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The Pandemic

Started by Joseph Islam, April 12, 2020, 08:21:25 PM

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Joseph Islam

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THE PANDEMIC

He has shown all of us His power ... But how many will take heed?

This is no doubt a stark warning from Him. This could have easily have been a lot worse. He is undoubtedly the controller of affairs, the Master of the Universe. This is surely a time to ponder and change our ways for the better.
'During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act' 
George Orwell

Student

very few, in US and perhaps other places TV subscription has just spiked up.....social media is full of jesting and joking complaining/mocking lock down....and some nations like India has politicized the issue and gave communal color instead of introspection on their brazen violation of human rights in Kashmir (lock down for almost 8 months without internet) and with CAA on entire Muslim minority population with police brutality and Delhi pogrom.....Trump and democrats are playing cat and mouse games with it.....China is not honest about actual death toll and affected people numbers.....

Last but not least, my Whatsapp is flooded with ahadith remedy for Covid-19 as if the Prophet (pbuh) is alive and prescribing it in real time both du'a and dawa (medicine)  :D

Very sad state of affairs, heart wrecking to see the suffering of poor everywhere while rich are enjoying off time and comparing their annoyance of mansion confinement with jail.... :'(
Thanks,
~ Student

munir rana

Though the sorrow, the lamentation has been spread out across the globe, the present situation is nothing in comparison to the judgement day. Yet, how much do we care about that time? We are too much afraid of death. Aren't we? At one hand we are talking about our miser, our frightful future, on the other hand we are passing our time gossiping, seeing movies, playing vedio games and so on.

Indeed, the holy book described us perfectly through our doomed ancestors.

May Allah save us and guide us to the right path.



relearning

throughout history whenever something bad happens religious people rush to make speedy arguments how god is very angry with us how he wants to teach us a lesson how heedless we are come on is this all stereotypical behaviour and i wonder is not it bothering you? listen why not to open a new perspective about his maybe god want to save us from maybe there is something better in this in the long time. Please dont always have negative opinions about god maybe it is his plan to recover us from a most destructive end. as long as god makes it very clear from contemporary communications here we have such as internet facebook instagram mobile phones people who talk instead of him sorry i cant take it granted as you are his speakers vice president etc.

fireheart47

One perspective, which I think should be considered, is the complexity of the world and in our inability to understand it and communicate it perfectly. One term which I found intriguing was "Black Swan event". It seems there are many factors which contribute to big events in history, and we are only able to understand it collectively in hindsight. Some of these factors include societal issues we aren't all aware of, or if we are, we often dismiss them because of other things. Sometimes it is hard to communicate this with others, because many are dogmatic and disrespectful about things beyond their true knowledge, when sometimes it is good to say, "It could be." or "It might be." or "I find that one thing you said interesting." There are also timescales we aren't well adjusted to and so this can challenge our expectations of how events unfold. I was told by my brother, we should leave room for miracles, so we allow an opportunity for good things to happen unexpectedly. So we can heal from chronic issues. I strive to find simple ways to live, simple ingredients in food, simple attitudes towards others and ourselves, and simple methods behind solving problems, in order to avoid unintended consequences. I believe God is merciful, and we are given many chances to make the right choices. May God guide us and show us what we need to know, and for our faith to be strengthened for the uncertainties and a purpose to survive the struggles, like Viktor Frankl talked about.




fireheart47

May God guide us. May God protect us.

During my studies, I studied a major within the plant sciences. I took a course on genetics, which focused on human and animal genetics. Plant genetics is an important topic, because it is where the first contributions to the study of genetics occurred, and also other fields within biology.

This is important and sensitive information. Before the mechanics of genetics was understood, people used the concept of genetics to murder millions of innocent people. It goes to show how easily people can manipulate the truth. This occurred after World War 1, which created the conditions where people were not at their healthiest and sound of mind.

The simple lesson from the course, which I learned: DNA instructs the production of RNA and proteins.

The false idea that DNA affects everything is called, "genetic determinism". Some of it is controlled by societal factors (how parents treated us, how their parents treated them, generational trauma, wealth, poverty, diet).

There are many factors, which influence our being.

In other biology courses, we talked about "emergent features", which show how complicated functions arise from the simple functions. This is an important topic. DNA is near the bottom of a long list of processes and structures, which contribute to higher function. This is why there is a lot of risk in changing DNA, and RNA.

I have faith we are not doomed. I have faith God will protect us. One of my reasons is that DNA is not the main process influencing complicated processes. For example, if you studied a fish in the ocean, and I told you it happened because of the formation of the Milky Way galaxy, it wouldn't give you the relevant processes. Yet without the proper formation of the Milky Way galaxy, Earth wouldn't exist, neither us or the fish. For this reason, I believe our collective understanding of DNA does not seem to be accurate, which gives room for unexpected protection for honest mistakes.

This is one reason I am very critical of Genetic Engineering (GE). DNA is at the beginning of a complicated process tree, and changing it can have unintended consequences. Also, because changes which are made do not appear to be reversible.

In the case of crop seeds, new GE crops get bred and replace the old seed. I am unaware of any GE crops which affect our health through consumption. This could be an important research topic. It is entirely possible, a GE crop could produce an unwanted metabolite. This is something researchers are interested in. Yet, it certainly is a problem for the future genetics of the crop species. Even conventional breeding can have detrimental effects, so why is it so controversial to speak out against the manipulation of some of the most important and consequential features of life on Earth?

I have faith in God, even though I cannot provide proof. My faith gives me hope there are things, which we don't understand which will protect us. Mechanisms in our bodies which protect us against mistakes.

In one course, they talked about how mosquitos can make changes to the expression of DNA through RNA interference. They often boasted about this, because it disproved the naysayers against GE. This doesn't change the risk of changing the fundamental processes at the beginning of chains of processes we don't seem to understand.

We have many warners, and yet we do not listen. We also have many people who fight for a cause they do not know the consequences of. We have people who try to manipulate others, because they realize they can't convince others with information.

One example is how people use a creative interpretation of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO), which says traditionally bred animals and crops are also GMO. This gives the false impression, that the proposed GMO is normal and not new. For this reason, I refer to it as Genetically Engineered (GE).

There are many terrible things in this world, and it is easy to fall into a very negative mindset. One which enables us to act against God's will for peace, and contributes more to the problems. I believe in the power of prayer. I also believe in the power of people. For this reason, I feel obligated to warn you all, and to try my best to give you reassurances if you feel scared about the current moment.

However, I am fallible, elementary, and only human. May God protect us, and may God grant us peace to talk to people and treat each other as we would want to be treated. May God help us win people's hearts, and to find peace in our inability to control the world.