The Same God?

Last week I made a promise over at Vox's that I would post about Halal food.  I'm still planning on doing that.  Before I get to the question of if it is permissible for a Christian to knowingly eat Halal, there is a larger fallacy that needs to be tackled first.

It seems that almost every time the topic of Islam comes up I hear some total ignoramus repeat something to the effect that, "Allah is the same god for the Jews, Christians and  Muslims".   When you come across this lie, you can be assured of two facts:

1. The person you are talking to is ignorant of the historic realities of Islam.
2. That person knows even less about Christianity and Judaism.

There is a third option available.  I have made the assumption of ignorance.  I am not being unkind, ignorance is the nicest thing you can say for such people.  The other option is that the speaker is a servant of the Father of Lies.

There is a tendency in our times to view religion as an evolving concept.  This is a biblically inaccurate concept, but it is popular today both in the religious and secular worlds.  Because the evolutionary view of religion is a popularly accepted concept, people don't seem to question it when it comes up.

The idea that Christianity is an evolution of Judaism is totally false.  Christianity did not evolve from Judaism.  Judaism was the vessel for bringing Christianity to the world.  When the book of Acts records that the Berean's were more noble because they studied the scriptures daily, its not talking about the "Christian Scriptures" or what we call the New Testament.  The scriptures it is talking about is what we call the "Old Testament".  What they had is the translation of the Hebrew text into Greek.  This work is known as the Septuagint, or LXX.  The LXX translation was made about 300 years before the birth of Christ in the City of Alexandra, Egypt.  The information that those noble Bereans were looking up, were prophecies concerning the identity of the Messiah.  Incidentally, the New Testament books of Romans and Hebrews were written as a logical defense for the idea that God had always intended for a Messiah for all of man, not just the Jews.

Christianity started out in Jerusalem, with only Jewish believers.  As it grew the pagan Romans were tolerant of the group because they thought of Christians as "just another kind of Jew".  When persecution against the church  begins, it is the Jews, who can't stand the idea of the gentiles being included, who start it.  A system of legal government backed persecution of Christians begins in the mid 1st century and continues until 313 when Constantine legalizes the Christian religion.

According to Islamic tradition Muhammad began his "prophetic" ministry around the year 610 AD.  By this time Christianity had become the dominant religion in the Mediterranean world.  Muhammad, due to his wife's trading business, enjoyed wealth and leisure time and started proclaiming that "god was talking to him".  At first Muhammad tried to convert Christians and Jews to believe in his "revelations".  Being better read and more biblically literate than Americans, they rejected him and his "new religion".

So who is this Allah of Mohamed? That of course depends on what was most expedient to Mohamed on whatever day you happened to ask him the question.  The oldest middle eastern reference to Allah is, not surprisingly found in the home of the occult, Babylon.  This reference is found in the Epic of Atrahasis chiseled on tablets dating to around 1700 BC.  In that case he is described as a god of "violence and revolution".  He was the first "hater" of the patron god and encouraged the other "lessor gods" to fight and do battle against the "greater god".

At other times, like when Mohammed was first getting started in Mecca "Allah" was the name given for all 300 of the local deities. This is the basis for Salman Rushdie's book, The Satanic Verses. Most semi educated people are aware of the fact that "Allah" is also commonly used to refer to a deity that depending on the nomadic group in question was either a moon deity or a deity associated with the planet Venus.  Some scholars have even put forth that Allah is a Arabic reconstruction of the Egyptian Osiris cult.  For those interested in a more scholarly explanation, here is a link.  Here is a even better link.

It's very hard to tell who exactly this Allah of Mohamed's really is.  Let's go to the Quran.  According to the 109^th Surah of the Qur’an, Muhammad and the unbelievers did not worship the same Being:

Say: O disbelievers! I worship not that which ye worship; Nor worship ye that which I worship. And I shall not worship that which ye worship. Nor will ye worship that which I worship. Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion. S. 109:1-6

According to the Quran the god Allah is the great deceiver.

But they (the Jews) were deceptive, and Allah was deceptive, for Allah is the best of deceivers! S. 3:54; cf. 8:30 

 Despite the fact that modern translators often translate the Hebrew word "El" as the English equitant "God" or "Allah" when translating into Aramaic, the word "Allah" should be understood as "god", notice the small "g" in most usages, unless specifically identifying the deity YHWH.  Also, there are several verses in biblical text that identify the personage of God.  I didn't get into those because Islam itself teaches that Allah and God are not the same deity.  At best according to Islam, Allah is one of, or all, of the gods in ancient Aramaic pantheon.  At worst he is the spiritual being known to Jews and Christians as Satan.  Under no circumstances, despite protests to the contrary, is Allah the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Again according to Islam, Allah had no son.  Jesus can't according to Islam be the "Son of God".  By definition for Christians, Allah is not God the Father.

The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger and Tonto hitch their horses outside a saloon and go inside for a beer. Soon after, a man walks in and asks, "Who owns the silver horse outside?"

The Lone Ranger replies, "I do. What's the problem?"

The man says, "You better go look at him. I think he's hot."

The Lone Ranger goes outside to check on his horse, and sure enough, the horse is overheated and distressed.

"Quick, Tonto, run circles around Silver. You will create a draft and cool him down."

Tonto starts running around the horse to cool him down, and the Lone Ranger goes back into the saloon to enjoy his beer. Soon after, another man walks in and asks, "Who owns the silver horse outside?"

The Lone Ranger again replies, "I do. What's the problem now?"

"You've left the Injun running."

May 5th

Happy excuse to drink Mexican beer day. Today is the one day a year that it is cool to be Mexican in America.  Seriously today it is cool to be Mexican because today is Cinco De Mayo.  For those of you reading the last 3 words in that last sentence and wondering what "cinco" is and why its in your mayo, have a Corona.  This too will pass.  Corona btw was regarded in Mexico as a women's beer.  It became popular in the US because Tom Cruise was seen drinking them in Top Gun.

Today as I mentioned, is the one day it is cool to be Mexican in America. Go ahead and break out your finely tuned multi-cultural skills.  Order a burrito, nacho's or taco while drinking your imported beer and  tequila.  Incidentally Mexicans have many wonderful dishes in their culinary repertoire, Americans can't pronounce them, but that doesn't take away from the quality of the food.  It just keeps us from experiencing something better than Taco Bell.

Go into an ethnic themed restaurant.  If its an Asian eatery you can order by number.  "I'll have a number 14 and some hot and sour soup please".  They will bring you something wonderful and not curse you for your inability to speak Cantonese.  Actually most Asians would rather you not pronounce their dishes.  They don't like that funny face you get when you say, "I'd like some chow yuc and som young dong".  They know why they are smiling politely, you sound  like a retard trying to speak their language.  They don't get why you take pleasure in asking for an extra side of dong sauce.

The French know their food is good, at least compared to any English speaking nation.  They despise you for not speaking French, because you are not as good as they are.   In France, the superiority of all things French is an universal law, sort of like gravity, except the law of gravity may have exceptions.

Go into a good Mexican restraint, order something that isn't deep fried or wrapped in a tortilla.  You aren't going to be able to pronounce it.  Which is why you probably never order it.  Yes the waiter is looking down at you while pretending to be deferential.  That's OK because on May 5th we celebrate the Mexican army beating the French.  At least you didn't ask to puk som dong.

Of course everyone beats the French Army.  The only time the French win is when a.) they are lead by someone who isn't French, of b.) America is involved in the war effort.  The reason we like the Mexicans over the French, isn't just because they beat the French.  When you go to French Restaurant you pay $100 for a salad made from ditch weeds, three frog legs and a glass of white wine that was filtered through a Frenchmen's sock before being funneled into a fancy bottle.  You go home hungry, with a headache and the knowledge that even though you tipped $250 on a $100 dinner, you still somehow didn't do enough.

Compare that to dinner in a good Mexican joint.  The chips and salsa are free.  The wait staff are friendly.  For $30 bucks you get 3 beers and a shot or two, a great big plate of food and the staff smiles and is nice to you.  They don't expect a big tip.  If you leave one, they love you and next time you come in they remember and treat you even better.

So happy Cinco de Mayo.  Celebrate.  Enjoy yourself.  Please respect yourself enough to not drink Corona.  Have a Dos Equis instead.  Try the barbacoa, cabrito, or something in a Oaxacan  Mole Sauce.  You'll be glad you did.

A Sad Day

Today is a day of bitter disappointment.  A day of mourning.

2014 License Draw Results

     License Type                                              Results

RESIDENT MOOSE                                  Unsuccessful
RESIDENT BIGHORN SHEEP                 Unsuccessful

Every year for the last 7 years I have missed the cut off for a moose tag by 1 point.  The draw stats won't be available for a couple of months but I suspect that this year was no different.  The bighorn sheep tag is becoming almost impossible to draw in Wyoming.  With any luck I may be able to draw one before I am too old to hunt.  If I had drawn a moose tag this year, I may have been able to draw one more time in my life.

Star Wars Day

Yesterday was the (unofficial) "Star Wars Day" ... you know ... May the 4th be with you!

I hope you enjoyed that.  This will not take away from your Bad Joke Wednesday quota.  That joke is already in the queue.

Hating Boys

It's no secret that I regard Fred Reed as one of the most enlightened reprobates spewing forth electrons from his keyboard today.  A link to his work is over on the right side of the links column. Fred has a unique way of hitting the nail on the head, over and over again.  If you want to know why the education system in this country is as bad as it is and why things are only getting worse, listen to Freed.

The two lowest-scoring careers are education, overwhelmingly female, and public administration. Thus we have morons, administered by slightly worse morons, trying to teach boys who, at the high end, are so much smarter than the teachers as to constitute another species.

He's right.  Boys don't belong in todays public schools.  No child does.  Public schooling is an insidious form of child abuse.  It wasn't always that way, but it is now.  I witnessed the fall of public education first hand as a student.  As I've followed the news stories over the last 30 years or so, it's only gotten worse.

Fred makes a good point over all about intelligence, performance and failure.  A smart kid will get bored in classroom.  A teacher doesn't want bored kids.  Bored kids act up.  Bored kids find stuff that won't make them bored.  Bored kids are a problem.  Bored kids get extra attention.  Extra attention adds stress.  Stress produces side effects that can be very harmful.

Using a roomful of little boys and girls to validate a middle-aged women's emotional needs isn't teaching, its cruel and unusual punishment.

My own educational career was extraordinarily lackluster.  It started out well enough in a small country school.  It went down hill after that.  My dad moved us to a big city for his job.  I had a horrible year that first year in the city.  Over the course of my career, I was double promoted, held back, sent to prison a boarding facility, ended up in one of finest private schools any ware, got kicked out for moral violations, did one last year in public school, was told despite all A's except French, I wasn't going to be allowed to graduate, told the school to F off I had a scholarship for college, and became a high-school drop out.  Along the way I was diagnosed as dyslexic, was sent to remedial class, took honors and advanced classes, narrowly avoided MENSA, CLEP'd out of economics in college, and managed to get an AA, BA, and MBA.  My LSAT's were good enough to get me into most law schools, but I decided not to go.  When I wrote my dissertation proposal for my Ph'd application to CSTU the men on the dissertation committee were impressed enough to suggest I do the work at one of their alma mater's.  I was intrigued but the $270,000 price tag was too steep.  Eventually I dropped the whole idea of a Ph'd.

I guess all of that is a long winded way of saying,  I've run the gambit of American education, including an invitation to attend an ivy league school. I've come to the conclusion that public school sucks and you can learn what you want on your own