Did Islams Muhammed start off as a pacifist? What happened, anyone know the history of this change?
Pacifism in Islam - Wikipedia

How many of us can genuinely say that we respect another person's right to hold beliefs that don't coincide with our current beliefs?

All I can say is that I find it a constant challenge and I don't always manage it!

My beliefs have certainly evolved over the course of a single lifetime.

By what criteria are we going to decide whose beliefs are "right" and whose are "wrong"?

Yes. Yes. I know. I am taking all the fun out of the forum

Enough preaching! How about song -

So, if you believe the Bible and Koran is the word of God, what would you say to someone who says both the Bible and Koran severely go against their conscience and rational mindedness?

Should they follow an ancient text that their conscience screams is wrong, cruel, bigoted, misogynistic, condemning, full of contradictions, and irrational?

If you believe they should follow the text over their conscience, please explain why. Thanks. This is my battle at the moment, whether or not I should...

John 3:13 does not mean that whoever died before Jesus Christ died will never be in Heaven.
It just means that he had to go first.

No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man. John 3:13

For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand Acts 2:34

I am not aware (and neither are YOU, gb) that Acts of the Apostles 2:34 ever said does not. It is written, "did not" and that is the truth.

When...

An interesting article for a variety of reasons:

In Interview, Top Indonesian Muslim Scholar Says Stop Pretending That Orthodox Islam and Violence Aren't Linked

Western politicians should stop pretending that extremism and terrorism have nothing to do with Islam. There is a clear relationship between fundamentalism, terrorism, and the basic assumptions of Islamic orthodoxy. So long as we lack consensus regarding this matter, we cannot gain victory over fundamentalist violence within Islam....

"The truly wise are also very humble."

Well, I guess that lets me out!

Seriously though ... how rare is true wisdom?

Do you personally know anyone who qualifies as wise?

"I believe that the first test of a truly great person is his or her humility. I do not mean by humility, doubt of his or her own powers. But really great people have a curious feeling that the greatness is not in them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other person."

~ John Ruskin

When god made man and woman he constructed each so they could mate and produce offspring. To this end man was given a penis to insert into the woman so his sperm could reach and fertilize her eggs. In Genesis 3:15 god verifies this expectation when tells Eve:

I will cause you to have much trouble
when you are pregnant.
And when you give birth to children,
you will have much pain.

Now, I seriously doubt ether A&E knew what god was talking about when he mentioned pregnancy, what...

Quran 5:33 Indeed, the punishment of those who fight Allah and His Messenger and who go around corrupting the land is to be killed, crucified, have their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, or to be banished from the land. That is a disgrace for them in this life, and in the life to come theirs will be a terrible punishment.

I didn't want to start another thread like this, but I learned a lot in the other threads I started like this, and I'm very curious to see what the answers are....

Hi. I'm new here. My first post I wanted to discuss the subject of something that seems taboo to talk about : - pornography. The Messiah constantly referred to the generation he was apart of as an 'adulterous generation' but I would venture to say that the generation we are living in is far worst thanks to the rise of pornography especially through the internet and telivision. So I have a question. Why do so few predominantly Chr-stian countries do *nothing* about it? And I'm not just...

I love Yahweh, I just find he makes poor choices, is a mass murderer, a Dictator, is extremely obsessed with himself, and extremely jealous when people turn to another Deity.

How could you argue he isn't narcissistic?...he destroys people and damns them to hell for not worshipping him. That sounds narcissistic to the core!