I have been meaning to discuss this issue with enlightened and intelligent folks on this forum. Years ago while studying the Bible, I came across these verses which made me challenge Christianity as practised today and its categorization as a religion. Apostle Paul who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament and who most Christians base their doctrines and beliefs on called himself something other than a Christian. Let's look at these verses.

When Tertullus brought a charge against Paul before Governor Felix, He had this to say:

"We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him. By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him." Acts 24:5-8 NIV

Paul said this in his defence:

"...However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man." Acts 24:14-16 NIV

The Governor Felix was well informed about the activities of this group.

"Then Felix, who was well acquainted with the Way, adjourned the proceedings..." Acts 24:22 NIV

I know a lot of people will point me to this popular verse to back up the validity of Christianity as a religion.

"Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." Acts 11:25-26 NIV

My questions are these:

1. Who called these disciples Christians?

2. Did they acknowledge themselves as Christians?

3. If Paul admitted he was a Follower of the Way, doesn't it mean those disciples who shared Paul's belief and faith in Jesus Christ were also Followers of the Way?

4. What happened to the sect called the Way? At what point in history did the Way fade into oblivion?

4. At what point in history was Christianity founded?

5. Why are Christians who base most their doctrines on Paul teachings ascribing to something different?

I welcome your intelligent contribution.

Thank you.

That's the problem with christianity.
It is a religion that has to constantly defend its own legitimacy. This has to do with the mysteries,confusions, deciets and frauds of its early beginnings.
It is a religion that refuses to come to terms with its roots. It is a politically contrived religion fashioned out of the confusing mix of imperial politics of Rome and the religious and philosophical schisms of first century Palestine.
Everything else is just salt and pepper.

...will lyk to learn 4rm ds thread... Plz contributors should fall in.... *hands crossd* for d moment.

religions will always be around as long as we remain a poorly-evolved mammalian species with too much adrenaline and being afraid of the dark and afraid to die and believing the truth of holy books that are so stupid, and so fabricated that a child can see through it because it makes us feel better.

no god, no miracles, no heaven, no hell.

Today's religions are tomorrow's mythologies

ifeness: religions will always be around as long as we remain a poorly-evolved mammalian species with too much adrenaline and being afraid of the dark and afraid to die and believing the truth of holy books that are so stupid, and so fabricated that a child can see through it because it makes us feel better.

no god, no miracles, no heaven, no hell.

Today's religions are tomorrow's mythologies

Day dreaming is a good thing !

I don't think Nairaland church-goers are ready for my answer!

*Kails*:
I don't think Nairaland church-goers are ready for my answer!

Please give an answer. That's why I asked those questions. Thank you.

All religions are man-made (frauds if you like). Let them prove what they offer you. Let them show you the souls of good Christians in heaven as proof that their way is The Only Way. If they can't do that then it's all just word in a book, like any fiction novel.

first of all, christianity is a realtively new religion and a political fraud.

however what intrigues me the most is that even in their very early days, the christians were striving to stir rebellions wherever they went and to bring down existing stable and prosperous Pagan Governments. and they have done so over the centuries. i wouldnt be surprized if there are some secret hands behind all of this, somwhere in the vatican or other secret organizations, priory of sion, etc..

PAGAN 9JA:
first of all, christianity is a realtively new religion and a political fraud.

however what intrigues me the most is that even in their very early days, the christians were striving to stir reellions wherever they went adn to bring down existing stable and prosperous Pagan Governments. and they have done so over the centuries. i wouldnt be surprized if there are some secret hands behind all of this, somwhere in the vatican or other secret organizations, priory of sion, etc..

This is correct and very interesting.
You have to understand that ,unlike the Pagan and natural earth religions before them that revered nature, the earth and all creation, the Judaic or Yahwehist religions and the its other two disfunctional children, rose and define themselves in direct opposition to nature,her beauty, diversity and the joys and bounties that she bestows on her children.
Unlike the the nature religions of far antiquity that revered as gods,the sun, the moon, the the earth, and the seas as the visible regents of the creative force of the cosmos, the Yahwehist religions rose and still stands in direct opposition to these ideals, by transposing itself against, and in place of these proxies of creation.

By fraudulently arrogating to itself all the creative and facund attributes of nature, the Yahwehist religions rob humanity of their rights, dignity and rightful place in the cosmic scheme of things.

onetrack: All religions are man-made (frauds if you like). Let them prove what they offer you. Let them show you the souls of good Christians in heaven as proof that their way is The Only Way. If they can't do that then it's all just word in a book, like any fiction novel.

You can bark for as long as your short life lasts, JESUS is the Lord of Lord and King of Kings, your noise making is irrelevant to TRUTH.

@nep2ra,
First of all, did you even do any research on the word Nazarene(the way) before coming on here to make invalid arguments? Because if you had, you'd at least have found out that the word is used majorly in two contexts within the new testament. The first is as a reference to "Jesus of Nazareth" and the second is as reference to followers of jesus, in other words: Nazarene is another word for christian. Nazarene is used mainly in the hebrew and arabian contexts when they talk about christians.

So your questions here shows no evidence that you have done any proper thinking nor have you even used google to get some background on the subject.

The funny thing is that other lazy champions are revealing themselves by rising in support of you, making arguments that are either off-track from the subject(@ifeness, @onetrack,@plaetton, @pagan_9ja) or just like you, arguing without knowledge.

okeyxyz: @nep2ra,
First of all, did you even do any research on the word Nazarene(the way) before coming on here to make invalid arguments? Because if you had, you'd at least have found out that the word is used majorly in two contexts within the new testament. The first is as a reference to "Jesus of Nazareth" and the second is as reference to followers of jesus, in other words: Nazarene is another word for christian. Nazarene is used mainly in the hebrew and arabian contexts when they talk about christians.

So your questions here shows no evidence that you have done any proper thinking nor have you even used google to get some background on the subject.

The funny thing is that other lazy champions are revealing themselves by rising in support of you, making arguments that are either off-track from the subject(@ifeness, @onetrack,@plaetton, @pagan_9ja) or just like you, arguing without knowledge.

Ok mr deligent champion. What do you understand by "jesus of Nazareth"?

Atheists who cannot do without JESUS, what confused people

@frosbel
Hi frosbel. It's a pleasure to have you make a contribution on my post. I am very honored to have this debate with you. I must confess that I'm an avid reader of your posts and greatly admire how you intelligently argue your points with well researched facts.
I will be very grateful if you can answer the questions I posed above or at least give an interesting arguement to one of the questions.
Please let's focus on the topic and try to avoid throwing barbs at each other.
Thank you.

Jesus Christ said, 'I am the WAY, the truth and the life...' John 14;16. Thus, a follower of the WAY should be clear to you. If in doubt, as to the authenticity of any faith, you should be looking at Islam, which could take out passages from a book written long before the birth of their founder, copy and edit some truths in it to suit his purpose and pass it on to gullible minds as a revelation. E.g, the story of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac being changed to Ishmael.

Ohibenemma: Jesus Christ said, 'I am the WAY, the truth and the life...' John 14;16. Thus, a follower of the WAY should be clear to you. If in doubt, as to the authenticity of any faith, you should be looking at Islam, which could take out passages from a book written long before the birth of their founder, copy and edit some truths in it to suit his purpose and pass it on to gullible minds as a revelation. E.g, the story of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac being changed to Ishmael.

Ok. So it's the other religion, the other half of the dysfunctional family, that is a fraud?.
Ok. I get you.

Religion itself, is a fraud. How? Religion is a fraud because it keeps you thinking that someone is going to save you, when the helping hand that you’re looking for is at the end of your own arm. Religion is a fraud because it has you believing that you can’t have anything of worth until after you die, when all you have to do is work for it. Religion is a fraud because it condones people turning into bums, dropouts and failures of society, when a steady income could solve most of your problems.

@horus,you are very correct sir!!!christianity is a heterosoteric(salvation from an outside source) religion,while freemasonry which has Egyptian pagan roots is autosoteric(you must save yourself),this was why Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt in 1789 with archeologists,to discover the great mysteries of African paganism,as against the slave mentality of christianity!!!

The Yoruba use Ifa based on 16x16(256),which was the basis of the computer chip's binary code system.

plaetton:

This is correct and very interesting.
You have to understand that ,unlike the Pagan and natural earth religions before them that revered nature, the earth and all creation, the Judaic or Yahwehist religions and the its other two disfunctional children, rose and define themselves in direct opposition to nature,her beauty, diversity and the joys and bounties that she bestows on her children.
Unlike the the nature religions of far antiquity that revered as gods,the sun, the moon, the the earth, and the seas as the visible regents of the creative force of the cosmos, the Yahwehist religions rose and still stands in direct opposition to these ideals, by transposing itself against, and in place of these proxies of creation.

By fraudulently arrogating to itself all the creative and facund attributes of nature, the Yahwehist religions rob humanity of their rights, dignity and rightful place in the cosmic scheme of things.

Well Said! and not to forget that they always try to spread gloom, misery and destruction wherever they go. have you noticed that abrahamists , especially xtians always talk about day of judgement, we are all born sinners and are doomed, hell, satan, torture in hell, repent, etc. why are they doing this

also no wonder jesus was crucified and the Roman governorship was involved in his sentencing. even the Jewish Sarheddin respected Pagan Roman Law because it was OFFICIAL. of all the ROman provinces, the are a around modern-day israel has always been revolting and trying to hinder the ROman Empire and this are, the middle-east, was and is always a sensitive area.. jesus was obviously trying to stir up rebellion. many details are actually hidden or missing. the actual cause of his doing this requires a lot of research work.

i again repeat, Japan was very clever to recognise the threat christianity posed to its Emperors and also the Shogunate. (credit goes to the famous Daimyo Hideyoshi HAshibe a.k.a "Monkey" ). as soon as hints of xtian rebellions were spread throughout the Empire, all the Daimyos and officials united and overthrew the missionaries and banned christianity throughout Japan. no wonder Japan is about the only Asian country not to be colonized and also the most high-tech, indigene religio-cultural and modern progressive NAtion of all non-european countries. it also was the only non-european NAtin to fight in WWII on equal terms as a antagonist and not draggeed in by colonizers. It is an Ideal NAtion.


^ Daimyo Hideoshi Hashibe (Samurai), true Saviour of Japan.

@PAGAN 9JA,you have said it all!!!The oath of the Jesuits,a Catholic order,is to forment trouble,mischief and division amongst native peoples.In Europe, from the 11th Century,the greatest butchers,assassins and murderers were the Knights Templars,who used to kill in the name of 'Christ'!!!

okeyxyz: @nep2ra,
First of all, did you even do any research on the word Nazarene(the way) before coming on here to make invalid arguments? Because if you had, you'd at least have found out that the word is used majorly in two contexts within the new testament. The first is as a reference to "Jesus of Nazareth" and the second is as reference to followers of jesus, in other words: Nazarene is another word for christian. Nazarene is used mainly in the hebrew and arabian contexts when they talk about christians.

So your questions here shows no evidence that you have done any proper thinking nor have you even used google to get some background on the subject.

The funny thing is that other lazy champions are revealing themselves by rising in support of you, making arguments that are either off-track from the subject(@ifeness, @onetrack,@plaetton, @pagan_9ja) or just like you, arguing without knowledge.

infact you are going off-track. who cares what Nazrene or whatever means? plz deal with the REAL issues. reember, these issues affect our Nations too.

PAGAN 9JA:


infact you are going off-track. who cares what Nazrene or whatever means? plz deal with the REAL issues. reember, these issues affect our Nations too.

go and bow down before your 'dollies', primitive person

Niflheim: @PAGAN 9JA,you have said it all!!!The oath of the Jesuits,a Catholic order,is to forment trouble,mischief and division amongst native peoples.In Europe, from the 11th Century,the greatest butchers,assassins and murderers were the Knights Templars,who used to kill in the name of 'Christ'!!!

yes thank you. i am sure you talk about the crusades. you must read this interesting book: "Holy Blood, Holy Grail". it talks about the merovingian dynasty and other secret xtian organizations pulling the strings from behind. the knight Godfrey de Bouillon especially has some special connections with these string of events and the foundation of these secretive orders.

Ifa gave us the blue print for the 'computer chip' which christians are benefiting from today,and yet they still have the guts to say that pagan religions are inferior to christianity!!!

Niflheim: Ifa gave us the blue print for the 'computer chip' which christians are benefiting from today,and yet they still have the guts to say that pagan religions are inferior to christianity!!!

dont forget Aristotle, Archimedes, Pythagoras, Euclid, Aryabhatta, Master Lu, Cai Lun (inventor of paper) , all those Egyptian scholars and Scientists in Alexandria, the Mayans, etc.

Long before the American scientist,Nikola Tesla,discovered how to tap free electricity from the sky by creating an electro magnetic field in the magnetospere,NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS(PAGANS),had prophesied that Mother Earth will one day create a force that will provide everlasting energy for all her children on Earth!!!

Ohibenemma: Jesus Christ said, 'I am the WAY, the truth and the life...' John 14;16. Thus, a follower of the WAY should be clear to you. If in doubt, as to the authenticity of any faith, you should be looking at Islam...

you people are so predictable it's pathetic. anytime a thread raises fundamental questions about your belief system you try to derail it.

if can't address the issues why don't you just observe. you may learn something.

ps. if you really want to discuss Islam open another thread.

F00028:

you people are so predictable it's pathetic. anytime a thread raises fundamental questions about your belief system you try to derail it.

if can't address the issues why don't you just observe. you may learn something.

ps. if you really want to discuss Islam open another thread.

We don't need to learn about ISLAM, all we need do is look at the Catholic church and see the image of ISLAM.

Two PAGAN institutions, you can hardly tell the difference !

Niflheim: The Yoruba use Ifa based on 16x16(256),which was the basis of the computer chip's binary code system.

oh yes ofcourse!

Initiation into Ifa requires rigorous study. A Babalawo must learn and understand each of the 256 chapters (Odu) of Ifa. The minimum of four verses will of necessity include ebos and ooguns (medicine) that are embedded and relevant to each of the verses, plus other issues that complement divination. An accomplished Babalawo must know about ten verses of each of the 256 chapters of Ifa (256 Odu Ifa). Regardless of gender, whoever aspires to practice Ifa must have this qualification.

There are sixteen major books in Odu Ifa literary corpus. When combined there are total of 256 Odu[9] (a collection of sixteen, each of which has sixteen alternatives ⇔ 16^2, or 4^4) believed to reference all situations, circumstances, actions and consequences in life based on the uncountable ese (poetic tutorials) relative to the 256 Odu coding. These form the basis of traditional Yoruba spiritual knowledge and are the foundation of all Yoruba divination systems.

Ifa Binary System of Divination:

Name

1

2

3

4



Ogbe

I

I

I

I



Oyẹku

II

II

II

II



Iwori

II

I

I

II



Odi

I

II

II

I



Irosun

I

I

II

II



Iwọnrin

II

II

I

I



Ọbara

I

II

II

II



Ọkanran

II

II

II

I



Ogunda

I

I

I

II



Ọsa

II

I

I

I



Ika

II

I

II

II



Oturupọn

II

II

I

II



Otura

I

II

I

I



Irẹtẹ

I

I

II

I



Ọsẹ

I

II

I

II



Ofun

II

I

II

I




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sixteen Principal Afa-du
(Yeveh Vodou)



Name

1

2

3

4



Eji-Ogbe

I

I

I

I



Ọyeku-Meji

II

II

II

II



Iwori-Meji

II

I

I

II



Odi-Meji

I

II

II

I



Irosun-Meji

I

II

II

II



Ọwanrin-Meji

II

II

II

I



Ọbara-Meji

I

I

II

II



Ọkanran-Meji

II

II

I

I



Ogunda-Meji

I

I

I

II



Ọsa-Meji

II

I

I

I



Ika-Meji

I

I

II

I



Oturupon-Meji

I

II

I

I



Otua-Meji

II

II

I

II



Irete-Maji

II

I

II

II



Ọse-Meji

I

II

I

II



Ofu meji

II

I

II

I

Niflheim: Ifa gave us the blue print for the 'computer chip' which christians are benefiting from today,and yet they still have the guts to say that pagan religions are inferior to christianity!!!

okay , go back to bowing down before useless pieces of wood and stone , that's your choice.

Allow us worship our GOD.