Desicritics Comments on Afghan Court Drops Case Against Abdul Rahman

Comment by loveGod

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 00:41:30 EST

If you died tonight are you 100% sure you'd go to heaven? Dear reader, Have you ever thought about where you came from? What the origins of life are? Why we are here on this earth? Those are very thought provoking questions indeed. When you see a painting,logically there has to be a painter right? When you see a building there must be a builder right? As you look up in the heavens(stars, galaxies,etc), that creation must have a creator! God is the reason for all of us humans.Unfortunately we have all sinned against Him by breaking his commandments.Have you ever told a lie? stolen something? used God's name in vain? Lusted after another person? God says if you've even looked at a woman with lust, you've already committed adultery with her in your heart. Think about this: If a person robs another person he deserves justice(punishment) right? A person who robs is a robber, one who lies is a liar, one who hates is a hater. God also says in his commandments to honor your mother and father, to not idolize things in his/her life that takes the place of God, to not covet things of another person. God gave us free-will because he loves us. Unfortunately, we all have fallen short of his standards and laws. He cannot let a sin go unpunished because a good God has to hold us accountable for our actions. When you die you will have to face God on Judgement day. That's a scary thought. Imagine being found guilty of these shortcomings. Justice must be served. For all these sins God declares, you will be punished and separated from God for eternity. I beg you to LISTEN to your conscious, you are guilty! God says if you even break ONE of his commandments it's as though you broke all of them! But our God is a merciful God. He sent his Son Jesus which suffered and died on the cross, taking your punishment upon Himself. He resurrected on the third day, defeating death. We broke the law and Jesus paid our fine: "For God so loved the world that he sent his Son(Jesus), that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" John 3:16. Repent(turn from your sins) and genuinely place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will be saved(go to heaven). If you are an unbeliever please do not postpone this decision, for you don't know if you have tomorrow(death can come before you know it). It's your choice. I share this because it would be selfish on my part to hold back the Truth in myself. I truly want to see your soul in heaven one day!

Comment by Grumpy

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 13:06:51 EST

Isn't the real irony that a man is avoiding excecution for apostasy on the basis of his "hearing voices" -- and that would mean he was apostate from the religion of one man who heard voices ... and a convert to the religion of another, slightly earlier fellow who heard voices.

Comment by Lakshmikanth

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 21:39:42 EST

sanman, Just to add

perhaps you'll next be calling them a pastime or hobby

I think that falls in the things that i call "none of ur business". I think it borders on something called an Ad-Hominem attack, if u know what i mean. Peace

Comment by Lakshmikanth

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 21:36:41 EST

sanman, First, my name is Lakshmikanth and not Lakshmikanthan. Second, The way I define philosophy and the way u define philosophy may be entirely different. So i cannot see that i am 'de-basing' anything. Philosophy is the supremum of the ideals of any organization, group, country which act out of rational/irrational self interests. It is not merely 'a thing' but it is 'THE' thing. It is a set of principles and one of the most important requirements of any set of principles is that they should be logically consistent. And when u mix greek philosophy (which is the basis for the mordern free societies) and the Islamic Sharia.. u get a set of contradictory values. People will neverthless be confused on what exactly to follow... and it will be a funny situation as this one. For example the usage "universal standards of peaceful co-existence" by you shows the kind of philosophy/principles that u follow. U can call it by any name man, philosophy, principles, standards... it all means the same Peace

Comment by sanman

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 21:06:06 EST

Lakshmikanthan, you are attempting to de-base universal human rights by reducing them to a mere "philosophy" -- perhaps you'll next be calling them a pastime or hobby. Your validating the apostasy sentence on the grounds that the Afghan Constitution may compel it, is itself not compelling at all. Big deal -- in Pakistan, Ahmadi Muslims cannot even call themselves Muslims, on legal penalty. Muslims who try to defend any predatory act by hiding behind Sharia, are simply destroying the credibility of Sharia. This is why Islamic Law's credibility is so low. This cannot be rectified by public relations activism, lobbying, writing self-exculpatory articles, and other hijinks. The Muslim community can only reform their image by changing to meet universal standards of peaceful co-existence. Anything less is just a whitewash and will be seen as such.

Comment by Lakshmikanth

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 18:13:09 EST

This is what we should be scared of. A country based on contradictory philosophy.. for examples if the preamble/assumptions/fundamental rights are from greek philosophy and the other parts of the constitution are islamic then we can have very funny situations and a lot of loop-holes. Because the constitution is inherently contradictory It will soon turn out into a big disaster.

Comment by Lakshmikanth

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 18:09:44 EST

Correction:

First, Islam has its own philosophy, which may not be structured to have a very different constitution than the West or the Indian constitution.

I meant to say this: As far as my highly limited knowledge of Islamic laws/constitution goes, it might be structured very very different from that of the west, which is largely based on Greek Philosophy (Aristotle and Plato). All the things that u (and the west) say about a free man, are almost derived from the philosophies of Aristotle(Nicomachean Ethics for example) or from Plato(The Republic). Which are so much different from that of Islamic philsophy... they are soo soo different.

Comment by Aaman

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 18:07:47 EST

Lakshmikanth, I'm not sure if you are aware that the Afghan constitution is a unique political animal, enshrining both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as Islamic Law. This was perhaps it's first test, and unfortunately, avoided rather than faced up to.

Comment by Lakshmikanth

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 18:02:55 EST

Aaman, the question here is of a philosophical basis. It is a clash of philosophies. First, Islam has its own philosophy, which may not be structured to have a very different constitution than the West or the Indian constitution. Second, In your philosophy a free man has the right to choose another religion, or to choose no religion. But that may not be the case in Islamic constitution. So u are aplying YOUR laws to something that has a totally different set of laws. Its like a man looking at a fish and wondering why it cant breathe air like he can. In short its a totally different world out there. I must say that I am ignorant of Islamic Laws. I prefer to remain ignorant. This i say sitting in the comfortable area of the West.