So, I opened up my copy of the Quran to a random page today...

[WinterHold]

Allah, the all-knowing, could tell people how to design better cars, or guide those in charge of the car manufacturers to be more sincere. It'll very simple for Allah. Cars can be extremely useful to Da'i as they enable the Final Message to spread quicker than by camel. Makes you wonder why Allah didn't give the Sahabah the tools necessary to make motor vehicles. The people needed to receive the truth, so why not give the Ummah the cars as a supreme sign from Allah? Instead, we have to grapple with numerology and odd things like that to prove the Quran.

Many of the conflicts happened because Allah did not prevent the Injeel and Torah from becoming corrupted. If Jews and Christians had the same scriptures as the Ummah then they would be able to have more agreements with the Ummah. People view the Quran with suspicion (even though the Old Testament is worse) because it's foreign to them. It's different because Allah allowed it to be different.

If there was no need to have the Quran in the first place, millions of deaths could have been prevented. It's very sad that Allah is incompetent like this. Surely it's insulting to say to the Jews and Christian who were alive before Muhammed: You were not ready for the final message. What I'm trying to say is that many conflicts came about of decisions made by Allah. There was nothing supernatural preventing the corruption of previous texts.

The context and definition of life in the Quran, is that it's a mere test, a place where humans battle temptations that arise from the illusion of non-existent supervision, in other words: this is no more than a test, where human behavior would be judged.

The test has no point if God intervened with the ways you suggested.
Even on the backs of camels, this religion reached the whole globe, and God's word that said that Islam is universal, has and did indeed, came true.

The "quran calls for killing people" argument is not valid, since this exact dilema begins and ends, with the human obsession with military institutions.
The Quran advocates peace, and the verses that call for it are all out there. Disproving them would be great, as a starter. But throwing accusations without evidence, is not convincing. Self defense is not a crime.

[robvalue]

According to Surah 1, there is no test. Allah decides who will go to heaven and who to hell on their behalf. What they do is irrelevant, if they have any control at all.

I'm sure this is later contradicted, of course. Like just about everything in every holy book is, so that you can pick the bits you like better.

[WinterHold]

According to Surah 1, there is no test. Allah decides who will go to heaven and who to hell on their behalf. What they do is irrelevant, if they have any control at all.

I'm sure this is later contradicted, of course. Like just about everything in every holy book is, so that you can pick the bits you like better.

How so?
Sura1, speaks about a prayer from the believers to God,
Thanking him,
Asking him for guidance,
To keep us away from the road of the ones whom he is angry on,
To keep us away from the road of those who went astray.
(the above is a full cover of the Sura).

But it has a direct mention to that God, is the owner of the day of judgement. That also, contradicts the "puppet master" theory, that states that God is controlling us like puppets.

[robvalue]

[WinterHold]

[ReptilianPeon]

[robvalue]

Interesting NMP, thank you!

Atlas: So you did what I said, you found a bit that contradicts it and went with that because you prefer it. There's no way you can get any of that stuff from Surah 2.

You say "God did not force it" when it explicitly says that he did. It's just that it also explicitly says that he didn't, at other points. That's called a contradiction.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Interesting NMP, thank you!

Atlas: So you did what I said, you found a bit that contradicts it and went with that because you prefer it. There's no way you can get any of that stuff from Surah 2.

You say "God did not force it" when it explicitly says that he did. It's just that it also explicitly says that he didn't, at other points. That's called a contradiction.

That's what happens when things are written by committees.  Each author says something different and no one reads the whole thing before it's published.

[robvalue]

Haha, yeah.

If you're supposed to read the whole of the rest of the damn thing before you can correctly interpret the first part of it, it's horrible writing. I do wonder if anyone has actually read it as far as Surah 2 anyway.

Those dogmatically minded assume the book can't contradict itself, and must make sense. But what they actually do is just pick one side of the contradiction and claim that's what God meant all along; while fellow faithfuls choose the other side of it, and also claim they are right.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Haha, yeah.

If you're supposed to read the whole of the rest of the damn thing before you can correctly interpret the first part of it, it's horrible writing. I do wonder if anyone has actually read it as far as Surah 2 anyway.

Those dogmatically minded assume the book can't contradict itself, and must make sense. But what they actually do is just pick one side of the contradiction and claim that's what God meant all along; while fellow faithfuls choose the other side of it, and also claim they are right.

The Koran is the most memorized book.  Countless people can recite subsequent verses when given preceeding random verses.  They hold contests for that.  Of course none of the people reciting the verses probably have a clue as to what they are really saying.  They are nothing more than actors saying their lines.