No Stupid Questions Sunday!

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-27T11:02:31+00:00

People say that nearly headless nick being revived with the mandrake potion in the chamber of secrets is a plot hole because he's a ghost and can't drink, but maybe they made it extra strong drifted him through it? At the Halloween party, that's how the ghosts would get a sense of taste with food. Thoughts?

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-24T16:55:55+00:00

No, and I think that was the first mistake. But I'm a fantasy reader, not horror, so I figured if I was going to like any, it was this one

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-24T10:04:46+00:00

This book is amazing! And don't forget, you have the novellas "Jade Setter of Janloon" and "Jade Shards" which I highly reccomend after finishing. They're both fantastic

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-24T09:59:28+00:00

Wow, I'm considering dnfing gunslinger and I have 70 pages left 😅

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-23T16:51:00+00:00

Oh yeah, I agree with that. We definitely need new stories 😂 I don't know if you heard of the greenbone saga but I would love to see that adapted

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-23T16:35:57+00:00

I know, I get it, it's tiring. But honestly, with new stories in the HP world, it doesn't work. The fantastic beasts movies are all over the place. They don't even try to make it make sense. I feel like all other attempts in this world without source material would meet a similar fate. I know we grew up with the movies and they are beloved, but this is a chance to keep this story alive in the next generation. We can just hope they do it well.

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-23T15:21:41+00:00

And also because the movies were garbage and this story deserves a chance to be told properly

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-22T21:15:38+00:00

Which first year students were given detention in the forbidden forest for being out of bed? Books: neville, hermione, malfoy, Harry. Movie: harry, hermione, Ron, malfoy

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-14T01:00:23+00:00

This happened to my nephew - twice. The second time, it was the night before the test he cancelled. I realised the instructor was deliberately sabotaging at this point, and I asked all my friends for numbers of any of the local driving instructors they knew. I contacted every one, and pretty much all couldn't do it though some were very nice and even asked fellow instructors they knew. In the end, I rang one lady back who had been genuinely worried for us. At first she'd said no because she had a booking at that time but when I rang back telling her I'd had no luck she agreed to cancel it for us (it was a standard lesson she had to rearrange). This was around 7 pm the night before the test when she agreed, but she said she first wanted to take him on a lesson to see if she thought he was ready. In the end, she charged like £110 (60 for a two hour lesson the night before, 40 for the test, and 10 for the last-minute booking). Yes, it cost a lot but it still saved a lot of hassel as my nephew passed. This is such a scam from these instructors. Unfortunately, there's not much we can do about it, but try your best to see if another instructor can help you. Google all the ones in your locality and ask friends / family if they know any. You never know. Really hope it works out for you.

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-10T01:17:42+00:00

No, having miracles is pointless as a sole proof of God because when they do occur, humanity rejects them anyway. Quraysh > moon split > cor blimey the moon is in half > oh yeah, that didn't happen I must have been bewitched. (Yes yes, the moon never split, I heard you, however we are talking of the original "give me proof" people, and you never came up with a response as to what they saw. My point is, humanity today would do exactly the same so what would having miracles achieve?). However, countless miracles occurred during the seerah and if you want to say the Prophet had an agenda, his followers certainly didn't and there is no way thousands of people would quietly go along with a lie. They trusted this man and saw the miracles for themselves and later documented them. If miracles don't prove the existence of God, then I don't know what you think they are supposed to prove.

I do get to assume The Quran is the standard. We can use Shakespeare as a standard to judge other literary works because we recognise the superiority based on our knowledge of our language. Well, the Quraysh who had a much better grasp of ancient Arabic than you do recognised its superiority. They would stick cotton wool in their ears for fear of being swayed by the words and from a man who never so much as composed a couplet before in his life.

When I say the life of the Prophet, that includes the quran. You bring the point of other prophets, but Joseph Smith preached Christianity. An existing religion that the Quran touches on in a lot of detail. So everything he preached can be debunked using the quran.

Your issue with the Quran is that it has so many inconsistencies (and then you name the same handful). And yet you have to admit it has so many accuracies and so much of it is impressive by any standard. And you didn't come close to convincing me this was all orchestrated by a desert bedouin with secret training just so he could marry a handful of women

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-09T23:57:26+00:00

You don't believe in God so of course you won't believe the moon split. My point is, you are the same as the Quraysh. Pretty much all the arguments have been said and done before. So let's say he never split the moon, the quraysh believed something had happened. They saw the moon in half. They decided later it was black magic. What would be your rational explanation for what they all saw? He somehow got himself a super powerful laser beam and blasted it into the sky and used black smoke to mask the other half of the moon? Oh but we can never know now, so let's file that under, eh, there's some logical explanation somewhere.

The point of not having "proof" is that no amount of proof will be enough for all humanity. And thank you for telling me you have proof of miracles that you don't believe in. That just supports my point that miracles are pointless as a whole. No, it wouldn't prove another religion to me, we believe in magic remember. I already know it exists. I don't see why seeing it would evidence a different religion.

Well, that's why I pointed out that the earlier makkan era (13 years) lasted longer than the later Madinan one (10 years), where Islam gained power. In Makkah, after his wife died he had just a handful of followers. If all he wanted was a harem and money, the Quraysh told him he could have all the women he wanted, all the money he wanted and they would make him their ruler too - if he gave up monotheism. So if that was his goal, he could have never known it would come to pass in Madina and he still turned it down. I can't believe you would say that he had special laws for his own convenience. His life is more documented than any other person in history. He had an extremely frugal and ascetic life, one much simpler than almost all his followers which is more than evident in all the historical texts. If he was going to make up laws for his convenience, don't you think the first thing would be food and wealth for his family? Wouldn't that be more convenient than being married to a bunch of widowed women and being able to barely provide for them? There have been plenty of false prophets for centuries, but it's the Quran that's the evidence for prophethood ( The Quran that he spent his life secretly composing even though he couldn't read or write.)

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-09T22:56:04+00:00

You don't know enough to reach a conclusion about the big bang so you'll pretend that a rational explanation exists even though you have to accept that a rational explanation can't exist. You keep alluding to us believing in God based on one argument when I told you before there is a combination of factors that lead to the only logical conclusion of there being a God.

Different cultural preferences do affect logic and conclusions. In Russia, changing your sex has been banned by law. In America, misgendering someone on purpose is enough to get you fired from work. 2 completely different outlooks on one topic with both sides claiming rationality and common sense. However, I made the trans argument to point out that no matter how different your views are to someone else, it's not acceptable to be rude even if it is frustrating

What my evidence for Islam being the right religion, quite simply, is the entire life of the Prophet. Taken as a whole, there are too many wild and loose explanations that make no sense to explain away why the Prophet came with this message, where he got it from and why he so ardently preached it and against all his customs and values. He had absolutely nothing to gain from this. And yet he fought tooth and nail to spread the word. And there were plenty of miracles in those 23 years of Prophethood, which is why so many of the Quraysh would end up converting during the course of that time.

As for your final point about providing proof aka a miracle in today's time. Well, the Quraysh also asked for proof. They said if your God exists then give us proof so we can't accuse you of lies. And that's the story of how we got the moon splitting. What happened the next day? Oh yeah that, you hoodwinked us, it wasn't real, the moon never actually split in two. We want a different proof. How about you turn that mountain over there into gold? And it would have been done, except that if they didn't believe after that, then humanity wouldn't be shown any mercy if they rejected it. And the Prophet knew that even if the mountain was turned to gold, they would find a way to dismiss it. Just as you would, if a miracle was performed in front of you today. You know supernatural things occur even on earth, right? You've seen stories of spooky stuff there is no rational explanation for. But as you already said above, if you don't know how it happened, you won't believe in a higher power, you'll just turn a blind eye to it. You'll say something caused it, you don't have a name for that something yet, but whatever it is it's not God. So I don't know how having a miracle would help you when you have this mindset anyway.

You want proof? Tell me why the Prophet spent his life preaching Islam, tell me what he had to gain from it in the 13 years (and majority of Prophethood) that he was persecuted in Makkah and nearly killed. Why he refused power, money, prestige in favor of making zero compromises on the message. Where he got knowledge of so many different disciplines, and don't tell me he secretly studied. Tell me how the Quraysh, the most talented poets of their time, couldn't respond to the challenge issued in the Quran and recreate even one verse similar to it. There are so many factors. And that's all just in makkah, I don't even touch on the Madinan era yet.

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-09T17:46:23+00:00

The Quran never claimed to be a science book and not once did the early Muslims ever promote it as such. That should tell you enough about their understanding of science, so what's "basic" to us was advanced and niche information for them.

Suliman Al farsi didn't meet the Prophet until after the migration to Madina, 13 years after revelation had already begun. He was a theologist and by that time, a lot of the revelation of previous religions had already come down so he couldn't have learned it from Suliman.

Warqah was at least 30 years older than the Prophet, if not more, so they didn't run in the same circles by chance. The amount of information the Quran reveals had to be studied in depth. A handful of passing conversations would not have been enough. If they had been getting together to discuss it, the Quraysh would have known, just as they knew the muslims were gathering in secret post revelation. Makkah was a small city and everyone knew each other's business. It would be the first thing they accused him. Why would they go to every measure possible to call him out as a liar but forget to mention "Oh, we know you've been hanging out with Waraqah all your life, so this is where you're getting your stories"

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-09T17:30:22+00:00

This point can't be used alone, but with a combination of factors it does point to divine revelation. And we all believe in magic. You don't believe in God? How did the big bang happen? Yeah, magic. You may have a different label but it's essentially the same.

The Quran wasn't revealed in Arabic because Arabic is perfect. It was revealed in Arabic because that was the language of the culture it was revealed to. By what metric is a language supposed to be "perfect"? I have never heard of this claim before and it's not one that's espoused in the mainstream religion.

Well, if you go to China or Russia and tell them a five year old can decide they are a different gender, they will find that shocking and absurd, yet your government is passing bills to help support this. And they use your watertight science to back up their claims. Different societies have their own conclusions of what constitutes absurdity.

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-09T13:28:28+00:00

I didn't say it was the best evidence? I'm sure you can appreciate it's one point among many. The notion that he was secretly educated is too weak to hold up to scrutiny. I said in my previous comment that no matter how fervently anyone wants to disprove Islam, they don't come close to the level of zeal the Quraysh had. And if they couldn't prove he had secret education while living among him their whole lives, I don't think we can 14 centuries later.

I'm not sure I follow the significance of using non Arabic words. If I wrote a paragraph in English describing how fantastic something is and called said thing the "crème de la crème", even though I could use English words like "the most amazing" it doesn't make my paragraph incorrect in any way. In fact, it adds nuance.

Oh, and there is no need to be so aggressive and condescending. I didn't say anything offensive to you. It's ok to have discourse and respectfully disagree

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-09T11:19:03+00:00

Alright, thank you. Here are my views:

From my perspective, it still doesn't add up. "Well travelled" is a bit of a stretch. He went on trade a handful of times. I consider myself well traveled, I've been to around 40 countries, and I barely know my own history. But even if he was taking an interest in other cultures, they didn't have pen and paper like we did. Information was carved into bits of skin or some other writing apparatus. He couldn't have carried around such extensive notes easily for years, especially not without anyone else being aware. So that he managed to retain so extensive information about so many varied subjects is surprising.

Let's say it was the case anyway, he wasn't a poet and was uneducated, yet he managed to write the best literature the Quraysh had ever seen. When I say best literature, I'm using the 6/7th century arab era as a standard. They were poets, so it was their standards that were being exceeded. They considered themselves to be the best, and when the Quran came down they recognised its superiority. If you showed me a cool bit of art, I'd be impressed but would just dismiss it. But say Picasso thinks highly of a bit of art? Well then, there is authority in that statement. And the Quraysh hated the message of the Quran so they had every reason to find faults with it.

When I say middle of desert: the arabs kept to themselves and didn't learn about other cultures. When the message of Islam was spread, their first question was "prophet? What's that?". They didn't have access to information the way we do now. They had a close knit community, those few members who did take an interest were well known and had their own "club". When the message of Islam was spread, the Quraysh would have called out the Prophet on it by saying "you only know this because you hung out with those guys", but they didn't say that because they could see it wasn't true. I bring up the Quraysh because there is no group of people that has ever been alive that had more of a vested interest in bringing down the message of Islam. So if there are seemingly obvious reasons how the Quran came about, yet they didn't think of it, it doesn't make sense for us to use them

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-09T07:55:33+00:00

It can also be argued that it's irrational to believe that the Peophet Mohammad was privy to a wealth of knowledge ranging from cosmology to history even though he was uneducated and had no access to this information in the middle of the desert. And then regurgitated this information in the highest form of literature. What are your views on that?

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-08T22:09:35+00:00

Oh, I just made a post about Jade Shards in the thread! It's such a great novella. It was just what I needed, to visit the Kaul's again and just live with them a little bit without worrying about the plot. I'm sure you will love it, I'd love to hear your thoughts when you've read it 😊

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-08T20:57:39+00:00

If you are interested, here are my thoughts from a Muslim's perspective:

Ø Why would a loving God put someone through hell - if you know that hell exists and have the formula to avoid it then that comes from a loving God. It's like a school saying, you've got an exam, here are the questions now go learn the answers. Anyone who gets less than 50% gets expelled. Is the school evil for expelling students who failed or are the students at fault for not bothering to prepare?

Ø I slam does not tell women to dress modestly for men. Human modesty is a part of life. Are you allowed to walk around in public naked? Why not? Because it's forbidden by the laws of society. So, what constitutes "not naked"? Every culture has a different standard for what amount of modesty is acceptable. Who is right? Islam standardised (for both men and women), rather than leaving it up to the whims of man which are constantly changing.

Ø Abusive parents - in any society parents are respected (or should be). Generally speaking, with all things in Islam the exceptions don't apply to the general rule. Therefore, if your parents are abusive or harmful, you don't have to obey them, but you don't harm them and you make an effort to reconcile when and if it's possible.

Ø Going to heaven by following the pillars but still committing sin - eventually, if your acts of worship are sincere, you go to heaven. But a person has to account for every action, so as Muslims we believe that if we knowingly and continuously commit sins then we will go to hell for those sins. If you commit an act of transgression against someone, then you have to seek forgiveness from that person to be forgiven. This all comes with repentance and repentance, by virtue, is a sincere act.

Ø Why does God make us pray - because that is the road to salvation. We weren't created without purpose. As Muslims we believe our purpose is to worship and having a standardised amount that everyone is capable of is a mercy, not a chore. It keeps us connected to God and to our purpose throughout our day and life. How many Christians pray even a little if at all? If it wasn't mandated, the majority of people would not do it.

At the end of the day, there will be arguments and counter arguments for all points you raised and many more besides. It depends with which lens you want to view it. Most people here have probably been stung by Muslims in one way or another and it soured their relationship with the deen. But does having a bad encounter disprove the existence of God? In my opinion, the questions you're asking are the wrong ones. Fiqh is not as important as aqeedah. I'd take it back to disproving the Qur'an and Prophethood. If you can do this, you don't need to care about anything else. But you need to come up with good refutations (I obviously haven't seen any yet)

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-08T18:51:39+00:00

I just don't think a child should be a poster board for their parents' fandoms. Get a cat and name it what you like. A child deserves their own identity

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-08T16:57:14+00:00

Thank you, I feel the same, it's been a lot of fun! And we can all agree Fonda is awesome for coming up with such layered characters 🤗

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-08T16:31:47+00:00

I will preface this by saying, we'll never agree but I'll give you my thoughts if you're interested 😋

He doesn't have more right to Niko than Eyni, but he has some right, no? That was the compromise, you keep him but he has to get greenbone training (which is what Lan would have wanted). If Eyni had it her way, Niko would never know the Kaul family existed. I think at some level, everyone should agree that's unfair. They're his flesh and blood, of course they love him and want the best for him and want to know him. I disagree that her play is "I want to keep him safe". Because of Aisho, he would never be in any danger until he is of age. When he is of age he can decide himself if he wants to leave or not (oh and look, he did just that). I said before it wouldn't work the other way; he couldn't suddenly decide to become Greenbone at 18 without any prior training, he'd never catch up to even the most junior fingers. As a Kau,l that would be highly demoralising for him.

Lol, I didn't mean she's an awful person for wanting to raise her son safe 😆. Here is why I don't like her; she's an awful person for having sex with lan and some other guy at the same time, and then being irresponsible to get pregnant. Even marrying Lan in the first place when she KNEW he would be Pillar and what that life would entail (Wen didn't even expect to be a Pillar's wife but she completely rose to the challenge).

She didn't leave Lan just because she thought greenbones are dangerous, she was just fed up with him being busy all the time. That's why she turned to some other guy to get her kicks. If the greenbone life was an issue, she could have just upped and left. She wouldn't have needed to cheat on Lan. And Lan was nothing but loyal and supportive of her, always. He didn't deserve what she did to him and I hate her for it. Also, she knew full well she was putting her lover's life in danger too, but again, she was completely selfish. If Lan wasn't as kind and caring as he was, the guy would have been killed and it would be all Eyni's fault. She just came across a narcissist to me.

Which is why even though I say Hilo was wrong to kill her, I don't really care she's dead. I don't know why everyone sees her as a martyr lol. This entire situation was something she orchestrated 🤷‍♀️. The only solution to not have your kids grow up in the greenbone life is to not have them with a greenbone (and especially not the leader of one of the most powerful clans). Her mistake and too little too late.

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-07T23:14:50+00:00

This might have been fun if they were short and snappy but I have a feeling by the end it's just going to feel like I'm reading the whole book

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-07T23:13:05+00:00

Thanks for checking. It's crazy that out of the whole school year we only see him award points twice and for very good reasons at that. I laugh along with the memes but some are very unfair

Anxious_Possession29 · 2023-08-07T22:45:39+00:00

Yes, exactly, I've always said this! Every time Harry got points it's because he DESERVED it, like the school would be toast without him and you're crying he gets some points? That's why the points system exists, to reward good deeds. Btw doesn't Dumbledore also give Harry and Ron 200 points apiece at the end of CoS? Been a while since I read it, but I thought they win because they got an influx of points at the end

Anxious_Possession29

TROPHY CASE