georgesbluegirl

Santorum's the one who lumped homosexuality with, for example, bigamy and pedophilia in terms of what we are moving toward "allowing" in the country or something, then followed that statement with the infamous "It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be." How did anyone miss that? It was all over everywhere!

You do realize that Ms. Lucas is a college student at Syracuse, the Daily Orange being Syracuse's college newspaper? Not the most reliable source for completely factual and non-biased reporting...not that I'm knocking college papers, but you want to go with an established source in general. I looked the author up and she interned with Sen. Rick Santorum? This would be the same guy who made those incredibly ignorant comments a while back. So we see how the author's politics run. And the Newswire article was quoting a statement, not asserting fact. There's an important difference.

My head hurts...what?

I sure don't. Something I heard once...maybe we are the only ones around, but if so, seems like an awful waste of space.

Just to be devil's advocate (in a totally benign sense of the word!) for a minute...in my experience, seeing how others view your religion and/or having to defend its positions is a faith-strengthening experience that also gets you asking the right fundamental questions.

Hummulawha?

Nope, Allfor...you're thinking of Eastern Asian practices. Yoga is from Hinduism and was practiced for purely spiritual reasons: union with Krsna, the divine personality of the Godhead (in simplistic terms, a Hindu "Jesus" type figure). It had nothing to do with fighting or combat of any sort. It was to achieve harmony through equilibrium of the body, mind and spirit.

Yoga isn't meant to teach you to fight. You're thinking of martial arts.

I'm going to have to go with dryer lint on this one. And Ted Nugent. Just kidding...I don't want to risk offending any Nuge fans out there (*looks quickly over shoulder*). Seriously though...the Bible doesn't forbid chocolate, costumes or pumpkins. People's interpretations are obviously very different, and when it comes down to it, everybody makes their own decision about what is appropriate (this applies to many things, not just Halloween). Myself, I dig the free candy.

minimalist vernacular, an urban, technology-age haiku statement. i like. lol im just kidding....obviously

oh dont take it completely literally sorry...should have had a disclaimer (i.e. this is NOT about how my ex chewed on pens...) who thinks that worthy should have a poetry section?

Early Iggy Pop was DEFINITELY influenced by glam, that's where that line of thought came from. Punk was in its earliest incarnations then and Ig's end of it definitely had some glam feel. The frontman of glam being David Bowie. I watched "Velvet Goldmine" last night, which is why it's on my mind. And Motley Crue and Poison were not glam...they were just bad. In a related story, due to a bomb scare, my dad was once stuck in a bar until three in the morning with his three friends, the bartender and POISON and their groupies. He says his folk-rock-Tull-Harrison karma took some therapy afterwards...lol. Quite honestly, I can't think of a worse band to be stuck in a bar with, although Journey is certainly high on the list.

glam rock... THAT'S IT! I'm TOTALLY being Iggy Pop for Halloween! The stooges, w/e.

FYI about poetry.com (in case anyone doesn't know, it's good to put it out there). It's a scam, sort of, although a semi-well intentioned one. They make their money selling their books, so although you WILL be published in a book DON'T buy it...it's not worth it and there's very little quality control. Plus I heard through the grapevine that they sort of have rights to publishing your poem. Anyway, here's the one I have on the site, not one of my better ones...but who cares, really? "Written About" I saw him thinking about the coming minute, when we'd steal quiet glances over the crowd, still breathing each other Later, he will remember how lights flickered overhead, concrete echoing scrambled shouts. Nothing is ever perfect, he'll say. But we alone were silent and still, and I wasn't sure if it was all real - Then with writer's hands he pulled me forward, And I could almost taste the ink on his teeth.

whooooa, settle down buddy...hand out some bibles or something! sheesh.

circle of life, eh? nothing ever changes... except for glam rock. that pretty well went down the toilet after the seventies, now didn't it?

Wow this is still going? I sort of got the impression in the first two pages that it's not something that can be resolved...

I've talked to Zen numerous times. She seems to be simply curious, as I was when I joined, and interested in some of the discussions. I'll get back to a full response later.

SS (thats creepy to write by the way...but then again, likely because I just watched several WWII movies with my little bro...) Ever read the Gnostic Gospels? Sounds like you have. Good points all, I agree.

I suspect that most of the information posted above came from a Christian website or other source interpreting Islam through a Christian lens. That would explain the confusion about the idea of "mahdi." First of all, it's worth pointing out that the mahdi figure, someone guided completely by God's will, is mentioned neither in the Koran nor in any of the hadiths. It likely developed in the second or third century of Islam's existence (probably as a response to Muslims being oppressed) and the term itself wasn't coined until 686, in a cleric's praise of a prophet-like figure. The definition of mahdi itself varies dramatically between the Sunni and Shi'i sects, the two "branches" of Islam that teach it. Sunni Muslims use it mostly as an honorific term, and sometimes to refer to converts to Islam since they have "seen the truth." It is also used sometimes to refer to several of the caliphs (one being Jesus, I believe), though abbasid caliph Nasir was defined as the last mahdi and it is believed by Sunnis that no others should be expected. We see that Sunni Muslims see mahdis simply as great leaders and wise men. The Shi'i view of the mahdi seems to have more bearing with the article above, although only several sects within this sect seem to take the idea that seriously. Basically, the mahdi would have more elevated status, a figure to unite all true Muslims. Many theologians comment upon the similarity between this figure and the Messiah figure, and it can certainly be inferred that the idea of the mahdi was definitively influenced by the "doomsday" and savior ideas of Judaism and Christianity. But remember: the mahdi is NOT part of all Islam. It's an idea, a tradition that has developed among some branches of the religion, but it's far from being an established truth, except among some extreme Shi'i branches. Peace!

Hm, not to go all Matrix-y on you (one of my favorite movies!), but sometimes the mind CAN make something real. A good example is the placebo. The mind is capable of some amazing things, really, I'd post more about it but I have to go make dinner in a second. Plus Krsna (Krishna) IS personal to many Hindus...in Hindu belief, he descended from Heavens to teach men how to live holy and good lives after him, seeking balance. The goal of meditation and yoga in the Hindu context is to attain oneness with Krsna, realizing the consciousness and order of this supreme being. One of my favorite quotes from the Bhagavad-gita is when Krsna says to Arjuna (who by the way notes that he speaks to Krsna as a friend) "Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you...Nor in the future shall any of us cease to be."

I knew that would come up at some point, Right Said Fr..er, Yod.

Calm down! It's a fact of Islam! Whether all Muslims honor it or not is irrelevant: it is part of the teachings of the religion. I'm NOT by any stretch of imagination saying that Jesus was "only" a prophet. I'm Christian, so obviously I recognize him as the Son of God. It is only interesting to point out that he is recognized as a prophet by another religion, whether the followers of that religion all believe that or not.

I do know that Muslims don't recognize that Jesus is God...obviously! But it is at least interesting to point out that they acknowledge him as a holy man! That's all I was trying to say here. Sheesh.

You're talking about Islamic fundamentalism. That's different than mainstream Islam. But it's true...Muslims DO recognize Jesus as a prophet for his teachings. They obviously don't believe he was the Son of Man, but they do think he was sent by God.