It does have to do with religion and not oil. Genesis Chapter 12 in the Bible is the setting for the conflict in that area.

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A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

So what?? People thruout history thought they were living in the end times. Are we???Many think so but they have no authority to make that claim. maybe the end times are 1,000 yrs away. just because theres fighting there now doesn't mean this is the end...lol the fact remains we have interfered in their region to the point they've had enough and are pushing back. You want to quote the Bible fine. Sounds like something Jerry Farwell would have said...except he thinks God allowed this to happen because of our sinful ways...never mind other nations are as bad if not worse yet left untouched by the hand of gods wrath. send me 50 dollars and I'll say a prayer for you...Halliuah brother...50 dollars

I do believe we are in the end times. I never claimed how much time is left. I don't know. Present day Iraq is Babylon in the Bible. Abraham was told that his offspring would be a great nation. He had 2 sons, Issac and Ishmael. This is were the muslims(Ishmael) and the jews(Isaac) came from. Those 2 groups have been fighting since. Both claim Abraham as their father. That has been a warring nation ever since.

I am a christian, so yes the Bible is something I quote because it is the Word of God. You are the one that came in here spouting religion has nothing to do with it. Someone says it does and you have to run off with the so you want to qoute the bible. Don't bring up a subject if you don't want to hear about it.

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A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

I wish I could send all the religious zealots to Mars or somplace that's already screwed up so the rest of us could live in peace and not destroy the only planet we know of that will support life. It never ceases to amaze me that people will take a book that was written thousands of years ago and use that as a reason to fight and hate each other. The so called "Word of God" has been re-written, edited and changed probably hundreds of times since the original and all of those changes were made by men not "God".. so how can it be the "Word of God"? I suppose they would say the men who changed it were inspired by "God" and so that makes it okay. I just have a problem with hating everyone and wanting the end of the world over a book that is so full of contradictions and violence. I don't understand the twisted thinking or lack of thinking that is behind all of this stuff. I truly believe that if there was no oil in the Middle East, we wouldn't be there at all. I sure do hope the fanatics don't end up blowing the place to pieces and proving that the "intelligent" species of man is really the stupidest.

Hey guess what? God already thought of that and has a plan. Just the very one you wish for. Read the Book that you can't stand. In the end you won't be anywhere near the "zealots" you will be separated from them.

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A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

Oh, that's right.. the "God of love" is planning to destroy the planet and only the "chosen ones" get to make it to "heaven" right? And the book of Revelations which was written by a maniac that the Greeks sent off to live by himself on a deserted island because he was too weird for anyone to handle is the grand prophecy on which you base your statement right? Christianity is nothing but a religion of FEAR which is the main weapon that you use to try and get converts. If Jesus and God are so loving and forgiving, then why would they send little kids to Hell just because they had never heard of their religion? That's why the missionaries go to the 3rd world countries to convert the natives, right? So they can save them from "hell" and brainwash them with the dogma of christianity? So do you believe that the bible is the "word of God"? If so, how do you explain the fact that men wrote it?
Oh, that's right reason and religion have nothing to do with each other.

Read it for yourself and find out. I don't have all the answers. God said He would destroy the people to begin with in Noah's time. They were all destroyed except for the ones that listened to God. Seems costly not to follow the Word of God doesn't it? Who am I to judge what God does? People scorned Him back then just like you are doing now. I see a pattern here. Seems to me that God follows through with something. Call it what ever you want, but I believe the Word of God and know that I am not worthy of Him. The only difference between you and me is that I have accepted His offer of Salvation for me and you have declined it. Doesn't make me any better than you. I have a choice and you have a choice. Both of us have made our choices.

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A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

Yes I do believe it. God has always chosen man to carry out His work? Why? I don't know. All through the scriptures He has used men to accompish His work. I don't believe little children go to hell. Being born is being born into sin. The punishment for sin is Death. I believe that there is a second death for those that turn away from God. I believe that little children that are not old enough to make this decision do not see the second death. Jesus always showed compassion for little children. He only got angry when people made a mockery of His Father.

Sin is very costly to us and those around us. The wages of sin is death, but there is a sacrifice that was made to give us (a gift) the gift of life. Most people that are angry over God's ideas are upset because the reflection of sin is upon them. They don't want to make changes in their lives and it is much easier to blame others including God for the way the world is around them.

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A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

Speaking as someone who believes that just about every story in the bible is ripped off from somewhere else I find it interesting that someone would actually beleive it to be the ultimate truth. The story of Noah was brought up in a post. So I think I will use that one as an example. Every religion or group of people has a story about a great flood. Take for instance the Cowichan. I dont want to type out the whole story so I will give a link to it and people can see for thenselves.


Long before missionaries ever arrived in the New World, the Indians had ancient legends of a great flood, similar to that of Noah. This is the one the Cowichan tell.
In ancient times, there were so many people in the land that they lived everywhere. Soon hunting became bad and food scarce, so that the people quarrelled over hunting territories.

Even in those days, the people were skilled in making fine canoes and paddles from cedars, and clothing and baskets from their bark. In dreams their wise old men could see the future, and there came a time when they all had similar bad dreams that kept coming to them over and over again. The dreams warned of a great flood. This troubled the wise men who told each other about their dreams. They found that they all had dreamed that rain fell for such a long time, or that the river rose, causing a great flood so that all of the people were drowned. They were much afraid and called a council to hear their dreams and decide what should be done. One said that they should build a great raft by tying many canoes together. Some of the people agreed, but others laughed at the old men and their dreams.

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I have no problem with you not believing the Bible for what it is. If God does not force you to believe it, why should I? God has always required faith not force to believe. There are many people who try to explain away and there are many false imitations out there. God even warns people not to be deceived by other beliefs. The bottom line is this though. If I am wrong and when I die I just die and that is the end of it. What do I have to lose for living a life that I felt was led by God? However if you are wrong and face the same situation when you die and find out what you have to lose (your soul) then who really loses in the end? The reason people do not want to accept the Truth for the Truth is that they would have to make changes in their lives and they don't want to do so. Living for today is living a short life. Living for the future is encountering all of God's blessings!

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A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: