Interesting Stuff To Ponder

[Cathedral]

Some chick sent this to me and i thought it was interesting, it may be old, but new to some, so here it is.

Ponder This~

1. The garden of Eden was in Iraq.

2. Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq, was the cradle of civilization!

3. Noah built the ark in Iraq.

4. The Tower of Babel was in Iraq.

5. Abraham was from Ur, which is in Southern Iraq!

6. Isaac's wife Rebekah is from Nahor, which is in Iraq!

7. Jacob met Rachel in Iraq.

8. Jonah preached in Nineveh - which is in Iraq.

9. Assyria, which is in Iraq, conquered the ten tribes of Israel.

10. Amos cried out in Iraq!

11. Babylon, which is in Iraq, destroyed Jerusalem.

12. Daniel was in the lion's den in Iraq!

13. The t hree Hebrew children were in the fire in Iraq (Jesus had
been in Iraq also as the fourth person in the fiery furnace!)

14. Belshazzar, the King of Babylon saw the "writing on the wall" in Iraq.

15. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried the Jews captive into Iraq.

16. Ezekiel preached in Iraq.

17. The wise men were from Iraq.

18. Peter preached in Iraq.

19. The "Empire of Man" described in Revelation is called Babylon, which was a city in Iraq!

And you have probably seen this one. Israel is the nation most often mentioned in the Bible.
But do you know which nation is second? It is Iraq! However, that is not the name that is used in the Bible.The names used in the Bible are Babylon, Land of Shinar, and Mesopotamia.
The word Mesopotamia means between the two rivers, more exactly between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

The name Iraq, means country with deep roots.
Indeed Iraq is a country with deep roots and is a very significant country in the Bible.
No other nation, except Israel, has more history and prophecy associated it than Iraq.
And also... This is something to think about! Since America is typically represented by an eagle. (Saddam should have read up on his Muslim passages...)

The following verse is from the Koran, (the Islamic Bible)

Koran (9:11) - For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced; for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah; and there was peace. (Note the verse number!)

Hmmmmmmm?!

God Bless you all, Amen!

[FORD]

This is why I'm always telling "4moreyears" not to trust these right wing chain e-mails......

Here's what the Koran actually says...


"9.11": But if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, they are your brethren in faith; and We make the communications clear for a people who know.

As for the word "eagle" occurring anywhere in the Koran...


Search: for the phrase "eagle" within Entire Koran
Your search yielded no results.

Source: http://etext.virginia.edu/koran.html

[Cathedral]

This chick is actually the daughter of a friend of mine. she grew up and became an extremist Christian, you know, one of those types that chases people around and ridicules everything and everyone she considers a sinner?
That pretty much covers anyone who doesn't attend her particular church.
They are in to this laying on of hands and healing deal, like Benny Hinn.
Now don't get me wrong, i believe in healing because i believe with God all things are possible. I have just never witnessed one or even know anyone who has been healed beyond the miracles Jesus performed.

I have been researching this since i got it today and the scary thing is that i cannot find any two translations of the same passage that read the same.
I even placed a call to my brother's wife. her sister is married to a Morrocan and he has a copy of the book, but he doesn't appear to like me anymore.
We used to be friends, but since Bush started the war he has totally cut off contact with our entire family.

He's pissed off, bad.........

[FORD]

I'm not a Koran expert, but as far as I know there's three different translations into English over the years, all of which end up with some slight variations in the wording.

But then the 1611 KJV and the most recent Bible translation "The Message" read a bit differently from one another as well.

Arab Muslims consider it blasphemous to translate the Koran into English or any other language. If anybody actually spoke Aramaic today, they might feel the same about the New Testament.

But while there certainly is a lot of biblical history, and world history for that matter (they invented Beer, for one thing) tied up in Iraq, that's no excuse for someone to make up a fictional passage of Koranic scripture and tie it to 9-11.

Which had nothing to do with Iraq anyway.

[Cathedral]

I agree, I have a KJV bible that was written over 20 years ago and i use a living bible published in 1969 as a companion bible, but that one is no study bible by any means.
I also refer to the Strong's Concordance for my studies regularly just to ensure i get the best reference possible to words and their origins.

I recently snuck a peak at my mothers new NIV bible, and though i liked the way it is layed out, i found that the scripture in that version conflicts with my age old King James Version substantially.

I also have my first bible from 1970 when i was in the Baptist Snore Fest Sunday School, and that is identical to the one i got in '85.

It freaks me out how the book has been tampered with over the last 30 years. as i told you a long time ago, i think it may be impossible to learn the whole truth with what i can only call a famine of truth regarding the scripture today.

I would really like to be able to read those books in the language they were written in. I find it hard to sit in a church and listen to preachers teach based on their opinions and points of view.
Lately i just go there and study during the service and sort of pay attention to what is being said, and i have conflict with that too.
They clearly preach something different than what i read in a lot of ways.
I would really like to stop the man and ask questions, but that isn't practical.

I am attending lots of different churches and am totally amazed at how many different doctrines there are in the Christian faith.

[FORD]

Ever been to Biblegateway.com?

You can pull up just about any translation of the Bible from there (including many foreign languages) and you can switch from one version to another and stay on the passage of scripture you're reading. I find it a great resource to have online, rather than trying to type with one hand and turn pages with another.

[Warham]

Iraq is where it all started though. That much is true. And the Bible does make references to it without calling it 'Iraq'. It's interesting even without the Koran reference.

[Cathedral]

Yeah, the Iraq references are indeed interesting.
I remember browsing through a book at the Library this past winter and seeing recent arial photos of Babel and the ruins of where the tower stood.
Some of my family used to take trips to the holy land and i never went. at the time i was totally into drugs and drinking, playing in bands and just not interested, now i want to go.
I want to see Jesus' tomb and all the other landmarks i study about in the bible...


I have never been to Gateway.com though, Ford. I have found quite a few Bible resources over the last few years, some good and some not so good. I went through a stage where i almost believed everything i found as fact but am thankful i learned not to trust the internet so much.
I'll check that site out, people can always use another resource as long as it is a genuine unbiased source of good info.

But at the end of the day i still find myself wishing God would intervene and actually come down and tell me which direction to go in to learn the truth of what he requires of us. I get going strong for a period and then i run into a brick wall not knowing where or how to properly worship God.
More and more i feel like a rat in a maze that is confused and trying desperately to find the way out.
But the last few days i have found that every time i reach this spiritual impass i can almost hear my brain saying "Maybe it's true that there is no God, and that when we die it is just nothing, we simply cease to exist"
Now i don't like these thoughts because i feel guilty for having them, but like i said, I really wish God would appear before me and tell me if i have done good and if not, how to find the actual truth.

To have Jesus turn to me and say, "I never knew you, depart from me" is an internal fear i have always had. but i can see myself saying back to him, "But how was it possible to know you when so many that came in your name misled the faithful?"
Then we get back to the whole translation thing again.
I mean c'mon, how many people are lost in the cycle of sending checks to churches to get their "Love Gift" that they wouldn't recieve unless they wrote that check?
Then the hole Bible conspiracy where with each NEW version a total different understanding emerges.

The only way i feel i can put myself on the right track is if God physically comes to me and shows me the way.
The sea of deception is as far as the eye can see and deeper than the oceans.
I see the people talking the talk, but don't know who's really walking the walk. so i set out to prove all things relying on faith that i find and hold fast those things that are good and holy.

So many have told me, "If you pray before studying the understanding will come", well then why do i walk away understanding something totally different than them?
Why am i wrong for having doubts of their understanding?
If i test certain things against itself there is no logical earthly or spiritual way i reach the same conclusion they do.....

Then i wonder why i am the only one i know who can see it the way i do.
Are they just so twisted in depending on a man standing before them that they swallow and absorb everything he says?
But he's just a man, and i have come to the conclusion that all men are foul and full of iniquity before the Lord, so how can i follow them?

It's like the whole Rapture theory, and that is all it is, a theory.
I catch all kinds of flak whenever i disclose my view on that. But i can prove it's origin and it can even be traced exactly when that whole concept entered our Nation from Glasgow Scottland in the year 1830.

My fellow Christians look at me as though i have Blasphemed, but the scripture does far more to support what i find to be the truth than any that supports the idea of this great Rapture where God basically makes a coward out of the believers by whisking us away to Petra to hide behind a bunch of Rocks while Satan runs rabid across the earth torturing those who don't believe.
Planes falling from the sky, cars running into everything, total chaos...This cannot be true of a god that claims he loves all his children.
It clearly states that God will not return until there comes a great falling away and the son of perdition is revealed, this has not happened, so Jesus is not going to return at any given second, Paul told us this in both books of Thessalonians because people were running around thinking that any second he was going to return.

Yet i cannot find a church that will even touch those two books in a sermon and THAT is even discussed in Thessalonians as well.
Paul states that ALL CHURCHES are to teah those words, but i can't find one at all in my town.

I am just going on and on and i could do that forever in this post, but you get my point i think...where is the truth?

If someone doesn't start teaching the truth and soon, the Anti-Christ is going to return and convince Billions of people that he is Jesus returned....I won't buy it, because what is being tought cannot stand on it's own merit without removing it from it's true context.

When a techer in a Sunday school tells you that you should not come to class any more with dissruptive questions that confuse the other students, i ask, why tell me that instead of proving in the word where i am wrong?
It's like talking to a Liberal, lol.
They have alot to say without ever providing an answer or an alternative.
Debate is dead while ignorance flourishes in todays world, that is my conclusion so far.

[DrMaddVibe]

For those that read only the KJV...you do know that it's inaccurate?

The NIV and other translations helped restore the Bible to its written word. The KJV served its purpose. The "thees and thous" are for Shakespeare not the Bible.

The Koran...I don't have much use for a book that spreads hate and dissention. Oh, you can find examples of the same in the Bible, but the entire Koran is premised on the stuff.

No wonder the weak-minded and poor flock to it!

[FORD]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
For those that read only the KJV...you do know that it's inaccurate?

The NIV and other translations helped restore the Bible to its written word. The KJV served its purpose. The "thees and thous" are for Shakespeare not the Bible.

As I said, I have a number of Bible translations and don't really prefer one over the other, but the NIV is certainly easier to read than the KJV. Funny story though - some factions of the religious reich are so convinced that the KJV is the "only authorized Bible" that they have made up some ridiculous stories.

A few years ago I worked for a bible software company. At the time we didn't have the NIV on our CD-ROM because of licensing issues. Half the customers wanted it. The other half - mostly from the deep Bible Belt South - told us we should never get it. I asked one of these folks what they had against the NIV. His reason - and I am NOT making this up - was that "It was translated by LESBIANS!"

Weird, I must have missed that Anna & Eve story in Genesis. :confused:

And Cat, as for any particular bias or spin at BibleGateway.com, there is none. Just the straight Bible text. There's some reference tools there as well concordances and stuff like that, but I haven't really used them much. I never really got into reading one book to tell me what another book says.

The Koran...I don't have much use for a book that spreads hate and dissention. Oh, you can find examples of the same in the Bible, but the entire Koran is premised on the stuff.

No wonder the weak-minded and poor flock to it!

AssVibe, have you actually READ the Koran, or are you just basing your opinion on what Pat Robertson or some other right wing preacher says?

Pat Robertson is a salesman for his religion. Are you going to find a marketing rep for PepsiCo telling you how good the new Diet Coke with Splenda is?

Do you ask your Chevy dealer about the new Toyota hybrid pickup? And if you do, do you expect an unbiased answer?