Hundreds Held Hostage at Russian School

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OrthodoxyOrDeath

Post by OrthodoxyOrDeath »

Anastasios,

Just for the record, I did not say "Muslims were all evil", I said Islam is evil. I realize there are many people, most of whom strive to be "socially correct" by modern standards, who will find my assertion as "ignorant" and "uninformed".

Islam was “Protestant” in interpretation from the very start. And while for many years only several forms of Islam emerged, today it has become much more subjective, even individually. Anyone who has studied history as it relates to Islam will know that what is commonly thought of as “Wahhabi Islam” closely resembles historic Islam in application, at least as much as any other (Note that Wahhabi Islam is a widespread version accepted by a great many people who are not terrorists; the Saudi royal family is one example).

Muslims, as individuals, range from lapsed to devout, from "in name only" to fully practicing Jihadists. As in all religions, some individuals retain the label even if they don't practice the religion. As with any, knowledge of the religion varies from person to person. It is not at all unusual to find members of a religion who don't understand the doctrines, practice, or history of their religion, in fact, it is very common. As a broad label, "Muslim" is nothing more than a meaningless demographic term. I believe Western society points to the "lasped" as a "proof" that Islam is a religion of "peace".

To judge a religion, I believe one has to look at its founding, its principals, and/or its practice. With Islam, I don’t believe you have to get far past its founding to understand how one can interpret a proper way to practice.

As everyone knows, Islam was founded by a pedophile – Mohammed; a man who had 5 or 6 wives, including a 9 year old who played with toys.

In Medina, the “prophet” inaugurated his reign of terror by assassinating two critics who posed no physical threat: an elderly man and a poet. Disliking the farm life around Medina, he tried his hand at raiding caravans which traveled to and from the city of Mecca. After several failed attempts as a raider, he finally succeeded - during the “holy” month. (As usual, he conveniently had a revelation to justify this breach of ethics.) Muhammad had found his calling: plunder.

The existence of the Jewish tribes nearby seemed to threaten Muhammad’s authority. Since Muhammad packaged his religion as the completion and perfection of the monotheistic religions: Judaism and Christianity (His converts were Arabs), he tried to sell it to the Jews; The Jews however refused to accept him as an authentic prophet of their religion. In a policy of ethnic cleansing, he banished two of the three Jewish tribes and slaughtered the third. Of the several dozen battles fought either by Muhammad or on his behalf, only one, the Battle of the Ditch, was defensive. Islam, however, classifies them all as defensive, virtually removing any meaning from the word. Muhammad had perfected his technique: slaughter.

Chapters in the Quran ("Suras") are Muhammad's "revelations" from God. The Suras from later periods reflect the corruption of Muhammad's rule. Sura 9, one of the last revelations, contains some of the most uncompromising doctrines of aggression and belligerence. The Quran and the Hadith paint a bleak but unmistakable picture: Islam is a warrior religion of conquest and oppression.

This is why it is evil – not even mentioning what it teaches about the religion of God, Christianity.

gphadraig
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Post by gphadraig »

I would like to endorse Anastasios' latest posting. In both my professional and home lives I meet people from a wide variety of religious, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. Some individual Moslems, Hindus and Sikhs leave me feeling very humble and unworthy. However, contrary to the 'politically correct' and 'ecumenical' lobbies any study of Christian Scripture and Tradition and parallel study of these other groups can leave one in no doubt. Islamic belief and teaching is directly contrary to the basic tenents of Christian teaching and belief.

However, so are much of the mores of modern secular society. Christianity upholds absolute values of right and wrong. I recently watched, albeit with some discomfort, a film "The Devil's Advocate". In it Satan, played by Al Pacino, boasts of his achievements in the 20th century. Many of the things in that list are things upholders of modern secular society would identify with, but may reflect on differently were they to seriously reflect on the words of the character as he boasted of his achievements from the beginning, i.e. Genesis, compared with True Christian teaching and belief.

However, for many all truth is relative and determined by our own perception and experience with little or no method of discernment other than the very subjective 'it feels okay to me'. Hence the popularity of someone like the Dalai Lama, despite the very dark background to Tibetan Lamaism.

brendan

Post by brendan »

gphadraig wrote:

However, contrary to the 'politically correct' and 'ecumenical' lobbies any study of Christian Scripture and Tradition and parallel study of these other groups can leave one in no doubt. Islamic belief and teaching is directly contrary to the basic tenents of Christian teaching and belief.

Ok, but how is it that you can accept this about Islam, but you seem to apparently reject the same thing about the Jews?

gphadraig
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Post by gphadraig »

There is, I believe, no contradiction in the sentiment expressed by me previously on this thread and my views given on another.

I have not said there is an open or hidden plot or machination by Islam to take over the world, as others openly said was the agenda of the Jews. What I have written is that the Islamic faith is contrary to Christian belief and teaching, they are irreconcillable. My posting has made it clear that Christian belief and teaching is not compatible with much else that the proponents of 'false' ecumenism and the inter-faith movement are working toward.

Many folk with a religious belief or none appear to be either consciously or unconsciously following Satan's pathway and preparation for the coming of the anti-Christ. What I refuse to do is single one group or another out as responsible because all the evidence would appear to be that is the many who are following this broad path. Some consciously and a great many others unconsciously. If we fail to forget the precept of loving the sinner but hating the sin then our words or actions may work against the message of the Gospel rather than reprove those in error, or simply confirm others worst suspicions - these people are just hate filled bigots or fools!

To illustrate: I met someone who was very worried about a conspiracy to take over the world. Listening to what I thought I knew might come next I fought to control my expression, only to learn that this poor fella's theory was that it was Wall-Mart!*? And he was serious.

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Russian Girl Who Clutched Cross Recovering

Post by 尼古拉前执事 »

Russian Girl Who Clutched Cross Recovering
Thu Sep 16, 1:58 PM ET
By BURT HERMAN, Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW - It was an iconic image of hope in the death and chaos that ended the three-day Beslan school siege — a girl's bloodied hand clutching a golden cross.

Viktoria Ktsoyeva, 14, said she prayed every day while held captive, not letting go of the cross even as she plunged into unconsciousness after being wounded in the violent climax of the siege that killed more than 330 hostages.

"I prayed that I would stay alive and that everything would be good again," Viktoria told the AP in her room at Children's City Clinical Hospital No. 9, sitting on her bed, barrettes holding back her long black hair.

When masked militants came to her school Sept. 1, Viktoria said she couldn't believe her eyes. "I never thought in my life I could be caught up in a terrorist attack."

After being herded into the school with more than 1,200 other hostages, Viktoria and her 9-year-old brother, Artur, found each other. He had been in the bathroom outside the school and probably could have run away, but Viktoria's mother, Tatyana Ktsoyeva, said he decided to stay with his sister.

Fearing the chain holding the cross around her neck might break, Viktoria took it off and wrapped it around her left hand when the siege began.

The cross was a gift from her Orthodox parents that replaced one from her baptism that somehow got lost. Viktoria said she wasn't very religious, but always wore the cross anyway — even while sleeping.

During the siege, the tiny cross became her talisman of hope. "All three days I held it in my hand and prayed," Viktoria said.

Her mother was praying too, keeping vigil with other parents near the school. Other relatives went to church services daily and lit votive candles.

"Every day we had hope that our children would come home," Ktsoyeva said. "We knew if it went on longer, we'd only be able to carry our dead children out of there."

Viktoria and her brother were first held in the main gym — which was packed with explosives — and the teenager said she was certain she would die if they went off.

The siblings later moved to an adjacent room, and when Viktoria heard the first explosion Sept. 3, as the standoff spiraled to its violent end, a bomb planted near her didn't go off. She said a teacher quickly disconnected the wires to the device and threw it out the window.

As gunfire erupted, adults in the room told everyone to scream "Don't shoot!" to the forces outside. "Maybe they didn't understand or didn't know who was shooting, but they still all were firing — both our (troops) and also the terrorists," Viktoria said.

Viktoria ran. She remembers the horror of escaping through the gym and seeing the bodies there — some without arms or legs — including those of friends, parents and teachers.

At one point, Viktoria was hit in the head. As she lay wounded, Artur pleaded with her: "Don't die. Don't die. Open your eyes. Don't die." At one point, he even held her eyes open with his hands.

Soldiers later passed her out a window to safety, the cross still in her hand. Her picture was taken soon after at a nearby triage tent, a bandage around her head and her white blouse stained with blood. Artur suffered only scratches on his legs from broken glass.

Viktoria said as she was fading in and out of consciousness, she clung to hope, and to her cross.

"I felt that if I had that cross in my hand and if it was still there, then everything would be fine," she said.

Now, the only signs of her wound are three small stitches on the right side of her forehead. But X-rays show a half-inch piece of shrapnel in the center of her brain.

Dr. Maxim Vladimirov, her neurosurgeon, said the shrapnel could have hit a major artery or affected Viktoria's ability to move. "She's very lucky," Vladimirov said.

For now, doctors are planning to leave the shrapnel in place: They will only operate if complications develop.

After days of being confined to bed, Victoria took her first cautious steps Wednesday. She's expected to be hospitalized for about a month, and then to travel with her family to a sanatorium for further recuperation.

The cross is at her family's apartment in Beslan, still stained with blood; her father and brother plan will bring it to Moscow later.

These days, Viktoria wears a brown cross that was a gift from a priest at the hospital, where a few small religious icons rest on the windowsill alongside a small menagerie of stuffed animals.

Viktoria once wanted to be an economist, but now plans to become a pediatrician.

And from now on, Viktoria said, she will be in church every Sunday, her cross over her heart where it belongs.

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