Rivers of Paradise

 

The Bible, Douay-Rheims

Book of Genesis 

“2:10. And a river went out of the place of pleasure to water paradise,

which from thence is divided into four heads.

 

2:11. The name of the one is Phison: that is it which compasseth all the

land of Hevilath, where gold groweth.

 

2:12. And the gold of that land is very good: there is found bdellium,

and the onyx stone.

Comment: The region in Genesis is usually associated with either the Arabian Peninsula or north-west Yemen, but in the work associated with the Garden of Eden by Juris Zarins, the Hijaz mountains appear to satisfactorily meet the description. The Hejaz includes both the Cradle of Gold at Mahd adh Dhahab (Atlas23°30′12.96″N 40°51′34.92″E / 23.5036000°N 40.8597000°E / 23.5036000; 40.8597000) and a possible source of the "Pishon River" — a biblical name that has been speculated to refer to a now dried-out river formerly flowing 600 miles (970 km) northeast to the Persian Gulf via the Wadi Al-Batin system. Archaeological research led by Farouk El-Baz of Boston University indicates that the river system, now prospectively known as the Kuwait River, was active 2500–3000 BC.^[4] Bdellium plants are also abundant in the Hijaz.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havilah

 

2:13. And the name of the second river is Gehon: the same is it that

compasseth all the land of Ethiopia.

 

Perhaps it refers to river Nile as can be seen in picture below:

 

2:14. And the name of the third river is Tigris: the same passeth along

by the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

 

 

2:15. And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of

pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it.”

 

Unfortunately, man has made a complete mess of it.

It seems that the European authors of this particular version of the Bible believed that The valleys of the rivers Nile, Euphrates, Tigris and the area of Hijaz now commonly known as the Middle East was actually paradise and Adam and Eve were banished from it for their indiscretion into Europe where the human race grew and developed. Their concept of the patriarchs seems to be of gods similar to those of the Greek mythology. Later when other parts of the world and other civilizations were developed, the text in later versions was amended.

 

 

Impotent Democracy

Once upon a time, in a certain state of the Indian subcontinent an extremely badly managed general election were held in which bachelor Sardar became the chief minister of a coalition government. Soon after being sworn in his coalition partners arranged a beautiful bride for Sardar. A memorable wedding ceremony was held at state expense in which Sardar gave to and received from his coalition partners very expensive presents at state expense. After a while a news reporter asked Sardar when the heir was expected. Sardar promptly replied, “My coalition partners and the ministry of population welfare are working on it.”

PM Nawaz's Resignation

The current situation in Islamabad is simply intolerable. Gross violation of fundamental human rights and those guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan are taking place by order of the administration. If the federal cabinet did not want any demonstrations in Islamabad, the prime minister should have advised the declaration of Emergency under article 232 of the constitution. Instead, the constitutional process was shunned and unnecessary force was used coming close to the subversion of the Constitution. All democratic and pro-constitution forces should demand the resignation of the erring prime minister. Can the army take him in protective custody and persuade him to resign in greater national interest under article 245 which has been invoked by the government?

Thoughts for Today

1. Democracy is the ability of a larger group of stupid people to overwhelm a smaller group of geniuses and warriors without violence.

 

2. The simplest way to solving the current political crisis in Pakistan is to remove all obstacles from the roads leading to and within Islamabad and wait for a week. If the crowd starts swelling to a million, the government should quit. If there is no significant change, the marchers should return.

Pakistan Politics Today

1. Mr. Nawaz Sharif has made hardly 15 appearances in houses of Parliament during the last 15 months.  A parliamentary system cannot function in this way.
2. Mr. Sharif has been busy making economic deals all over the world about which the parliament is in total darkness.
3. Nobody doubts Mr. Sharif’s sincerity or capability to do good to the nation by extra-parliamentary means.
4. The Senate had to pass a resolution demanding PM to attend its sessions, but to no avail.
5. Many of PMLN lawmakers may be disappointed in this situation but they cannot speak their minds due to the gag on them put by 18^th amendment.
6. In his election campaign Mr. Sharif had claimed that the power crisis was due to bad management of resources by People’s party and he would fix things in six months. Power management has grown worse in the last 15 months. The billion rupees spent on the reviving the abandoned Nandipur project have proven a waste.
7. The subsidized interest loan scheme for youth has proven a failure.
8. The 100 billion rupee gift to daughter Marium for buying toys has failed to make an impact.
9. Adhocism is back in the administrative and financial functions. Family and friends of the leader to whom the party is dedicated are having a good time. The ruling party has to expand its base.
10. Ever since the days of British Raj, elections in the subcontinent have been a conjuring match. The party that can throw more dust in the eyes of the electorate wins. The older generation that has compromised with the system only wants to make the dust transparent as in the case of western democracies. The new generation wants to get rid of the dust.
11. It is obvious that there was major rigging in the last elections although everyone accepted it in good faith.  Mr. Imran Khan has claimed that large numbers of ballot papers were printed by private printers on nonstandard paper which were used in bogus voting whose thumb impressions cannot be verified. The ballot boxes in the custody of the Election commission may have been tampered with during the last 15 months. So there is no point in ballot verification now.
12. PM and Chief Minister Punjab have to take responsibility for the Model Town massacre of 17^th June in which 14 people were killed and more than 80 shot at chest level by police. The incident report recorded by Police does not mention any citizen casualties. Obviously it was a plot and a cover-up.  Nobody in government expressed any sympathy with those killed and wounded in the incident.
13. Mr. Tahirul Qadri has only recently descended on Pakistan after migration to Canada and a long stay there. He has a wide spread network of madressahs and orphanages and a few hundred thousand spiritual followers in Pakistan and other countries. He seems to have formed an alliance with Sunni Tehrik and Shia-led MWM, both opposed to the pro-Taliban religious organizations. It seems that he is trying to make the imposition of Martial law imperative and since the army would be reluctant to form alliance with either PMLN or PPP, he might get a chance to become their civilian lackey. The army needs to give him a clear cut message that he is chasing an illusion unless………..
14. It is a very complicated situation, but it can be resolved without bloodshed and in a reasonably short time by careful planning and systematic execution. God bless us all.

Recent FB Posts

www.facebook.com/mohammad.nasim


Nawaz Shareef will make a good president of Pakistan. He should grab this opportunity with both hands.
Shahbaz Shareef has been working too hard for too long and needs a long vacation.


We need similar laws in Pakistan.
Indiana State Passes Law to Legalize Shooting Police
topinfopost.com

The butchers of MODEL TOWN MASSACRE to be chained in an abattoir.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/749520/model-town-clashes-sessions-court-orders-cases-be-registered-against-pm-punjab-cm/

The secret of China's progress and prosperity is that Chairman Mao never went on a foreign trip. Just stuck close to his people and inspired them to work honestly.


After being figuratively kicked, punched and spat on, PM Nawaz Shareef has offered to form a judicial commission to investigate irregularities in 2013 general elections. This action may be at odds with the constitution and there is no guarantee that there will be no state intervention in the performance of the commission. The most important thing is to get one's priorities right according to one's position.

Improved Relativity

 

The following are the missing postulates of the Theory of Relativity:

1. Relative motion is the vector difference of absolute motions.
2. Relative motion is impossible without the existence of absolute motion.
3. The observed value of relative motion of the same object is different for different observers; each being convinced that he is right.
4. The observation of absolute motion requires the recognition of a fixed and unchanging point of reference.
5. The observation of relative motion is geocentric i.e. the observer assumes himself to be the point of reference and discounts his own absolute motion from all others.

Gaza

I wonder if the president and lawmakers of USA have seen the following pictures and videos (links) of Palestinian children affected by the recent Israeli military action in Gaza shared on the Facebook. Is there a need for a comment?

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152512254081083&set=vb.590956082&type=2&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152132810451104&set=vb.207242941103&type=2&theater

The Faithful Unite

 

The initiative taken by Pope Francis to hold a multi-religious prayer gathering with Palestinian and Israeli Christians, Muslims and Jews in the courtyard of the Vatican palace is commendable.

The action is apparently in the perspective of peace and harmony in the region but it has global ramifications.

 China and India have both grown into world military powers and if the current trend continues, in a decade or two both may acquire super-power status dwarfing the existing powers.

China is a communist country and although the Chinese leaders have not shown the same contempt for religion as their defunct Soviet Union counterparts, one can hardly expect them to do any good to the adherents of the Biblio-Quranic faiths.

Although the Indians claim to be secular and followers of the slain nonviolent Mahatma Gandhi, the recent upsurge in “hindutwa” or Aryanism leading up to the election of Mr. Modi as prime minister does raise an alarm. Deadly religious violence against Christians and Muslims is a regular occurrence and is often backed by extremist Hindu political outfits. Given the right factors, Indian Aryanism may quickly grow into a monstrosity exceeding German Nazism of the 20th century. Let us not forget that the swastika originated in India and is still a common symbol in Hindu shrines.

Historically, India was ruled by Christians during the century preceding its independence in 1947 and by Muslims for nearly four centuries preceding that. Although none of the reigns was tyrannical, biased historians can easily distort facts to raise mass hysteria.

Historic revenge is a strange phenomenon. It remains in the subconscious of nations and may show up centuries or even millennia later. The sudden resurgence of black slavery in North America during the last few centuries may be linked to the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. They were held in servitude by the Negro Pharaohs and the tales of their persecution are harrowing.  It is possible that buying African slaves and treating them badly was an act of misplaced historic revenge.

If the faithful people of the world do not unite in peace now, they may get exterminated by the newly emerging pagan super-powers in the long run.

To read manuscript of my book “What and Why I Believe” click on link below:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53723169/What%20and%20Why%20I%20Believe-2.pdf

Feedback will be welcome.

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/news/detail/articolo/francis-34578/

Clarion Call - 1

In the 20^th century the key to success in business, politics, law and other professions was to dazzle everyone and smother the brightness of the opposition. It could be called the century of illusions and it has landed the world in the mess that we are faced with. In the 21^st century let us base success on sustained brilliance and only positive thinking. We have already wasted thirteen and a half years, so we have to work swiftly to make up for the lost time.

Some time ago I read a story about how five hundred participants of a seminar were asked to sign their names each on a balloon and throw them in a room; then everyone was asked to find the balloon with his name on it. Everyone rushed in and burst most of the balloons. One or two lucky ones got the right balloon.  The exercise was repeated with people going in one by one and picking up the nearest balloon and finding its owner and giving it to him. It worked and everyone got his balloon.

In real life assets and ideas do not have names of the people who deserve them written on them. But with a little commonsense we can tell whether what we have is necessarily useful to us or not. If not, it should not be too difficult to find someone who needs it. All you need to do is to post it somewhere or send emails to those who you think would be glad to receive it.