Moving...

For the regular readers and visitors of my blog, I have moved to blogging at http://blog.arulns.com and http://tech.arulns.com

So see you all there...

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Theology Exam

Below is an article from http://www.ebonmusings.org/atheism/guestessays/religion101.html

Religion 101: Final Exam
by Terrence Kaye

1. Which of the following is the most compelling evidence for the existence of an intelligent and loving Designer?
1. A Caribbean sunset
2. The screams of a baby seal as it is torn apart by a shark
3. The first time your perfect new baby smiles at you
4. The speed of the Ebola virus converting an African child's organs into liquid

2. A deeply devout Catholic couple has just returned from their fiftieth anniversary celebration, when suddenly the husband falls to the ground, clutching his chest. What is the most productive action for the wife to take?
1. Call 911
2. Put him in the car and race to the hospital herself
3. Administer CPR
4. Fall on her knees and pray to the Lord to spare his life

3. You are a product tester and frequently bring your work home. Yesterday, while dressed in a flame resistant suit (up to 3,000 degrees) and carrying the latest model fire extinguisher, you discover your neighbor's house is on fire. As the flames quickly spread, you stand and watch your neighbor's new baby burn to death. Which of the following best describes your behavior?
1. All-powerful
2. All-knowing
3. All-loving
4. Mysterious

4. One day while jogging in the park, you see a maniac with a butcher knife about to attack a six-year old girl. Which would be the most morally proper action to take?
1. Grab the nearest rock and beat off the attacker
2. Call the police on your cell phone
3. Yell "POLICE!" and run toward the attacker in a threatening manner
4. Calmly walk away, because God works in mysterious ways, and what appears "evil" to our finite human mind, may in fact be part of a vaster plan in God's infinite mind, so it's best not to interfere

5. You are the incarnated Son of the all-powerful and all-loving Creator of the universe. What would be a good way to demonstrate your compassion and power?
1. Cure cancer forever
2. Cause all the earth's deserts to bloom with food crops
3. Unite the world with a common language and an end to poverty
4. Conjure up a jug of wine and follow it up by walking on water

6. Since we can never "know" whether or not a God exists - it is fundamentally a matter of "faith" - it's best to be a believer since you have nothing to lose, but everything to lose if your disbelief is incorrect. Keeping in mind that the fate of your soul depends on the right choice, in which God should you place your belief? For extra credit, include a brief essay justifying your choice, along with the reasons why you reject the other three.
1. Zeus
2. Quetzalcoatl
3. Vishnu
4. The Holy Trinity

(*Note: Choice D assumes you were born around 400 A.D. or later, after the invention of the Trinity)

7. You are the Creator of the universe. Your chosen people are a tribe of nomadic herdsmen, presently in bondage on one of the millions of your planets. Their ruler is being quite obstinate. Keeping in mind that you possess not only infinite power but also infinite love, your best course of action would be to:
1. Cause the ruler to drop dead of a heart attack
2. Cause the ruler to fall off a cliff
3. Visit the ruler in a dream and persuade him to let your people go
4. Slaughter a great number of innocent babies who had nothing to do with the ruler's policies

8. You are a Starfleet Federation explorer in the process of cataloging two newly discovered planets. The majority of the inhabitants of each planet believe in a deity, but they are two different deities. Deity "X" is said to be not only all-powerful, all-loving, and all-knowing, but the designer of a marvelously complex and ordered world. Deity "Y" is said to be indifferent, absent, unconcerned with the affairs of his planet, and some even say evil. Which god rules over which planet?
   
   Planet A: Has apparently achieved a state of advanced benign equilibrium in which there are no viruses or diseases, and only a very small number of natural disasters, which, when they do strike, always eliminate only the sinful and evil. The inhabitants, both plant and animal, have learned to maintain their existence through photosynthesis, and thus do not have to kill and eat each other in order to survive. There are no "birth defects;" every inhabitant comes into existence perfectly formed and equipped for a long and productive life.
   Deity X_____
   Deity Y_____
   
   Planet B: Adorned with many examples of beauty and order, it is also constantly beset by hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, volcanoes, lightning bolts, viruses, disfiguring diseases, parasites, leeches, flies, crop-destroying pests and many other phenomena which afflict both the innocent and the evil. Every life form on the planet can only sustain its existence through the destruction and consumption of other life forms. Some of the inhabitants are born with a crippling condition called a "birth defect", which condemns them to living extremely limited, short, or painful lives.
   Deity X_____
   Deity Y_____
9. What is the number of children born without arms or legs that have been miraculously restored by a visit to the shrine at Lourdes, France?
1. Too many to count
2. Over 1,000
3. Several dozen
4. Zero, but only because their faith was not strong enough

10. As we all know, there is only one true religion. What is the one true religion in each of the following circumstances?
1. You are born in Karnak in 3000 B.C.
2. You are born in Bombay in 300 B.C.
3. You are born in Baghdad in 900 A.D.
4. You are born in Mexico City in 1956 A.D.

11. Although you are new at golf, you have just hit a beautiful 200-yard drive and your ball has landed on a blade of grass near the cup at Hole 3. The green contains ten million blades of grass. The odds of your ball landing on that blade of grass are 10,000,000 to one against, too improbable to have happened by mere chance. What's the explanation?
1. The wind guided it
2. Your muscles guided it
3. There is no need for an explanation
4. You consciously designed your shot to land on that particular blade

12. Which of the following is most likely to be true, and why?
1. Romulus was the son of God, born to a mortal human virgin
2. Dionysus turned water into wine
3. Apollonius of Tyana raised a girl from the dead
4. Jesus Christ was the son of God, born to a mortal virgin, turned water into wine, and raised a man from the dead

13. Conceding that torture is permissible under certain conditions, which of the following would be the best justification?
1. Your prisoner is the only one who knows the date and time of an assassination attempt on the Pope
2. Your prisoner is the only one who knows where a nuclear device has been planted in Washington, D.C.
3. Your prisoner is the only one who knows where a vial of nerve gas has been placed in the London water supply system
4. Your prisoner has announced that the earth revolves around the sun

14. We know that Christianity is true because the Gospel writers, inspired by God who can make no error, recorded the founding events. For example, on the first Easter morning, the visitors to the tomb were greeted by which of the following:
1. A young man (Mark 16:5)
2. No, no, it was no man, it was an angel (Matthew 28:2-5)
3. You're both wrong, it was two men (Luke 24:4)
4. Damn it, there was nobody there (John 20:1-2)

15. According to inerrant Scripture, the Savior prayed alone in the garden while the three disciples who accompanied him had fallen asleep. How did the gospel writer know the words of that prayer?
1. Jesus left them written down under a rock
2. They were recorded on a primitive taping device
3. The gospel writer was psychic
4. The three disciples were later hypnotized and asked to recall the prayer

16. According to at least one sainted church father, one of the pleasures of the saved will be to behold the agony of the damned. What would be the best time of day in heaven for a mother to behold the agony of her only son?
1. Early in the morning before it gets too crowded
2. Mid-day when she can compare notes and share the celebration with other mothers
3. Late at night when she can enjoy the flames in starker contrast

17. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, we always look to the Bible as a guide. In this example, your teenage son has returned home from the prom intoxicated. The Bible's instruction is:
1. Sit him down for a heart to heart talk
2. Enroll him in AA
3. Take away his driving privilege for one month
4. Smash his head in with rocks

18. In this example, your son-in-law, returned from his honeymoon, has just told you he suspects your daughter was not a virgin on their wedding night. Wishing to abide by God's holy rules as laid out in the Bible, you should:
1. Ask him if he was a virgin before you do anything
2. Advise him to forgive her
3. Talk to your daughter
4. Go find those rocks

19. You are eating lunch at a crowded fast food restaurant, occupied mostly by children, when suddenly a gunman bursts in, screams "Do not question or test me," and sprays the room with bullets. Ten people are killed instantly, many more grievously wounded, but somehow you escape unharmed. His ammunition expended, the gunman collapses to the floor. What should you do?
1. Call the police and wait for them to arrive
2. Call the police and leave
3. Risk death by asking the gunman why he did it, even though he told you not to
4. Fall on your knees and give thanks and praise to the gunman for sparing your life

20. Why did God show his backside to Moses, as described in Holy Scripture, Ex.33:23?
1. He invented everything, and this was simply the first mooning
2. He was really ticked off when Moses dropped the tablets
3. He was piqued, having just discovered His almighty powers were useless against chariots of iron (Judges I:19)
4. Moses was too serious and needed to lighten up a little

21. Jesus was God, and God knows all things, including all the medical knowledge that will ever be known. Why did Jesus blame demons for the case of epilepsy he cured?
1. He was suffering from a temporary case of "brain freeze"
2. The Aramaic word for "demon" is the same as the word for "cranial malfunction"
3. Neurology was not his specialty
4. In first-century Palestine, demons really did cause epilepsy. This affliction only began to be caused by electrochemical brain activity after about 1850 A.D.

22. This morning's paper carries a story about a suburban father who became so enraged with his disobedient children that he carried them both to the backyard pool where he drowned them, along with their puppy, their kitten, and their hamster. How should this father be treated?
1. He should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law
2. He should be banished from the town
3. He should be lynched to save the taxpayers' money
4. The townspeople should gather together to sing hymns of praise to him

23. This morning I started my day by insulting my mother in public, then punched out my father, my brother, and my sister. Then I gathered up all my clothes, sold them to a second-hand store, and with the proceeds bought a used Uzi and 50 rounds of ammunition. Next, I went down to the animal shelter and injected all the dogs with a drug that caused them to go insane and dive into the nearby canal where they all drowned. By this time I was hungry, so I went over to my neighbor's apple orchard and burned it down, because I wanted an orange and there weren't any. On the way home, I stopped at the local steel mill to discuss my philosophy of life with some of the guys. They laughed at me and said to stow it, so I tossed them all into the blast furnace. That night I discovered my son looking at a copy of Playboy. Concerned for his future welfare, I cut off his right hand. What historical character did my activities today most resemble?
1. Genghis Khan
2. Charles Manson
3. Adolph Hitler
4. Jesus Christ

24. Down through the ages, who has been most responsible for the medical discoveries that have relieved untold amounts of suffering and pain, and extended the length of that most sacred of creations, human life?
1. Medical doctors
2. Research biologists
3. Chemists
4. The Catholic Church

25. A great sadness has come into your life which you feel you cannot bear. A friend informs you of a free counseling service which has never failed to aid and comfort many others. You call the counselor; the phone rings and rings with no answer; you finally hang up. What is the most likely explanation?
1. The counselor is sitting by the phone but not answering in order to test your faith in him
2. The counselor always stands ready to hear your pleas for help, but sometimes the answer is "no"
3. The counselor will not answer because he wants you to profit by the spiritual strength that only comes through suffering
4. The counselor is not home

God Made Me....

UAE - Justice

Attempt murder - three months
Beat up your wife - six months
Molest a child - one year
Steal from charity - one year
Drink, drive, kill - one year
Slash four women - two years
Torture your maid - three years
Rape a woman - three years

Smoke cannabis outside the UAE - four years

Abu Dhabi: A teenager who smoked a cigarette containing hashish while he was in Egypt will serve four years in jail followed by deportation, the Federal Supreme Court has confirmed.

The boy, 18, an Egyptian identified as E.M., smoked a cigarette containing hashish with his friends in Egypt. He smoked it one day before he flew to the UAE.


via [Secret Dubai Diary]

السلام عليكم

Finally I completed my Arabic classes. I missed only one class out of 40..... That is an achievement in itself compared to others (the people I know)

Now don't ask me what I learnt... Ask me what I didn't..... I never came to understand how a language could be so complex and so nice at the same time... Somedays I just felt like running away from the class... and on some other days it was a cultural awakening...

So when I came out of the last class... I tried to recall the ordeals I went through for past 2 months... Rushing from office or site to the class and then dinner at odd places and then trying to convincing the taxi's to drop me to nowhere and coming home at midnight and sleeping the moment you hit the bed... and waking up next day late for office and this cycle continued for nearly 2 months....

In case anybody wondered what is the status of my Arabic.. For now i can try to read and my chances of getting it right is around 60%.... I can speak a little....Can surely tell "No it was not me"..... Have decided to give up trying to write Arabic.... It's just not working out...
At the end of the day even though I might not be able to speak Arabic, I am happy to have know abt this culture and a lot more exists to it than just the common notion that the entire stuff is around their religion....

Ma' Salama

Best Personal Defects

I was reading this post by Scott Adams - Best Personal Defects where he tells that the best personal defects one could have are the ones that other people notice in you while you can't notice them.

Even though I know how cruel I have been to people around me, I never knew the gravity. Now I know!!! But not anymore guilty....

Only reminds me of two instances....
I remember a once when people tried to jump off the roof to prevent me talking any more and once my office colleague offering his Dad's sweater to put over my shirt before leaving to a party.

My Visual DNA

This is supposed to be my Visual DNA... I wonder what happened to all my biological ones....

Adblock

Read my VisualDNA™

Windows VISTA Patch

Self Explanatory .........

[via Geek Culture]

Anti-"Anti Piracry" Ad Poster

You don't get to see these kind of posters very often.... But there is some truth in them too... When you go to a shop and buy a DVD instead of picking it off from a Pirate, you expect something better for the extra value that you are paying.... And not seeing a Anti Piracy Ad everytime you pop in the disc in your player...

[via Boing Boing]

Micro$oft Sued Again... :-)

Micro$oft has been sued... I know this wouldn't generally make headlines because it happens every other day...... But this time it has been sued by a Gun Wielding Porno Lover....

According to Inquirer, a guy who was arrested by FBI for some gun sale issue had his computers looked upon and FBI happened to get his Electronic history from it and his love for pornography.... So now that guy sitting inside Jail decided to sue Micro$oft because its OS is so insecure that FBI was able to dig into it....

I am just imagining a guy sitting in a Prison, using his "Call" and talking to his attorney...
"Hey man, lets go for Micor$oft for selling me that Windows which was supposed to secure my porn stash... and also lets sue Compaq and Circuit City for selling me that shit... "


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