If you want to buy red roses this week in Saudi Arabia, you'll have to hit the black market, reports BBC News:Saudi authorities consider Valentine's Day, along with a host of other annual celebrations, as un-Islamic. In addition to the prohibition on celebrating non-Islamic festivals, the authorities consider Valentine's Day as encouraging relations between men and women outside wedlock - punishable by law in the conservative kingdom.
With a ban on almost all things red, young lovers are having to get creative and to sneak around to observe the tradition. Flowers are being delivered under cover of night. It all sounds terribly romantic.
Of course, if you hate Valentine's Day and want to go someplace where you face almost no pressure to produce a teddy bear, here's your vacation destination.
Reader Comments ( Page 3 of 5)
31. Robert, I don't have a job because I'm 65 and retired. I like it that way. Besides I'm a billionaire now that I've sold the cure for cancer and faster than light drive.
Clif Kuplen at 3:09PM on Feb 12th 2008
32. You're writing a sequel? Plan 11 from outer space? I wanna be bela lugosi!
Clif Kuplen at 3:10PM on Feb 12th 2008
33. And finally: Clif, take your cure for cancer and apply it directly to your head, then jump in your faster than light drive and find a planet where they actually LIKE you. XOXOXOXOXO - ROBERT
robert at 3:14PM on Feb 12th 2008
34. There is little debate even among liberal scholars that the gospels were written in the first century A.D., and John and Matthew were first hand witnesses of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
xxx
bullshit. Who or what was Q? Matthew is regarded by every source I've ever read, secular or apologist as being newer than Mark, or was that an inadvertant error.
Clif Kuplen at 3:16PM on Feb 12th 2008
35. If you people took anything seriously, which most of americans do not, sadly, then you would understand that the reason why people are conservative isn't out of fear. The believe strongly in something and continue to. Its no difference than people who aren't conservative. People who aren't conservative aren't necessarily fearful. Either way, it makes sense. If you believe in a God, and you believe that He wants you to WORSHIP ONLY Him, then why would a God want you to celebrate any holiday that isn't about Him? Before anyone goes off on a tangent, I didn't say any God doesn't want people to be happy. We could only wish to have as much self-discipline as a people so conservative. They may seem barbaric to some, but we seem wild to them. Hm? You people are ridiculously crazy ranting about who is right, wrong, cool, stupid, etc. How about respect for others and their beliefs? Do we not agree, as long as it doesn't impend (?) on us, that it is perfectly FINE for someone else to have their own beliefs, and as long as we don't impend/offend theirs, we're all fine? You people are too worried about who's wrong and right. Its ridiculous. lol. Good "luck".
hoobandank at 3:44PM on Feb 12th 2008
36. Still picking fights, Clif?
robert at 3:24PM on Feb 12th 2008
37.
33. And finally: Clif, take your cure for cancer and apply it directly to your head, then jump in your faster than light drive and find a planet where they actually LIKE you. XOXOXOXOXO - ROBERT
xxx
Wow, Robert, that's not exactly the great american screenplay quality, it it?
Actually some people, even ones who are philosophically opposed to me do like me at least a little. Here's a quote from a Young Turks blog entitled Fox News Is Playing Defense from a couple of days ago. I don't know how this guy knows me but he does, apparently:
xxxx
37. Hey...if that's Clif Kuplen the guitarist...holy crap...you are the man! That's one of the best players on the planet on this blog!
Dr. Steven Sartori at 4:09PM on Feb 9th 2008
By the way, Robert, when does that million dollar prose ability kick in? You write like a middle school C student here.
Clif Kuplen at 3:24PM on Feb 12th 2008
38. 36. Still picking fights, Clif?
robert at 3:24PM on Feb 12th 2008
xx
challenging the statement. Let's see what he says unless you want to tackle it.
Clif Kuplen at 3:26PM on Feb 12th 2008
39. Darling Clifford: No, I have no need to tackle it. I have no agenda, I just say things to get a rise. It's called 'research'. I push a button, and voila! out pops a bully, or a hypocrite, or whatever, it's really cool.
Happy Valentine's Day - P.S. The LOVE is out there.
robert at 3:35PM on Feb 12th 2008
40. Clif,
If you've never heard of Q (quella), then you're not anywhere nearly educated enough on the subject to be arguing it. Q is the supposed original source for the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). It is believed that it was a manuscript, approved by the apostles in the first century, for teaching in the churches reagrding the life of Jesus. Hence the nearly word for word agreement in those three gospels, regarding sveral stories and parables of Jesus.
I don't know who've you've been reading, but Mark is (call any either liberal or conservative seminary and talk to their biblical studies dept.) generally considered the earliest. The fact that Matthew has additional material, is longer, that he references or quotes Mark (or Q), but not vice-versa, and the historical evidence of distribution support an earlier date for his gospel. There are some who hold to an early date for Matthew, but these tend to be among the right wing of the evangelical scholars, and I would doubt you've been reading them.
However, Matthew being earlier only supports my argument even more, as Matthew was a contemporary of Jesus whereas Mark may not have been (although many scholars believe he was self-referencing in Mark 14:51,52).
By the way, we know that John's gospel was written last of the four, and as I said, we have a fragment of it that dates back no later than the close of the first century (and it is not an original autograph since it was found in Egypt). Meaning that yes, the gospels were written in the lifetimes of the apostles.
lighthousecog at 3:34PM on Feb 12th 2008
41. ...or Robert, you get someone who's actually learned on the subject. What a concept!
lighthousecog at 3:41PM on Feb 12th 2008
42. Umm, people? The Subject was (sort of) Valentine's Day! And the Saudi's banning of gifts for the same. Dear outhousecog, what subject are you learned on?
robert at 3:47PM on Feb 12th 2008
43. I'm outta this one. Off to share the vastness of my wealth of knowledge with those who appreciate it. Loyal minions... where are you?
Dave at 3:50PM on Feb 12th 2008
44. Dave
Has the fact that Jesus is a reinvention of earlier deities escaped your education? Have you read the books of Gerald Massey and others, who have found over 200 parallels of Jesus to Horus that predate Jesus by 200 years? (that's giving you some leeway, the religion of Horus is over 4,000 years old)
The announced birth
The disciples
The temptation
The death and resurrection?
The fact is Israel was prompted to such inventions thanks to the Hellenistic culture that existed in Jesus's time. How about the gospels that never took the resurrection literal since they were aware of their contemporary deities with the same attributes? Wouldn't that make Jesus just another pagan deity? It is why hundreds of gospels were not canonized.
goddess1prevail at 3:51PM on Feb 12th 2008
45. Oooooo GODDESS1PREVAIL I think I love you!
Happy Lupercalia!
XOXO
Robert
robert at 4:01PM on Feb 12th 2008