Comment on About the historical relationship of Islam to the United States by saarnok

Parent Post: About the historical relationship of Islam to the United States · In Reply To

saarnok · 5/26/2026, 2:00:10 AM · permalink

I really hope we can maintain a civil and friendly relationship though this, and if I'm honest with myself I'll concede that is perhaps as great or greater a disincentive to go down this path as any other.  
  
You don't get that I'm not faulting you for being dishonest.  
  
It's something you see as a character defect that I see as an innate process, a function of the dynamic at play here.  
  
I'll continually drag you back to facing the basic facts and you'll constantly attempt to evade those basic facts.  
  
That's just the way this works.  
  
As to the (new) insistence that the reference from Joshua is in reference to "God", you should remember that I stated you'd want this "both ways". Actual God when it suits your purpose and something else when it does not. You are demonstrating the reality of what I said.  
  
I really can't stress this enough: You are not responsible for your adherence to this idea. It has you, not the other way around.  
  
You can be adherent to the idea that you serve the Most High, the Creator without swearing fealty to the bibilical texts. In fact, if you follow the path I took, your interpretation of biblical texts will suddenly become rich and non-burdensome.  
  
As relates to the temple at Elephantine, you're simply not connecting the dots. They were not at odds with the Jerusalem temple. They weren't mavericks. They were entirely normal.  
  
Think about it. The Romans actually eliminated Judaism in roughly 70CE with no "backsliding" into polytheism in something like 2000 years.  
  
What survived that cataclysm endured more or less unchanged for effectively forever.  
  
The temple at Elephantine isn't an anomaly. It's representative of the pre-revolt state of Judaic culture.  
  
It's not possible for this to be representative of some offshoot of a vibrant controlling monotheistic culture.  
  
This is just nonsense and doesn't get you free of coming up with a rational explanation for why Nebuchadnezzar doesn't conquer Egypt as prophesied..  
  
You should bear in mind that all you ever needed to do was say: "I don't know." or some variant.  
  
Instead, as I could predict with perfect accuracy, you chose to avail yourself of the excuses of centuries of apologetics in a vain attempt to claim that your beliefs are actually the will of God.  
  
You have taken God's name in vain to buttress your own beliefs.  
  
And, it's innate. It's just what can be expected. It's not something I fault you for.  
  
But, it does speak to the reason that I consider the Bible to be God's word.

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sonatime · 5/27/2026, 3:54:47 AM · permalink

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saarnok · 5/28/2026, 12:09:53 AM · permalink

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sonatime · 5/29/2026, 2:00:52 AM · permalink

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saarnok · 5/29/2026, 4:14:15 AM · permalink

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sonatime · 5/30/2026, 3:14:49 AM · permalink

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saarnok · 5/31/2026, 5:16:20 PM · permalink

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