My much-beloved sister, how are you? I'm sorry that I have not been much on hand to help you as you have learned the Lord. I wish that I could be. Recently, I have been communicating a great deal with people on nairaland and I started to reread a history of Christianity. I began to yearn greatly to reach out to you to know how you are going on with the Lord.

I feel that you must be beginning by now to realize that belonging to Christ is not a very popular theme. I feel that by now you must already have come upon some very deep questions about the Lord, about life and about walking with Him in today's world. I myself faced a bunch of those and still do. They are the stuff of the Christian's development. Eternal Life is knowing the Only True God and Jesus Christ. So the journey and life of the Christian is filled with questions and wonder as they are answered. Have you begun to see this yet? I hope so.

Allow me, my dear sister, to encourage you to persist in asking questions. May I also beg you never to accept answers that leave anything to be desired? Prove all things by the unction that you have. Compare Scripture with Scripture and stand firm on the Truth. Do not waver. Do not be afraid to make mistakes. You cannot grow into things you do not yet know if you do not test the things you do know.

Live what you speak. Do not say one thing and do another. Be honest. Let your life not be a lie. As Father grants you understanding in Christ, live according to your understanding. Do not be intimidated or bullied into contradicting what you believe in the way you live.

Your heart should naturally yearn for other Christians now that you have been born again. You will and should worry if some whom you accepted as believers reject you. But remember that not everyone who calls upon the Lord is known by Him.

So, while you reach out to them and your heart remains open for fellowship with them, examine their rejection of you to see if it is because you in some way contradict Christ or if it is because you remind them too much of Him.

When you have difficult matters of understanding, remember that in the mouths of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established. We Christians are made to need one another. Do not shy away from sharing your difficulties with other Christians. Be willing and ready to be rebuked. Be willing and ready to rebuke as well.

Only one thing counts, one thing alone matters, and it is Christ. Judge all things by Christ. How much Christ does the thing or person represent? Receive nothing if you see a contradiction of Christ in it, no matter by whom or what or from whom or what it is given.

Be strong, my sister. May the Lord keep you till the day He comes.

One to a young Hindu

Jameies,
I understand what you say,
but walk out and look at the clouds
and you know God is not limited to a man, a thing
but is everything..
then why is it that you limit it to Jesus alone?


I notice more and more spending time with people who don't speak the languages I speak
that so much of our world is in language,
The bible is a book of words just like the Quran and the Bhagvad Geeta.


when we wake up as a child,
what we have,
what is given to us by God, or the creation
is the ability to feel.

we learn, painfully sometimes
sometimes spending long hours in schools
to read and write.

surely the way to ourselves,
to God is not so round about right?
we don't need to be civilised and have our table manners in place
to enjoy the redness of a rose
to see the divinity in it.

Similarly,
for me language is for the mind.
language is for us to comprehend and make logic of our feelings.

even scientifically,
the right brain that is related to the left hand side of the body,
to the heart, is that hemisphere of the brain
that generally receives feelings and
the right brain, controlling the left side of our body is the one that
puts these perceptions, feelings and broad knowledge into structures.
it is the one that organizes.

I believe if Jesus is God, or whoever it is,
is only reachable by oneself,
in meditation, in feeling and living life fully and naturally.

this is as far as I go today,
till later.

Letter to a young Muslim

I know you are fed up with the way things are. Everyone in our generation is. The bigotry, the stereotyping, the racist comments, the contemptuous looks, the “random” searches at the airport, the vandalized mosques, the community that is on its toes because anything could happen at any time. You feel strongly because, well, it affects you and everyone around you.

We are at a crucial point in history and we have the potential and opportunities to bring about great change, not only for us but also the generations after us. If we want, we can write history. But we have to be careful how we go about this, in order for our efforts to not go to waste. Allow me, then, to suggest a few points that should be followed by anyone who considers him- or herself an activist.

Don’t be a bandwagon activist. Don’t support a cause just because your friends do. Don’t be a copy-paste activist that shares things on social media for the attention and the Likes, Comments or Reblogs. Know your cause, educate yourself on it and make an active, beneficial and unique contribution to it. Persuade people by being genuinely interested in your cause. Purify your intentions and know why you are supporting this cause. Don’t support the plea of a people just because your crush is from there.

Never cease to learn about your cause. Educate yourself. Get in debates. Learn about counterarguments, prepare yourself to refute them. Actively put yourself in an environment where people will disagree with you. Learn to deal with that sort of confrontation. Argue. Discuss. Lose. Win. Grow. Repeat.

Don’t delegitimize your efforts by comparing your cause to other causes. The issue you are supporting is relevant in and of itself, it doesn’t need to be compared to other, previous issues in order to gain legitimacy. The oppression of the Palestinians is condemnable just by itself, it doesn’t need to be compared to the Holocaust, slavery in the US or any other event in history. By comparing it to other events, you take away from your efforts: You show that you have no real knowledge of either event (since the two are not comparable), and you also show that you are insensitive to the struggles and hardships other people have faced. When something is wrong, it is wrong in an absolute sense, it is wrong by itself; it doesn’t need to be compared to other instances, it doesn’t need to be relatively wrong.

Allow injustice anywhere to anger you. You can’t be an advocate of a Muslim woman’s right to choose whether or not she wears Hijab and then not be an advocate of a Non-Muslim woman’s right to dress how she wants. You can’t be an advocate against discrimination and racism against Muslims and not support the same efforts when it comes to Latin@, Black, Native and many other groups. Condemn injustice, wherever you see it, whoever it comes from, whomever it affects. Show compassion and respect to other people’s struggles so that they may do the same for you.

Quit being apologetic and ashamed for who you are. Quit asking for tolerance, understanding, and help. Demand awareness and respect. You have nothing to be sorry for, nothing to be ashamed of. You are a citizen of your country just like anyone else, demand the same rights and privileges as anyone else. Don’t allow anyone to categorize you as a second-class citizen. You have done nothing wrong, it is you who has been a victim of stereotyping, racism, injustice, and disenfranchisement. Don’t allow anyone to make you think, even for a moment, that you’re the oppressor.

Don’t let anyone define who you are. Quit letting others tell you who you are and then wonder why they hate you. Define who you are, as a Muslim, as a man, as a woman, as a citizen of your country, as a part of your ethnicity. It is up to you to set the framework of the discussion. Know your identity, embrace it, love it.
Get involved. We all have talents. Find yours. Put it to use. Find others who are interested in your cause, network with them, brainstorm and achieve great things. Organize events, reach out to other organizations, make videos, blog, read, write, publish, make graphics, give speeches, raise awareness, mobilize the community. There are a thousand ways to contribute, find yours.

Learn from the Prophet (pbuh). Read about his life. Read about his struggles. The things we are faced with are not new phenomena. Islamophobia has been around as long as Islam has. There is wisdom for us to learn from in his life and in the Qur’an.
Pray. Never underestimate the power of Du’aa. Turn to Allah swt and ask him for strength, patience, guidance, help and success. Make Him the first priority in all of your endeavors. Will it please Him? And always, always ask yourself: How much do you really want something if you don’t wake up before the sun to ask Allah swt for it?

My point:
Isn't it funny how all religions tend to be 'humanistic' once their core teachings are attacked?

musKeeto: One to a young Hindu

Ok.

Allow me, my dear sister, to encourage you to persist in asking questions. May I also beg you never to accept answers that leave anything to be desired? Prove all things by the unction that you have. Compare Scripture with Scripture and stand firm on the Truth. Do not waver. Do not be afraid to make mistakes. You cannot grow into things you do not yet know if you do not test the things you do know.

seriously

By the same person who launches tirades at other Christians who ask questions

musKeeto: My point:
Isn't it funny how all religions tend to be 'humanistic' once their core teachings are attacked?

Actually, no they are not. Not from what I read.

musKeeto: My point:
Isn't it funny how all religions tend to be 'humanistic' once their core teachings are attacked?

I see that Mr Anony has answered you, sir.

@Frosbel, would you say that my annoyance with you is rather not that you refuse to have your positions examined? You insist on debating with me while ignoring questions that I ask to show that your position leaves a great deal to be desired. I launch tirades against disrespect of Scriptures. It's something like how Jesus was with the Sanhedrin.

Ihedinobi:


@Frosbel, would you say that my annoyance with you is rather not that you refuse to have your positions examined? You insist on debating with me while ignoring questions that I ask to show that your position leaves a great deal to be desired. I launch tirades against disrespect of Scriptures. It's something like how Jesus was with the Sanhedrin.

On the contrary, You will discard all evidence to hold unto a point even though the foundation is built on straws.

Remember also, Jesus was harsh on the Pharisees, the know it alls, but he never used tirades or snides to make his point, in other words he was not condescending or rude.

The mark of a true follower of Christ is humility.

Anyway to stay on point , your article is excellent !!!

Ihedinobi:

I see that Mr Anony has answered you, sir.

@Frosbel, would you say that my annoyance with you is rather not that you refuse to have your positions examined? You insist on debating with me while ignoring questions that I ask to show that your position leaves a great deal to be desired. I launch tirades against disrespect of Scriptures. It's something like how Jesus was with the Sanhedrin.

I see that frosbel has answered you.

It will be fruitless arguing anyways. We'd have to define humanism, then morals, and blah blah blah. No need to, is there? Or Jesus wasn't humanist?

Do not say that the Vedas, the Bible and the Koran are false. Those who do not contemplate them are false - Sikh

frosbel:

On the contrary, You will discard all evidence to hold unto a point even though the foundation is built on straws.

Remember also, Jesus was harsh on the Pharisees, the know it alls, but he never used tirades or snides to make his point, in other words he was not condescending or rude.

The mark of a true follower of Christ is humility.

Anyway to stay on point , your article is excellent !!!

Why, thank you, sir. It was really a text message actually. It wasn't constructed for nairaland. It just so happens that it suits the atmosphere here as well.

As to the matter of Christian debates, once anyone attacks the foundation of Christianity while laying claim to its heritage, I take off the gloves. If you say Jesus never "launched tirades" or was "rude" and "condescending", my, you really don't know Him or why they crucified Him And no, I won't give you passages, sorry. I want you to do a little real work and find them for yourself. What's more, I'm avoiding a firestorm of interpretations.

If the believer will ask questions, he must have standards by which to judge the answers. If the questions are instead arguments against the very standards, then, the question arises, "what does he say he believes?"

@musKeeto

Dear sir, I have never minced words about my wholesale rejection of the definition of Christianity as a religion. I also do not see any evidence of an effort toward pleading Christianity's humanity (or even humanism, for that matter) in those shared personal communications.

@musKeeto

I don't know about the Qur'an or the Vedas, but everyday the Bible proves itself true to reality. If the others are true too, good, no loss to me. If they are not, too bad, no loss to me either.

You feel free to test them for yourself.

.