Theos-Talk Archives (December 2001 Message tt00078)

Hi, Etzion:

I do not disagree with anything you say. You will
notice I did not say anything directly against the
Prophet, merely some of his earthly representatives. 
I can't say that I admire Mulla Omar much, or
Ayatollah Khomeini, who cleared mine fields by asking
children to walk across them while he was ensconced in
luxury digs in Teheran. We now see Osama urging his
followers to die for him while he runs like a rat. I
don't know where you live, but there are loads of
stories I could share with you about Christian
"ministers" who turned out to be rapists, murderers,
embezzlers, pederasts, etc., etc., and that is just
locally. One guy named Gobelin would go out at night,
break into women's homes wearing a ski mask, and
assault them while "preaching" during the day. 
Fortunately, the police put his tenure in the ministry
to an end. He is now in the hospitality of the Texas
Department of Corrections at Huntsville. He plied his
trade in the town in which I currently reside. A few
miles away another "minister" tried to strangle his
wife with a wire so he could run off with his girl
friend and still become a bishop. When his son caught
him trying to mirder his wife, he tried to strangle
the kid, too. When the police made it clear they
intended to question him he tried to commit suicide. 
The amazing thing that nobody understands is that he
got away with it, even though both his intended
victims survived. The woman suffered extensive brain
damage and is now in a nursing home. The boy has been
under psychiatric care ever since ever since his own
father tried to murder him. The preacher man
abandoned both of them and was abandoned in turn by
his girl friend. He was later accused of embezzling
money from a Prebyterian church in California, but
amazingly beat that rap as well. Inidentally, all of
that is historical fact and not opinion.

Do I admire these guys? Nope. Will I listen to
anything they have to say? Nope. All I want to hear
from them is their cofession of guilt. My ears are
deaf to everything else.

We also see Jews cynically dispossessing Palestinians
in their own land. When I took a course in abnormal
psychology at the university one of the things I
learned is that antisocial personalities are attracted
to a few specific fields and one of those,
regrettably, is being a professional cleric. 
Statistically, in the US, one out of every eight
Christian clergymen is exposed for what he really is
and forced out of his profession every single year. I
cannot imagine a failure rate like that in any other
field of work.

I think the way to avoid cynicism the one hand and
gullibility on the other is to make a sharp
distinction between spirituality, which may be an
excellent thing, and the foul vermin who sell it for
money. If I speak the truth about the Gobelins and
the Osamas of the world, that does not necessarily
mean I am dissing the wares they are peddling. I must
confess I feel some skepticism regarding much of it,
though. Maybe I am having some trouble making that
distinction myself.

Agree or disagree. I respect your opinions.

--- Etzion Becker <etvionbb@netvision.net.il> wrote:
> I personally have great respect for Islam and the
> Prophet, and for any
> believers. It is that all of our religions have
> their *period* of insanity,
> the Jews, Christians, and many others go crazy and
> wreck havoc all over the
> place. These people don't live what they preach, and
> usually in the
> Arab-Moslem world, the *leaders* push their flock
> forward, not like during
> their high times, when the leaders were really in
> the front, which is the
> key for any victory, be it on the battle field, or
> the spiritual battle
> field.
> -
> 
> > Quite right. I am sure you noticed Mullah Omar
> wanted
> > to fight to the last drop of someone else's blood
> > until recently, and urged his followers to be
> martyrs.
> > Now that his personal safety is in danger, he is
> > reportedly offering to surrender in exchange for
> > amnesty. Conclusion: the imams don't believe
> their
> > own B.S., at least where martyrdom is concerned.
> >
> > Come to think of it, I don't believe any of it.
> >
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
> 
> 


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