I’m afraid that you can’t make distinction between your wish to be seen as the Enlightening Most Informed about Islam and the information given to you - in answering your posts - by someone who is:
Muslim since birth
Has made of Islam and its history his studyfields
Has degrees of several universities, in the EU and the Arabic world both ( including Al Azhar) and is as result of this licensed to teach about Islam and its history on academic level
as being meant to give you the information you lack, seen the posts you made are, as I said:
incomplete
incorrect
seen the fact you refer to “Muslims” as in “all Muslims” instead of making distinction between:
Sunni and Shia Islam (and their sects) in general
Muslims who are believing Muslims yet also undergo and live the influence of their society, its culture, its superstitions and all the stories connected with it, and those who are educated in the religion and know what is Quranic and what is hadith and what is just merely invention.
Al Qur’an and Hadith and the cultural influences that might have shaped/brought to life quite a few of those traditions.
I’m afraid that you are among those who think that no matter what they find on “a” website is The Truth and has to be valid because it is published on a website.
I’m afraid that you are among those who think they Know It All and thus don’t consider the information of someone scholared in the issues and presented to them( for free ) as something one should consider thinking about.
Those are the ones who prefer to join the SDMB club of Most Informed On Ignorance about Islam. Since you prefer to join them I most certainly regret the time I have spend on you.
I would respect you more if you would have informed me about that on forehand instead of letting me waisting my time.
Cough, cough, ahem! As a devout Zen Buddhist, I can assert that we most definitely do NOT have a savior promised! Allow me to clarify:
the four Great Truths of Buddhism: (1) there is suffering (2) there is a cause to suffering (3) there is a means to bring about an end to suffering (4) the means to bring an end to suffering is within our hands.
Key word: OUR hands. After shopping the world’s philosophies and religions for a set of beliefs that I could adapt for my life, I chose Buddhism specifically because it was the only one I found which did NOT say: “give up! it’s hopeless! you’re a dirty beast, so there’s no point in trying to be good! just be your beastly self and hope your creator will forgive you for being just as he made you!”
Pardon me for shoving my religion in anybody’s face. Just wanted to clarify a misconception. And this is certainly more consideration for others than will be shown me by members of other faiths, when they reply to this post…
Hosiah, first of all, let me welcome you to the Boards! Having done that, I will say that if others reply to this post in an uncivil manner, it’s not because of our faiths but because you have painted all of us with the same brush, by assuming we will react to you in a particualr way! Perhaps where you live, you encounter a lot of prejudices because of your religious beliefs. If that is true, I’m sorry you have to live with that. But you’ve been around the Boards for such a short time, how can you possibly predict how we will react to you? If you are rational and reasonable, a huge majority of us will be the same. Even if you’re not rational and reasonable, there are some of us who will be anyway.
I, personally, have found it much more effective to talk to people of other religions on a basis of what we have in common, rather than what sets us apart!
Hosiah: actually, the OP specified Maitreya Buddha, which is not the same as Gautama Buddha. As far as I know, Maitreya, as part of a long line of Buddhas, is due to arrive in another age in the future, where he will preach the same dharma and thus enable mankind to once again get a better chance to break free from suffering.
Hence it is possible to say that certain branches of Buddhism do promise a saviour of some sorts but definitely not the saviour-Messiah in the Judaeo-Christian tradition.
I think that some of the confusion that Aldberan and Hosiah are experiencing is because we are using the words “Messiah” and “Saviour” interchangeably. I got the distinct impression that the OP was talking about the return of a “Messiah”, but using the word “Saviour”. If we change the semantics, does that help clarify?
Hosiah I believe this same way and I’m not Buddist! Granted I have STUDIED the religion and have taken my own path within it and without. We all must take the Path that The Great One has given us and we all believe differently. Such is life. It truly is a sorrowful thing that we cannot love eachother as the books of most religions tell us we should.
THAT was a VERY large assumption. Since you are new to the boards I’m pretty sure that you will be shown SOME leniency but NEVER assume these beautiful persons of all religions will attack you for your beliefs. We (for the most part) are a LOT smarter and more mature than that.
As for the OP, I think that the religions that believe that there is a “Savior” coming are deluding themselves. There is NO “Savior”, there is only the here and now.
magnificent!
I’ve been jumped all over for the hundredth time since I logged in here, this time for implying that it might be rational to suppose that I’m going to be jumped all over! The HELL with this, I’m outta here! Have fun fighting with each other in this zoo!
mmmm… Not to be difficult, but how did you manage to “be jumped over” 100 times with a posting record of only 20 posts?
By the way: I find your assumption that everybody would be out to “get you” because you post about your religious views on a board where the board rules allow people to witness exposing your complete ignorance about this particular board.
I find this attitude also extremely insulting towards the other members posting here, since you picture them as being as ignorant about the board rules as you show yourself to be. You also picture them as completely lacking every form of decency and tolerance.
I think you need a mirror to take a good look at yourself.
Since you mentioned a zoo: Maybe that is where your place is. You seem to consider yourself as one rare specimen of the SDMB kind, which is why a zoo could be a good place for you to find yourself protected from extinction.
Please do let us know about the visiting facilities.
Note to the audience: 100 times attacked while having only 20 posts even beats my long standing record… I just can’t take that without a feeling of disbelief and great desillusion.
