The Labyrinth

A warm autumn day, cotton clouds drifting overhead, the breeze patting my back telling me everything will be okay. There is a flock of birds nesting nearby in the old oak tree solemnly watching as I lay down a bouquet of flowers at her head. A pillar marks her final bed in the shade where we often came to get away from it all. The tree still bears our initials etched so many years ago. A love now lost. As I look down through the dirt, through the box that confines her, I see my reflection in her bright eyes. I see who I am, where I’ve been, where I am. I was swept to sea as the tide of life slipped from her body. Several years ago, we took what would be our last trip together to the mountains of Tibet. I remember looking down on the world. Something I’d done many times throughout my life only this time for real. We were very high up. The Greeks saw their Gods in the mists that surrounded Mount Olympus. As the clouds surrounded where we stood upon the great mountain I looked into her eyes and reflected, I saw God and he was me. Then my phone went off. It was God calling. I was only perhaps Jesus Christ doing God’s every bidding, never doing anything for myself. Only working miracles for the company. I thanked my business contacts for the wonderful experience and climbed down the mountain to my waiting jet. Many people want to be God. Very few actually achieve the status in the eyes of anyone but themselves.

Growing up I had a very well to do family. Unless you like the idea of being normal, it was a good thing. By normal, I mean a middle class working stiff at a dead end job working sixty hours a week to bring home a pay check that barely covers the bills. Bills he has because he’s in denial about the state of his life. A four-bedroom townhouse with a brand new Volkswagen Jetta in the garage. A wife that mistreats him, two point five obnoxious kids and a dog that has a thing for the leather sofa he bought on his now maxed out credit card. All because he’s middle class but doesn’t want to look like it and would rather die than have his charade revealed. He’ll die from a heart attack before he’s 60 induced by stress and his wife’s bad cooking he’s too spineless to object too. If he ever criticized her, she’d be gone and he’d be living in a cardboard box. I swore that would I never be living that life. I was young and rich and I’d be old and rich. My dad made his fortune off the stock market and I would too. He often took me to Vegas to teach me a thing or two and have some fun as well.

In Vegas, any moron can toss down a nickel and walk out a millionaire. That same moron will then walk into a car dealership and purchase a brand new car. Then walk over to a realtor and lay out a down payment on a fancy house. By this time, they guy is on such a high he just doesn’t stop spending. Can’t have a fancy car without a top of the line stereo system. Can’t have a fancy house without fancy furniture. Then to top if off, this middle class fly by night millionaire hires a bunch of working stiffs, of which he was one the day before, to take care of his messes because sometime in the last 24 hours he decided he was too good to work anymore. Within a year, he’ll be broke. His wife will leave him. His kids won’t speak to him. The house will be gone. The car will be gone and he’ll be a slave to the curb as his slaves are set free. While he’s sitting there, a random person will drop a nickel into his cup and he’ll remember the nickel that cost him everything. That will be the day he dies. Over the bridge and into the river to be washed up for the second time in his life. Any genius could end up the same way. That’s the way it works in Vegas.

If you’re not careful, that’s the way it works in stocks as well. You’ve got your companies that are selling for pennies a stock literally and you throw down a twenty because it was cluttering your pocket. You’ve now got several hundred shares in this company. The next day that company could be broke and you’re out twenty. It could also be up to fifty cents a share and you’ve just turned twenty dollars into a couple hundred. Should I have risked more? Course not. It’s like throwing a nickel in a slot machine. It may come back out or you may never see it again. But no matter how tempting it is, you never put a nickel back into a slot that just paid off or that lost you money. Eventually you’re going to lose that nickel. The stocks to really pay attention to are the ones that you can’t afford in any worthwhile quantity unless you’re willing to empty your pockets. That’s when you become an investor and not a gambler. You wouldn’t walk through a neighborhood and buy the cheapest house with the best looking outside and hope to turn a profit. The same way you don’t just look for any stock no matter how big the name and plop down several thousand. I was 16 when I found the company that convinced me to empty my pockets.

My mother was a teacher at a private school in Beverly Hills. Up until High School she was my teacher. Three thousand books filled our library and were my lesson books for English, writing and philosophy. Math consisted of watching the stock market every day for several hours calculating earnings, loses and potentials on a number of stocks. I learned how to research by studying both established and rising businesses to judge risk and return on imaginary short-term investments. My end of the year project starting in sixth grade was to make a profit on a one million dollar investment. Monopoly money of course. You don’t play poker in Vegas without Friday night poker with the crew. My parents taught me a lot and they taught me well. The most important thing they taught me was to strive to be a teacher. A student can only go where others have gone before. A teacher must be able to do things such as take the complex ideas of Nietzsche and explain them to someone who’s never experienced anything like it before. Like telling a painter who’s never seen a rhino what a rhino looks like in such detail that they can paint one as though they have.

On a scale from one to ten judging how good you look, money is a +3 bonus. A nice car is an additional two points. My Benz never had an empty passenger seat though the person who occupied it often was. My social experiences growing up mostly consisted of balls and conventions leading to my high standards for peers. I found most people my age wanted to talk about vain girls, drink beer flavored rat piss and listen to talent less musicians. I wanted to discuss money, politics and with refined women. In High School everyone has a clique. My clique just didn’t attend. At the conventions, they often talked of their extravagant adventures in the far reaches of the earth. The ones my age often traded investment tips while for some reason the older ones stuck to their adventures. We just assumed they have reached investor nirvana and we weren’t old enough to handle it. I would later learn they were just sick of talking about money. The relished their adventures because they were infrequent and usually a result of a business trip. The stories I heard from one person about their trips to the Congo turned out to be one trip that lasted a month. He wanted very badly to live there but he couldn’t abandon everything. He was shackled to his safe.

As I continued gazing into her eyes through the filter of the earth, I realized she was my second love. My first love was money. I realize now what a mistake that was. When it was down, she was there to build me up. When the market was uncertain she was my rock. When she became ill, it failed me. Now she is gone and my money remains. Stock certificates don’t make a comfortable bed. I pulled out my hacksaw and cut checks to my children. My shackles fell to the ground and I walked away through the brass gates of the cemetery and closed them behind me. I had everything and now I have nothing. I am washed up for the second time in my life and I never felt cleaner. All I have no is the wisdom of years gone by and my feet to guide me. I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow or the next day. All I know is that wherever I am, I’ll never have to leave if I don’t want to and that’s all that matters. I’ll never again pass through that door again for that place is for the dead, not the living.

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04-24-2002

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Sheets of glass cover our little world
We can see out, they can see in
Storms rage and fires burn
All we knows is warmth and light

The gardeners comes in from the cold
Their whites coats cleaned for the day
Their gloves go on, afraid to touch
Afraid of pricking their bare hands

The supervisor sits in a chair
At a desk away from it all
As long as we’re here
That’s all he cares

When we get older we leave this place
To belong to another, another’s embrace
Nearly all gardeners are happy to see us go
Having survived this long, it’s time to step outside the glass

A gardener comes in with soil on his coat
A white beard covers his face
Not content with the touch of his gloves
He removes them and his filth drops down

The touch of his bare hands upon our leaves
A feeling never experienced before, something so odd
The supervisor sits in his chair, behind a wall
Unaware of this gardeners methods

As we get older we flourish with beauty unmatched
The gardener gets anxious and takes some early
Lest some other take us when we mature
And leave him behind, alone in with his soil

By night they are taken, exposed to the world
By day they are here in our protected lair
The supervisor takes role and knows nothing’s amis
But as they get older there is something wrong

Their leaves aren’t as green as all others are
Their petals aren’t red, more pinkish and drab
The water sits, too distracted to drink
Soon they will wilt, their horrible fate

Too soon they were taken, too soon they die
The gardener offers nothing to comfort
The loss felt by others, too busy he works
Looking to find another to take it’s place.

We’re too scared to speak
Too young to understand
He’s too old to change
They’re too blind to see

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04-24-2002

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The pains of birth pushed me to the sky
My viens emptied and my skin fell deep
The rain that carved eternal tears down my sides
Mountains and valleys formed after years of uncertainty

Now waters flow from sources unseen.
Etching wrinkles over time
Birds flying overhead keeping me company
A halo of colors telling me everything is okay

Dark clouds drift by giving life freely
Millions of creatures take a sip
Only if man were rain would they ever
Get a glimpse of all I have to offer

I was here before man knew how to speak
I was here when they learned to write
I was here when they walked right by
I hold on as they try to destroy

For years they came and went
Taking for granted all I have to offer
Never stopping to smell the heliconias
Or observe the gilded swordtail

It cost nothing for me to come to be
It cost millions for man to destroy what I am
I offered them food but they desired their own
I offered them shelter but they desired their own

Never content with what can be had for free
Considering money the only thing of value
The clouds are lifting and my halo is gone
The bright sun shines over a cloudy condition

I hear a loud noise and pain shoots through me
A loud crash silences a thousand voices
Never heard by those that silenced them
A shout of victory over an ancient tree that resisted

A thousand fires came and went
A spark from the heavens to renew me
This fire will not cease, burning day and night
To destroy my trees that they may grow their own

As a son stives to overpower his father
Men build concrete fortresses to the sky
Thinking themselves mightier than who created
I shake and they build again in defience.

Water flows through every pore
Through mine water renews again and again
Through theirs, pure water goes in, poison comes out
They have defeated me, I cannot clean this mess

I grow sick but they’re too blind to see
I am hungry but they’re too busy to care
They have salted my soil with their wretched ways
They have poisoned my blood with their greed

Now they are sick, the sky is not clean
The water they drink cannot be cleansed
The food they eat is contrary to nature
They are never filled and desire more

Soon I am naked but they still want more
I have nothing more to offer so they look to the stars
They see a red planet and seek to go there
That planet is dead, at one time more dead than even I

They have destroyed me and yet are under delussion
That they can build another which has never been as I was
I would have helped them long ago I would
But the resources that would carry them are no longer

Long ago man looked at wonder into heaven
At the stars thinking they one day would travel
They strived for years and hope nearly become reality
But now they can never and their hope is dispair

They die in a ceaspool of their greed
The destruction they caused to me will now be their own
As I rid myself of this human infection
One day I will be reborn. But one day, they will not.

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03-29-2002

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A picture is worth a thousand words, but they’re all locked up in student art. They’re assumed to be there although no one but the artist knows what they are. A students paints a self portrait from which many stories could be invented but none would be less significant had they been deciphered from the photo of another or no one at all. All that remains is a lifelike painting that has no more depth than the canvas it was painted on.

A lonely soldier strikes a gay little pose with his hand at his hip, facing his comrades in women’s arms with a look of disgust on his face. Perhaps he is upset that the women would rather talk about manly stories of war and destruction than the latest fashions in Roman armor and what flowers would match the castle gates or what pastels would look nice on his chariot. A man sits on a corner reaching for a scrap, looking up self-conscious of those looking upon his wretched state. A child sits, his face in his arms, surrounded by calendars of time flying by while locked in a moment for all others to see.

Two towers bleed, engulfed in flames. Tombstones surround with epitaphs of innocence lost and sentiments spoken many times before for travesties past no longer remembered and lessons forgotten. A painting so large no one will miss until perhaps years from now and another will be painted as a new lesson, the first having been forgotten like the lonely soldier, the homeless man and the child. Then a new student will come and remind us again to seek a thousand words for his lesson in art.

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04-24-2002

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I remember the school
I remember the people
I remember her
But most of all, I remember the e-mail

I remember the school. Benson, MN was a small town of population around 3300. The Junior High and High School were only a hallway away from each other. Going from one to the other was an age long rite of passage for all the students. At the start of the hallway down to the other side was a cracked section of wall that buldged out like an outlet and was always warm. Everyday we walked past it we’d touch the wall and wonder when it would all burn down. Then one day he had a fire drill that wasn’t a test. Even after that day the wall was still warm. The smoke had something to do with the kitchen. Now that I think about it, it was probably a heater pipe but that’s not nearly as interesting as a potential fire hazard.

I remember the people. There were only 95 students in my class and I knew all their names first and last. There was one year that a student named Poike Sandstrom and a friend broke into the computer lab, grabbed a computer and made their way out through the restroom and out the window. They later found him sleeping in a ditch halfway to Alexandria which was a two hour drive away. Then was also Benjamin Moberry who was the son of one of the farmers in the area who had named their company Moodairy Farms. There was Aaron Jungwirth the genieus, Jon Cluever the joker and many others who made the small town quite interesting.

I remember her. Jennifer Huston. Her light brown hair and soft voice. I remember talking to her once the entire time I was there. I had quite a diversity in the friends I hung out with but she wasn’t one of them. I can’t remember what we talked about or why she made the effort to talk me though it was probably to be friendly as I was quite shy. I had my group I hung out with and everyone else just kind of existed though I picked up bits of information here and there since everyone knew everyone and I’m sure I talked to everyone at least once. I’ve always been content just doing my thing though I also like being part of a crowd.

But most of all, I remember the e-mail. Willmar is a 45 minute drive that everyone had taken many times. It was the closest place for real department stores. The speed limit was 55 but everyone went at least 65. In 1995 I moved from Benson, Minnesota to Phoenix, Arizona. In 1996 I recieved an e-mail from Aaron telling that she had rolled her car speeding home from Willmar and had died instantly. This wasn’t something I was prepared to deal with but the first thing that came to mind was that she had suffered only a little for an eternity of happiness and I couldn’t see that as a bad trade. I don’t think it’ll ever stop affecting me when I look back to this day but I also know I have to move on.

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03-09-2002

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I remember the sky
I remember the wind
I remember the dark
But most of all, I remember the news

I remember the sky. It was so long ago in Ottertail, MN 1985. I was 5 years old at the time. My parents, my two brothers and me all went down into the dark basement with a small window to see outside. In Minnesota, the typical colors of the sky consist of blue and grey. Mostly gray. This was the first time I’d ever seen a green sky. I remember feeling a bit nervous just because it was so odd. The rolling clouds looked low enough to touch with a green hue eminating from them. My dad said it looked like pea soup. I had never eaten pea soup but I was pretty sure it didn’t glow.

I remember the wind. We made our way down to the basement and into the cellar which I remember being stocked with potatoes and other garden variety foods. Which would make sense as my mom had quite a large garden in the back yard. There was a small window above our heads which made my parents nervous so we covered up with a nice thick blanket in case the glass would break. The wind howled like a wolf trying to blow our house down. I don’t remember being afraid. More annoyed that I couldn’t go outside and see what was going on. There was a wooden door with a slab of wood holding it shut.

I remember the dark. That was the whole of my experience for the duration of this ordeal. The cellar was small and cramped with a hard concrete floor. A musty smell filled the air. We had to stay down there until we knew the tornado had passed. I was way too young for this kind of excitement. All I could think about was wanting to get out of there and doing something besides hanging out in what was basically a food closet. My parents seemed very nervous about the events that were unfolding and I trusted them so I didn’t make any fuss about having to stay put.

But most of all, I remember the news. The tornado had touched down only a quarter mile from our house in a corn field. Apparently only a small section of the field where it touched down was damaged but everything else was left alone. My parents were releived but also a bit shaken. I was just happy to be out of the celar. They told me that tornadoes often do wierd things like destorying one side of a street and leaving the other untouched. That was fortunatly the first and so far the last first hand experience with nature doing not so natural things. Now that I know what was going on, being in the cellar seems like a fine idea should it ever happen again.

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03-09-2002

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Anything that exists must be being. If it were non-being it wouldn’t exist by definition. Or at least it wouldn’t exist in reality. It could simply be intangible like dragons and extended warrenties. They may not be able to been seen but in one’s imagination but that doesn’t stop them from affecting people. We experience thought but it has no form. It doesn’t have a position or take up space. As soon as we forget it, it ceases to exist. For it to cease to exist, it must have previously existed. Therefore, at least thoughts can be. In order for a thought to come into existance it must come from something.

But there are also things which are tangible, having form. If nothing does not exist then there must not be any place that contains nothing. For if nothing can be contained it must be something. Therefore being must be infinite as nothing does not exist so everything that does exist is something and that something is being. If it is infinite then it is everywhere. However, to be everywhere there must be a position. Position is simply a relation between two points. If being is infinite, it contains an inifite number of points and therefore an infinite number of positions and therefore is infinite in size. Since position is based on being then both must coexist or neither would exist. Without being there are no points. With no points there is no position. As thoughts which have no substance are contained in the mind which has substance, so are points which have no substance contained in being which has substance.

Being is not created. If it were created it would come from something and that something would be being. Therefore being is both infinite in time and space. If being could cease to exist then it would no longer be being. If being which is infinite ceased to exist then nothing would fill an infinite void. For nothing to replace an infinite something it must be something itself. Therefore being cannot cease to exist. Therefore since being cannot be created or destrong it is both eternally old and eternally young. Young and old are opposite intangibles as neither can be touched. Like postition they are relative to a body. However the body of young and old is time which is also intangible. Therefore there is no contradiction as young is at one end of the body and old at the other with age in the middle an equal distance from both. Therefore it could be considered both young and old as a glass can be half empty or half full.

Being is one made of three. It has height, width and depth. If being had no height there would be nothing in the place of something which cannot exist. If it had no width there would be something in place of nothing which cannot exist. If it had no dept there would be something in place of nothing which cannot exist. Therefore height, width and depth make up being which is infinite in all directions. Direction is relative to height, width and depth. Height, width, and depth are relative to body. Without body none could exist. Without body, height, width and depth could not exist. Without height, width and depth, direction could not exist. As each are relative to each other.

As position which is intangible cannot exist ultimately without a tangile, so do all intagibles ultimately require a tangible to exist. Position requires height, width or depth which are intangibles to exist. Height, width and depth, require body which is tangible. Therefore since my thoughts which have drifted in and out through the writing of this paper are intangible, so I must be tangible or intangible as an intangible cannot come from nothing therefore I must be something. Therefore, I do too exist.

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03-29-2002

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My topic dealt with fundamentalism and what I learned is that people don’t know how to deal with it. When I posted my second paper the first accusation was that the version of the Koran I used was mistranslated. I used http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/ to compare the translation I used to others and found no significant differences. The next attempt was to show my verses were “out of context” though instead of putting them in context they simply created contradictions. They also said nothing I hadn’t said myself. The problem is that members of many religions are told by their own leaders that there are problems with their texts. We’ve basically gone back to the days of the Greeks when it was okay for the Gods to contradict each other. Except now it’s possible to arbitrarily reject one God just because we don’t like what it says and if anyone dare accept, or simply point out, the God we didn’t like we’ll do everything in our power to get them.

My papers fulfilled their purposes quite well. The first introduced the concept of authority which was a consitant thread throughout all the papers. The second laid out the source of fundamentalist doctrines from the Koran and offered reasons why they may be misunderstood. Christianity has had it’s share of organizations that have twisted the Bible and caused a great deal of harm to both the members of the group and non-members. The KKK is one of the most dangerous cults today that claims to be Christian. The fact that Christians have dealt with this sort of thing for thousands of years, even the OT prophecies about it happening in the future while offering examples of it happening then, is the reason that when someone offers a contradiction to a Christian the first response tends to be to rectify the verse with other scripture. Christians are typically taught the Bible is infallible and any alledged contradictions are simply misunderstandings that can be rectified. Instead of pawning off the accusations they tend to address them head on. The third paper took the teachings of the fundamentalists and played them out. It may or may not be accurate but from what I saw, I believe it is. All of the papers did their job though the second was the most misunderstood. People saw it as a paper on Islam instead of a paper on fundamentalism. I think I did a decent job of showing how the fundamentalists were wrong though it probably could have been better.

I probably should have chosen a different topic. I’ve studied a number of religions so this is something right up my alley but most people aren’t prepared for a critical analysis of any religion. People tend to think that as long is it isn’t hurting anyone it’s okay. I’m a firm believer in objectivism and therefore the idea that some things are just wrong irregardless of whether or not it physically harms anyone. There’s a site on-line with someone selling some sort of jewelery that gives the wearer eternal life. According to some it would be wrong to criticize such a person though that sort of criticism is routine for me. I find being critical of someone’s claims to be important. If they’re bogus I think it’s important to say so. The other topics I had in mind were “The Marijuana Papers” and “Virtual Reality.” I decided against them mostly because I had already either debated them to death or had done papers on them already. I also like controversy. I find it dull to just talk about something everyone agrees on or debate something that’s mundane.

I’m sure the Library is a great place for research for most topics but for mine, I looked elsewhere. For the most part I stuck with source material and refered to only a few other articles for supporting information. The internet was a much better source for the kind of information I needed. My organization method worked rather well. I simply cut and pasted quotes in URLs into notepad which kept me from needing to decypher my handwriting later. The class presentation sucked. The biggest problem was trying to cut 14 and a half pages down to a bitesize amount while retaining all important information. That and turning such a dry topic as religion into something interesting.

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04-24-2002

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They will all be dead before it is over. When a nation attacks Muslims it isn’t over until the attacker offers peace, as it says in 4:91, “therefore if they do not withdraw from you, and (do not) offer you peace and restrain their hands, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them; and against these We have given you a clear authority.” And again in 8:61, “…if they incline to peace, then incline to it and trust in Allah; surely He is the Hearing, the Knowing.” What is missing from the pages of the Koran is any notion of taking the first step towards peace by the Muslims. They will not back down until the unbelievers have offered peace. The Muslims may desire peace as much as anyone else but the last thing they will consider is backing down in order to obtain it. Peace will only come by the unbelievers backing down to them. The only time Muslims are commanded to make peace is when it is two believers fighting as it says in 49:10 “The believers are but brethren, therefore make peace between your brethren and be careful of (your duty to) Allah that mercy may be had on you.”

Allah is talking to you. Actually, the prophet is talking to you. Allah never speaks in the first person throughout the Koran. “Thus saith the Lord” appears 415 times in the King James Bible and is only one of several phrases to indicate that God himself is speaking and not a prophet speaking for him. This is significant when looking at the concept of authority. In the Bible, prophets are chosen by God himself to be the authority. It is not a birthright. Even the kings of Israel such as Saul, David and Solomon were chosen by God and not related. Muhammad, who wrote the Koran claimed to have been chosen by God to be a prophet having spoken to Gabriel who is the same angel as from the Bible (The Prophet Muhammad). Since God spoke directly to the prophets in the Bible and not to you, you have no authority. Claiming that the Bible is commanding you to wage war on the unbelievers is much the same as walking in a library, picking up a book on the law and then claiming to be a judge. Knowing what the law is and having the authority to hold it against people are two completely different things. You may know that it is illegal to run a red light and that the fine is $100 but that does not give you the authority to fine people $100 for running a red light.
The prophets were not commanded to wage war on unbelievers. They were commanded to wage war on various cities throughout the Old Testament. There is a very large obvious difference. Claiming that Christians are commanded by God to destroy the wicked is in direct conflict with Hebrews 10:30 which states, “For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people” among other verses which state the same. Christians have never been commanded by God to destroy everyone who does not believe in God. Christians know the law so they know who the wicked are but have never been given authority to do anything about it. Quite simply, Christians are not in charge; God is. That has remained a constant since the Old Testament as is apparent from the fact that the Hebrews verse is a quote from Deuteronomy 32:35.

The significance of Allah not speaking is that instead of God speaking to a prophet thereby giving the prophet authority, the prophet is speaking to you thereby giving you authority. In the Old Testament, the only people who could lead wars were those people chosen directly by God. In the Koran is written, “Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Apostle of Allah and the Last of the prophets…” (33:40). If only an authority chosen by God can lead a war and God is no longer choosing people then it is quite obvious that Osama Bin Laden has no authority to do what he is doing. That would be true if we were sticking solely to the Bible. Many modern leaders have no God given authority to do what they do according to the Bible because they have not proven their authority. According to Biblical law, they should be struck dead for putting words in God’s mouth (KJV Deuteronomy 18:20).

One of the common accusations from people who think the Bible is responsible for the crusades is that anyone can claim to have authority from God and we cannot say otherwise. Yes, people can claim to have authority from God as many do but we can prove otherwise. There are two simple concepts to prove authority. “Prophesy” and “Fire from Heaven.” People who are lying through their teeth about having authority will only prophecy about things that are alleged to happen after they are dead. False prophets who are bolder will prophecy about things that will happen in their lifetime and then when it does not happen, try to come up with some excuse about misunderstanding them. Alternatively, they will be incredibly vague much like a fortuneteller. People who do not know any better cannot tell the difference between a real prophecy and vague hogwash. The most common modern day false prophets are the people who write the horoscopes.

“Fire from heaven” is a miracle performed by an alleged prophet to prove their authority. The only miracle attributed to Muhammad is writing the Koran. Knowing a real miracle from a trick or someone who just was able to do more than you thought they could is a matter of personal standards. When a prophet calls down fire from heaven to burn water soaked rocks it is very difficult for anyone to claim it was not a miracle (KJV 1 Kings 18:22-38). Christ knew the importance of proving his authority through miracles and performed several including feeding 5000 people with a few loaves of bread and some fish (KJV Luke 9:12-17). Those who attended would have a hard time claiming it were a trick unless somehow Jesus could fit an oven under his robe. A common excuse by modern prophets when asked to perform a miracle is that it would be tempting God which is something we are not allowed to do (KJV Deuteronomy 6:16). What people who do not know better, fail to realize is that tempting a prophet is not tempting God. Demanding a prophet prophecy is expected of us (KJV Deuteronomy 18:21). Demanding that they prove their authority is expected of us. If they cannot prove their authority, we have no reason to listen to them (KJV Deuteronomy 18:22). The most obvious check is whether they are speaking contrary to the Bible. Of course, that is subject to interpretation or at least alleged to be. Every modern self-proclaimed prophet has made the accusation that the Bible is flawed. This is convenient when you want people to accept something that the Bible forbids or forbid something that the Bible allows.

The Koran has no such checks in place but since Muhammad is the last prophet according to the Koran then any one who claims to be a prophet is obviously lying (Koran 33:40). Therefore, it is not an issue. The issue is that since the Koran has given authority to you in that you have the law and are authorized to hold it against people, you can claim authority and lead people. That is where Osama comes in. He does not need to prove his authority because the Koran has given it to everyone. Every believer has authority. As, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said, all you need is a following to have a jihad (The Middle East). Osama’s Jihad is a holy war and he has a following so he has authority. All that follow him will be dead before it is over. The US is the unbelieving aggressor, which has attacked them, and until we ask for peace and submit to them, by the Koran they are to continue to try to kill us as the Koran tells them, “when you meet those who disbelieve marching for war, then turn not your backs to them. And whoever shall turn his back to them on that day– unless he turn aside for the sake of fighting or withdraws to a company– then he, indeed, becomes deserving of Allah’s wrath, and his abode is hell; and an evil destination shall it be” (8:15-16).

It is not readily apparent what it would mean if the terrorists lost the war as the Koran does not cover that issue directly. If Allah is behind a war there is no chance of losing as the Koran makes clear in chapter 8 verse 66, “…if there are a hundred patient ones of you they shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a thousand they shall overcome two thousand by Allah’s permission, and Allah is with the patient.” Therefore, if Muslims were to lose a war it would mean that Allah was not supporting them. Osama Bin Laden has convinced quite a number of people that Allah is backing them in the war against the US when understood in the context of their religion, explains quite clearly why they have no fear of death leading them to do things such as fly planes into buildings on suicide missions.

The Bible states that losing a battle is a result of Israel sinning against God (1 Kings 8:33). Leviticus and Deuteronomy are the premier books of law in the Bible containing several hundred laws that the Israelites were expected to uphold. That seems like a lot until you consider that the number of laws in the United States cannot be known but a good guess is around 10,000 though it is probably more than that (Newland). Canada has 90,000 laws governing its citizens (Winterdyk). All it takes to knowing if someone is doing something wrong is to know the law. People tend to quote the Bible saying “thou shalt not judge” failing to quote the rest which states “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again” (KJV Matthew 7:2). Which simply means that you should not judge hypocritically. If you desire to point out that someone has broken the law you should also examine yourself to see if you have broken the law as well and if you have, do not act indignant that someone would point it out to you.

Jerry Falwell became infamous after September 11th stating, “The ACLU’s got to take a lot of blame for this…throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle…all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say, ‘You helped this happen’” (qtd. Morons.org)

The most common sin committed by Israelites leading them to be smitten by their enemy is abandoning God; usually by worshipping idols (KJV 2 Kings 21:11). A writer at Morons.org made the comment, “Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but these attacks didn’t come from ‘God.’ These were terrorists. Humans. ‘God’ had nothing to do with it.” If one is going to attack what someone said it is best to understand where they are coming from first. In the Old Testament, the smiting of the believers rarely came from God. It came from people. However, that does not change the fact that it was a result of God setting out to punish his people for their sins. God set up people to attack the rebellious Israelites and destroy them on some occasions. Forgetting God is why they ended up slaves to Pharaoh. Technically Falwell said nothing wrong concerning the idea that God sometimes punishes his people by allowing bad things to happen to them. What is wrong however is Falwell pretending to know the mind of God. Punishing people has never been the only reason God lets bad things happen as is apparent in the story of Job and even Jesus Christ himself to name a couple.

Jerry Falwell in his condemnation of the US shows a common view as Osama Bin Laden who has said, “We also call on Muslim ulema, leaders, youths, and soldiers to launch the raid on Satan’s U.S. troops and the devil’s supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them so that they may learn a lesson” (Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders). Both see the US as falling away from God though Osama goes so far as to call us “devil supporters.” Both Jerry Falwell and Osama have concluded that the US is full of wicked people but only Osama has taken it upon himself to destroy them or to “teach them a lesson.” Which brings into focus why they will all be dead before it is over. If they really believe that we the US are being led by Satan then there is no chance in their minds that they could possibly lose. It is one thing to lose to a bunch of humans that God sent to punish his people with but quite another for God to send the devil himself. Job found out what that was like but survived by keeping his faith in God which is precisely what the Al Queda members are doing except that Job never put together an army to ward off Satan.

Osama Bin Laden has taken on the role of God to smite the United States having been given no real authority to do so. No one in the United States has been given the authority to retaliate because we are not in charge. Anyone who does retaliate having not been given the authority to do so is no worse than those who first attacked. The only people who have the authority to fight back and the authority to give authority to others is the government. If the government does not give you an order to fight, you have no right to do so. They are in charge. You are not. It is the concept of authority to keeps the whole world from going blind. If someone were to poke your eye out, even in the Old Testament you had to take them to court and if they were found guilty, would have their eye poked out. Today instead of having their eye poked out they would be fined several million dollars. Fundamentalists have this idea that if someone pokes their eye out, they can poke the other person’s eye out. Worse yet, they pick a relative or friend or someone else to harm to punish the person who harmed them. Muhammad himself “…called on believers to avenge blood shed in the way of God. Anyone convicted of killing a believer shall be subject to retaliation or blood money for the next of kin” (Beck). If the believers had no one they were required to seek council with before seeking retaliation, soon you would have an all out war and it does not end until everyone is blind. That is what happened with Al Queda. The United States had some policies they did not like but instead of being civil about it and taking it up with the government, has attacked the family. Much to their dismay, this family has stuck together and will not fall. The government has no reason to give into the demands of the terrorists and they will all be dead before it is over unless they realize the error of their ways and give up.

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Works Cited

Beck, Sanderson. “Muhammad and the Spread of Islam.” 2000. 24 Mar. 2002. .

Chew, Robin. “The Prophet Muhammad” Sept. 2001. 14 Mar. 2002. .

“Falwell Blames Gays for Terrorist Attacks” 14 Sept. 2001. 14 Mar. 2002. .

The Holy Bible King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1984, 1977.

“Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders” 23 Feb. 1998. 14 Mar. 2002 .

Newland, Bob. “The Dark at the End of the Bong” 2000. 14 Mar. 2002. .
The Qur’an Translation. New York: Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, Inc. 2001

Shahin, Mariam. “Simple facts and contradictions.” The Middle East Dec. 2001: 8-11.

Winterdyk, John A. “Crime and Criminal Law” 14 Mar. 2002. .

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03-19-2002

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Calling a duck a horse makes it no less a duck. Such tactics as redefining terms are often used to mislead a topic from focusing on the issue to arguing over the meaning of a word. According to The Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR], “jihad” doesn’t mean “holy war,” instead it simply means to “…strive, struggle and exert effort.” A broad term that also can include a “…struggle in the battlefield for self-defense.” So then, “Jihad” does not mean holy war but it can mean holy war. It is that kind of wordplay that makes discussing religion sometimes a futile effort. A common one in Christianity is the word “day” in Genesis, which in Hebrew simply means a “period of time.” Some then claim that “day” really means 1000 years or some other extended period of time. This is done by people who want to allow evolution to fit with the Bible so they can accept both. What they fail to notice, or simply reject, is the phrase “and the evening and the morning were the first day” (KJV Genesis 1:5). What one ends up doing, if not familiar with Genesis 1, is trying to argue what the Hebrew word translated as “day” really means instead of simply pointing out that no “evening and morning” lasts 1000 years. Instead of bothering with the definition of “duck”, this paper will simply focus on describing the duck.

The first step is to figure out who is the enemy of Islam that they would fight against. The answer is given throughout the Koran with the most clear verse stating plainly “…surely the unbelievers are your open enemy” (Koran 4:101). But unbelievers are not just the enemy of the believers but “…surely Allah is the enemy of the unbelievers.” (Koran 2:98) It goes so far to say “…Allah does not love the unbelievers” (Koran 3:32). The Koran further states in 60:13 “O you who believe! Do not make friends with a people with whom Allah is wroth.” Whom Allah is wroth with is explained earlier in the Koran stating that he is wroth with the hypocrites, the polytheistic and those who think evil thoughts of Allah (48:6). However, it is not just those who Allah is wroth with that are not to be taken as friends. “Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends rather than believers; and whoever does this, he shall have nothing of (the guardianship of) Allah, but you should guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully;” (Koran 3:28).

The next step is to figure when the enemy should be fought against. According to 2:191, “…do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them;” (Koran). When it comes to the Sacred Mosque the believers are not to fight unless provoked and “…whoever then acts aggressively against you, inflict injury on him according to the injury he has inflicted on you and be careful (of your duty) to Allah and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil)” (Koran 2:194). Muslims are to “…kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter…” (Koran 2:191). Whether or not this is cause and effect is not clear. The Muslims are able to kill the enemy wherever they are found however it may be because the enemy did something to them first or it may be simply because the enemy was found. If all it takes to be an enemy is to not believe then there may be no need to any provocation to allow a Muslim to kill them other than simply being the enemy of Allah. Disbelief may simply be provocation enough.

The big question concerns who can lead a war. “Permission (to fight) is given to those upon whom war is made because they are oppressed, and most surely Allah is well able to assist them” (Koran 22:39). The punishment for those who fight against Allah is quite severe as it states in chapter 5 verse 33, “…they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement” (Koran). The prophet it to urge the believers to war not fearing the number of unbelievers (Koran 8:65). I would assume only the prophet can lead a war according to the Koran as the command to “urge the believers to war” is only given to the prophet. However in chapter 9 verse 23, “O you who believe! Fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil)” (Koran). It could then be understood that any believer is under the authority to kill an unbeliever. According the Bible only the prophet can lead a war though it is not clear with the Koran. What is clear however is that if the unbelievers are inclined to peace then the believers should also be (Koran 8:61). With that in mind then it may be accurate to say that Muslims may not attack unless attacked first. And by that, it would be a physical attack. I cannot imagine that the Koran allows disrupting emotional peace to be grounds for a war.

Another term used for holy war is “Ghazwat” where the leader of the war is the prophet himself. Muhammad himself led 19. (Bukhari 5:59:285). The use of a different term than Jihad for a war where the prophet is involved suggests that a prophet is not necessary to have a war. According to Sheikh Ahmed Yassin the spiritual leader of the Islamic Resistance movement HAMAS, in Gaza,

“The person who announces jihad declares so on behalf of himself — not on behalf of others. Those who are convinced of his cause — fight with him, those who are not convinced, do not. The announcement of jihad is a personal choice. There is a misconception in the world of the meaning of the word jihad; it comes from juhud and it means effort … I can be a teacher and be practicing jihad, I can be a builder and be practicing jihad and I can be a fighter … therefore everything in life is jihad. All people are part of the jihad whether they know it or not…” (The Middle East)

This again comes to wordplay with the basic point being that anyone can lead a war. It is just a matter of finding people to support you. Muhammad, being the prophet, had no problem doing so. Modern leaders seem to be as divided over what to fight for as they are over the meaning of the word itself. What is clear however, is that there will be no peace until those who are at war against Allah surrender to the Muslims as the Koran says, “therefore if they do not withdraw from you, and (do not) offer you peace and restrain their hands, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them; and against these We have given you a clear authority” (4:91).

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“About Islam and American Muslims” Council on American-Islamic Relations. 2000.
2 Feb. 2002 http://www.cair-net.org/asp/aboutislam.asp

The Holy Bible King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1984, 1977.

Khan, Mushin M. “Translation of Sahih Bukhari.” http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/

The Qur’an Translation. New York: Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, Inc. 2001

Shahin, Mariam. “Simple facts and contradictions.” The Middle East Dec. 2001: 8-11.

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03-05-2002

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