on straying from the title of my blog

Recently I have thought upon the problem that anyone visiting would expect more discussion of the Koran. Most of that was in the first couple of years, and you must go to old posts and look in 2007, 2008, etc. During the last year I was delving into the news after having avoided politics during the wars of the U. S. (and its allies) with Iraq and Afghanistan. Part of this was led by greater concern with the spread of Islam and my concern with the Islamification of my country along with that of Europe. My visiting of the Psalms and Biblical exegesis, such as it was, was motivated by a few issues.

One was to show how one should examine their holy book. Regarding the spirituality which one might be touched yes, but looking at the words. What do they say literally. What does that mean in relation to my life-how I might interpret it or understand because of situations I now or have dealt with. And spiritually what might I glean to apply to my life. The other issue is that the Koran challenges us (those who do not accept it as proof of your prophet's calling) to provide a better sura and verse. My understanding is that you are allowed to read the Torah, the Injel, the Psalms (you have another name for them), and some of the prophets (in the Old Testament.) But being given permission is not the same as having possession of these to read. So I provide that as well, though more concise copies are available online. If you can risk reading them without being caught.

At some point in the future I need to realign the blog so that the better postings are more available. But shortly I will again post some things that involve analysis of Koranic verses. I had held some out with the thought to publishing them, and to ensure they were not on the blog so no one could claim any ownership of them but me. But if these might reach someone who needs to hear it, then I will post here. (That does not mean I relinquish concern or copyright.) I mention this because I do want you to look at the words. Do not exalt yourself into some spiritual numbness and ignore what the letters add up to. A word translated or not means something. It cannot reasonably be ignored because it is inconvenient.

Also, someone was kind enough to share with me a site that told me where I might go to get verses of English versions that are tied to the arabic ones. Thus anything I quote will be referred to you in arabic. If you must see it in that language in order to believe it, then this will be useful to you. You will still have the option to ignore the information. But I had thought it sufficient to merely provide the sura number and verse. Though I discovered on comparison of two different copies of an Ali translation that rarely but sometimes the verse number might be off by one or two. Nevertheless if you are intellectually honest, locating the passage should be sufficient to be able to validate whether a passage says what I declare it does. That was, after all, the point of reading and studying it for myself, to make sure that those who quoted it were not taking it out of context. Not that I distrusted them, but to lessen any chance of error.

Another reason I had digressed was perhaps a concern for my reputation spiritually. I did not want someone who loved the Bible to think I was only reading the Koran. I needed to rewash my brains. Partly to remember and verify what it said, as to not misquote it, but also for my own spiritual needs. Reading the Koran can lead to verbal and emotional abuse, as if to use it as a weapon to prove my point. Becoming more confrontational or rude does not increase any desire for others to consider who my God is. Thus I needed to renew myself with a spirit of love and gentleness which I find in reading my holy book. Some of what I share is already written, and needs only be uploaded or retyped. Should I begin again to read the Koran for fresh items to discuss I need to have the balance to keep myself friendly (hopefully humble, gentle, and less rude.)
Also the reason this side is so empty while the other goes on for so long is that I wrote both sides together. However, instead of having the side article remaining with the post that was made at or close to the same time, they show all the ones on the right. Then they only reveal a number of posts and leave the rest blank. Those you have to look up under old posts. It might be more useful to go to the beginning and see what is posted at that time, if it is limited to a shorter list. If not, then I will have to completely redo it, to keep things together. This is another reason why I have considered printing it. It would have the additional benefit of having the earliest explanations at the beginning instead of having folks jump into the middle or end of a subject. I may have explained something well much earlier and I do not like to repeat myself. However, I have had to occasionally because it is a couple of years later and you might not be familiar with it.