed Sodʹom and Go·morʹrah), like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, as far as Zoʹar.

Now this story can be seen in two ways, obviously the way the Bible wants us to interpret it is that Abram is a great person showing decency by allowing Lot to choose where he wants to go. Unfortunately, if anything it shows us that Abram is anything but decent as he would surely know his nephew Lot and how his mind works. As such, he would know that Lot was not such a smart farmer, as would come across by choosing the fertile (well-watered) region, as Lot very soon was living  among the cities. Surely if Abram wanted to truly care about his nephew and avoid conflict he would have chosen a better solution to the problem.

The other interpretation of this story is far simpler. The Bible is setting up a fall guy to show what Jehovah does or does not approve of, just as happened with Pharaoh and his desires for Sarai. I feel this interpretation is more apt, as Genesis 13 closes with God once again promising Abram everything for no specific reason.

Jehovah said to Aʹbram, after Lot had separated from him: “Raise your eyes, please, and look from the place where you are, to the north and south, east and west, because all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring as a lasting possession. And I will make your offspring like the dust particles of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust particles of the earth, then your offspring could be counted. Get up, travel through the length and breadth of the land, for to you I am going to give it.”

Genesis 14 starts off (verse 1-11) with some fascinating history of the kings of the time and how they were warring with each other and why the warring with each other. Now, I would dwell on this fascinating history, but...... its based on kings, wars and cities that in all probability never existed or were not alive at the time. As such we can be pretty sure that this pseudo-history is put in place to make the hero Abram.

However, after all this pseudo-history we get to the crux of the issue when verse 12 tells us how Lot was abducted by these kings, luckily for Lot one of his men escaped and went searching for Abram to tell him the bad news. When Abram got this news he mobilized the men in his service, as well as 318 slaves and headed off to save his nephew. One night during this pursuit Abram divided his men and they attacked and defeated the kings of Elam, Goiim, Shinar and Elasar, before pursuing them and I gather reigning more terror on the fleeing armies? Most importantly, Abram recovered Lot and all the other people that had been abducted in the original battle of Sididm.

He recovered all the goods, and he also recovered Lot his relative, his goods, the women, and the other people.

Abram was rightfully  greeted as a hero by the kings of Sodom and Salem when he guided the prisoners of war back. The verses 19-24 show just how important this victory was.

Then he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Aʹbram by the Most High God, Maker of heaven and earth; And praised be the Most High God, Who has handed your oppressors over to you!” And Aʹbram gave him a tenth of everything. After that the king of Sodʹom said to Aʹbram: “Give me the people, but take the goods for yourself.” But Aʹbram said to the king of Sodʹom: “I raise my hand in an oath to Jehovah the Most High God, Maker of heaven and earth, that I will not take anything that is yours, from a thread to a sandal lace, so that you may not say, ‘I made Aʹbram rich.’

Fascinatingly, we see what a great person Abram is as he refuses to take any money from the kings.So, here I will finally give Abram credit for doing something decent. On that note we conclude this latest account of the Bible.

See you next time.

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All verses come from the New World Translation Of The Holy Scriptures.
Online version available at the Jehovah's Witnesses official website

I am back, and why I left

While on hiatus, due to a number of reasons, I was thinking about what is the point of blogging. After all it seems that the theists are dead set in their ways, and if the recent attacks by the goat fucking pig eaters (GFPEs, otherwise known by their alias ISIS) are anything to go by then it is a battle that is long lost. However, in the civilized world religion is dying. Yet this is also the part of the world that does not have to worry about GFPEs or otherwise intolerant retards.

So again the question, why blog?

The answer to me is simple, and hopefully one that will keep me going. At the end of the day if the religious freaks bring ruin on the world, somewhere there will be an archive with these writings and similar ones which will serve as a reminder that not everyone was so screwed up.Yes, I have lost a lot of hope in humanity. Probably for the best as really there seem to be a lot more morons running around these days.

Morons like the Muslim that told me man had never been on the moon as it conflicts with his Koran beliefs. Morons like the anti-abortionists that cannot get it through their head that removing a few cells is not murder. Morons that oppose GMOs as they believe it is monster food designed to kill us, while ignoring that no science backs them up. Many of theses morons in fact are one of the contributing factors to my hiatus, that and work.

In conclusion, do I still intend debating people with false beliefs? Perhaps on a special occasion under the right conditions. But mostly I am just not bothered with dealing with the drama that comes attached with false beliefs. So if this blog in the future does not deal with up to date topics, realize that probably I just could not be bothered to engage the stupidity.