Self Improvement...

After an almost 2 week break, I decided that it is time for me to get back to work. Classes begin on 30 August, so I'm shipping out on the 29th. I have roughly a month to improve myself as much as possible before the beginning of my plebe period. During my plebe period, the vast majority of my time will be very restricted, leaving little room for personal side projects.

I recently found a book that I acquired during a YLJ religious tolerance session. It's entitled The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Islam. I've decided that it would be wise to better understand a religion that is having such a significant impact on world affairs. Especially so, because in many countries the religion is integrated into the government, the traditions, and the thought patterns of the people. By increasing my level of understanding (not neccesarily agreeing or even empathizing) I will be better able to understand events that may directly affect me in the future, militarily or personally.
What I've found so far, shows that not only do most Christians misunderstand Islam, but even the most high profile Muslims seem to grossly midunderstand Christianity. I've found some interesting fallacies in this broadly distributed publication. One, is that the author believes that the concept of the Holy Trinity shows God as split into three seperate beings to help the "father God" being do his work, and further that Catholicism places Mary on level with God. However, the concept of the Holy Trinity is actually much more complicated than that, with all parts of the trinity being God, but also with God being one unified being. Nowhere in Catholicism is Mary placed on the same plane as God, or even remotely so. Another has to do with the crucifixion of Jesus:

"The Qur'an records that fierce opposition to Jesus came from the leaders of the Jewish community. The called him an impostor and contrived a plot against him. After they succeeded in having him arrested, they tried to get him executed. Here is where the story gets interesting: The Qur'an claims that Jesus was not killed or crucified, but it was made to appear so to them. Certainly early Christian sects also believe Jesus escaped death. Islam is uncompromising on this issue. God saved Jesus and took him to be in Paradise until the hour would come to complete his mission in the end-times." (pg. 207)

Wow... you can't get much more misunderstood than that. The book even goes on to claim that it could have been someone that looked like Jesus, or possibly even Judas who was crucified. I'm not an expert on biblical history, but I'm pretty sure that there is more than one source recording the crucifixion of Jesus. I'm also sure that I've never heard of any evidence that early Christianity believed that Jesus wasn't crucified. I think that I'll look into these possibilities later.

I've alson been doing some reading into the Chinese military situation and have come to the conclusion that they are currently not an offensive threat. Many experts actually agree that China doesn't even have the prowess to capture Taiwan for another 15 or 20 years. Much of this has to do with China's ability to transport troops across the 100 miles of sea to Taiwan, and China's ability to maintain air superiority over that same body of water. I've found the Center for Defense Information to be a very useful source. You can read an entire transcript of a video program on the subject here.

At some point before I leave, I would like to obtain some materials that would help me to learn to speak Arabic.

I am going to max my PT Assesment at GMC.

I also watched the first two Matrix movies today and helped my Aunt move in. Man, I'm a busy guy, but I was also very bored.

Mer will be back sometime around the 10th for about 9 or 10 days before she has to leave for school.

Warped Tour is Thursday. (sweet)

I should be headed to Pensacola next weekend. Maybe if we're all willing to do a little driving, I'll be able to meet Anna. Apparently her approval is very important ;)

-Out