I've uploaded year 1517 to the TSP Wiki...
http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1517
and for the sake of redundancy's sake...
http://alexshrugged.blogspot.com/
Here are some one liners...
Out of the Love for the Truth: the Ninety-Five Theses -- Rev. Martin Luther nails his demands to the church door. I explain how I can have an opinion on Christianity as a Jew.
How the Ottoman Turks Came to Control the Levant -- The sultan of the Ottoman Empire is a Sunni... not a Twelver, yet Egypt seems to be helping a Twelver so it is off to war we go. I define the area of the Levant and talk about my personal experience with Sunni vs Shia.
Out of the Love for the Truth: the Ninety-Five Theses
Martin Luther, at present, is a priest of the Catholic Church. He walks to the All Saints' Church of Wittenberg and hangs a notice on the door. It begins as follows...-
- Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following propositions will be discussed at Wittenberg, under the presidency of the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and of Sacred Theology, and Lecturer in Ordinary on the same at that place.
My Take by Alex Shrugged
To this point, I've avoided referring to the Church as "Catholic" because despite disagreement amongst Church factions, they all want a single catholic (meaning universal) church. However, I don't care how much self-effacing rhetoric he uses to preface his remarks, it is clear that Rev. Martin Luther isn't backing down. There are errors in any organization run by man but Pope Leo the 10th has been acting like a Medici baron, attacking his enemies and collecting lands and riches. Most of the cardinals act the same way. The Church has moved well beyond any temporary breech for the sake of expediency. They have been selling the papacy for 30 coins of silver, so to speak. It will get better, but not before it gets much, much worse.[4] Alex Shrugged notes (optional, as always): I'm Jewish so a Christian me asked how I could be writing about Rev. Martin Luther. I replied, "Very carefully." Christians are interested in Martin Luther from a religious aspect, so I do my best to remain neutral. Unfortunately, his words will be used by the Nazis to justify the oppression of the Jews. In the long run, though, the Reformation will be better for everyone including the Jews. For that I am grateful.
To this point, I've avoided referring to the Church as "Catholic" because despite disagreement amongst Church factions, they all want a single catholic (meaning universal) church. However, I don't care how much self-effacing rhetoric he uses to preface his remarks, it is clear that Rev. Martin Luther isn't backing down. There are errors in any organization run by man but Pope Leo the 10th has been acting like a Medici baron, attacking his enemies and collecting lands and riches. Most of the cardinals act the same way. The Church has moved well beyond any temporary breech for the sake of expediency. They have been selling the papacy for 30 coins of silver, so to speak. It will get better, but not before it gets much, much worse.[4] Alex Shrugged notes (optional, as always): I'm Jewish so a Christian me asked how I could be writing about Rev. Martin Luther. I replied, "Very carefully." Christians are interested in Martin Luther from a religious aspect, so I do my best to remain neutral. Unfortunately, his words will be used by the Nazis to justify the oppression of the Jews. In the long run, though, the Reformation will be better for everyone including the Jews. For that I am grateful.
How the Ottoman Turks Came to Control the Levant
Selim the Grim is the current sultan of the Ottoman Turks. He follows Sunni Islam which means he follows the Sunnah or "traditional practices" of the Prophet Muhammad. (For those keeping score: this means that Selim the Grim is definitely NOT a "Twelver".) Selim has accused the sultan of Egypt [5] (who is also a Sunni) of harboring a "Twelver".[6] Twelvers believe that the Twelfth Imam (with Jesus helping out) will bring about the redemption of Islam and the resurrection of the dead. When the smoke clears, the Ottomans are in possession of the Levant, a region that includes present day Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria... and sometimes Iraq, Egypt and Turkey. The Ottomans will remain in control of the area into the early 20th century. [7] [8] [9] [10]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
I'm not sure I want to have an opinion on this but here we go. My best personal experiences with Muslims have been with Sunni Muslims. However, about a mile from my home is a Shia mosque. My kids used to play soccer with some of their kids and my wife and I have had one couple to our home. No one got massacred. Nevertheless, in 1517, the Jews of Hebron were murdered by Sunni Muslims... probably during the looting. Many Jews escaped to Beirut and the Shia Muslims ran for the hills. I'm not asking for an apology. It is difficult enough for people to get along without asking them to apologize for the actions of their great, great, great, great grandfathers. Accounting for the actions of the present-day is a big enough job.[11]
I'm not sure I want to have an opinion on this but here we go. My best personal experiences with Muslims have been with Sunni Muslims. However, about a mile from my home is a Shia mosque. My kids used to play soccer with some of their kids and my wife and I have had one couple to our home. No one got massacred. Nevertheless, in 1517, the Jews of Hebron were murdered by Sunni Muslims... probably during the looting. Many Jews escaped to Beirut and the Shia Muslims ran for the hills. I'm not asking for an apology. It is difficult enough for people to get along without asking them to apologize for the actions of their great, great, great, great grandfathers. Accounting for the actions of the present-day is a big enough job.[11]
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