Convert or Kill the "Infidels"

Iraq violence: IS bombing kills 125 Ramadan shoppers in Baghdad

Submitted by Homer:  Sunday July 3, 2016 – 7:30 AM CDT

Just saw in the news of another bombing where nearly 100 people were killed and nearly 200 injured by ISIS in Bagdad. There was a post on Facebook Friday which discussed a possibility as to why certain Muslim groups feel it is necessary to convert or kill “infidels” or unbelievers of Islam or other Muslims who do not accept their interpretation of the Qur’an. Below is that facebook post.

When anyone makes a post on FB, there is a question in the box which asks, “What’s on your mind?” The following has been on my mind for sometime but may not be received well by some folks. However, it is something I have considered for several years. Since September 11, 2001 thoughts have entered my mind about why radical Islamic terrorists would want to conquer the world. Where did Mohammed get the idea that all people on earth should convert to Islam and kill all infidels / unbelievers? Several months ago, I told my sister and brother-in-law my reasoning and a possible answer to that question.

Back in the latter 70’s I took several courses at a local community college in North Carolina where I lived; courses such as “Religion in Modern Society” - “Old Testament” – “New Testament” and “Religions of the World” along with other courses such as trigonometry, psychology, golf, etc. One of the final requirements of each course concerning religion was to write a summary about the course and what was learned. Those papers were kept through the years and were found in a box a few weeks ago. Written in one of those papers was found a possible answer to the question above concerning Mohammed and Islam. Below are four excerpts of what was written nearly 40 years ago, the details of which I had not remembered until those papers were found.

1. Mohammed was born and raised in the city of Mecca. . . . a prosperous trade center & peoples of many different customs & traditions . . . . It was also the site of many of the pagan Arab tribes [&] shrines. [Mohammed] had the opportunity to observe . . . religious practices of the pagans as well as the Jews and Christians. He came to dislike the idol worship of the Arabs and [developed] a great admiration for the one God concept of the Jews and Christians.
2. Mohammed insisted that he was not divine – but just a prophet or spokesman for the one God, Allah.
3. The merchants of Mecca were outraged at [Mohammed’s teaching]. . . . it began to hurt the trade because Mohammed spoke against idol worship & paganism. All the while promoting Allah. [Similar reaction to Paul by Demetrius and the silversmiths as outlined in Acts 19:23-28.]
4. . . . Mohammed became not only a religious leader but also a great political leader. He was a firm but fair leader, with a proper combination of justice and mercy

Note: The word Allah is very similar to the Hebrew word, אלהּ, transliterated to English as Eloah, the singular form of what we call God; the plural form being אלהים, transliterated as Elohim, the Hebrew word used the vast majority of the time for the term God in the Old Testament (OT). Since there are no vowels in Hebrew as in English, vowel sounds may become subject to cultural tradition, language enunciation and spelling such as the Islamic name Yusef, the Hebrew name Yosef and the English name Joseph. Could Mohammed have used the writings of the OT to base his teaching?
 [As an interesting comparison about Yusef in the Qur’an and Yosef in the OT, check out the following link. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_in_Islam ] However, what about all the killings by radical Islamic terrorists? Where and how did they get this idea? I have been asked the following question many times through the years by my two sons, ‘How and/or why does a supposed loving God condemn so many people to death because they don’t understand the way of God?’ I had, for many years, difficulty in answering this question. I would generally respond with something like, ‘I don’t know, but God will handle it.’ Could there be more to this dilemma than is apparent by reading the Bible as a literal, historical book. There are many killings recorded in the OT. Generally, these killings are caused by “God” or by those instructed by “God” to kill the “heathen” men, women, children and their animals. Is it possible that the words which are read by many have a meaning other than literal? Could these acts of death have a more personal, allegorical meaning other than the literal killing of people? [BTW, “heathen” is not necessarily bad. It simply means a nation or group of folk different than one’s own.] It is written that Jesus spoke in parables and said in Luke 8:10, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables, that seeing they might not see, and hearing, they might not understand.”  Note: the phrase “might not” is used rather than the phrase, will not; there is a big difference. Also, Luke 8:10 is a general quote from Isaiah 6:9 in the OT.
 It is also written that “parables” and “dark sayings” are used in the OT.  Could it be that those “dark sayings” are written for us to consider with a possible hidden meaning? (“dark sayings” means difficult to understand, not evil sayings) Is it possible that all the killings in the OT is allegory and meant for us as individuals to “kill” or eliminate the wrong thoughts and actions we have which are contrary to the way of our creator, the source of all that exists? This possibility may be something to consider. If Mohammed used the OT as a base for his Qur’an, (which I am suggesting) did he take the writings of the OT as literal, or did he understand an allegorical meaning? Or - do his followers take Mohammed’s writings as literal, the way most people understand the OT, without considering a possible allegorical (hidden?) meaning. Personally, I don’t know about Mohammed’s thoughts. It is extremely apparent what his radical, literal thinking, followers think.
 By happenstance I came across the following two part video (in one link) and was viewed for the first time shortly after the vast majority of the comments above were written. (The information about the name Yusef, Yoseph & Joseph was added.) Some of the comments, by both participants, may be worthy of consideration while others, maybe not so much. However, it was found to be a most interesting discussion before an audience, between Richard Dawkins and a Muslim journalist. Based on the accents of each and the audience, the discussion probably took place in England and was published on Jun 21, 2016.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0jA6VsivBE
 

One additional consideration to the above post. The New Testament is generally a book of how to live a life of peace and harmony. Did Mohammed realize this as well and separate the Qur'an in two parts similar to the Bible? If so, that might explain the difference between what is considered, by some Muslems, a Qur'an of peace and harmony while others consider it a book of absolute conversion to Islam or suffer the consequences. I admit this is conjecture on my part on this point.

Why Being Told You Are Special And Called Out Has Devastating Consequences On Your Mental Health

One of the things things that so many who leave the Living Church of God, Philadelphia Church of God or other Churches of God experience is how devastating it can be.  Due to the continual bombardment by church leader with cliche sayings that make the membership fell special and set apart from the rest of the heathens around them, it is a devastating blow to find you were  nothing more than pawns in the manipulation of men like rRd Meredith, Dave Pack, Bob Thiel and James Malm. 

The last time you shared a nice steak dinner with your family, or if you are more adventurous, went on an exciting hike, or maybe did some exhilarating sky-diving, chances are, you were not thinking about a neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger in your brain, called dopamine. In a normal human brain, dopamine affects the brain processes which control movement, emotional response, and ability to experience both pleasure and pain. It has been found that illicit stimuli, such as cocaine or methamphetamine, can temporarily increase the amount of dopamine in the synapse, or gap between one’s nerve cells, thus causing euphoria, or a prolonged sense of pleasure. The unfortunate consequence of this temporary pleasure enhancement is that the use or abuse of such drugs will ultimately disrupt the balance of dopamine in the nervous system, by desensitizing the nerve cells to what would be considered normal levels of this neurotransmitter. So, when an addict is in recovery, as the brain attempts to normalize, there is usually severe depression in the initial stages. The recovering addict is caught in a state where he or she, until normal living skills are re-learned, temporarily finds little or no pleasure in life. Regaining normal brain balance and function often requires years, during which the addict knows that a false sense of relief is just a snort away. I have observed the day to day struggles of such individuals, and although I’ve never been an addict myself, believe that I understand the struggle these folks must go through.

The Worldwide Church of God parallel is self-obvious. The enslaving teachings of one Herbert W. Armstrong have acted as a type of spiritual dopamine inhibitor in most of our brains, and many exiters have had to deal with very real, severe depression along with cult-recovery. Herbert W. Armstrong, if nothing else, was a brilliant salesman, and he had the dope for you! He knew the classic sales formula, which is, expose a need, magnify the need, and then offer a solution. To create or expose the need, he first smashed everything in your little world which you found to be of value or pleasure. With great authority, from the power of his radio microphone and TV camera, he told you that the world as you knew it was coming to an end. There would be war, famine, disease, pestilence, and you couldn’t do a thing about it, period! From a standpoint of sheer shock value, what could be more devastating to your feeling of happiness and well-being than this? Talk about altering neurotransmitters! Suddenly, nothing in this world was worth your time, because everything you saw around you would soon come to an end. While you were attempting to recover from the disorientation of this all, he came in for the kill. He told you that now that you had this special knowledge, you were having your chance. Your life could never be the same. You had an opportunity and needed to act immediately, because you see, if you repented, accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, and were baptized into His church, you could be spared the cataclysmic events soon to descend on the world. You could not have become part of the Worldwide Church of God without undergoing this painful initiation.

This part of the reason so many have difficulty in leaving the church, even though they know they are being abused, such as what Rod Meredith does to most of his members.   Then, once you make that incredible freeing leap, you quickly how sick and debased the leadership of the church was, which then sets into string of realizations that  your life was truly incomplete.

A good salesman often will re-sell the value of his product to you, and Herbert W. Armstrong was no exception. Every Bible Study, every Holy Day service, and every Sabbath service, he or his henchmen resold you on the product. The magazines and booklets were a constant reminder to you of what was soon to transpire, and he even had you reselling yourself on the product thru your daily prayer and Bible Study. You sat there in Sabbath Services, waiting anxiously for your fix! It’s the only thing that made it all work. If you just had the so-called knowledge of the end of the world, without the system of religion, you would have been totally depressed. Of course, you didn’t find this out until you began painfully considering leaving, or had that choice made for you. Upon exit, you were hit with the impact of your actions from years previous in which you had gradually alienated yourself from your blood relatives, old friends, and neighbors, as you became ever more enmeshed in this dastardly cult. Worse, when you left or were disfellowshipped, you even lost your surrogate family, as the brethren could no longer associate with you. At about the same time, you began to realize that your health might not be what it was supposed to be due to years of not seeing your doctor, your career had languished because the effort you might have put into it all went into the church, your children had become nerds because you had sheltered them so severely, you had no retirement savings, your house had been mortgaged to finance a Worldwide Church of God emergency, and all of your clothes were hopelessly out of style. See the parallels with recovery from substance addiction? If you’ve never volunteered at a mission or halfway house, try it sometime. The homeless and recovering addicts are facing these same challenges, brought on, of course, by an entirely different type of addiction.

Read the entire article here:

Dopamine, Depression and Disfellowshipment

Millions Are Reading Meredith's Word's...But No One Heeds His Message

In Rod Meredith's May June "Tomorrow's World" he has an article up Are You Willing to Change?  He makes the bold claim that his messages are literally reaching millions of people.

With each passing month, thousands upon thousands more are encountering this message for the very first time. They are reading the strong, plain-spoken Bible articles appearing in the Tomorrow’s World magazine, and have studied our booklets and articles, showing the truth about the existence of their divine heavenly Father— the Creator—who gives them every breath they draw. 

They have seen the utter ludicrousness of the evolutionary fantasy and other false teachings.

They listen, they read and they talk. Perhaps they talk to family members, or friends, or people at the office. Perhaps they talk to people at church, or at school.

Already, these millions listen, and they read, and they talk.

Yes, they listen, and they read, and they talk—but what will they do? 

Meredith's big disappointment is that these millions have not joined up with him. They ignore him. He just doesn't get it.  How can they not see the glorious unified true servants of God at work in the world today?

He writes:

What is it going to take for you to know, personally, that true servants of almighty God are speaking to you over the Tomorrow’s World telecast? 

What is it going to take for you to heed and act on the knowledge you are receiving through the Tomorrow’s World telecast, magazine and Web site? 

How can it be that Living Church of God is the most powerful work on the earth today, and so many are not heeding its call?