The Lost Tomb of Jesus - is it a religious attack?

Islam was more advanced than The West - both scientifically and medically. Spain was more civilized under Muslim rule than it was under Christian rule.

Geez - the Muslims knew the value of taking baths while the Europeans were incredibly stinky!

I would say that Christian rule may have brought about the Dark Ages.

That is a lot of BS Zozo .
Key word --- was

Why do you say it is BS?
I have seen a few documentaries that show that Islam (Arabic World) was more advanced. The area of 750 AD to 1050 AD is considered the Golden Age of Islam. For example:

[INDENT]1. Here are some a Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) which encouraged learning: "He who pursues the road of knowledge Allah will direct to the road of Paradise... The brightness of a learned man compared to that of a mere worshiper is like that of a the full moon compared to all the stars.... Obtain knowledge; its possessor can distinguish right from wrong; it shows the way to Heaven; it befriends us in the desert and in solitude, and when we are friendless; it is our guide to happiness; it gives us strength in misery; it is an ornament to friends, protection against enemies.... The scholar's ink is holier than the martyr's blood.... Seeking knowledge is required of every Muslim.... (They seem to have forgotten this one)

2. They had a common language and started using paper so that knowledge could be easily spread. Arabic turned into the language of international scholarship. This was one of the most significant events in the history of ideas. Scholars could communicate with one another, and ideas were translated from Greek, Latin, ancient Egyptian, Chinese, and languages from other parts of the world. In the ninth century the Caliph al-Mamun encouraged the translation of Greek and Byzantine knowledge. With the approval of the Byzantine emperor, the caliph sent scholars to select and bring back Greek scientific manuscripts (handwritten works) for translation into Arabic.

3. Built the largest library in the world. The House of Wisdom was set up by Caliph al-Mamun in 1004 A.D. in Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Empire. It was the greatest "think tank" the medieval world had ever seen! Without the translations and research that went on here, much of the Greek, Latin, and Egyptian knowledge would have been lost to the world.

4. Chemistry - Jabir Ibn Haiyan, known in Europe by the name Geber, is generally known as the Father of Chemistry. He was one of the leading scientists in Kufa (in present day Iraq) around 776 C.E. In his early days, he was supported by the advisor to the Abbasid Caliph. Jabir died in Kufa in 803 C.E. Jabir's (Geber's) major contribution was in the field of Chemistry. He is famous for writing twenty-two books on chemistry and alchemy. He introduced experimental investigation into alchemy which led to modern Chemistry. Jabir emphasized experimentation and development of methods to show the same result when an experiment was repeated.

5. Medicine / Hospitals - While European "hospitals" at this time were usually simply monasteries where the sick were told they would live or die according to God's will, not human intervention, Muslim hospitals pioneered the practices of diagnosis, cure, and future prevention. The first hospital in the Islamic world was built in Damascus in 707, and soon most major Islamic cities had hospitals, in which hygiene was emphasized and healing was a priority. Hospitals were open 24 hours a day, and many doctors did not charge for their services. Later, a central hospital was established in Baghdad by order of the Abbasid ruler, the first of thirty-four hospitals throughout the Muslim world, many of them with special wards for women.

6. Biology - The 13th century Syrian scholar and physician Ibn al-Nafis was first to discover the pulmonary circulation of the blood. In doing so he had to reject the views of one of his predecessors, Avicenna - himself an important medical thinker who, among other things, identified that disease could be spread by drinking water. Ibn al-Nafis died in his bed at an advanced age. Compare his fate to that of the second person to propose the theory of circulation, the Spaniard Michael Servetus. In 1553 he was arrested by the Protestant authorities of Geneva on charges of blasphemy, and was burned for heresy at the insistence of Calvin after refusing to recant.[/INDENT]

Today - Muslims (Arabic World) are in their own Dark Ages.

Some would say that the only reason the West needed The Enlightenment was because Christianity / Church took society into the Dark.

I think this proves the fallibility of all the Religious Institutions.

:thumbup:

I hope that you understand my comment was about religious INSTITUTIONS
Not about religions - the spiritual components of it.

that doesn't bother me, there are plenty of good religions out there, to include Christanity

A Topic Like This Puts A Lot Into Perspective. We Are Lucky To Live In A Free Scocity Where The Main Religion Of The Scocity Can Freely And Openly Be Questioned. Try To Question Islam In The Middle East.

Not me. As a gentile, I don't have to obey Jewish law and tradition like Leviticus. Didn't Jesus say "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions." to the Pharisees?
Also, it seems we are encouraged to break tradition in Corinthians:

25- "Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience"

yes religious freedom and freedom of speech another creation of logical and creative human thought, however divinely inspired gave us those freedoms

What is the greater good?

1. Religious unity and harmony
2. Religious disunity, freedom of speech plus violence?

"Islam was more advanced than The West - both scientifically and medically. Spain was more civilized under Muslim rule than it was under Christian rule."

That's an old argument I don't buy. Besides, the 'advanced' version of Islam you're referring to was snuffed out by the more radical, low-minded variety with which we're grappling now. Also, Muslim sophistication didn't keep up. It fell out of competition with the West in a decisive way by the start of the European Scientific Revolution.

"Geez - the Muslims knew the value of taking baths while the Europeans were incredibly stinky!"

Look at them now. They're barbarians. Arabs wipe their butts with their left hand.

"I would say that Christian rule may have brought about the Dark Ages."

And you would be wrong. The Dark Ages weren't that dark, to begin with, and, as you know from your high school world history class, they began with the collapse of the Roman Empire in AD 476. Rome folded for many reasons, but was plunged into total chaos by wave upon wave of barbarian invaders. At the time of its fall, Rome was still not completely converted to Christianity. Moreover, Christian Civilization ws simultaneously thriving in the East.

As for the claim of Islam being more advanced than the West.

Not Islam, but cultures controlled by the Islamic religion. Many of the great thinkers of Islam were simply building on earlier ideas. Many of them were actually Christian, secular, or some other religion.

The Roman Empire was largely Christian at the time but had deeply ingrained moral issues. Also, those responsible for the downfall of Rome were pagan or heretic.

But at its apex Rome was pagan and unforgiving as the Romans could be they were unusully tolerant of other religions as long as they didn't challenge the empire.....
harmony is a myth.....and is called tyranny in other philosophies...Violence takes place in these harmonius religious societies it is just committed by sabctioned groups and individuls...the very act of enforcing religious harmony requires violence and tyranny...and homogeny..itself a tyranny
the desired goal is relative peace within society and justice for each individual which cannot be had without those freedoms

But Rome was full of moral decadence, had a small army, and also had a fifth column of barbarians at the end of the Empire. There were succesful Christian empires.

true but the decadence that brought them down really took hold near the end of the empire and really cannot be blamed on either religion The empire just fell apart because people became both isolated and decadent and backward looking..
the Romans bathed in their past glories ignoring the realities of the modern world as the people became increasing more isolated in culture and physical reality
They began relying as you said increasingly on a smaller and smaller professional and overwhelmed army having abandoned their citizen soldier model years before and no longer willing to have prominent citizens serve in the military...sound familiar...


Bastards though they were the Romans absorbed aspects of the cultures they conquered and it made them thrive continually bringing riches both cultural and monetary back to the empire,
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The barbarians who eventually wore the tired empire down had absorbed the lessons of Roman warfare, politics and culture and yes religion and still remembered their own methods....
Of course their were sucessful empires that were largely Christian in population, given the nature of culture in those days the ratios was probably greater than 90 percent but it wasn't the religion that held them together it merely kept an unsteady peace between constantly warring powers long enough for an empire to come into being

That's Jesus changing the law regarding unclean animals. He changes several parts of the law during his time on earth as he's "filling the law to it's fullest". Some things he left as they were, others he changed.

He also changes Adultery, introduces the concept of original sin, etc

and the idea that God has different sets of laws for different groups of people is racist and violates the concept of a fair, just, and perfect god.

That wasn't Jesus, I forget who's letter it was.

Wasn't it the Jews who recieved the Laws and were required to follow them? Gentiles did not have to. For example, circumcision was not required for Gentiles either.

What Christianity learned from Rome, it taught to the barbarians. For five hundred years, Western Christian Man fought to remain European, and Christian. That is the most glorious part of his story.