Nairaland Forum

2good:

I was indoctrinated with christian values as a child like every other Nigerian child. I used to be deeply involved in religious activities and even preaching in the public as a child because I was taught it is the right thing to do in order to avoid going to hell that was created by a supposedly loving God which is an irony to me. When I become an adolescent like 16 years ago, I discovered that people have been doing reasoning for me. With further probing of the entire system around me, I noticed that culture and belief system is a brainwashing process where people are instilled with values that are accepted as normal in their immediate environment while other foreign values are treated with contempt. That is why you will always see a correlation between religious beliefs and region of birth and upbringing. You will most likely be a Muslim if you were born in the middle east or Muslim family in Northern Nigeria. You will also almost certainly be a christian if you were born in Eastern Nigeria or America. You will also most likely be a Hindu if born in India just as you will most likely practice Judaism if born in Israel.

You see?
My point exactly! You were raised to be a christian, you changed; FINE, it's your choice and you have a reason for doing that, but you know there are atheists who have also converted to Christianity because of one reason, maybe same as your reason. We're all different, our mindset differs, so what might take a year to work for you might take a day to work for another.

If prayers don't work, i wonder why there's continuity/longevity among some(maybe few) religious people?
One man's poison is another man's meat.

cold: @mactao,you just blabbed and blabbed.In the end you said nothing.You claim most people who lay claim to praying are NOT actually praying.And you went on to say something like this;

After all your rant,you still failed to tell us what the Bible says about prayer and how it should work.Since apparently,you read the Bible a lot

I wonder why you're insulting me. I really wonder. Please do not do it again.

You want definite points, and I'll try to give that, even though I did give some implicitly in the other post. Let's examine some scriptures, shall we?

John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

These were the words of Jesus. Here are the conditions: abide in Him, and let His words abide in you. But do His words abide in us?
Now, this doesn't mean you have a bunch of chapters and verses all crammed up in your head. Any atheist can chant Bible verses off the top of their head. But does the word actually fill us up to the extent that it changes us?

Every day you hear Christians complaining about everything. The stock market is down. There's economic depression. If America's going down who stands a chance? There are bombs going off every other week. Christians now choose to stay at home on Sundays instead of going to church, because they're scared of being attacked. But the Bible talks, in very many places, about Christians not being fearful. Over and over again. It's even filled with examples of people who defy fear in all sorts of situations. But nowadays we call it practicality and common sense to stay at home on Sunday, or to avoid traveling to the north at all costs. Is the word abiding in us?

Back to prayer. I'll say what I said over there again. Prayer has nothing to do with shouting, or shaking your head violently, or rolling on the ground. But when people do these things, they believe that they have gotten through to God, and so God will do something about their situation. But they've got no word in their hearts, and they've got no faith. So God doesn't do nothing. Scripture:

Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Jas 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

It says without faith, you won't receive anything from God. ANYTHING. Now, this doesn't mean that everybody who's having problems with prayer doesn't have faith, as I know people are waiting to launch themselves at my throat on this point. This is just one of the reasons. So let's say we go to a good church on Sunday and we hear good stuff about the promises of God. But when we go all week Monday to Saturday, we hear all sorts of negative stuff, bad news every day on the headlines, fearful rumours at bus stops, gossip at the office. It will affect faith. Very much. Because faith comes from reading the word and hearing preachers who preach the true word. And all the worldly bad news does the exact opposite. And so when we go on and yell at God, nothing happens, and we make Him the bad guy.

Scriptures:
Psalms 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

1Timothy 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
1Timothy 2:2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

In these two places, the Bible commands us to pray for the peace of our country, and also to pray for our leaders, "all that are in authority". But do we really do that? Our mouths are full of curses, and condemnation, towards both the country and its leaders. We only see the wrong things, we only talk about the wrong things, we only think about the wrong things with Nigeria. So we do that Monday till Saturday, and then for 3 minutes on Sunday morning we say a few words to God, and somehow we think Boko Haram will just vanish off the surface of the earth. Christianity is not for a couple of hours on Sunday morning. It's a complete lifestyle. If you drop Christianity at the door of the church after Sunday service, then things may eventually turn out like this.

I ask you now: do you know a lot of Christians who have an extremely positive mind and attitude about Nigeria? Who never insult Goodluck Jonathan and his administration? Who never say things like "this country is hopeless"? Who can't wait to check out to the US or Europe for greener pastures? I don't, and I don't think they're that many. When the car breaks down because the roads are terrible, or an innocent man gets gunned down by a stray bullet, or an innocent woman gets beaten up by arrogant military men on 3rd Mainland Bridge, we let out this torrent of curses and insults on the country and its leaders. It's counterproductive.

If you're familiar with the story of Paul the Apostle, you know that he was a terrorist to the Church. I'm sure more than a few people prayed to God for him to die one way or another, and were probably disgruntled, and angry at God when he kept showing up with decree after decree to persecute the Church, not to mention in perfect health. God had other intentions as far as Paul's life was concerned, and so the problem was that those people were praying WAAAAAAAAY out of God's will. Do you think there are no Nigerians praying for Boko Haram members to die in their sleep? Gazillions of them. But God loves them, and He probably has other plans about their lives. See, a lot of people cannot find it in themselves to imagine "loving" Boko Haram, and if you remove love, then you've removed Christianity. So can you see how seriously off point prayers have been sometimes?

The intentions are good; nobody wants anybody to keep dying in bomb blasts. But it'd be much safer, for example, for us to pray for peace for Nigeria, instead of praying for people to drop dead. Because it's more scriptural.

I could go on and on...some people don't think they've got any ability, any possibility of changing things, even in prayer. They think they've got to be an LG chairman, or a governor, or a senator, or the president, before they (or their prayers) can make a change. If you believe that but go through the motions of prayer, God won't "understand", and go ahead to answer your prayers. Bitter truth, but truth.

My writing here has been messy, but I believe I have made a bit of my point. READ YOUR BIBLE, and go with it.

P.S. I hope I have written enough to stay your insults.

@mactao..very good writeup!! So true!