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   believe in God???……… NONE!  If these semi dietys were removed the   
   world would have only one religion and total unification. All   
   religions seem to be preaching the same fundamental beliefs of right   
   over wrong, good leads to good and bad leads to bad, love overcomes   
   hate, generosity, charity, and abandonment of the things of this world   
   that corrupt us.  There are countless expressions of the same feelings   
   mankind experiences to be found in a huge variety of separate   
   religious groups. Does any one religion have the arrogance to claim to   
   have the monopoly on believing in such things as peace, love,   
   forgiveness, patience, perseverance, etc?……….How many wars have been   
   fought and how many lives have been lost because of power being   
   assigned to the things of this life and people assuming they must be   
   different because they have different titles but are in fact feeling   
   the same universal thoughts? …..When you look around you will find   
   that this is the root cause of all seperation and predudice…People   
   kill to protect (so called) "holy" buildings and shrines, they will   
   kill to protect their fellow "holy" men and community because they   
   have the same religious label as him/her with no regard for the fact   
   someone's true religion is there actions rather than title. Even the   
   instincts of atheists will say that this is what turns them away from   
   religion. Atheists will often say they believe "something" exists but   
   they hate the stupidity of organized religion. One such example was   
   when the French government recently gave an order to ban all religious   
   symbols in schools because they said it was the root cause of all   
   conflict between the different faiths…. They even went to the extreme   
   of banning Muslim women from wearing head scalfs because they said it   
   made them stand out as being different from others…..Despite the fact   
   that the reason Muslim men and women dress as they do is because Islam   
   teaches them to dress with plain modest clothing that will guard   
   against being seen as a sexual object and so that people will more   
   easily judge you for your character over the pressures of superficial   
   beauty.…So who is to decide what dress should be the standard and is   
   the most modest and the norm? If you go so Saudi Arabia all people   
   ware the same modest Muslim clothing and there is no one person   
   standing out from the rest!. …Muslims believe that in order to find   
   guidance to the truth you must first give up all forms of "shirk"   
   (partner worship) and connect with Gods guidance directly without any   
   intercession. Muslims believe Gods central message was the concept of   
   unity and that this can only be achieved by giving up the catalyst   
   "shirk" in all its forms. It is the defining line between devotion to   
   God and those who have gone astray with temptation to invest in   
   something other than God. To become a Muslim, Muslims must say in the   
   company of other Muslim witnesses, "There is no God but God and   
   Mohamed was the last messenger of God" and also carry out this creed   
   in practice by avoiding all forms of shirk   
      
   Here are some other examples of "shirk   
      
   1. Listening to the directions of another person including religious   
   directions before listening to your own instincts.   
   2. Nationalism…since this involves following orders given by another   
   person's beliefs before listening to your own conscience given by God   
   3. Promoting someone or something above the level of ordinary man (the   
   opposite of modesty)   
   4. Promoting anything above its natural level….rocks, symbols, statues   
   and buildings etc which many people have been known to defend with   
   their lives and kill for.   
   5. Debating with another suggesting that you both believe in different   
   Gods….hence the saying: "Your God is my God, and My God is your God"   
   which is to be said when another person tries to engage you in   
   religious debate.   
   6. Giving admiration to another because of the position of authority   
   over others simply because of wealth,  fame,  or blood line etc.   
   7. putting your love and admiration into a sports team to the extent   
   that you will be hostile to others to protect your love of it.   
   8. The protection of a group of people based on their title. Ie…taking   
   the side of a person or nation of people simply because they call   
   themselves Muslim or Christian. The shirk in this example is a case of   
   black and white generalistic group mentality thinking that all the   
   good people live in one place under one title and all the bad people   
   live someplace else under another title. A kind of tendency to judge   
   someone/something as good or bad because of the label associated with   
   them. Idealistic thinking can be a dangerous thing. In this case the   
   mere word "Muslims" or "Christians" can become the idealistic object   
   of shirk An imaginary purist army of true believers that people will   
   support without question. The side you take in a dispute should be   
   based on the persons actions rather than their titles, since somebodys   
   religion is their action rather than their title.   
      
   Muslims believe that Jesus was a Prophet of God and that he taught the   
   above message of unity and love to mankind. Muslims believe that Jesus   
   was not the "son of god" or God himself, but was a man who had   
   weaknesses as we all do and was a "messenger for God". Many Christians   
   mistakenly believe that Islam rejects the message of Jesus. The truth   
   is that Muslims believe that much of the Christian text is authentic,   
   and that Jesus taught a message of Love, peace, forgiveness, charity,   
   etc and also told people that salvation will only be achieved through   
   him. "Through him" however does not mean literally "worship him" but   
   means to "follow his message and direction". When translating the   
   famous quote: "No one comes to the father except through me" we must   
   consider the circumstances surrounding Jesus at the time. We know that   
   there were many people preaching various beliefs in the lifetime of   
   Jesus just as there are today and that Jesus had to show people that   
   his message was the only authentic message worth listening to. And so   
   we have Jesus saying to the people the above quote. The above quote   
   however does not imply that Jesus is asking the people to worship Him   
   but it does imply that his message is the only truth and that no other   
   teachings or way of life are valid. Muslims believe that parts of   
   Christian texts have been corrupted by the idea that Jesus was God and   
   that he asked his followers to direct their worship at him and   
   therefore these parts of text cannot be relied on to give accurate   
   direction in life despite having a lot of text which gives authentic   
   good moral direction.. Muslims believe that Mohamed was sent the   
   Kur'an to put right these alterations in the teachings of Jesus. The   
   same status of Jesus also applies to Mohamed who was also a prophet of   
   God and also just a man with weaknesses like all of us. He warned his   
   followers not to worship him or his grave when he died. This is why   
   you rarely see a picture of Mohamed because obedient Muslims will not   
   direct their worship to anything but God. Muslims believe Mohamed was   
   born so that mankind was given Gods message of how to achieve unity   
   and the right path one last time and a warning for those Jews and   
   early Christians who had and will go against this message of love and   
   unity by practicing the human invention of shirk. Muslims believe that   
   the only true guidance in this life is found through giving up all   
   forms of "Shirk" in word and practice and worshipping God alone   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)