iPostthisweek

Table of Contents The naming of the gods Gods' Names - Satisfactory or Undesirable? Adad   Allah   Anat   Anu   Ashur Baal   Dagon Elohim Ishtar   Marduk   Shamash Yahweh  (or YHWH)  This writing argues that these names of God-gods of ancient times were satisfactory while their actions could be construed as undesirable, hence the polytheistic nature of their religions. The naming of the gods Many ancient religions associated meanings with the names given to the gods; meanings that arguably were derived from their life situations. Gods’ names were contextualized from roles that were deemed beyond the natural activities of humans or what humans could not naturally control. Such feats were attributed to the supernatural. We see these definite names of gods in ancient Mesopotamia as classical examples. One god could not have dealt with all the human problems or sorrows of their times. It is believed that the Semitic world shares many things in common. The Sumerians did not speak Semiti

Table of Contents Tezcatlipoca Quetzalcoatl Tlaloc Chalchiuhtlicue Nanauatzin Cosmic Order – The Balance Aztec is a name used to describe the Nahuatl-speaking people who thrived in central Mexico circa the 14 th  and 16 th  centuries as an empire and dominated large parts of Mesoamerica. Variously, the Aztecs had different names. They are known as Aztlan (which means ‘White Land’), the Tenochca (a name adopted from one of their ancestors called Tenoch), and the Mexica, which was a derivative from Metzliapan (which stands for ‘Moon Lake’). Ancient Aztec religious beliefs and practices were tied to their understanding of the world; the people were deeply amazed by the thought of the unknown, the universe and the end of time. These thoughts arouse some curiosity and awareness to understand better their world and how it came about. I used the term ‘theogony’ to describe the Aztecs’ generations of gods however, not in the context of Greek mythology where the ‘primordial deities’ were the fi

Table of Contents Revelations or Representation?  The Mary Question   The Qur'an The Bible Today, I have chosen the eve of Christmas to write about how Jesus was conceived as narrated in the Qur’an and the Bible. Doing this, I intend to infer Mary’s role as the ark who delivered the child to the world. I must declare at this point that this is not an academic paper, even though I pose the question: Revelations or representation? Revelations or Representation?  Some scriptural scholars have argued that there are elements of biblical events and incidents noted in the Qur’an and because the bible came first before the Qur’an such events and incidents must have been from the Bible. Some have argued that they were as results of divine revelation, that is, God communicating his mind to humans. Whichever side you take, this writing aims to uplift human spirits to righteousness, peace and joy and seeks to bridge the gap between Christianity and Islam.   The Mary Question  Mary or M

Table of Contents The Term Islam The idea of God in Pre-Islamic Arabia Christianity  Sabines   Jews Zindiqs Atheists  Polytheists/Idol Worshippers Monotheists Islam as Peace The main objective here is to define Islam according to the Qur'anic description against the backdrop of pre-Islamic Arabia. The Term Islam The term Islam could be understood as both a name and a concept that was developed from Arabic with a three-letter root:  (s / l / m);  which means ‘submission’ or ‘surrender’ .  It was from this root  (s/l/m): The three-letter root, from which Islam is derived also means peace (salam), soundness, and safety. Islam is therefore a person’s total submission to the will of God, which gives him or her inner peace, soundness of nature in this life and safety from divine retribution in the life to come. In  Surah , ( Al-‘Imran  3:19), the Qur’an emphasizes the following: “Truly, the religion with Allah is Islam,” and states in ( Al-‘Imran  3:20) that “So if they dispute with

Table of Contents Ideographic Mapping Collective and Organised vs Individual and Spontaneous Experiences The measure of a Collective Value In this writing, I consider religion or no religion from the viewpoints of conscious subjectivity and Agency. By this, I mean that religion or no religion can be viewed either as a subject, such as an individual who has the conscious power to relate his/her feelings, desires or beliefs within the bounds allowed by the law, conventions, and responsibilities, on the one hand, or as an agency that has the power of influence over other people, organizations, societies and even civilizations (‘civilization’, here understood as a society or group of people), on the other.   Ideographic Mapping The choice of the phrase ‘An Ideographic Mapping’ as part of the title emphasizes the conscious but rigid specification of the influences of the many religious or irreligious beliefs. The German philosopher, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) argued that space and time are o