The Second Coming

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

I read an article that if true sheds a frightening light on the Middle East. The current president of Iran is of a sect of Islam called the Twelvers. This group believes that there is a Twelfth Iman, the rightful leader of Islam, who has been in hiding for a thousand years and will return to usher in the victory of Islam over all evil. It is said that Jesus will return with Twelfth Iman and lead Christians to Islam. Those who do not convert will be killed. When all is said and done, Israel will be destroyed and as much 80% of the world's population will be be killed for refusing to embrace Islam. The current president of Iran believes that now is the time of the return of the Twelfth Iman. He believes that he can help the Twelfth Iman by making sure Israel is destroyed. He believes this in part because the the current ayatollah believes that he has personally spoken to the Twelfth Iman.

It's one thing when the guy next door decides he wants to believe that the world will end in 2012, because he can believe what he wants and so what? But when the person who believes in something very radical is the head of a government intent on obtaining nuclear weapons, it becomes a little more significant. The Twelvers do not represent the majority of Muslims, although I've read that they are the majority of Iranians. So here is your chance to avoid the rush. If these guys are correct, now is the time to convert to Islam.

Before I dismiss with a wave of the hand the screwballs in Iran, I have to ask myself what it is I believe. Is it so different to believe that Christ will come again and when he does, the good guys will be rewarded and the bad guys will go to hell? One the surface, it seems to me that these are similarly fanciful scenarios.

One of the problems with belief as I see it is that we tend to believe in what justifies what we want to do. Somebody is always using God to justify imposing their will on someone else. Someone is always denying that there is a God because God would be an inconvenient obstacle to their personal agenda.

One of the other problems with belief is that it is really, really hard to figure out what is really, really true. Science is attractive in that regard, because it disciplines us to accept only what can be proven. But science is only a tool and can be of limited value in deciding what is right and wrong.

It's a tough world. There are lots of difficult decisions that should not be taken lightly. The search for Truth should not be a hobby or a weekend project -- it is the work of a lifetime.

As far as Ahmadinejad is concerned, it appears that the man doesn't even own a tie. What could he know?