How come I am unable to add any comments to many threads on the islam threads?

How come I can't add any new threads to the islam forum ?

Have I been silently banned ?

Abu - would you reply ?

I've posted this before, but which of these myths is correct? From my perspective, it's a rhetorical question.

Myth 1:

* A man was sitting in a cave minding his own business.
* A very bright flash of light appeared.
* A voice spoke out one word: "Read!" The man felt like he was being squeezed to death. This happened several times.
* Then the man asked, "What should I read?"
* The voice said, "Read in the name of your Lord who created humans from a clinging embryo. Read for your Lord is the most generous. He taught people by the pen what they didn't know before."
* The man ran home to his wife.
* While running home, he saw the huge face of an angel in the sky. The angel told the man that he was to be the messenger of God. The angel also identified himself as Gabriel.
* At home that night, the angel appeared to the man in his dreams.
* Gabriel appeared to the man over and over again. Sometimes it was in dreams, sometimes during the day as "revelations in his heart," sometimes preceded by a painful ringing in his ears (and then the verses would flow from Gabriel right out of the man), and sometimes Gabriel would appear in the flesh and speak. Scribes wrote down everything the man said.
* Then, one night about 11 years after the first encounter with Gabriel, Gabriel appeared to the man with a magical horse. The man got on the horse, and the horse took him to Jerusalem. Then the winged horse took the man up to the seven layers of heaven. The man was able to actually see heaven and meet and talk with people there. Then Gabriel brought the man back to earth.
* The man proved that he had actually been to Jerusalem on the winged horse by accurately answering questions about buildings and landmarks there.
* The man continued receiving the revelations from Gabriel for 23 years, and then they stopped. All of the revelations were recorded by the scribes in a book which we still have today.

Myth 2

* God inseminated a virgin named Mary, in order to bring his son incarnate into our world.
* Mary and her fiancé, Joseph, had to travel to Bethlehem to register for the census. There Mary gave birth to the Son of God.
* God put a star in the sky to guide people to the baby.
* In a dream God told Joseph to take his family to Jerusalem (edited). Then God stood by and watched as Herod killed thousands and thousands of babies in Israel in an attempt to kill Jesus.
* As a man, God's son claimed that he was God incarnate: "I am the way, the truth and the life," he said.
* This man performed many miracles. He healed lots of sick people. He turned water into wine. These miracles prove that he is God.
* But he was eventually given the death sentence and killed by crucifixion.
* His body was placed in a tomb.
* But three days later, the tomb was empty.
* And the man, alive once again but still with his wounds (so anyone who doubted could see them and touch them), appeared to many people in many places.

* Then he ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the father almighty, never to be seen again.

* Today you can have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. You can pray to this man and he will answer your prayers. He will cure your diseases, rescue you from emergencies, help you make important business and family decisions, comfort you in times of worry and grief, etc.

* This man will also give you eternal life, and if you are good he has a place for you in heaven after you die.

* The reason we know all this is because, after the man died, four people named Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote accounts of the man's life. Their written attestations are proof of the veracity of this story.

Myth 3

* We reject other traditional myths and rely entirely on our sense of perception, believing that our own perspective of a completely natural self evolving universe is best, despite the fact that millions of other people have a different perspective.

* We have such faith and conviction in our view that we put slogans like "God probably does not exist" on the sides of buses in London.  

* Despite the fact that we only know a fraction about the universe, let alone the human brain itself - the main organ of perception, we are quick to dismiss the religious perceptions of others as being primitive and delusional.

Back in the days when I ate meat, I used to enjoy barbecued baby goat with shallots. We can still buy locally slaughtered goat meat at our local country butcher. I still don't see any problem with it. I'm a vegetarian for health reasons only.

My own personal position is that eating too many saturated fats is unhealthy for me, and I can get the nutritional gap more safely from other sources. I've eaten chicken and goats in remote parts of Africa where they were slaughtered just before they were cooked, and I had almost forgotten just how delicious they could be.  

The gross objects that we call supermarket chickens bear very little resemblance in taste or texture to those eaten in less civilised parts.

Like anything, it's a question of moderation. Diet is a very personal issue. If somebody else chooses to go down a certain track, I'm the last person to berate them.

It's also a function of age. The older you get, the more careful you have to be if you still want to maintain the lifestyle of a 20 year old.  Right now I'm stronger, and  run faster and further than my 20-something sons. I realise that I'll be defeated some day, but I refuse to give up easily.  Is that a bad thing?

Ok, I meant Jerusalem. It comes from watching Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat when my wife booked it out of our local video store;)