Layala and Noora vs Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
How much do you care about your personal freedom? You don't really know until you lose it. "Freedom of Speech" is nothing but a soundbite to most of us in the west.
What would you do if you knew that by simply expressing yourself you are risking persecution? Perhaps you are one of the few heroes who submit to nothing.
I know for a fact that I am no hero. I know for a fact what it feels like when you have to prostitute your mind and views. As a schoolchild in the former Soviet Union I said and wrote exactly what was required of me about the wonderful communist party of the USSR so that I won't be expelled from school. I joined the communist union of youth so that I could go to university. I was repeating idiotic nonsense about past and present so that I won't risk persecution. I was mostly keeping my thoughts and feelings to myself for even a friend could betray you.
Perhaps that is why I value courageous people, like Layala and Noora. Their tongue-in-cheek blog is funny and erotic. It is far less obvious that is also an attack on the rulers of UAE.
UAE sells itself as the most liberal Arab country. One is free to drink alcohol, to do business and even enter the country having previously visited Israel. The ruling elite makes the best from Islamic laws permitting multiple wives - as does Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid - and from living in the sex capital of the Middle East.
Make no mistake: the country is not free. UAE internet laws include outrageous clauses like this:
- Article no. 20: 'If any person or group of persons construct a website, post online information, or make use of information technology tools to advocate, facilitate, or promote programs or ideas that would result into public disorder and disrupt morals, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five years'.
- Article no.16: 'the penalty of violating social principles and family values... is imprisonment for not less than one year and/or paying a fine of not less than fifty thousand Durhams'.
This is what Layala and Noora are up against - at a personal risk to their freedom. They are chipping away at society's hypocrisy, ridiculing it's medieval attitudes to women and - shock and horror - sex. This is why UAE censors decided to close access to their blog from within UAE alongside other "corrupting" websites, such as those with Israeli domains.
Laila and Noora are refusing to be silenced. They are collecting signatures under this petition with the intention to take it to Dubai newspapers once they have a few hundred supporters.
Please, support the petition to unblock Layala's and Noora's blog.
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39 comments:
Ah well, I am not surprised of course.
Whilst this blog wouldn't raise an eyebrow in the West, it does (did) stretch the envelope here in Dubai.
On the face of it, it is just a 57th re-hash of 'Sex and the City' – the trials and tribulations of a couple of confused and promiscuous girls. The punchline is that these girls are Arab.
(just imagine – Sarah Jessica Parker with black hair!!! Ohhhhhh)
But as you say it is a thinly veiled (pun intended) criticism of Muslim attitudes to women, and a challenge to the ‘honor-shame’ culture that keeps Islam firmly rooted in the Middle ages. This attitude after all enables the remarkable hypocrisy of tolerating ubiquitous prostitution and blocking a blog that spells out S-E-X.
According to this culture a bad or shameful act has simply not happened if nobody saw it or knows about it. It is the denial ‘culture’ of Islam that is the root of another one: the blame and conspiracy ‘culture’ which the ‘Arab street’ loves to engage in.
In fact any criticism of anything the government says or does is a constant walk on the line.
(Even critique on the lack of planning regulations is being interpreted as an attack on the social values of this seemingly modern and open Muslim society. Trust me, I have been at the receiving end of accusations of Anti-Arabism for noting that urban planning is not up to scratch….)
The worst is that one gets used to this limitation of one's freedom of speech.
Most expatriates here are keeping mum and have perfected the art of 'see no evil'. Whilst at home in the West the average Tom, Dick and Harry would barely ever exercise their freedom of expression, the lack of it becomes physically tangible once it is lost.
I have to admit I keep my head down. I know I cannot openly criticize the government. I admit to brushing aside the reality of living in an unfree country, for the sake of material gain. It's a contract I made with myself; I am 'doing my years' until we leave. I clandestinely vent my frustrations as commentator on blogs.
I can always pack my bags and leave Dubai. Is this thought the trade off for temporarily accepting the conditions I live in?
I have a nagging doubt inside my head: Does this acquiescence make me a shill for Islamic intolerance?
If you want to get an idea about the feathers that have been ruffled here in Dubai by this ban, please have a look at the UAE community blog here, and please feel free to comment and ridicule at your heart's content:
UAE community blog about blocking of Sex and Dubai
I signed.
@Nick
I have watched the grand total of 5 minutes of Sex and the City and I hated it. The "Arabic twist" and sense of humour make a huge difference.
You did better than me in pissing off the moonbats on that community blog... Apparently, you have "bad intentions".
I realize you are not actually asking me to answer the question in bold. Everyone answers for himself... if there is an answer which I am not too sure about.
For sure, it is an enviable experience. I wonder whether your views have changed since you moved to UAE?
@Jacob:
THANK YOU!
@ Jacob,
Thanks for signing. Every signature counts.
Shlemazl,
”I realize you are not actually asking me to answer the question in bold. Everyone answers for himself... if there is an answer which I am not too sure about.
For sure, it is an enviable experience. I wonder whether your views have changed since you moved to UAE?”
You disappoint me. I would have expected a resounding ‘yes’ from you! :)
Seriously, as I said, that doubt remains in my head and if I answered it with yes at any point in time I would pack and leave.
For now the jury is still out on the UAE, for me anyways. I lived in Dubai from ’97 to ‘99, and now again since 2005. Five years is a long time to be denied full citizens rights….IF the denial was violently ‘in yer face’, which it isn’t.
Over the span of ten years I haven’t seen a great deal of difference in the way Islam is being practiced here on a day to day basis. Apart from censorship, which always existed, it is generally ‘live and let live’.
BUT, blogs etc. simply didn’t exist ten years ago. Tabloid newspapers which cater to western expats and feature two/three pages of very explicitly grumbling and ranting letters to the editor did not exist ten years ago.
So, yes, the change is that opinions are being voiced now much more openly than before, and censorship goes much more noticed. WTR to the ban of blogs like Sex and Dubai it means we can & we have to step up our efforts to push the envelope and engage in ‘counterjihad’.
Truth is, the UAE, despite the obvious shortcomings of freedom of expression and association etc. and absence of democracy is a benign monarchist dictatorship, and is the stalwart of progressive nation building amongst Arab countries.
They hate the Palestinians here. They are embarrassed by the backwardness of other Arab countries. Of course, it is a small country (size if Israel, population 4m) and the leadership must overtly pander to Islamic sensitivities and the official line of the Arab League.
Unofficially, there are several business links of government entities with Jewish owned businesses, here in the UAE and abroad, and yes, of course Israeli products pass through the Free trade zones and ports here.
The economic model is Western, minus “the hassles” of democracy and accountability. That’s a pretty novel and unique proposal, and we’ll see how it holds its own between the medieval Middle East on one side, and Europe/ US on the other.
My thinking is that we should in principle support this effort to help create a moderate, not theocratic Arab state that plays by the rules of global trade – and if this were only to set an example of success for those countries in the region that want to continue to live in the Middle Ages.
(For us personally Dubai is a stepping stone to India. We have some interests there and it helps to be only three hours away. I can see us moving on within the next five years.)
Btw. I didn't really watch 'Sex and the City' much either.
But I do vividly recall a scene where Carrie (SJParker) is standing on the sidewalk in the rain, in her completely wet T-shirt......
These are defining moments in a man's life!
UAE in terms of liberty sucks big time, that's what I think. They even have flickr banned!! kiss ikht l habal! when Jos was in Dubai I couldn't send her any links, everything is banned! now of course they try to create islands of "tolerance" and stuff but it's really not enough, it's like having social schizophrenia. Jos did mention to me that inside dubai yuo would get the impression you're in europe but personally i don't know how can that be possible when it's ONLY dubai that is so "modern"
I don't like it
Pazuzu,
I exactly know what you mean.
The fact that flickr.com is not blocked just goes to show how liberal Hezbollah really is, right?
I just wish every country could be as democratic as Lebanon....
Lebanon is democratic? The right wingers slaughtered the Christian Arabs and that is democracy?
@Nick:
Yeah, OK, but it's a little more than flickr, isn't it?
- You can be imprisoned for 5 years for "violating social principles, moral values or posting online information disrupting morals".
- Your leader has 2 wives
- Your leader treats the income of the country as his household income. People are very content because he bribes them.
- Non-muslims can no longer be lashed, but Muslims are still subject to this Medieval punishment. I read that a teenage girl was sentenced to 60 lashes for having had sex in 2005. Your Supreme court has upheld the punishment.
- Israelis are not allowed to visit and Israeli websites are banned.
- Homosexuality is illegal and gays get arrested.
- Several UAE companies have been identified as participants in the illegal boycott of Israeli goods. The company that tried to buy a US port was one of the offenders.
So, the country is neither free nor civilized and I won't be visiting it any time soon just as I won't be going on holidays to Cuba which is so popular with Canadian tourists. Nothing to do with principles. It just does not appeal.
You may be right that whatever is happening in UAE will eventually lead to freedom of speech, which in turn may lead to a better society. Time will tell.
@Rebel:
Pazuzu is a Christian and, arguably, an Arab living in Lebanon.
@Rebecca/Pazuzu, Michael:
Thank you for signing!
Rebel, Duh, that was a sarcastic jibe about Lebanon's liberty...
Shlemazl,
Your leader...
WTF????? He is most definitely not MY leader! I just happen to live here but I do not defend this country and its censorship.
I just found it a bit ironic of a Lebanese to criticise the UAE.
Come on, Nick, you should be really proud. Most of us mortals have enough trouble with a single wife.
Your descendant of the Prophet is so manly that he may even manage 3 or 4 given a little more time.
It's actually more like trading your old car for a newer model, at least that's what he did.
Once the old wife had borne him a dozen or so kids, he took a new model. I understand he is at it again.
WHAT A MAN! The virility, the vison!You are just jealous.
Shlemazl, I'd like to see your opinion of this one.
*shlemazl, would you mind expessing your opinion on my latest post?
And *nick if you're reading this.
Thx
P.S. word verification sucks. "bupff" what on earth is that supposed to mean?
*shlemazl, I'd like to use the term "moonbat" on my blog. Would you mind defining what constitutes a moonbat and what doesn't, so I can use it appropriately, assuming you don't mind my usage of it.
i*maginate,
try wikipedia for 'moonbat' definition.
Shlemazl loves moonbats, he courts them... See all the nice things they say about him here on the right side of his blog >>>>
Btw. "bupff" is a password which Shlemazl's friends use to signal important Zionist secrets to each other across the globe. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.
Beaj,
You didn't ask for my opinion but I offer it anyway because it's a bit boring at work right now.
There exist racist and bigotted Jews as well.
Why are you surprised or outraged? Orthodox thinking in any religion is heavily structured, fundamentalist, blinkered even.
Orthodoxy is like that.
Is there really a big difference between a sheitel and a hijab?
btw. here's my favourite hijab:
sexy hijab
My goodness, the words shlemazl uses. I shoulda known moonbat is not as "simple" as it sounds!
nick, now you've revealed you're in the construction industry, shouldn't you be getting some bricks laid right now?
Nick, Can I present the bride dress ?
does it suit your fantasy ?
Can anybody define what does it mean to be a good Jew?
Can anybody define what does it mean to be a good Jew?
Well, simple logic would seem to indicate that it would mean not to be a bad Jew.
I guess then you'd have to ask what constitutes a "bad" Jew.
a good jooo is a dead one! LOL
Shlemazl, please post something else!
Everytime I come back to check and this image ^^^ pops up on screen, my wife hurls her slippers at me for "looking at porn again?!"
shlemazl ..
their blog is hardly courageous ..
although respected .. but hardly courageous ..
that word should be saved for something a little more grand ..
and they're not being silenced ..
their adventures will continue .. regardless of the block on the blog ..
they just won't be able to share the funny shit that happens with the rest of us ..
and yes you're right .. they take what they like and drop what they don't .. its like tayloring the religion ..
but please .. not so courageous ..
and not so life changing for the rest of us out here really ..
I however .. have signed the petition because we should get to read what happens! I can't bear to have it taken away from me now!
hope you're having a good trip!
can't be bothered to comment on wot inmotion says, but she has a valid point. Visit her blog for the full post.
Nick, where are you? :)
shlemazl, what is it with your word verifications? gestapo?
here is the word verification 4 when i next post here: gkekpksy
i*maginate,
I always thought you and inmotion are one and the same. Your blogs are very similar...
Ouch.
Btw., I'm at home in Dubai whilst you are at a Candian blog whose owner is currently in Russia, so there's not much to comment on right now...
I mean to apologize to you,... inmotion.
Ourageous UAE laws that clearly impede on reasonable freedom of speech make them potentially liable to be subjected to a penalty "not exceeding five years".
They don't give in even now that their blog has already been blocked. Makes them courageous in my book.
courageous would be
announcing who they really were, taking this to the global internet scene at the very least with a tell all .. and bold headlines ..
that would be courageous
in reality all they've really done is uncover how easy it is to stumble on a crappy lay in Dubai .. and if you really think about it .. that's the easiest thing to do anywhere ..
no offense to anyone .. I don't want their blog blocked .. they're entitled to the right to express themselves as they see fit within reasonable limits ..
and the laws here are not that outrageous...
just take it with a grain of salt ..
imaginate - a point is a point .. thanks for the agreement
nick - if you've read my blog you'll realize the differences between my blog and imaginate's .. I've got a much stronger narrative tangent to my posts .. where as imaginate delves very deeply into the working of things around her .. the world she describes is described purely through her emotions .. a good thing
however apology is accepted .. not that you needed to apologize .. I'm pretty easy going ..
wow, inmotion, i was here to comment to nick, and propose that he mite be slightly twisted in making comparisons between our blogs.
now, i'm seriously flattered that a blogchick like you has something remotely nice to say about my blog.
i do read your blog, but as you mite know with blogs, sometimes one read posts but doesn't comment..often with yours, I love your posts, but don't really know what to say...so using shlemazl's blog (& I'm sure he won't mind the hospitality) I love your blog and I won't comment on all your posts...
inmotion you have a way with words that I love, so goes it with shlemazl and nick (any others I missed?)
as for your points, inmotion you argue very well :)
now, nick, umm umm umm how goes it? How's life under the blazing sun, under that hot construction site?
I'm busy.
Apart from that I am also busy demolishing Mr. SuperMoonbat 'Ibn Battuta' (an American bleeding heart sociologist apologistic Muslim convert) and his vile Pakistani radical sidekick 'Al-republican' and their twisted preposterous half-truths about the so-called "religion of peace" (No, that's not Judaism or Christianity or Hinduism or Buddhism or Confucianism or Shintoism or Bahai in case you wonder), and its ill advised application as political system and the desperate lack of secularization in the Middle East.
Whoa, long sentence. Here's the link to the thread.
Islamic Nation debate
How can one discuss with these people?
Surely I shouldn't. I am a respectable family guy nearing forty and I should have better things to worry about*) in life than discussing the misgivings of Islam with twenty year old boneheads.
Or should I?
*) like my expanding waistline and the hair that sprouts out of my nostrils and ears. This worries me, too.
Dear Shlemazl readers,
Those of you familiar with the UK probably know her anyway. Those who don't, bloody well should.
My favourite brainy woman
nick, my observations are that you are spending far less time under the blazing sun and an outrageous amount of time in front of the computer and on the battlefield.
I read that thread and really, the only thing I would like is for that lesbian SS person to cut their words short so one sentence doesn't take up the whole screen.
nick, wonder why you don't have a blog.
The Season of Generation-Choicemaker
Joel 3:14 kjv
Consider:
The missing element in every human 'solution' is
an accurate definition of the creature.
In an effort to diminish the multiple and persistent
dangers and abuses which have characterized the
affairs of man in his every Age, and to assist in the
requisite search for human identity, it is essential to
perceive and specify that distinction which naturally
and most uniquely defines the human being. Because
definitions rule in the minds, behaviors, and institutions
of men, we can be confident that delineating and com-
municating that quality will assist the process of resolu-
tion and the courageous ascension to which man is
called. As Americans of the 21st Century, we are oblig-
ed and privileged to join our forebears and participate
in this continuing paradigm proclamation.
"WHAT IS MAN...?" God asks - and answers:
HUMAN DEFINED: EARTH'S CHOICEMAKER
by James Fletcher Baxter (c) AD 2007
The way we define 'human' determines our view of self,
others, relationships, institutions, life, and future. Many
problems in human experience are the result of false
and inaccurate definitions of humankind premised
in man-made religions and humanistic philosophies.
Human knowledge is a fraction of the whole universe.
The balance is a vast void of human ignorance. Human
reason cannot fully function in such a void; thus, the
intellect can rise no higher than the criteria by which it
perceives and measures values.
Humanism makes man his own standard of measure.
However, as with all measuring systems, a standard
must be greater than the value measured. Based on
preponderant ignorance and an egocentric carnal
nature, humanism demotes reason to the simpleton
task of excuse-making in behalf of the rule of appe-
tites, desires, feelings, emotions, and glands.
Because man, hobbled in an ego-centric predicament,
cannot invent criteria greater than himself, the humanist
lacks a predictive capability. Without instinct or trans-
cendent criteria, humanism cannot evaluate options with
foresight and vision for progression and survival. Lack-
ing foresight, man is blind to potential consequence and
is unwittingly committed to mediocrity, collectivism,
averages, and regression - and worse. Humanism is an
unworthy worship.
The void of human ignorance can easily be filled with
a functional faith while not-so-patiently awaiting the
foot-dragging growth of human knowledge and behav-
ior. Faith, initiated by the Creator and revealed and
validated in His Word, the Bible, brings a transcend-
ent standard to man the choice-maker. Other philo-
sophies and religions are man-made, humanism, and
thereby lack what only the Bible has:
1.Transcendent Criteria and
2.Fulfilled Prophetic Validation.
The vision of faith in God and His Word is survival
equipment for today and the future. Only the Creator,
who made us in His own image, is qualified to define
us accurately.
Human is earth's Choicemaker. Psalm 25:12 He is by
nature and nature's God a creature of Choice - and of
Criteria. Psalm 119:30,173 His unique and definitive
characteristic is, and of Right ought to be, the natural
foundation of his environments, institutions, and re-
spectful relations to his fellow-man. Thus, he is orien-
ted to a Freedom whose roots are in the Order of the
universe.
At the sub-atomic level of the physical universe quantum
physics indicates a multifarious gap or division in the
causal chain; particles to which position cannot be
assigned at all times, systems that pass from one energy
state to another without manifestation in intermediate
states, entities without mass, fields whose substance is
as insubstantial as "a probability."
Only statistical conglomerates pay tribute to
deterministic forces. Singularities do not and are
therefore random, unpredictable, mutant, and in this
sense, uncaused. The finest contribution inanimate
reality is capable of making toward choice, without its
own selective agencies, is this continuing manifestation
of opportunity as the pre-condition to choice it defers
to the natural action of living forms.
Biological science affirms that each level of life,
single-cell to man himself, possesses attributes of
sensitivity, discrimination, and selectivity, and in
the exclusive and unique nature of each diversified
life form.
The survival and progression of life forms has all too
often been dependent upon the ever-present undeterminative
potential and appearance of one unique individual organism
within the whole spectrum of a given life-form. Only the
uniquely equipped individual organism is, like The Golden
Wedge of Ophir, capable of traversing the causal gap to
survival and progression. Mere reproductive determinacy
would have rendered life forms incapable of such potential.
Only a moving universe of opportunity plus choice enables
the present reality.
Each individual human being possesses a unique, highly
developed, and sensitive perception of variety. Thus
aware, man is endowed with a natural capability for enact-
ing internal mental and external physical selectivity.
Quantitative and qualitative choice-making thus lends
itself as the superior basis of an active intelligence.
Human is earth's Choicemaker. His title describes
his definitive and typifying characteristic. Recall
that his other features are but vehicles of experi-
ence intent on the development of perceptive
awareness and the following acts of decision and
choice. Note that the products of man cannot define
him for they are the fruit of the discerning choice-
making process and include the cognition of self,
the utility of experience, the development of value-
measuring systems and language, and the accultur-
ation of civilization.
The arts and the sciences of man, as with his habits,
customs, and traditions, are the creative harvest of
his perceptive and selective powers. Creativity, the
creative process, is a choice-making process. His
articles, constructs, and commodities, however
marvelous to behold, deserve neither awe nor idol-
atry, for man, not his contrivance, is earth's own
highest expression of the creative process.
Human is earth's Choicemaker. The sublime and
significant act of choosing is, itself, the Archimedean
fulcrum upon which man levers and redirects the
forces of cause and effect to an elected level of qual-
ity and diversity. Further, it orients him toward a
natural environmental opportunity, freedom, and
bestows earth's title, The Choicemaker, on his
singular and plural brow.
Deterministic systems, ideological symbols of abdication
by man from his natural role as earth's Choicemaker,
inevitably degenerate into collectivism; the negation of
singularity, they become a conglomerate plural-based
system of measuring human value. Blunting an awareness
of diversity, blurring alternatives, and limiting the
selective creative process, they are self-relegated to
a passive and circular regression.
Tampering with man's selective nature endangers his
survival for it would render him impotent and obsolete
by denying the tools of variety, individuality,
perception, criteria, selectivity, and progress.
Coercive attempts produce revulsion, for such acts
are contrary to an indeterminate nature and nature's
indeterminate off-spring, man the Choicemaker.
Until the oppressors discover that wisdom only just
begins with a respectful acknowledgment of The Creator,
The Creation, and The Choicemaker, they will be ever
learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth.
The rejection of Creator-initiated standards relegates
the mind of man to its own primitive, empirical, and
delimited devices. It is thus that the human intellect
cannot ascend and function at any level higher than the
criteria by which it perceives and measures values.
Additionally, such rejection of transcendent criteria
self-denies man the vision and foresight essential to
decision-making for survival and progression. He is left,
instead, with the redundant wreckage of expensive hind-
sight, including human institutions characterized by
averages, mediocrity, and regression.
Humanism, mired in the circular and mundane egocentric
predicament, is ill-equipped to produce transcendent
criteria. Evidenced by those who do not perceive
superiority and thus find themselves beset by the shifting
winds of the carnal-ego; i.e., moods, feelings, desires,
appetites, etc., the mind becomes subordinate: a mere
device for excuse-making and rationalizing self-justifica-
tion.
The carnal-ego rejects criteria and self-discipline for such
instruments are tools of the mind and the attitude. The
appetites of the flesh have no need of standards for at the
point of contention standards are perceived as alien, re-
strictive, and inhibiting. Yet, the very survival of our
physical nature itself depends upon a maintained sover-
eignty of the mind and of the spirit.
It remained, therefore, to the initiative of a personal
and living Creator to traverse the human horizon and
fill the vast void of human ignorance with an intelli-
gent and definitive faith. Man is thus afforded the
prime tool of the intellect - a Transcendent Standard
by which he may measure values in experience, anticipate
results, and make enlightened and visionary choices.
Only the unique and superior God-man Person can deserved-
ly displace the ego-person from his predicament and free
the individual to measure values and choose in a more
excellent way. That sublime Person was indicated in the
words of the prophet Amos, "...said the Lord, Behold,
I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel."
Y'shua Mashiyach Jesus said, "If I be lifted up I will
draw all men unto myself."
As long as some choose to abdicate their personal reality
and submit to the delusions of humanism, determinism, and
collectivism, just so long will they be subject and re-
acting only, to be tossed by every impulse emanating from
others. Those who abdicate such reality may, in perfect
justice, find themselves weighed in the balances of their
own choosing.
That human institution which is structured on the
principle, "...all men are endowed by their Creator with
...Liberty...," is a system with its roots in the natural
Order of the universe. The opponents of such a system are
necessarily engaged in a losing contest with nature and
nature's God. Biblical principles are still today the
foundation under Western Civilization and the American
way of life. To the advent of a new season we commend the
present generation and the "multitudes in the valley of
decision."
Let us proclaim it. Behold!
The Season of Generation-Choicemaker Joel 3:14 KJV
CONTEMPORARY COMMENTS
"I should think that if there is one thing that man has
learned about himself it is that he is a creature of
choice." Richard M. Weaver
"Man is a being capable of subduing his emotions and
impulses; he can rationalize his behavior. He arranges
his wishes into a scale, he chooses; in short, he acts.
What distinguishes man from beasts is precisely that he
adjusts his behavior deliberately." Ludwig von Mises
"To make any sense of the idea of morality, it must be
presumed that the human being is responsible for his
actions and responsibility cannot be understood apart
from the presumption of freedom of choice."
John Chamberlain
"The advocate of liberty believes that it is complementary
of the orderly laws of cause and effect, of probability
and of chance, of which man is not completely informed.
It is complementary of them because it rests in part upon
the faith that each individual is endowed by his Creator
with the power of individual choice."
Wendell J. Brown
"These examples demonstrate a basic truth -- that human
dignity is embodied in the free choice of individuals."
Condoleeza Rice
"Our Founding Fathers believed that we live in an ordered
universe. They believed themselves to be a part of the
universal order of things. Stated another way, they
believed in God. They believed that every man must find
his own place in a world where a place has been made for
him. They sought independence for their nation but, more
importantly, they sought freedom for individuals to think
and act for themselves. They established a republic
dedicated to one purpose above all others - the preserva-
tion of individual liberty..." Ralph W. Husted
"We have the gift of an inner liberty so far-reaching
that we can choose either to accept or reject the God
who gave it to us, and it would seem to follow that the
Author of a liberty so radical wills that we should be
equally free in our relationships with other men.
Spiritual liberty logically demands conditions of outer
and social freedom for its completion." Edmund A. Opitz
"Above all I see an ability to choose the better from the
worse that has made possible life's progress."
Charles Lindbergh
"Freedom is the Right to Choose, the Right to create for
oneself the alternatives of Choice. Without the possibil-
ity of Choice, and the exercise of Choice, a man is not
a man but a member, an instrument, a thing."
Thomas Jefferson
THE QUESTION AND THE ANSWER
Q: "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son
of man that You visit him?" Psalm 8:4
A: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against
you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing
and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and
your descendants may live." Deuteronomy 30:19
Q: "Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?
Or the son of man, that you are mindful of him?" Psalm
144:3
A: "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose
for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the
gods which your fathers served that were on the other
side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose
land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15
Q: "What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is
born of a woman, that he could be righteous?" Job 15:14
A: "Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He
teach in the way he chooses." Psalm 25:12
Q: "What is man, that You should magnify him, that You
should set Your heart on him?" Job 7:17
A: "Do not envy the oppressor and choose none of his
ways." Proverbs 3:31
Q: "What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son
of man that You take care of him?" Hebrews 2:6
A: "I have chosen the way of truth; your judgments I have
laid before me." Psalm 119:30 "Let Your hand become my
help, for I have chosen Your precepts."Psalm 119:173
References:
Genesis 3:3,6 Deuteronomy 11:26-28; 30:19 Job 5:23
Isaiah 7:14-15; 13:12; 61:1 Amos 7:8 Joel 3:14
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
DEDICATION
Sir Isaac Newton
The greatest scientist in human history
a Bible-Believing Christian
an authority on the Bible's Book of Daniel
committed to individual value
and individual liberty
Daniel 9:25-26 Habakkuk 2:2-3 selah
"What is man...?" Earth's Choicemaker Psalm 25:12
http://www.blogger.com/profile/4744267
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/2728/
http://www.choicemaker.net/
jbaxter@choicemaker.net
An old/new paradigma - Mr. Jefferson would agree!
(Alternative? There is no alternative.)
+ + +
"Man cannot make or invent or contrive principles. He
can only discover them and he ought to look through the
discovery to the Author." -- Thomas Paine 1797
"Got Criteria?" See Psalm 119:1-176
semper fidelis
Jim Baxter
Sgt. USMC
WWII & Korean War
Teacher, 5th Grade - 30 Wonderful years !
vincit veritas
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it!"
- Yogi Berra
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