torah // Current

Head of British Forces in Afghanistan: "XXX does more to safeguard civilians than any other army"

Head of British forces in Afghanistan to the UN: "Israel did more to safeguard... more

datamined
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1 month ago
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3 comments

Experience of a minster who converted to Islam

" Experience of a minster who converted to Islam " I know that the title of the... more

baspren
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2 months ago
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I Am A Jew. I Am An Atheist. I Am Disillusioned.

I always wanted to "see the light." To unearth the secret of piety and understand... more

jrn
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2 months ago
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2 comments

Questions from a confused Christian

Questions from a confused Christian I read in the newspaper that 15% of the Koran... more

baspren
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2 months ago
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12 comments

Why is the apostate to be executed in Islam?

Why is the apostate to be executed in Islam? As a non Muslim, I find myself Intrigued... more

baspren
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2 months ago
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10 comments

Why does the Quran use the term "we" in its ayats?

The meaning of the pronoun “We” as used in the Qur’an Why does the Quran use... more

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2 months ago
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Mary in the Holy Qur'an : A Story of Glorification

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5 months ago
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What do Muslims believe?

Muslims believe in the One, Unique, Incomparable, Merciful God - the Sole Creator, Sustainer and Cherisher of the Universe; in the Angels created by Him; in the prophets through whom His revelations were brought to humankind; in the Day of Judgment, and in individual accountability for actions; in God's complete authority over destiny, be it good or bad and in life after death.

Muslims believe that God sent His messengers and prophets to all people. Biblical prophets mentioned in the Qur'an include: Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Ishmael, Isaac, Job, Ezekiel, Jacob, Joseph, Jonah, Jethro, Moses, Aaron, Elijah, Elisha, David, Solomon, Zechariah, John the Baptist, and Jesus; peace be upon them all.

God's final message to humanity was revealed to the last prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him), through the Archangel Gabriel. It confirmed and finalized all previous revelations that were sent to humankind through God's messengers.

One becomes a Muslim by believing and proclaiming that, "There is no deity except God, and that Muhammad is the messenger of God." By this declaration the believer announces his or her faith in all of God's messengers, and in the scriptures revealed to them.

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May I suggest to the seeker of truth do the following NINE STEPS for purification of the mind:

Clean their mind, their heart and their soul real good.
Clear away all the prejudices and biases.
Read a good translation of the meaning of the Holy Quran in a language that they can understand best.
Take some time.
Read and reflect.
Think and pray.
And keep on asking the One who created you in the first place, to guide you to the truth.
Keep this up for a few months. And be regular in it.
Above all, do not let others who are poisoned in their thinking influence you while your are in this state of "rebirth of the soul."
The rest is between you and the Almighty Lord of the Universe. If you truly love Him, then He already knows it and He will deal with each of us according to our hearts.

Peace to you and Guidance from Allah the One Almighty God, Creator and Sustainer of all that exists.Muslims believe in the One, Unique, Incomparable, Merciful God - the Sole Creator,... more

baspren
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2 months ago
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Answers to Born-Again Preachers' ( Islam Q&A )

Islam: "Way of life in submission to God in Peace" Allah said in the Holy Quran: "It... more

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Why do people need religion? ( Islam Q&A )

Mankind’s need for religion Why do people need religion? Isn’t it enough to have... more

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2 months ago
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A Non Muslim is Objecting to a Muslim Student Who Does Not Enjoy Himself With Them in Night Clubs!

A non-Muslim is objecting to a Muslim student who does not enjoy himself with them in... more

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2 months ago
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Meira Warshauer – Like Streams in the Desert

Please view in HQ and full screen. Meira Warshauer's orchestra work, Like Streams... more

jamesarts
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3 months ago
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Judaism 101: Does Parashat Ekev have a hedonistic message?

A discussion of the themes of desire, gratification and satiety in Parashat Ekev.

davidfcooper
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4 months ago
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AP: Israeli Offensive only 13% are civilian deaths

Most wars have between 30-60% civilians Deaths. In Gaza offensive by Israel, only 13%... more

datamined
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11 months ago
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55 comments

Top American Imam Hassan Qazwini: Humans should respect environment and not hunt for pleasure

The Michigan Earth Keeper Initiative promotes interfaith environment projects and... more

Yoopernewsman
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12 months ago
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Top U.S. Imam Hassan Qazwini: World's religions, humans have lots in common, few differences

The Michigan Earth Keeper Initiative and the Earth Healing Initiative promote... more

Yoopernewsman
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1 year ago
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Turtle Island Project Director Some rich view Indigenous Peoples as "expendable commodities"

TIP Dir. Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard:
I think we have here two different forms of religion. Ands its this religion of my ancestors that I participate in that I think really has been the problem. I think we have to come to understand that religious consciousness evolves just like anything else does. It's not just the material world that evolves but also our cultural world evolves and the realm of the concept evolves. We are going now, as a people - there was a time from prehistorical religions to historic religions. the religions of the book Judaism, Christianity, Islam to this historic period. Now I think that is transending to this transrational understanding of spirituality. And as part of this transrational understanding of spirituality is an appropriation of this knowledge and spirituality of Earth-based cultures. I think we have to be open now to what John Trudell called ‘spirit making and escape.’ I love this idea. My spirit needs to make an escape from my religious consciousness. The racial and cultural genocide that still goes on today inside this country . Judaism is an inherently ethical religion except you have to be a Canaanite. You may get your ass kicked or your head cut off but basically it's OK. But sky Gods and cultures that worship sky Gods are traditionally barbaric - Read the Old Testament - Wow! Talk about patriarchy. But we are in a war. It is not a war of my choosing.But we are in a war I truly believe that - a war fore our hearts and our minds. We have to continually fight.It's multi-generational. We fight against great principalities and powers. It's amazing. If you stick your head up out of the foxhole just a little bit and you start speaking on behalf of the poor. Those bullets are flying. I said something about a corporation. I said we created these corporations and political structures that aren't moral entities because you have to say things like: ‘I'm sorry. I made a mistake.' You have to admit your humanness. When's the last time your heard a politician ever admit a mistake unless they were forced to? ‘I did not have sex with that woman - I did not inhale - yes I smoked but I did not inhale' And I said corporations are liked this too - they are not moral entities because they cannot do these things like apologize. Well, good Lord that's attacking a sacred cow - there's a guy in my congregation who just went ballistic - who quit the church because he had spent his entire life benefiting from, working for, a non-moral entity. I did not say all corporations were liked this - I just said some corporations are like this. Well that's all you have to say. Rev. Hubbard said Americans and all people who call Earth home need to protect the environment. He said we have lost the sense of the sacred - a lesson that can be learned from Native Americans and other Indigenous peoples. I understand this because I feel desperate. What John Trudell was talking about is the same way. We've lost our way. We do not have any spiritual sense because we have lost any sense of the sacred. A great historian of the religions Mircea Eliade who was at the University of Chicago where I for many years - I did his funeral. Mircea Eliade had this notion that in order to have a hierophany, an experience of the sacred, you have to have sacred space. If this Earth is not sacred to you, which it isn't to Mickey Mouse, then you can't have an experience of the sacred. I deal with people every day in my congregation who have lost or are losing any sense of the sacred. And it's not only - like you were saying this relationship between Earth and women - and the earth and man. If you do not have power in a capitalistic society, you become part of and you are thought of in terms of the Earth. Women who have less economic power, children who don't have any power at all unless somebody gives it to them, Indigenous communities, you are all thought of as expendable commodities.TIP Dir. Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard: I think we have here two different forms of religion.... more

Yoopernewsman
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1 year ago
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Psychotropic plants made Moses hear ‘voices’ at Mt Sinai

By Ofri Ilani, Haaretz Correspondent

“And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the horn, and the mountain smoking.” Thus the book of Exodus describes the impressive moment of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

The “perceiving of the voices” has been interpreted endlessly since these words were first written. When Professor Benny Shanon, professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, reads the verse, he recalls a powerful hallucinatory experience he had when he visited the Amazon and drank a potion made from a plant called ayahuasca.

“One of the things that happens when you drink the potion is a visual experience created via sounds,” he says.Shanon presents a provocative theory in an article published this week in the philosophy journal Time and Mind. The religious ceremonies of the Israelites included the use of psychotropic materials that can found in the Negev and Sinai, he says.

“I have no direct proof of this interpretation,” and such proof cannot be expected, he says. However, “it seems logical that something was altered in people’s consciousness. There are other stories in the Bible that mention the use of plants: for example, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden.”

Shanon, former head of the Hebrew University psychology department, said his first experience with ayahuasca was in 1991 when he was invited to a religious ceremony in the northern Amazon in 1991 in Brazil.

“I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations,” he says.

Since that time, he has used it hundreds of times, and has published a book about the plant.

“Hypotheses have been around for 20 years connecting the beginning of religions with psychoactive materials,” Shanon says. He believes the Israelites used two plants in Sinai and the Negev: one of them is wild rue, a hallucinogen used by the Bedoin to this day. However this plant is not identified with any plant mentioned in the Bible.

The acacia tree also has psychedelic properties, Shanon says, which the Israelites could have used. The acacia is mentioned frequently in the Bible, and was the type of wood of which the Ark of the Covenant was made. According to Shanon, he drank a potion prepared from a species of acacia while he was in South America, which caused similar experiences to those produced by the ayahuasca.

Shanon also sees signs of a hallucinogenic vision in the story of the burning bush. “Moses ‘looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed,’” Shanon quotes from Exodus 3:2. Time passes differently when under the influence of the plant, he notes. “That’s why Moses thought the bush was not consumed. It should have been burned in the time he thought had passed. And in that time, he heard God speaking to him.”

“But not everyone who uses a plant like this brings the Torah,” Shanon concedes. “For that, you have to be Moses.”By Ofri Ilani, Haaretz Correspondent “And all the people perceived the... more