LIFE IS A MYSTERY

Ian Stevenson (Wikipedia) who studied reincarnation

Life is a mystery.

"Several years ago, when my daughter was just over three years old, my husband and I were watching a TV show about 9/11...

"My daughter, who was coloring nearby, looked up when the screen showed a plane hitting one of the World Trade Center buildings.

"She said to us, 'I died there.'

"Then she just went back to coloring like she hadn't said a word.

"We had never talked to her about the concept of death, and had never discussed 9/11 with her.

"Since then she has not said anything else about it, but now if something comes on TV about 9/11, she says, 'I don't want to watch this.'" (I Died on 9/11)



Is it possible to explain the existence of evil?

In Taoism, the idea is that if an object has a 'front' it must also have a 'back'.

In a created world there are opposites, yin and yang, which are actually part of a whole.

Waves cannot exist without troughs.

In order for 'compassion' to exist, there must be 'suffering'.

In Taoism, yin and yang (+1 -1) arise together from an initial peacefulness or emptiness (0), and continue in existence until peacefulness is reached again.

Imagine a stone thrown onto peaceful water, creating temporary waves and troughs.

Buddhists believe that you cannot have 'nirvana' without its opposite 'samsara'.

'Samasara' is the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

'Nirvana' is a blissful state where one has ceased to exist as an individual, and where one is free from delusion and suffering.

Budhists do not believe in the 'old man in the sky' type of God.

Buddhists believe that we are responsible for what happens, be it 'good' or 'evil'.

Buddhists concentrate on learning ways to end suffering, escape from samsara and enter nirvana.

For some Hindus, human souls have always existed and were thus not created by God at some time in history.

Human souls are responsible for their 'level of enlightenment'.

RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Maciel

We have read that the Pope's singer 'hired rent boys'

St. Augustine (354-430) apparently had at least one homosexual affair. (Twenty Queer Catholic Saints ...)

The palace of Pope John XII (955-964) "was called a brothel in his day, thanks to his diverse taste in lovers - both in terms of gender and number."

(The Papacy In Historical Perspective. / Papal Impropriety - The Religion eZine / Rejection of Pascal's Wager: Popes Throughout History)

Pope John XII "did not hesitate to consecrate as bishop a ten-year-old boy as token of his affection, or to give sacred vessels to prostitutes."

Pope Benedict IX (who became Pope at the age of 12) 'dabbled in witchcraft and Satanism' and 'loved to throw wild, bi-sexual orgies'.

Around 1135, Aelred, abbot of Rievaulx, loved a chaste and beautiful 14 year old young monk called Simon. (Aelred of Rievaulx)

Under Clement VI, the cardinals kept, according to their inclination, the handsomest young boys or the prettiest girls.


Pope Clement VII (1378-94) surrounded himself with page boys, "whose jackets, it was noted, shrunk from being knee length, to mid-buttock 'or even worse'."

Pope Paul II (1464-71) alledgedly died of a heart attack whilst being sodomized by one of his favourite boys.

Pope Julius II (1503-13) spent much of his time with small boys and male prostitutes.

Pope Julius III (1550-1555): "created a scandal because of his infatuation with a fifteen-year-old boy whom he picked up in the streets of Parma, had his brother adopt, and then made a cardinal and head of the Secretariat of State." (Julius III - 'Pedophile Pope')

What about other religious leaders leaders?

John Calvin (THE CLASSIC FUNDAMENTALIST), according to Jerome Bolsec's Life of Calvin, resigned his church post at Noyon, in France, because of the public exposure of his homosexuality.

According to Westheimer and Lopater's, Human Sexuality: A Psychosocial Perspective, Second Edition, Martin Luther was a bit gay.

King Billy had close and affectionate relations with two notable favorites, William Bentinck, whom he brought to England and made Earl of Portland, and a handsome younger Dutchman, Arnold van Keppel, whom he created Earl of Albemarle.

And we should not forget the Jewish Jorge Puello. (He has been arrestedarrested. Will he finger the ring?)

Christopher Hitchens, on 15 March 2010, wrote about The Great Catholic Cover-Up

Hitchens relates that in 1979, an 11-year-old German boy identified as Wilfried F. was taken on a holiday trip to the mountains by a priest.

The boy was given alcohol, stripped naked, and forced to suck the penis of his confessor.

Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger moved the priest from Essen to Munich for "therapy".

Ratzinger's deputy, Vicar General Gerhard Gruber, soon returned the priest to "pastoral" work, and more sexual assaults took place.

Hitchens also refers to the allegations against the Rev. Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ.

Two of Maciel's illegitimate sons have claimed that their priestly father raped them repeatedly from the age of seven upwards. (Edge of reason: The lonely reign of Benedict XVI‎)

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Germaine Greer and Art

Prophet Mohamed

A former Ba'athist, Allawi helped found the Iraqi National Accord, which today is an active political party. In the lead up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq the INA provided intelligence about alleged weapons of mass destruction to MI6. - Ayad (Iyad) Allawi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia