umm...Muslims?

[la-man]

yea leave them poor people alone!!!

[SH]

  foh-get it...go ahead

[Alamss]

SH are you an applicant for 05' or 06'??

[la-man]

so anyone up for talking about what was the reasons for the first world war???

[SH]

God willing 06...

la-man...that would be....duh WMD

[Alamss]

la-man I dont know...I am getting pretty bed bound by now, I am on the east coast, might drop anytime. Do you enjoy history?

[la-man]

history is fascinating to me yes...i wish i had more time to read more though...

[SH]

history is fascinating to me yes...i wish i had more time to read more though...

you have a nice long summer...God willing

[hilljack]

There are MANY very well educated men who advocate and publish nonsense, not because they don't know better, but because they have an agenda. And since you are the one who are presenting a contrary view to what is historically understood as the motivation for the crusades, please feel free to let us know of your so called sources that tell you that the crusades in general were primarily fought for trade routes. Though there was a lot of plunder by the crusading knights as they went down the mediteranian, if that is what you consider finding trade routes? And logically why would they send waves of massive armies to "find trade routes"? wouldn't that be a more diplomatic mission?

I am not saying there were no religious overtones, but would Western European countries commit their forces to fight for Christianity?  I was taught European history by a very well educated man, and I will go by what he said and what I have read.

The first crusades, the farmer with pitch forks may have been motivated by religion, but these people were slaughtered.

Just so you know, this professor had a low opinion of Christians in general.  Called our beleifs phony and, what was it, counterfeit.  Any way, when I get a chance, I will study it more, now is not the best time with finals.  I would suggest that everyone evaluate all theories and explainations and go with what makes the most sense to you.

[rhapsody]

rhapsody,
Thank you for trying to clarify...and like I mentioned earlier..despite having taken christianity in first year uni, AND taking Psych of Religion from our theological school...(which had its roots in judeo-christian reasoning) I still can not figure out how that is ONE GOD. If it was one God why would God be speaking to himself? As the earlier poster..abe? said...over 2000 years of debate still hasnt cleared this issue up within the scholars themselves. 


and the Islamic "jihad" did you read what La-Man wrote?

Well, another way to explain it (and I read this on the CARM website a couple of years ago but don't have time to search for the link) is something like this:  Draw yourself an equilateral triangle and divide it into three equal parts.  Write "solid" in one part, "liquid" in another, and "gas" in the third.  The main triangle as a whole represents matter; the inner parts are its three states.  Water, for example, has different properties when it is ice versus when it is liquid versus when it is steam -- but in all three states it is still the same matter, H₂O.  You can draw a similar relationship for the Father, Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. 

Beyond that, all I can say is even though I am a very analytical person (I majored in ChemE), I don't understand everything about my faith and I no longer expect to, this side of Heaven.  That used to be one of my main difficulties with Christianity is that it seemed contradictory, or impossible, or unlikely, or too removed from me to make a difference even if it was true.  One thing the Bible does say about itself is that to the worldly person, its words are foolishness, i.e., it cannot be understood.  It goes on to say that we need the Holy Spirit to enable us to understand what it means.

I did read what la-man wrote.  I think war, any kind of war, is terrible -- but sometimes that is the proper course of action, and history illuminates that.  What I take issue with is the current form of jihad, the terrorism.  That is completely wrong.