12/26/08

Right and Wrong


The next chapter in order of revelation is either 25 or 42, depending on who you ask. So, chapter 25 is...al furqan, which means a standard, or criterion for telling right from wrong. It's the straw man they always try to sic on atheists! Theists imagine that without god (or Mo's god) some world exists with just no way to tell what is right or wrong. People just eat their children and screw their dog because they just can't think of any reason why they shouldn't. It's a miracle people ever developed international trades routes and elaborate societies back before anyone knew it was a good idea to cooperate. We're so lucky that [favorite prophet] came along to tell us right from wrong, so we know to take care of our children and stuff.

But wait...back in Eden didn't they eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and learn what was right and wrong? That criterion's from way back before there was any Bible, let alone a Quran. What's different about this new criterion? Mo says to give alms, pray, and “walk with humility on the earth, and when they are addressed by the ignorant, say: 'Peace"(25:63). The moon worshippers were doing all that. The only real difference is that this new criterion says it's suddenly wrong to not believe Mohammed. In Mohammed's criterion. But according to the old criterion, they shouldn't believe him, they should put him to death. Would have saved everybody a lot of trouble...
To summarize the rest of the chapter,

Everybody else's gods are bogus; I'm god's messenger; nobody believes me; they'll all go to hell; they'll be sorry; god kills unbelievers; god can do anything; judgment day's a-comin'. (Repeat over and over.)


To keep from dying of boredom you can pick out weird things that don't match up. Like he doesn't say there aren't other gods, just that they don't have any power. They have to show up at the pearly gates too,

17. The day He will gather them together along with those they worshipped other than God, He will ask them: "Did you lure these creatures of Mine away, or did they themselves go astray?"
18. They will answer;"Glory to You. It was not worthy of us to seek any protector other than You. But You allowed them and their fathers a life of ease until they turned oblivious of the Reminder. They were a people impenitent.

19. (The idolaters will be told): "Your gods have refuted your assertion. You can neither avert your doom nor receive any help.

So much for the first pillar of Islam--“There is no god but Allah and all those other little gods in sura 25, etc...”

In some places Mo sounds just like a christian:

(63) Devotees of ar-Ramen are those who... ...do not fornicate (68).

LOL! I think old Mo did a little fornicating in his time! It's nice to know he'll go to hell for it, except, wait--
70. Except those who repent and come to believe and do the right, for whom God will turn evil into goodness, for God is forgiving and kind.
71. Whosoever repents and does the right, will have turned back to God by way of repentance;
You can get out of hell if you repent? I guess we aren't supposed to notice all the other verses that say just the opposite, like the last half of v19 up there. It's a buffet! You can find anything you want in the Quran, you just have to pick through a lot of old stale leftovers to find it.

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