Why Let China Continue its One Child Policy?

A person or nation should never look a gift horse in the mouth. China's one child policy may be abhorrent to Western sensibilities but it is a policy that is actually beneficial to the U.S.
China's one child policy is actually working in the favour of the U.S. because this policy is leading to China facing a demographic implosion just when it is on the cusp of being the biggest economy in the world. Given this fact it seems that China's place at the top will be short lived compared to that of the U.S.
China's one child policy also has the country facing reproductive capability problems due to the fact that its gender ratio is skewed towards males. For a country to have too many males is a recipe for population decline.
China's one child policy means that China's army will face problems when it comes to fighting members. The lack of sufficient young people will also pose a problem to the productive capacity of the Chinese economy. Young people who are forced into the military are young people who will not be available to produce material goods for export or domestic consumption. These are young people who will not be using the intellectual capacities for designing consumer or industrial goods. It is also the young who engage in the production and accumulation of wealth.
How China will confront these looming problems is yet to be seen. However it is safe to say that any attempt to confront them all will mean that none of them will be dealt with well. If China were to attempt to pursue the goal of maintaining or acheiving military parity or superiority with the U.S. then it will have to neglect economic growth and the establishment of a social safety net that would care for the old. Whilst the pursuit of economic growth will allow China to confront the needs of an aging population but will mean it having to direct less resources to the military.
I conclude therefore that although the one child policy is morally repugnant that it actually is a policy that in the long run actually favours the U.S.

The Church, Homosexuality and Ordination

I read Mr. Jason's letter which appeared in the Ponoka News of October 12 and would like to point out some errors that were contained therein.  I will present these errors in no particular order which is indicative of the error's importance.

One error that I would point out is the error which sees the church as a servant of society or even worse as an organisation that belongs to its members when the church is neither.  The church as an institution does not exist by the will of its members or by the permission of the State.  The Church as a community of the redeemed exist purely by the will of God, the church is the community of the redeemed- 1 Corinthians 1:2.  The goal of the church is not to serve the needs of humanity but rather to testify to the living God and to be the Body of Christ, John 10:15.  Therefore we can see that the Church and the nation state do not have the same criteria for what qualifies an individual for membership into their respective institutions.  For membership in the nation state you need to do one of two things- be born in the nation, or if born outside of the nation's borders then you must be born to a member of that nation, or as a adult you can voluntarily become a member.  To be a member in good standing it is required of the nation's citizens that they adhere to the nation's laws.  This is a stark contrast to the means by which membership in the church is acquired.  Membership in the church is not acquired by birth but is a given by God to a few and according to his own good pleasure - John 17:9.

As with the State, the church has some codes of conduct that are prescribed or prohibited for its members.  Some of those behaviours which mandated of those who are members of the church are found in passages like- Mark 12:30, Rom. 12:9, Deuteronomy 27:10.  Those who refuse to abide by the ordinances that are in the Bible are said to have no part in the church - Romans 1:26-32, Romans 6:12-13.  In Romans 12:1-21 we have the instructions for how the followers of Christ must live their lives. 

Notice that in vs. 2 of Romans 12 we are clearly instructed that members of the church are not to be conformed to the spirit of the world but that believers are to be transformed by renewing work arising out of their faith.  Right now the spirit of the world is embracing same sex relationships but those kind of relationships are clearly forbidden by God - Romans 1:26-27, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, 1Timothy 1:10, 1Corinthians 6:9. 

The other area of error that I see in Mr. Jason's letter is that of comparing acceptance of homosexuality with the disappearance of racist attitudes toward interracial marriages.  Now in this situation the church clearly has Biblical teachings that forbid discrimination between fellow believers on any grounds related to race, wealth or societal status - Colossians 3:11, Galatians 3:28, Romans 3:29,
I Corinthians 12:13, Isaiah 60:3, Isaiah 2:3, Acts 10:34. 

In conclusion it is the Biblical evidence that God's expectations of the members of His church centers on their behaviour in relationship to His commands.  Human weaknesses are not taken into consideration as constituting grounds for the altering of His absolute commands.  Therefore on this basis there can be no Biblical argument for legitimizing homosexuality amongst church members or by good and necessary inference can the church allow the ordination of homosexual pastors.

In the end there were two genders that were created - Genesis 2:7,22 - and not one.  Outside of the sexual coming together of individuals from these two genders, there can be no future for the existence of the human race.

Election Time Bribery

Well once again we have another election to live through and the candidates are playing their old song which promises us money if we vote for them.  Is it really fiscally sustainable that a promise of 1,000 tax and loan free per low income student per year should be made?  What about promises of subsidized national daycare?  Or the settlement of various and endless Native claims.  When we are given election platforms that make promises like these we need to think about whose money is it that they are they promising to give to use?  Are they promising to merely take my money away from me and then give it back?  Is it my neighbor's money that is being taken from his/her family?  And if it is then I need to ask "what right do I have to my neighbor's money?"  Or is the money just the government's money that it can pull from whenever it likes?

When it comes to the question of whether or not it is the government's money that is being promised it would be good for all of us to remember that although the government may have money it has no wealth.  The government may be the only agency that can print money but printing money cannot be equated with creating or possessing wealth.  When it comes to "wealth creation" the demise of communism proved that governments are not capable of performing such a task.  The truth of the matter is actually quite to the contrary.  The only relationship that government has with wealth is that of consuming wealth as opposed to creating it.  Now this does not make government inherently bad or parasitical.  Government is truly needed by those who create wealth because government provides the environment in which the wealth creators can do what they do best, which is to apply their brain power and labour to fashioning the earth's resources into the products that improve the human condition.  At election times it is a common error for the segments of our society who are the receivers of government transfers and the politicians who court them. To confuse activities like the printing and redistribution of money as constituting actual wealth creation instead of acknowledging what it truly is which is wealth consumption.  This destructive nature exists because the recipients of government transfers, be they a business or a person, share one fundamental flaw, that of being poor financial and resource managers.  The truth is that continued government transfers do not address this fundamental deficiency but actually serve to encourage it and therefore to assure the politicians an ideological and voting constituency.

So whose money is it that our politicians are promising to spend?  First off we need to establish one fundamental fact about money which is that money really isn't worth the paper that it is printed on.  Money is simply what the government says it is.  In other words the government's argument is circular; money is what it is because the government says what it is.  I think that a better way to pose the question, in light of the above paragraph, is to ask "whose wealth creating labour" is it that the politicians are using to fulfill their campaign promises?  I believe that the first economic truism that should be established is that no one goes to work with the goal of giving away a portion of his/her work to someone other than him/herself or an immediate family member.  Individuals work in expectation of reaping for themselves the reward that natural justice informs us should follow as a natural outcome of their agreement to exchange their labour with buyer.  When the government steps in and by way of taxation breaks this natural association between an individual's work and the monetary rewards that he/she has come to associate with work and the greater is the disincentive to produce.  The reciprocal of this outcome is that the drive to work is destroyed in the hearts of the ones who are the recipients of this government largess.  Therefore any politician who promises to spend money on the seemingly laudable goal of giving low income post secondary students money to help fund their education is actually undermining the long term economic prospects for those same students by promising to take money from current capital accumulators who fund job creation and instead shift that capital to those who are its present consumers. 

Additionally it must be stated that the twin government policies of progressive taxation and the accompanying government transfers of wealth are actually counter productive to the government's official stated goal of growing the economy.  The reason for this is because progressive taxation penalizes those individuals and families who are able to accumulate wealth by transferring it to those who are not.  Economies that wish to create jobs must encourage business investment.  It is a necessary prerequisite to having business investment that there must be an accumulated pool of capital that the creators of wealth can access if they are to create the businesses that will provide future jobs.  Governments too must have access to pools of capital if they are to sell the debt that they need in order to finance the building of the country's infrastructure. 

So during this election season as we listen to the politicians deliver their respective party platforms we must keep in mind that government forced transfers of wealth is in the end inimical to any politician's stated goal of economic growth, job creation and poverty amelioration.

Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin

Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin

The U.N. Declaration on Indigenous Rights

After reading the U.N.‘s “Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples” I am convinced that President Barack Obama was wrong to sign this declaration because it is clearly a racist document which has as it is purpose the creation of a genetically based privileged segment of our democratic society, to whom dedicated protections are granted based solely on RACE. I believe that this statement can be proved successfully from the document itself.
Article 13 section 1 states that: Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places and persons.
Section 2 of this article talks about the obligations that article 1 imposes on sovereign states and reads: States shall take effective measures to ensure that this right is protected and also to ensure that indigenous peoples can understand and be understood in political, legal and administrative proceedings, where necessary through the provision of interpretation or by other appropriate means.
When the these two sections of Article 13 are taken together what they are saying is that a “preliterate” culture has the right to be supported by a literate culture. In other words a society which requires of its citizens that they be able to read, if they are to advance, must cater to the cultural preliterate dimensions of the indigenous culture. Not only that but the literate culture must give the non literate culture the special privilege of providing guaranteed access to the political and judicial system at little to no costs. And this must assist the pre literate culture in its fight against the supporting culture.
There are many portions of this document that are very disturbing but probably one of the most disturbing is Article 31 which says:
Indigenous people have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games, and visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions.
Adoption of this document would have catastrophic implications for the advancement of medicinal research and intellectual debate surrounding native society and history. According to this article everything involving native society would first have to get the okay of the “protected” native society. When it comes to medicines and genetics this would amount to nothing less than an entrenched monetary “shakedown” of the non -native society, which is responsible for the creation of all of the nation’s wealth, without the native society having to make any contributions of its own.. When it comes to native genetics, literature, oral traditions etc. what we would have is the complete disappearance of any unbiased intellectual research surrounding these native issues and cultural history. This means that the native population will be able to create the history that they “want” us to “ know” and which serves to advance their economic and social agenda to the detriment of the non-native community. It becomes a matter of intellectual censorship which is not in conformity with our democratic history.
If we need any more proof as an argument against this declaration then we need look no further than Article 30 which says:
Military activities shall not take place in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples, unless justified by a relevant public interests or otherwise freely agreed with or requested by the indigenous peoples concerned.
Now the big question here is “what defines a relevant public interests” and who decides when such an interests exist? The weight of this document would seem to say that the final decision rest with the indigenous population. It would most likely be necessary that at least “permission” would have to be granted.
As citizens of Canada, or any other sovereign democratic state, we need to say a resounding “no” to any quasi governmental supra national body that would attempt to establish legislation that impacts upon our legislative process and thereby make a countries legislators accountable either in part or in whole, to anyone other than their own citizens. Remember also that none of the people who sit on the U.N. are elected by even the people of their own nation.
　
Before I close I would also add that the U.N. is one of the most corrupt organisations on earth and that it is dominated with anti Western countries who desire nothing more than to blame their own failures as nations on Western “imperialism”. The reality is that their cultures were already failures prior to contact with the West. Few of the countries which belong to the U.N. are democracies and those that have cultures and democracies like ours are even fewer in number. Of the European cultures and democracies that are like us none of them are faced with the prospect of having a minority group lay claim to all of their territory while at the same time contributing nothing of economic importance to the culture that has to pay the bill for the beneficiaries of this declaration.
Add to this the reality that the governments on the reserves are also corrupt, non-democratic and are run more like Third World banana republics and you set up the right conditions for the establishment of a minority privileged class that will forever live off of the non-native population.
In the end racism is racism. Racism is a belief system that can cut either for or against you, but it still smells even if the new beneficiary is the formerly disadvantaged. The U.N.‘s declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples” merely switches the beneficiaries of racism around. Racially defined classes of privilege that were not legitimate when the white person benefited from them are not more legitimate because the Native population is the beneficiary. If our goal as a society is to eliminate the existence of a genetically privileged class than we need to face up to the fact that the Native population is the last ethnic group that lays claim to this sin as being their right.
I would like to encourage any one reading this letter to look up the U.N. Declaration of Indigenous Peoples on the Internet and read the whole document for him/herself and decide if this kind of dual class citizenship structure is what you want for yourself and your children and your country? Write your MP and MLA to tell them that YOU object to Canada adopting this piece of extortionist trash.
　

Do the Gospels elevate praxis above cognos

I read with much sorrow the article by Rev. Bryan Berghoef in the December issue of the Banner in which he makes the following erroneous claim about the content of the Gospels.  Now although I object to much of the content of Rev. Berghoef's article I will limit my criticism to this one claim that he makes about the content of the Gospels.  The claim reads as follows:

"If you read the gospels, you’ll see that Jesus spends nearly all his time focusing on how we should live, not on details of doctrine or belief..."

which according to him is the erroneous sole focus of our long standing, Three Forms of Unity.

After reading his article I went back to the Gospels, particularly to the Gospel of Luke, to see whether his characterization of them as being primarily focused on "practise" was true or not.  In my search for the veracity of his statement I found the following verses which I believe contradict his claim and demonstrate that a concern for doctrine runs throughout the Gospel of Luke and by extension also the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John.  All Bible references are taken from the English Standard Version.

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. (Luke 2: 46-47)

Further on in Luke after the completion of Jesus' temptation by Satan in the wilderness it says:

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.  And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. (Luke 4: 14-15)

And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place.  And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.  And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. (Luke 4: 42-44)

In Jesus' own comment on the purpose of his life he says the following:

"I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5: 32) 

This commentary by our Lord on his ministry definitely shows that "cognition" is of primary focus to the gospel message.

That there is no hierarchy of differentiation between how we should live as opposed to what we should believe is shown in this quote from our Lord which he uttered after he had been told that his mother and brothers wanted to see him:

"But he answered them, My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it." (Luke 8:21)

Prior to this we read of John the Baptist that he preached to the people:

"So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people..." (Luke 3:18)

Notice in these passages the priority that is given to hearing the Word of God.  In a world that is bound by time the only way in which our doing can ever come into conformity with the expressed will of God is if we first 'hear' the word.  And the word we must hear is Jesus Christ crucified and risen.  We must first come know him through preaching (Rom. 10: 14) and after we have come to know him we must prove our knowledge by how we live.

The creeds and confessions all address this central and only question- "But who do you say that I am?" (Luke 9:20b).

This is further confirmed in the book of Luke when after the resurrection we see what it was that Jesus chose to instruct two of his disciples in as he walked with them on the road to Emmaus:

"And he said to them, 'O foolish ones, ans slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into 'his glory?'  And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." (Luke 24: 25-26)

In the book of Luke Christ concludes his message to the disciples with this statement:

"'These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.'"  '"Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  'You are witnesses of these things."'

In conclusion I believe that if Jesus took the time to pour over the Law, Prophets and Psalms with his disciples that he would also gladly spend time going over the Canons of Dort with us who are also his disciples.

Have We Misjudged Islam?

The November issue of the Banner made me ask myself, is it possible that for over 1000 years the church has been wrong about the Muslim religion? Since I do not want to be found guilty of giving false witness against people of the Muslim faith, I decided to do some research into their writings and see what there is to see. This essay is the fruit of that research. I will try to divide my findings into major categories of clear differentiation between the Muslim and Christian faiths.

Muslims are at war with the People of the Book

47. O ye People of the Book! believe in what We have (now) revealed, confirming what was (already) with you, before We change the face and fame of some (of you) beyond all recognition, and turn them hindwards, or curse them as We cursed the Sabbath-breakers, for the decision of Allah Must be carried out.
 82. Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy.
84. Then fight in Allahs cause - Thou art held responsible only for thyself - and rouse the believers. It may be that Allah will restrain the fury of the Unbelievers; for Allah is the strongest in might and in punishment.
 88. Why should ye be divided into two parties about the Hypocrites? Allah hath upset them for their (evil) deeds. Would ye guide those whom Allah hath thrown out of the Way? For those whom Allah hath thrown out of the Way, never shalt thou find the Way.
44. Hast thou not turned Thy vision to those who were given a portion of the Book? they traffic in error, and wish that ye should lose the right path.
 46. Of the Jews there are those who displace words from their (right) places, and say: "We hear and we disobey"; and "Hear what is not Heard"; and "Ra'ina"; with a twist of their tongues and a slander to Faith. If only they had said: "What hear and we obey"; and "Do hear"; and "Do look at us"; it would have been better for them, and more proper; but Allah hath cursed them for their Unbelief; and but few of them will believe.
 50. Behold! how they invent a lie against Allah. but that by itself is a manifest sin!
 51. Hast thou not turned Thy vision to those who were given a portion of the Book? they believe in sorcery and Evil, and say to the Unbelievers that they are better guided in the (right) way Than the believers!
 52. They are (men) whom Allah hath cursed: And those whom Allah Hath cursed, thou wilt find, have no one to help.
 54. Or do they envy mankind for what Allah hath given them of his bounty? but We had already given the people of Abraham the Book and Wisdom, and conferred upon them a great kingdom. Some of them believed, and some of them averted their faces from him: And enough is Hell for a burning fire.

56. Those who reject our Signs, We shall soon cast into the Fire: as often as their skins are roasted through, We shall change them for fresh skins, that they may taste the penalty: for Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise. 61. When it is said to them: "Come to what Allah hath revealed, and to the Messenger.: Thou seest the Hypocrites avert their faces in disgust. 76. Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who reject Faith Fight in the cause of Evil: So fight ye against the friends of Satan: feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan. from thee. 89. They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they): But take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah (From what is forbidden). But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and (in any case) take no friends or helpers from their ranks;-

101.When ye travel through the earth, there is no blame on you if ye shorten your prayers, for fear the Unbelievers May attack you: For the Unbelievers are unto you open enemies.

113. But for the Grace of Allah to thee and his Mercy, a party of them would certainly have plotted to lead thee astray. But (in fact) they will only Lead their own souls astray, and to thee they can do no harm in the least. For Allah hath sent down to thee the Book and wisdom and taught thee what thou Knewest not (before): And great is the Grace of Allah unto thee.

116. Allah forgiveth not (The sin of) joining other gods with Him; but He forgiveth whom He pleaseth other sins than this: one who joins other gods with Allah, Hath strayed far, far away (from the right).

Islam is a religion of salvation through works

57. But those who believe and do deeds of righteousness, We shall soon admit to Gardens, with rivers flowing beneath,- their eternal home: Therein shall they have companions pure and holy: We shall admit them to shades, cool and ever deepening.
59. O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you. If ye differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if ye do believe in Allah and the Last Day: That is best, and most suitable for final determination.
65. But no, by the Lord, they can have no (real) Faith, until they make thee judge in all disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance against Thy decisions, but accept them
74. Let those fight in the cause of Allah Who sell the life of this world for the hereafter. To him who fighteth in the cause of Allah,- whether he is slain or gets victory - Soon shall We give him a reward of great (value). with the fullest conviction.
 43. O ye who believe! Approach not prayers with a mind befogged, until ye can understand all that ye say,- nor in a state of ceremonial impurity (Except when travelling on the road), until after washing your whole body. If ye are ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from offices of nature, or ye have been in contact with women, and ye find no water, then take for yourselves clean sand or earth, and rub therewith your faces and hands. For Allah doth blot out sins and forgive again and again.
77. Hast thou not turned Thy vision to those who were told to hold back their hands (from fight) but establish regular prayers and spend in regular charity? ...."Short is the enjoyment of this world: the Hereafter is the best for those who do right: Never will ye be dealt with unjustly in the very least!
 79. Whatever good, (O man!) happens to thee, is from Allah. but whatever evil happens to thee, is from thy (own) soul. and We have sent thee as an apostle to (instruct) mankind. And enough is Allah for a witness.
92. If he belonged to a people with whom ye have treaty of Mutual alliance, compensation should be paid to his family, and a believing slave be freed. For those who find this beyond their means, (is prescribed) a fast for two months running: by way of repentance to Allah. for Allah hath a...
103. When ye pass (Congregational) prayers, celebrate Allah.s praises, standing, sitting down, or lying down on your sides; but when ye are free from danger, set up Regular Prayers: For such prayers are enjoined on believers at stated times.
125. Who can be better in religion than one who submits his whole self to Allah, does good, and follows the way of Abraham the true in Faith? For Allah did take Abraham for a friend.
160. For the iniquity of the Jews We made unlawful for them certain (foods) good and wholesome which had been lawful for them;- in that they hindered many from Allah.s Way;-
The Book of Light 24:31

1. [11.114] And keep up prayer in the two parts of the day and in the first hours of the night; surely good deeds take away evil deeds this is a reminder to the mindful.
2. [2.173] He has only forbidden you what dies of itself, and blood, and flesh of swine, and that over which any other (name) than (that of) Allah has been invoked; but whoever is driven to necessity, not desiring, nor exceeding the limit, no sin shall be upon him; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
3. [4.31] If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden, We will do away with your small sins and cause you to enter an honorable place of entering.
4. [5.3] Forbidden to you is that which dies of itself, and blood, and flesh of swine, and that on which any other name than that of Allah has been invoked, and the strangled (animal) and that beaten to death, and that killed by a fall and that killed by being smitten with the horn, and that which wild beasts have eaten, except what you slaughter, and what is sacrificed on stones set up (for idols) and that you divide by the arrows; that is a transgression. This day have those who disbelieve despaired of your religion, so fear them not, and fear Me. This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion; but whoever is compelled by hunger, not inclining willfully to sin, then surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
5. [40.14] Therefore call upon Allah, being sincere to Him in obedience, though the unbelievers are averse:

The fist of his actions for which a servant of Allah will be held accountable on the Day of Resurrection will be his prayers. If they are in order, then he will have prospered and succeeded: and if they are wanting, then he will have failed and lost. If there is something defective in his obligatory prayers, the Lord (glorified and exalted be He) will say: See if My servant has any supererogatory prayers with which may be completed that which was defective in his obligatory prayers. Then the rest of his actions will be judged in like fashion. (Hadith Qudsi 9)
Fasting is Mine and it I who give reward for it. [A man] gives up his sexual passion, his food and his drink for my sake. Fasting is like a shield, and he who fasts has two joys: a joy whin he breaks his fast and a joy when he meets his Lord. The change in the breath of the mouth of him who fasts is better in Allah's estimation than the smell of musk. (Hadith Qudsi 10)

...My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him... (Hadith Qudsi 25)

The Prophet said, "Paradise has eight gates, and one of them is called Ar-Raiyan through which none will enter but those who observe fasting." The Prophet also said, "If a person spends two different kinds of something (for Allah's Cause), he will be called from the gates of Paradise." (Volume 4, Book 54, Number 479:)

Islam's teachings about Christ

157. That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah.;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-
[32.4] Allah is He Who created the heavens and the earth and what is between them in six periods, and He mounted the throne (of authority); you have not besides Him any guardian or any intercessor, will you not then mind?
171. O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His apostles. Say not "Trinity" : desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is one Allah. Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.
 172. Christ disdaineth nor to serve and worship Allah, nor do the angels, those nearest (to Allah): those who disdain His worship and are arrogant,-He will gather them all together unto Himself to (answer).
The believers will gather together on the Day of Resurrection and will say: Should we not ask [someone] to intercede for us with our Lord? So they will come to Adam and will say: You are the Father of mankind; Allah created you with His hand He made His angels bow down to you and He taught you the names of everything, so intercede for us with you Lord so that He may give us relief from this place where we are. And he will say: I am not in a position [to do that] - and he will mention his wrongdoing and will feel ashamed and will say: Go to Noah, for he is the first messenger that Allah sent to the inhabitants of the earth. So they will come to him and he will say: I am not in a position [to do that] - and he will mention his having requested something of his Lord about which he had no [proper] knowledge (Quran Chapter 11 Verses 45-46), and he will feel ashamed and will say: Go to the Friend of the Merciful (Abraham). So they will come to him and he will say: I am not in a position [to do that]. Go to Moses, a servant to whom Allah talked and to whom He gave the Torah. So they will come to him and he will say: I am not in a position [to do that] - and he will mention the talking of a life other that for a life (Quran Chapter 28 Verses 15-16), and he will fell ashamed in the sight of his Lord and will say: Go to Jesus, Allah's servant and messenger, Allah's word and spirit. So they will come to him and he will say: I am not in a position [to do that]. Go to Muhammad (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), a servant to whom Allah has forgiven all his wrongdoing, past and future. So they will come to me and I shall set forth to ask permission to come to my Lord, and permission will be given, and when I shall see my Lord I shall prostrate myself. He will leave me thus for such time as it pleases Him, and then it will be said [to me]: Raise your head. Ask and it will be granted. Speak and it will be heard. Intercede and your intercession will be accepted. So I shall raise my head and praise Him with a form of praise that He will teach me. Then I shall intercede and HE will set me a limit [as to the number of people], so I shall admit them into Paradise. (Hadith Qudsi 36 )
[6.101] Wonderful Originator of the heavens and the earth! How could He have a son when He has no consort, and He (Himself) created everything, and He is the Knower of all things.
[9.30] And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!

Islam on Women

"And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments.... "
[2.282] and call in to witness from among your men two witnesses; but if there are not two men, then one man and two women from among those whom you choose to be witnesses, so that if one of the two errs, the second of the two may remind the other;

The Prophet said, "I looked at Paradise and found poor people forming the majority of its inhabitants; and I looked at Hell and saw that the majority of its inhabitants were women." (Volume 4, Book 54, Number 464: Narrated 'Imran bin Husain)

Allah's Apostle said, "The first batch (of people) who will enter Paradise will be (glittering) like a full moon; and those who will enter next will be (glittering) like the brightest star. Their hearts will be as if the heart of a single man, for they will have no enmity amongst themselves, and everyone of them shall have two wives, each of whom will be so beautiful, pure and transparent that the marrow of the bones of their legs will be seen through the flesh. They will be glorifying Allah in the morning and evening, and will never fall ill, and they will neither blow their noses, nor spit... (Volume 4, Book 54, Number 469:)

In the latter passage it seems that Paradise is mostly about men and that the company of women are one of man's rewards.

Final Observations

I find that as one reads the Qur'an you come to see that there is a major difference in writing style between it and the Bible. A difference in style which is reflective of deeply profound differences surrounding the two faiths view of God. This difference is that in the Qur'an Allah does not ever speak in the first person. This is completely unlike the Bible's references to God where God persistently speaks in the first person, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." (Ex. 20:2); God said to Moses, "I am Who I am." And He said, say to the people of Israel, 'I' AM has sent me to you.'"Ultimately God revealed himself directly to men through the person of Jesus Christ. The very Christ whose deity is denied by the Muslims.

[6.102] That is Allah, your Lord, there is no god but He; the Creator of all things, therefore serve Him, and He has charge of all things.
Another major difference between the Qur'an and the Bible is that the Bible is written as a narrative whereas the Qur'an is a collection of disparate, nonsensical and sometimes contradictory sayings. The Quran could not be written as a narrative because Allah, for Muslims, is incomprehensible to man's mental faculties. For the Muslim since man is not made in the image of God there can be no human knowledge of God. This total disconnection between the creator and his creation is also the reason why Muslims deny the true nature of Jesus Christ. The fact that the Qur'an is not written as a narrative does away with any attempt by Muslims to deflect criticisms of the Qur'an by saying that such criticism is based on the error of pulling passages out of context. However there can be no context if the writings are not connected to each other. In the end each passage of the Qur'an stands on its own.
Next I would point to the fact that the Qur'an is heavily dependent on the Bible for much of its material eg. events and major characters. In other words Mohammed was a plagiarist. But not only does the Qur'an plagiarize the Bible it also distorts all of the Bible passages that it does incorporate. Here as an example is the Qur'an account of the creation of man from, The Adoration:
[32.7] Who made good everything that He has created, and He began the creation of man from dust.
[32.8] Then He made his progeny of an extract, of water held in light estimation
[32.9] Then He made him complete and breathed into him of His spirit, and made for you the ears and the eyes and the hearts; little is it that you give thanks.
Islam has other holy books in addition to the Qur'an:
[5.68] Say: O followers of the Book! you follow no good till you keep up the Taurat and the Injeel and that which is revealed to you from your Lord; and surely that which has been revealed to you from your Lord shall make many of them increase in inordinacy and unbelief; grieve not therefore for the unbelieving people, (The Dinner Table)
This leads to the conclusion that Islam is actually a Christian heresy that is not at all of a separate revelatory origin as the Muslim's claim and that Islam therefore would in the end add to the Bible.
32.3] Or do they say: He has forged it? Nay! it is the truth from your Lord that you may warn a people to whom no warner has come before you, that they may follow the right direction.
Lastly I will cite this saying from the Qur'an which I believe demonstrates that Islam is inimical to Western ideas of democracy:
[32.18] Is he then who is a believer like him who is a transgressor? They are not equal.
It should also be mentioned that the Muslims claim that the Qur'an was written word for word by Mohammed as Allah instructed him. This means of authorship for their holy book is a vast divergence from the Christian teaching on the inspiration of the Bible. The Christian teaching on Biblical authorship holds that God did not override the personalities of the Biblical authors but that through the guiding influence of the Holy Spirit, God worked with their personalities to infallibly write the scriptures. This difference on the importance of personality is what explains why civil government structures of the two cultures has taken such divergent paths. This fact also portends the profound change in governmental structures that the West can anticipate as more adherents to the Islamic faith come to populate our societies.
In the end for us it is a question of whether or not we want to fashion and believe in a sanitized version of Islam for our own consumption and benefit or the real Islam that is to be found in history- past and present- and its writings.