If you look at the principle teachings of any religion, and then look at the behavior of its faithful, you quite often find opposite tendencies. The best example I know of is Christianity where Jesus was one of the more peaceful persons who ever lived, teaching his followers to love their enemy. Yet we know from history what the record is for the christian peoples that followed, especially the Europeans.

In Hinduism, this opposite tendency has long been recognized. The two best examples are Krishna(or Vishnu, same god) and Shiva. Shiva is an ascetic, living on nothing, in ashes and constantly meditating. Whereas Krishna is the opulent god, who has everything, especially always having fun. As a result the followers of Krishna have nothing. If they ever get anything, Krishna takes it away from them and they become sad and despair until finally out of desperation thay turn to god for solace. If they become enlightened, they find that they can have fun with nothing.

Shiva's followers, on the other hand, get rich and become opulent, gifts from Shiva, so they say, except for perhaps becoming enlightened. That is why Shiva is the destroyer god.

So in Islam god is perfect. That can be taken two ways: in god being perfect, god can be everything, or god can be removed from everything. Since every thing, all matter, is somehow imperfect, lack of perfect symmetry for example, then many argue that god must be not be anything that we are. So we are opposites in just being things. But of course that makes god rather unreachable.

Personally I prefer the everything god, whose perfection contains all imperfection.

• Not true followers - highvoltage - July 9, 2001 - 17:10 UTC
• About Ying & Yang: - jisbond - July 10, 2001 - 23:26 UTC
• Opposite tendencies ? - light - July 11, 2001 - 06:42 UTC
  • And how can god make a danger? - alexander - July 11, 2001 - 16:24 UTC
    • Deeds - jisbond - July 12, 2001 - 01:33 UTC
      • Say it isn't so! - doctordick - July 12, 2001 - 01:38 UTC
        • "So It Is Written" - jisbond - July 13, 2001 - 03:22 UTC
          • Written? In stone is that? - doctordick - July 13, 2001 - 15:11 UTC