Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
New Moon At Golden Dusk Over Golden Gate Bridge(s) Day & Night - IMRAN™
There are so many different vantage points and so many different lighting conditions to photograph the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. I have always only managed to catch a quick shot now and then during usually hurried short trips there for the last 26 years. This one was a particular stunning sight as the golden pink dusk settled in over the dark silhouette of the mountains and the new moon was sharply visible in the sky as bright as the headlights of drivers making their way across the bridge. As the monumental structures bridged the cities across the bay, the moon and dusk bridged the ending day and coming night.
© 2015 IMRAN
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Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Another Brick In The (Fire)Wall Versus The Great Wall Of Red China! - IMRAN™
Another Brick In The (Fire)Wall Versus The Great Wall Of Red China! In 1998-1999 I had the privilege of being the first...
Posted by Imran Anwar on Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
Lv LV Or Lv LV -- IMRAN™
This photo was actually stitched from 6 iPhone 4S pictures on the iPhone standing right outside the building, later imported into iPhoto on my MacBook Pro, and then processed in Photoshop CS6, before being saved as merely a 2.2 MB file.
© 2012 IMRAN
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Fly Eye-Popping Popping Cherries Fireworks Fireballs
SOOC Image Straight Out Of Camera!! NO editing, sharpening, tweaking, of ANY kind. Only framed in Photoshop & saved 14MB RAW image as 6MB JPG.
After the stunning nearly 3D quality Eye-Popping Popping Cherries, I felt it best to present something so different and so similar at the same time.
Around the same time those cherries were popping in bright cherry red and budding orange tones before ripening, almost exactly the same colors of eye popping fireballs were filling the skies on my beach at home, as the stunning Fourth of July Fireworks lit up Fire Island and the Great South Way, visible to mariners on the Atlantic Ocean as well.
The sharp and beautifully balanced cherry and orange colors of these fireballs in the sky are a perfect contrast to the Cherries photo.
NO editing done to this picture. 10 seconds f/8 expsoure on tripod at 450mm zoom equiv. with ISO 100.
© 2010 IMRAN
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Technorati Tags: Colors, IMRAN, Imran Anwar, ImranAnwar, Long Island, New York, Night, Nikon, Photography, Sky, Fireworks, Fourth Of July, SOOC
Friday, July 23, 2010
Almost 3D? Aye, I Eye Eye-Popping Popping Cherries
I love popping cherries. The fresh luster of new life, budding with promises of fresh tastes and dripping with juicy delights.
George Washington would be proud. I cannot tell a lie. I did NOT cut the cherry tree.
Instead, I planted this hybrid cherry tree a few years ago. It has 4 different kinds growing on the same plant. I planted it next to my deck (too close to it, I suspect, if it grows too large). It was bought at Home Depot in my area.
Yes, I get lucky, with my camera and even with plants :-) . The flower beds where I planted it still have pebbles and rocks the lazy builder had not bothered to remove 16 years ago, when the house was built. So, after shoveling hard, I found it nearly impossible to get to the required or recommended depth for this planter. I did the best I could.
The next few years, the plant grew, from about 2 feet to about 5 feet tall, without any contribution from me except ensuring the sprinkler system did not fail. This year was the first that it delighted me with eye-popping cherries, which I enjoyed eating right off the plant (as did some birds, you can tell!) and sharing with neighbors.
To take this photo I stepped on my deck furniture and stood precariously on the deck railing looking down and sideways at the plant. I wanted to get a view of the red and orange fruit with the rich green grass in the background below it.
What was stunning about this photo (25% crop of a 14MB RAW image) was how shiny bright the cherry was. Even at the relatively lower detailed cropped version here, you can see my white shirt reflecting ON the fruit! Even the green (post bloom Spirea) bush growing under the tree is actually reflected on the red cherry if you look at it in large size! Look hard at the reflections on the cherry and you almost feel that dizzying 3D sensation.
Yes, I Love Eye-Popping Popping Cherries.
© 2010 IMRAN
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PS I am playing with 3D photos too but not posting here. If you have those cheesy 3D red/blue shades, take a 3D look at my living room.
Technorati Tags: IMRAN, Imran Anwar, Long Island, Nature, New York, Nikon, Photography, Summer, Fruit, Prose, Cherries, Green
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Frozen Stick(y) (R)ice
I have to admit, except for occasionally liking Pakistani rice-based desserts called Kheer or Firni, usually served at weddings (with almonds or pistachios garnish), or at street corner carts there, I am not a big fan of rice or rice pudding. So, I don't even know much about Frozen Sticky Rice as a food item.
But, back in early 2004, when I was driving, at the height of winter, from my NY home to my nearly tropical oceanfront 37th floor, Singer Island, Florida, condo, I literally pulled over to the side of the road when I saw this scene.
Somewhere between New York and Washington, DC, this frozen lake with dead tree stumps sticking out of it, were glistening in the nippy winter air. At that time my 2MP Minolta Dimage X was pretty cutting edge.
Though Minolta is now defunct (and their camera business bought by Sony), that camera had one of the most intricate prism and lens systems built-in, enabling actual physical rather than digital zooming, but with no protruding lens. The entire mechanism was inside the camera body and the prism turned light so the zooming lens was moving vertically inside the camera body. Somehow, that camera (and an iPod 30GB of that time) were either lost on a Southwest flight, or are sitting in some old pants pockets somewhere in my home and I can't find them since!
In any case, though not comparable to the typical 6-13 MP images I post, this delectable rice-colored image seemed like quite a lovely trip down frozen memories lane.
Frozen Stick(y) (R)ice seemed a perfect title for this photograph taken along either I-95 or the maybe the Parkway. (Map location shown is a wild guess).
© 2004-2010 IMRAN
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MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA DIMAGE X2
Blog: blog.imran.com
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Sunday, July 18, 2010
Four Horse(No)Men Of Paradise
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are characters in Biblical stories, towards the end of the New Testament compilation period. Wikipedia explains how it is an anthology of stories written at different times by different authors around 2 centuries after Christ's time. The Four Horsemen represent things like pestilence and death, so it is ironic one of most stunning photos of the world's most beautiful seascape I took was just a few miles from the above spot.
While those stories' four horsemen are not characters I'm looking forward to meeting, these four horses with no men were photographed with a pocket Nikon S1 during a beautiful trip to Harbour Island, before Christmas 2007. This was taken lounging on the beach outside the really world class hotel there, Coral Sands, at Dunmore Town, on the island of Eleuthera. This truly is one of the loveliest beaches in the world, in the heavenly islands of the Bahamas, right here on earth, in the Caribbean.
One of the horses had literally rolled himself in the soft pink talcum powder soft sands (not exaggerating, that is how soft the sand is) with the backdrop of the powder blue sky, shiny wet turquoise waters gently rolling in from the East - while the setting sun to the West, over my shoulder, cast a reddish glow on them, and drew pictures on the sand almost looking like the Batman symbol.
Structurally it was interesting how the photo got split into accurate thirds, halves, and even how accurately (though quite by chance) the horses are framed exactly within the space of the wet/dry sand line and the edge line of the white surf with turquoise sea.
Definitely a place to lounge away romantic days and gentle loving moonlit nights, and one I hope to return to one day, for more horseplay and other plays :-)
© 2007-2010 IMRAN
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loc: 25.4982,-76.6310
Technorati Tags: Caribbean, IMRAN, Imran Anwar, ImranAnwar, Nature, Nikon, Ocean, Photography, Travel, Beach, Horses, Harbour Island
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
This Bud (Light)'s For You!
SOOC Straight out of camera, stunning Nikon D300 RAW image simply framed in Photoshop with *NO* editing or processing of any kind. Saved as 4MB JPG from 14MB original at ISO640, f/5.6, eV+1, 0.02 seconds,
So you can imagine the stunning bright green background and soft pink shades the Nikon D300 captured (I wrote this on June 26, 2010) at the side of my home.
From the previous pink on black Hearts On Fire(works) sky photo, this is a nice transition to a pink heart shaped rose bud with green details nearly matching the slightly overexposed green grass of the ground with more flaring pink in the background.
My immediate neighborhood is like what Palestine could be with Peace in the Middle East. As a Muslim American I am blessed with amazing neighbors (Catholics on one side, Jews on the other!), who're as sincere and caring to me, if not more, than many real family cousins!
As a matter of fact, this bud in bright summer morning light is a reminder of neighbors, friends, buddies who are a light in one's daily life. I don't drink but, my dear neighbors, "This Bud (Light)'s For You!"
As I was saying, I have no conflict with them but let's just say we could have had a "War Of The Roses"! One of my neighbors, who is big time into gardening, always says how she has no luck with Roses. I, despite my not being into gardening, other than planting and forgetting, seem to be quite lucky with roses in particular.
I guess I win this war of the roses and celebrate victory with a bokeh of roses. ;-) After all, as Shakespeare would have said, what we call a rose does smell as sweet even in a neighbor's flowerbeds!
God willing, when things get better, I will plan to plant more beautiful flowers around my home, because it has been a while since I did that.
In the meantime, this rose, planted several years ago, continues to be a source of immense pleasure and gentle beauty. I take in its sensual aromas when I stop by to smell it every night when I go for a walk. And it is a source of beautiful photo opportunities like this one.
I hope you enjoyed the photo and the thoughts it brought to mind.
© 2010 IMRAN
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Technorati Tags: IMRAN, ImranAnwar, Nature, Nikon, Photography
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Made In Japan. Self-Destruction In Pakistan. What A Shame! Will YOU Not Think?
by Imran Anwar
A friend of mine in Pakistan emailed me some photographs of the Japanese cities destroyed by American Atomic Bombs, and how they have risen from the ashes in 60 years.
It was so ironic to see that and compare Pakistan and Japan, and see how two nations of intelligent hard-working people took such divergent paths, over the same course of time and turmoil....
From 1947 to about 1967 Pakistan started rising from the heartbreak of partition to a somewhat economically developing nation. We had greater prosperity than the masses of India and better GDP than even South Korea.
We then spent most of the 1967-1977 period dismantling our economy - with civil war, defeat and then nationalization.
From 1977 to about 1987, thanks to the (CIA-driven dictator) General Zia-driven funding of fundamentalist ideologies, we saw Pakistan start a mental and social regression, which would make even Iranian clerics scratch their turbaned heads.
In the 20-years period of 1987-2007 (until today, so to speak) we have seen Pakistan brought to the brink of self-destruction. With money for missiles and nuclear weapons, Pakistan has no money or common sense to have invested in power generation to meet its own needs since several decades.
Forget industrial development, or even competing with other evolving economies in areas like software, and technology.
Despite constant load-shedding only the Conspiracy Factory of Pakistan continues to operate at peak capacity.
Even America ran out of ideas on conspiracies after the Moon Landing Hoax, Kennedy Assassination and Jimmy Hoffa conspiracies. Pakistan is the world's leading producer now. The best new conspiracies have Made in Pakistan engraved on them, while Made In Japan is now written on only the highest quality advanced technology products.
With our silent acquiescence, sitting in our air-conditioned (except for load-shedding hours) homes, we make the usual tccch-tcch sounds of afsos and regret, then do our bit to contribute to the manufacture of new conspiracy theories — while the stinking, unwashed, jihadi terrorists, murderous Jahilan-AlQatlian kill fellow Muslims and Pakistanis every day.
But, instead of recognizing the deadly cancer that grows in the midst of every major national organ (and organization), and dealing with that deadly disease, even supposedly intelligent, educated and professional Pakistanis see an American or Jewish conspiracy in everything. Instead of aggressively targeting the supporters of the Taliban and AlQaeda, who are now entrenched in mosques and madrassahs even in major cities, not just the stone-age rocky villages of the Northern territories, Pakistanis simply live by "Blame America, Wait For Allah".
We expect Allah to either press the Undo button or automagically fix everything. Pakistanis have mastered the fine art of tea-trolley discussions on whom to blame. They have elevated to a science the creation of Unified Theories of Conspiracy that would baffle even Einstein and confound Prof. Abdus Salam.
People now increasingly talk about the centuries old glory days of Muslims, instead of acting for a brighter future of Pakistan. They pontificate about how wonderful the Khalifas were, as if a Political-Religious Messiah can be divined from tea leaves in Fine China cups, to bring us bright eyed sunshine-filled futures.
And, all they think they need to do is hold tea parties - and attend Friday prayers once in a while - for this magic to happen.
Instead, all these people need to wake up and smell the coffee. Instead of a revival of a theoretical Ottoman Caliphate, we are becoming the Ostrich Caliphate of Pakistan. We run, as gracelessly as that creature, towards our own destruction - but only when we do not have our heads stuck in the sands of time and a romanticized history.
Forget history, damn the future, we can't even be certain of our todays, much less our tomorrows. We have jihadis, most funded by fellow Muslims and Pakistanis, killing our own soldiers, blowing up our women and children.
It is no secret that AlQaeda and the Taliban want to steal Pakistan's nuclear weapons. I suspect many Pakistanis probably secretly harbor a silent approval for the theft of one nuclear device. They secretly hope for such a device to somehow be used to "punish" all those they hold responsible for their own failures - as they successfully craft conspiracy theories. They mentally paint targets on Washington, New York, Tel Aviv, New Delhi.
"Ah," such people think, "if only 'they' can be blown up, all of Pakistan's problems would be fixed and the Muslim Ummah would shine again."
But, people, THINK about it.
Even if the jihadis were to succeed in grabbing one nuclear device, the likelihood of their "Islamic Bomb" getting to the USA, or even Israel, is 0.000000001%.
Wake up and do the Math. That means there is 99.999999999% likelihood they would detonate a device within Pakistan, in a major city...... One can only imagine what a nuclear explosion in a Pakistani city would do to a nation already on the brink of tearing itself apart at the seams. Maybe that is what Pakistanis secretly want? A full hard reboot of the system.
Maybe they look at Japan. It was destroyed and in far worse shape in 1945 than Pakistan was in 1947. Yet, see the path it took — from two nuclear bombs annihilating entire cities, military occupation, subjugation, war tribunals killing off the entire former leadership, and worse...
See below how incredibly Japan, ironically a nation big on suicides, chose to live on, to shine and rise from the ashes.... while Pakistanis silently witness a collective national suicide, at the hands of Muslim suicide-murderers, killing in the name of Islam.
We watch fellow Muslims trigger bomb timers, lighting fuses of death. We see Pakistanis' psyche smoldering, a rage fueled by the ugly, bearded hoards of semi-literate mullahs whom we can't even get to shut off their loudspeakers at 3AM for fear of a fatwa against us. We watch, every day, our cities exploding and Pakistan's future going down in flames...
And, still, collectively we all immediately blame anyone, anyone, but our own internal demons, our own created beasts, and worse, far worse, our own reality-avoiding selves.
What a shame, what a shame, what a shame....
I think it is time to think.... Afa'laa tataa'fakka'roon..... "Will You Not Think?"
IMRAN
Follow Me: http://twitter.com/imrananwar
FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/IMRAN.TV
Pictures: http://flickr.com/imrananwar/
PS I could not find the actual site or blog these photos came from, so they are produced here for appreciation. If you own these pictures, kindly let me know so I can attribute you for these stunning photos and link to your blog or album. Thank you.
======
Begin forwarded message:
From: Irfan R
To: IMRAN
!!!!!! When there is a will, there is a way !!!!!!!!
HIROSHIMA 64 YRS LATER...
Hiroshima , Nagasaki 1945
We all know that Hiroshima and Nagasaki
were destroyed in August 1945 after explosion of atomic bombs.
However we know less about the progress
made by the people of that land during the
past 62 years.
Here are some photos...
HIROSHIMA THE COLORFUL CITY
Now
Hard to believe isn't it???
Monday, March 22, 2010
Songs Of Spring Flying & "Pink! I Soar"
As the inexorable march of time brings our days to a close, just past the Ides Of March, the clocks spring forward, back to their original times. Spring may be in the air, or at least around the corner of the winter clock's tearing eye --- as will be happier days and times one day on the calendar of life.
Blue skies are not immediately visible on the horizon and the darkness of night still stands, brooding, silently menacing, around the water's edge.
But even in impending dusk, the sky blushes pink for its fantasy-filled thoughts of the sensual dawn it yearns to be embraced by. The soul wonders. What shall I do with this moment?
One Day I'll Fly Away, but does it have to be now? Shall I seek refuge in stark branches with Broken Wings? Or go back to Learning To Fly so l can fly again to seek the new dawn -- which I have to believe is waiting over the horizon?
I think. I feel. I choose. I roar.
"When eyes see Pink, I soar."
PS Sorry, I could not resist the puns on Pink Eye, Pink Eyesore, etc. for an image that is cool and pleasing to the eye. Of course the Pink Floyd song reference also reminded me of two other favorite songs, one from Randy Crawford and the other from the one-hit wonder Mister Mister.
© 2010 IMRAN
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Technorati Tags:
IMRAN, ImranAnwar, Life, Philosophy, Photography, Poetry, Nature, Music
Friday, January 01, 2010
Oh God, Where Are Three, I Mean, Thee?
A FaceBook connection of mine, Leroy Hite (a right-wing Bush-loving Bible-thumping conservative but still overall nice guy) posted a comment which I had to respond to.
That there is a "Minister" and others posting as if in the throes of some orgasmic rapture while typing their bigoted responses dooming others to hell or worse, made this even more entertaining.
It may also be mildly disconcerting for you to see that supposedly educated people can look upon other faiths with such intolerance. They appear to be no different than Taliban In Trousers.
Since FaceBook is not open to non-members, I am posting here the recent (ongoing) "discussion". It has been a while since I posted something like the good old newsgroup "debates" of 2 decades ago. If you're Christian, especially Catholic, or Muslim, or Jew, etc. surely something will amuse and surely something will aggravate you. What better way to enjoy religion in the new year? :-)
Happy New Year, 2010.
Imran
Leroy Hite * Muslims can proclaim their hatred for Jews & Chrisians which is a standard teaching in the Middle East, in all mosques, yet most in the West believe that we all pray to the same God? The Muslims themselves state that Allah is only applicable to them.
Tue at 8:30am
[This was Leroy's comment on some news story. I read his comment as well as the "gems" below & responded]
T Rene' Bachus Bowers basis is "spirit of jealousy."
Tue at 12:10pm
Mark La Roi Liberalism kills brain cells.
Tue at 12:26pm
Minister Patrick Williams Moon god worship. They deny Jesus as the son of God because their allah is not begotten, neither can he beget. This sets them apart from us and dooms them to hell.
Tue at 12:58pm
T Rene' Bachus Bowers unless or until they repent and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ which many are doing. Jesus is mercifully revealing Himself to many muslims in dreams and visions. may many, many more be brought to the King of kings and Lord of lords by His precious Blood--the only Way!
Tue at 1:25pm
Minister Patrick Williams This is so true, many are having dreams and visions from God, and are coming to the Lord. God desires all men to come to a saving knowledge of His son.
Tue at 1:41pm
Imran Anwar Leroy, sorry, but that is a ridiculous and frankly stupid comment. Muslims believe in Allah, the ONE God, the same as believed by Jews and Christians. We believe in Moses, Jesus etc as Prophets of that same ONE God. Christian fundos (read Bowers's above) post about how "their" God is superior.
Stop spreading hatred and stupid notions about Islam. It simply makes you appear similar to hate-filled AlQaeda supporters with their message of bile and falsehoods about others.
Tue at 6:21pm
Minister Patrick Williams You may say the one god until the end of life but it is not the one God we worship. Our God has a son name Jesus, yours does not. Our God has extend grace freely to us and we are sure, you hope you make it. So you see they are not the same.
lets look a little further.
We believe God became flesh. Not the same god you believe in.
وَقُلِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي لَمْ يَتَّخِذْ وَلَدًا وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ شَرِيكٌ فِي الْمُلْكِ وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ وَلِيٌّ مِنَ الذُّلِّ وَكَبِّرْهُ تَكْبِيرًا
and say: "All praise is due to God, who begets no offspring, and has no partner in His dominion, and has no weakness, and therefore no need of any aid" – and [thus] extol His limitless greatness.
There are many verses in the Koran where Muhammad denies the deity, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus and that He is the Son of God. The Jesus of Islam is just a man and prophet. He is even considered to be a lesser prophet to Muhammad because Muhammad is considered to be the highest prophet of Allah. But our God name is not allah, but
Yahweh, vocalized as Jehovah the tribal god of the ancient Hebrews. In Judaism and Christianity, the name Yahweh is the personal name of God. A name you do not know.
Tue at 6:55pm
Imran Anwar Muslims believe in ONE GOD, supreme being, creator of the Universe, who sent his message to many prophets, from Adam to Abraham to Moses to the immaculate conception of Prophet Jesus. We're not taught Prophet Muhammad was superior to Jesus (who we actually believe shall return, not Muhammad, as the Messiah). I do not believe Jews believe in 3 gods like Roman-paganized later Christianity taught, with most of those "teachings" coming centuries after the time of Jesus, prophet of the One God. (I never could figure out how believing in 3 entities qualifies as MONOtheism, but whatever floats your boat, err, ark, err cloud to heaven, padre ;-)
Tue at 7:42pm
Minister Patrick Williams I never could firgure out how a people could follow a man who had a 8 year old wife. Was a murderer and had no internal peace. A man who took piece of the bible and patched it together with the most ungodly teachings. You will never understand the nature of God, YHWH because you don't belong to him. Jesus said no man come to the Father but by Him. So if you are over there and left out maybe it because he hasn't dealt with you yet. Seek him while you can. Time is short a we shall see whose god is God. Peace be unto you.
Tue at 8:22pm
Leroy Hite Imran - The Doctrine of the Trinity is impossible to understand! That's what makes it believable! Nobody would or could have made up a doctrine like that - One God yet 3 Persons! Can you name the 3 persons of the Trinity Imran?
http://howdyhumor.blogspot.com/search?q=trinity
Tue at 8:50pm
Mark La Roi Let's boil this down to the base issue: is Jesus Christ almighty God?
Tue at 10:37pm
Minister Patrick Williams Yes! And anyone who does not accept this is not my brother.
Tue at 10:56pm
Imran Anwar Partick (and others), you are welcome to believe that 3 different entities can be ONE God. It is not my need or plan or job to convince you about how non-Monotheistic the Roman-Paganized versions of Christ's message of ONE GOD became. Far smarter people have written far better treatises on that.
A simple study of history shows how "modern" Christianity was created long after Jesus time. Ironically, Muslims consider attacks on Jesus blasphemy (or when some suggest "Virgin Mary" was covering for an illegitimate child begot from a life of sin).
So, I find it laughable for you to say things about Prophet Muhammad considering the child-molesting Church is as alive today as the bloodthirsty crusaders and Church leaders BURNING people ALIVE as heretics were far more recently. Christianity a religion of peace? Sure, if you want a good laugh.
If you want to trade slanders on other's religions, remember others can do far worse, and I don't think that is what Leroy wants his page to turn into. Thanks.
Wed at 12:13am ·
Leroy Hite Imran - Did you read my post just above? Christians do not believe that there are 3 Gods & the Trinity was taught hundreds of years before the Romans ever existed (see Is 9:6 for one example in our OT).
The burning alive as heretics & the Crusades were a Catholic event & we are Evangelical Protestants.
I'm glad that you & I are FB friends. You are obviously intelligent & likable but have gotten wrong teaching from liberal Christianity which is not Christian at all my friend.
Here's that link again about the Trinity again:
http://howdyhumor.blogspot.com/search?q=trinity
Wed at 10:01am
Minister Patrick Williams Think one of the major misunderstanding they have of Christians is that they try to lump of all together. As you stated we are not Catholic and frown upon all they did in the name of God. We hold to the true church, whereas they did many ungodly acts and still do. Jesus is God and there is no doubt about this. I care not for their teaching, it no more then the devils attempt to kill the promise God made to Abraham that His blessing should be upon Ishmael, who He foretold, would beget twelve princes and would become a great nation.
The devil raised up a man to distort this promise leading them down the wrong path. It gets no simpler then that. God wanted them to serve Him, but their so called prophet introduced them to another god, not the one we know, and wanted them to know him.
Wed at 2:02pm
Mark La Roi "A simple study of history shows how "modern" Christianity was created long after Jesus time."
~I'd like to see your proof.
Wed at 9:57pm
Minister Patrick Williams He doesn't know any better. He has studied the way the church evolved over the years and Constantine the Roman emperor 324 until his death in 337. He was known for being the first Christian Roman emperor who stopped the persecutions of his predecessor, Diocletian, issuing the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious toleration throughout the empire. The church split later into two sections, eastern and west, both Catholic not protestant as we are. It was under his authority many things entered into the church that did not appear in the first church of the apostles. Pagans were allowed to retain many of their traditions and this brought into the church a form of godliness, which still exists in the Roman Catholic church today, but he can't see that we are not the same. We don't chant, burn incenses, we don't refuse to allow our ministers to marry, recongize the pope as Gods representive on earth, pray to Mary or go to any man seeking forgiveness. Nor do we make saints out of dead men. It is in the name of Jesus we pray. I pray he will research this for himself and see we are not the same but hold to the true teachings Jesus and of the church. I think most muslim people over there and over here are mislead about the differences. Most protestants see Catholics as more closely aligned to muslims. They use the same rosary, which we don't and because the Muslims have a certain devotion to Our Lady and recognize her Virgin Birth and Immaculate Conception, were intrigued by the fact that Mary had appeared at Fatima, which was the name of Mohammed's favorite daughter and regarded by the prophet as the highest woman in Heaven after our Lady. In Zanzibar the sultan placed a wreath of flowers at the Fatima statue's feet. This is why they tolarate Catholics but not protestants. God bless.
Wed at 10:38pm
T Rene' Bachus Bowers May I say that we have been bought by that precious, most wonderful Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ?! Hallelujah! The Blood of the King of kings and Lord of lords; the very One Who said, "I and the Father are One." What a marvelous mystery!!! It was His Blood that brought us into the very presence of Yahweh, into the Holy of holies--not something any man, prophet or any other, could do. May I go so far as to say, you might want to sit down on this one, that, because we have the very Spirit of God living on the inside of us (Wow!something we humans cannot fathom but accept by faith,) we have become a "Holy of holies." I was reading just yesterday in the book of John, these words, "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He (even) gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. For God did not send His Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him." Jn 3:16&17 Amplified What a Truth! What a Saviour!!! We should be on our knees right now! The very next verse goes on to say that, whoever trusts in/believes in this Christ will NEVER be judged or condemned, but that he or she who refuses to trust in Him will be condemned. These are not any man's words, but the very Words of God. All people of every tongue and nation, who have believed and trusted in this Jesus Christ as the Only WAY, will be the ones to be caught up in the clouds when He returns to earth.
My dear Imran, these words are not for argument, they are for an invitation for you to see for yourself and hopefully ask more questions. If I may suggest, ask Jesus. Ask Him to reveal Who He is to you. The reason I know He will is because He revealed Himself to me--and changed my life completely. I love Him sooo much for His undeserved favor in my life.
Oh my Father, I ask you to show Imran how very much you love him. Reveal Your love to him and cause him to know that You have an amazing plan for his life--better than any-thing he could ever plan or imagine! Thank You for Imran!
Would You kindly bless him richly? It is in Your Son's mighty
Name that I ask You to do this, the Name that is above every
Name, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank You Abba Father, Amen--so be it.
Yesterday at 1:52pm
Imran Anwar Patrick, thanks for the additional laugh.. "They deny Jesus as the son of God because their allah is not begotten, neither can he beget. This sets them apart from us and dooms them to hell." One, it is Allah, not allah. Like I say Jesus, not jesus.
Anyway, by your statement, will Jews also be doomed to hell because they do not believe in the tri-theistic beliefs you have? And, what is your Christian belief in what will happen to the Jews when Jesus returns?
Leroy, I understand that Catholics burnt people alive, killed in crusades for power and wealth, give more power and pomp to an elected man the Pope than Jesus would want, etc. So, do you consider Catholics true Christians or more of a cult?
BTW, the Nazis killed lots of Catholics but history showed Protestants got along fairly well with Nazis as they went about their "work".
Mark, God's gift to mankind, called Google, will provide you info on history of how the current Bible came to be. (Do the MANY "versions" suggest it is the original word of God sent to Jesus?). And, I'd like to see your proof of Jesus as the son of God.
Lastly, Rene, that is the whole point. Faith is a matter of personal choice, not knowledge. You can believe what you want, I can believe what I want. The best of us will be those that live good lives by whatever our faith is and being good to other people. Happy New Year to all you.
3 hours ago
[You will love the responses this got, see below, emphasis added]
Mark La Roi "Mark, God's gift to mankind, called Google, will provide you info on history of how the current Bible came to be. (Do the MANY "versions" suggest it is the original word of God sent to Jesus?). And, I'd like to see your proof of Jesus as the son of God."
~You made the claim, now I merely ask you to back it up. I will not do your work for you. Share your side and I'll share mine. Either you have proofs or you are just sharing what you've been told, which is not knowledge, merely agreement. God does not force us to have faith in nothing, but gives a great deal of evidence.
I am not looking to pick a fight here, you made the claims.
about an hour ago
Minister Patrick Williams Every: The word of God tells us cast not your pearl before swine. Those who reject Christ are swine.
47 minutes ago
[UPDATE: Hilarious to see him come back a few hours later, delete the comment above either not realizing or remembering that FaceBook emails participants of these Wall post discussions all the posted messages as a record, so deleting it on the Wall page does not mean they disappear! His new update was simply:]
Minister Patrick Williams Cast not your pearls before swine
about a minute ago
In any case, my fellow Muslims, as well as Jews, Catholics, Hindus and others who do not subscribe to this idiot's beliefs, I hope you enjoyed being considered equal "swine" in the eyes of Minister Patrick Williams of Elizabeth City, North Carolina!
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