Dear ____,
Whilst I appreciate your sentiments, your viewpoints have been so horrifically altered by a biased media.
Have you ever read the Qur'an (I believe I have asked you this before)? Did you know that the majority of Muslim women actually wear the hijab and niqab because they want to? The covering and modesty have been forced on many, yes, but to say that the stance of all Muslims everywhere is to force women to dress so is ridiculous at best. And isn't the Bible the same way? 1 Corinthians 11:6 "If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head."
Did you know that women are to be honored and not abused ("do not harm them in order to oppress them." Qur'an 65:6)? In fact, the Qur'an speaks very highly of one woman in particular, you may know her as Mary the mother of Jesus (who is also highly regarded in Islam as being yet another prophet of Allah). "while God had been fully aware of what she would give birth to, and [fully aware] that no male child [she might have hoped for] could ever have been like this female." That verse speaks of when Mary was born. Her mother had intended to devote the child's life to God if she had been a man, instead Mary was born and in Allah's eyes no MALE child could ever have been like this FEMALE. That's funny, a woman being praised in the Qur'an that you say so harshly oppresses women?
Like every religion, there are those who skew and warp it to their own means. Christians bomb abortion clinics directly going against "Thou shalt not kill." And I have known far too many "Christian" men who abuse and harm not only their wives, but their children.
There is no glory for Allah in the murder and/or rape of women. There is no such verse extolling this practice either.
A few other verses from the Qur'an:
"O you who have believed, it is not lawful for you to inherit women by compulsion." (in the Bible a man may buy a woman he has just raped from her father.)
"Only an honorable man treats women with honor and integrity. And only a mean, deceitful and dishonest man humiliates and insults women."
"There is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path."
"Never hit your wives, they are your partners and sincere helpers."
"And why should you not fight in the cause of God and on behalf of those, who being weak, are ill-treated and oppressed, men, women and children whose cry is, 'Our Lord! Rescue us from these oppressors, and raise for us, from You, one who will protect and help.'"
"So do not fear the people but fear Me," (that sounds awfully familiar doesn't it?)
As to Leviticus, I reject the belief that it has no application to New Testament Christianity. It is ridiculous to even say that. The New Testament would not be without the Old Testament. You cannot properly learn from the New before reading the Old. I say this after reading the entirety of the Bible multiple times over.
Also, I get so tired of people saying this nation was built on Biblical beliefs and principals. Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers, was a devout ATHEIST who wrote his own version of the Bible in an attempt to disprove it. George Washington was never proven to be a Christian. You are a teacher, you should already know that.
I will not argue the point of whether I am valuable and/or precious. And I do not understand your desire to apologize for failings that are not yours.
I don't want to argue with you about whose religion is right and whose religion is wrong. I don't want to argue about verses written by dead men centuries ago who may or may not have been inspired by God. I choose to believe in what I will believe in. It is from my own searching, not from hurt feelings or from childish whims. I am who I am because I have been created this why by something. I'm not sure if that is Allah or God or Zeus for that matter. But I am determined to explore and study and learn, rather than believe everything that has been force fed to me for over a decade.
I do love and adore you, no matter what. But you can't apologize for someone else's failings and you can't stop me from believing what I will. You can pray for me to find my way, if you believe I have lost it. And I will pray for you as well.
Dear ____,
I'm sorry that I actually do my research and have seen Jefferson's "bible" with my own eyes. I'm sorry that I an wasting a few minutes of my lunch trying to explain something to you that you will never understand because you don't want to. I'm sorry that you will believe in my so-called naïveté about the bible and history (which happens to have always been my best subject, by the way). This all makes me very sad. However, what makes me saddest is realizing that all this time I thought you were far better than ___ and I see you are just the same. Believing you are in the right with no proof and being just as much of an ignorant and arrogant "man of God."
I wish you well.
Whilst I appreciate your sentiments, your viewpoints have been so horrifically altered by a biased media.
Have you ever read the Qur'an (I believe I have asked you this before)? Did you know that the majority of Muslim women actually wear the hijab and niqab because they want to? The covering and modesty have been forced on many, yes, but to say that the stance of all Muslims everywhere is to force women to dress so is ridiculous at best. And isn't the Bible the same way? 1 Corinthians 11:6 "If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head."
Did you know that women are to be honored and not abused ("do not harm them in order to oppress them." Qur'an 65:6)? In fact, the Qur'an speaks very highly of one woman in particular, you may know her as Mary the mother of Jesus (who is also highly regarded in Islam as being yet another prophet of Allah). "while God had been fully aware of what she would give birth to, and [fully aware] that no male child [she might have hoped for] could ever have been like this female." That verse speaks of when Mary was born. Her mother had intended to devote the child's life to God if she had been a man, instead Mary was born and in Allah's eyes no MALE child could ever have been like this FEMALE. That's funny, a woman being praised in the Qur'an that you say so harshly oppresses women?
Like every religion, there are those who skew and warp it to their own means. Christians bomb abortion clinics directly going against "Thou shalt not kill." And I have known far too many "Christian" men who abuse and harm not only their wives, but their children.
There is no glory for Allah in the murder and/or rape of women. There is no such verse extolling this practice either.
A few other verses from the Qur'an:
"O you who have believed, it is not lawful for you to inherit women by compulsion." (in the Bible a man may buy a woman he has just raped from her father.)
"Only an honorable man treats women with honor and integrity. And only a mean, deceitful and dishonest man humiliates and insults women."
"There is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path."
"Never hit your wives, they are your partners and sincere helpers."
"And why should you not fight in the cause of God and on behalf of those, who being weak, are ill-treated and oppressed, men, women and children whose cry is, 'Our Lord! Rescue us from these oppressors, and raise for us, from You, one who will protect and help.'"
"So do not fear the people but fear Me," (that sounds awfully familiar doesn't it?)
As to Leviticus, I reject the belief that it has no application to New Testament Christianity. It is ridiculous to even say that. The New Testament would not be without the Old Testament. You cannot properly learn from the New before reading the Old. I say this after reading the entirety of the Bible multiple times over.
Also, I get so tired of people saying this nation was built on Biblical beliefs and principals. Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers, was a devout ATHEIST who wrote his own version of the Bible in an attempt to disprove it. George Washington was never proven to be a Christian. You are a teacher, you should already know that.
I will not argue the point of whether I am valuable and/or precious. And I do not understand your desire to apologize for failings that are not yours.
I don't want to argue with you about whose religion is right and whose religion is wrong. I don't want to argue about verses written by dead men centuries ago who may or may not have been inspired by God. I choose to believe in what I will believe in. It is from my own searching, not from hurt feelings or from childish whims. I am who I am because I have been created this why by something. I'm not sure if that is Allah or God or Zeus for that matter. But I am determined to explore and study and learn, rather than believe everything that has been force fed to me for over a decade.
I do love and adore you, no matter what. But you can't apologize for someone else's failings and you can't stop me from believing what I will. You can pray for me to find my way, if you believe I have lost it. And I will pray for you as well.
Dear ____,
I'm sorry that I actually do my research and have seen Jefferson's "bible" with my own eyes. I'm sorry that I an wasting a few minutes of my lunch trying to explain something to you that you will never understand because you don't want to. I'm sorry that you will believe in my so-called naïveté about the bible and history (which happens to have always been my best subject, by the way). This all makes me very sad. However, what makes me saddest is realizing that all this time I thought you were far better than ___ and I see you are just the same. Believing you are in the right with no proof and being just as much of an ignorant and arrogant "man of God."
I wish you well.
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