removed

hahahhhahahaha......... u are truly funny sha!!!!!!!!! hmmmmm, i am waiting

Also waiting

I GUESS I AM DONE TYPING.

Atheist here, a former Christian but never really believed in it.

Brainwashing is a powerful thing to get rid of, especially when the brainwashers claim that their path is the only way to prevent an All-Merciful, All-loving God from throwing you into a giant fire for eternity along with most of the rest of humanity.

Religion poisons everything, as Christopher Hitchens said. All because they make claims about your soul's destiny, and they are unable to prove those claims.

The god of the Bible and Quran is much too human, to emotional, too jealous, too self-centered, too capricious, and frankly too much of a psychopath to be respected, let alone be worshiped. My conclusion was that religion was man-made, mainly for the benefit of the rich and powerful.

Christian and Muslim slave owners always made sure to tell their slaves that god wanted the slaves to obey their masters and to never revolt against them (otherwise they would go to hell), that way the slaves would generally behave.

Religion: I say no thanks

Whether a god exists or not I don't know, but certainly he can't resemble anything like the way he is describes in 'holy' books.

Michelle55: hahahhhahahaha......... u are truly funny sha!!!!!!!!! hmmmmm, i am waiting

Pastor Olu: Also waiting

Woah!!

So the post wasn't long enough for ya?

Even the author disagreed with you.

nwuyag:
I GUESS I AM DONE TYPING.

Can't say I blame him. Must have spent the better part of the morning typing this.

Ray McBlue:



Whoa!!

So the post wasn't long enough for ya?

Even the author disagreed with you.



Can't say I blame him. Must have spent the better part of the morning typing this.

I have typed this since, I was looking for how to shorten it

nwuyag:

I have typed this since, I was looking for how to shorten it

No worries.

@op.

in simple terms, why do you think living God is the best?

is it that he doesnt answer your prayers, the hellfire doctrine, the money loving pastors, that God wants you to use all your life to serve him, they are not following what you read in the binle? or what?

in simple terms, what is the problem?

@ nwuyag

i can understand your feelings because i was once there. i will suggest that it is time for you to take a step beyond the scriptures and look for experiences with God which will remove the doubts that fill you now and show you that life is a spiritual journey.
it is time that you try practical spirituality which cuts across all religions and goes to the heart of spiritual growth which is an individual journey.
you can try the spiritual exercises which consists of singing the Holy names of God and spiritually charged words, that will open your inner being to the Holy spirit which can be seen as an inner light and heard as an inner sound. this experience will turn you into a lover of God.
you can refer to my thread on Practical Spirituality, https://www.nairaland.com/1206262/practical-spirituality, to make your pick and start your journey. your experience becomes your authority.

@op
just take things easy, what you are going through is a phase, it will pass. You have a good heart. live free and enjoy your life to the fullest.

JMAN05: @op.

in simple terms, why do you think living God is the best?

is it that he doesnt answer your prayers, the hellfire doctrine, the money loving pastors, that God wants you to use all your life to serve him, they are not following what you read in the binle? or what?

in simple terms, what is the problem?

I dont know if God exists, I have tried but its not working. Now I am confused.
Wanted to ask pastors on a 1 to 1, but I dont trust any, I also hate their lifestyle. The bible also confuses me.
okay, you tell me how you think God really, really exists?

benodic:
@ nwuyag

i can understand your feelings because i was once there. i will suggest that it is time for you to take a step beyond the scriptures and look for experiences with God which will remove the doubts that fill you now and show you that life is a spiritual journey.
it is time that you try practical spirituality which cuts across all religions and goes to the heart of spiritual growth which is an individual journey.
you can try the spiritual exercises which consists of singing the Holy names of God and spiritually charged words, that will open your inner being to the Holy spirit which can be seen as an inner light and heard as an inner sound. this experience will turn you into a lover of God.
you can refer to my thread on Practical Spirituality, https://www.nairaland.com/1206262/practical-spirituality, to make your pick and start your journey. your experience becomes your authority.

I did not put that I have also tried that before, if i put some other things, this post will be long. Also, I met a pastor sometime a go abt 1 year ago who prayed for me and told me that I will recieve the holy spirit and after everything, nothing happened to me. Other people were moving. I dont understand

nwuyag:

I did not put that I have also tried that before, if i put some other things, this post will be long. Also, I met a pastor sometime a go abt 1 year ago who prayed for me and told me that I will recieve the holy spirit and after everything, nothing happened to me. Other people were moving. I dont understand

you did not receive the Holy Spirit because you do not believe that there is God.

Faith can move mountains, you just have to decide.

HumbledbYGrace: you did not receive the Holy Spirit because you do not believe that there is God.

Faith can move mountains, you just have to decide.

But besides, does recieving the holy spirit mean that I will go to heaven, I did not actually allow that to bother me. I have seen the teachings of Jesus in the NT and I guess thats the basis. It will be like wasting my time if at the end I dont make heaven or actually, it never existed

benodic:
@ nwuyag

i can understand your feelings because i was once there. i will suggest that it is time for you to take a step beyond the scriptures and look for experiences with God which will remove the doubts that fill you now and show you that life is a spiritual journey.
it is time that you try practical spirituality which cuts across all religions and goes to the heart of spiritual growth which is an individual journey.
you can try the spiritual exercises which consists of singing the Holy names of God and spiritually charged words, that will open your inner being to the Holy spirit which can be seen as an inner light and heard as an inner sound. this experience will turn you into a lover of God.
you can refer to my thread on Practical Spirituality, https://www.nairaland.com/1206262/practical-spirituality, to make your pick and start your journey. your experience becomes your authority.

what is "Spiritual Leader of ECKANKAR"?

@nwuyag,pls can u drop ur facebook id/2go username

nwuyag:

I dont know if God exists, I have tried but its not working. Now I am confused.
Wanted to ask pastors on a 1 to 1, but I dont trust any, I also hate their lifestyle. The bible also confuses me.
okay, you tell me how you think God really, really exists?

God's creation is a prove of a supernatural power.

What is life? can we resurrect the dead? can life come by chance? all answer is not.

can any physical thing come from nothing? is it not logical to conclude that someone with a supernatural power brot life about?

No matter the improvement in science, has they been able to raise the dead? or create this life? but servants of God has been able to raise the dead and it was only with God's power. does that not show that God created this life?

what is gravity? have u seen it before? but you believe it exists. what about air? we all feel it, but we cant see what its like.

how can the bible make a perfect statement that we are made from dust when no scientific advancement were made then? how can God set the law of quarrantine when the contagious effect of sicknesses were discovered later?

who told bible writers that the earth was hanging on nothing?

how did the bible know that we all came from one parents when there was no genetic test?

How can a ancient book fittingly predict the future and even name some future happenings decades before they happen?

why is the universe organised? who set the law that nature obeys? did they arrive by chance? illogical not so?

how can the powerful brain and many things in our bodies come about if we humans cant create anything without learning from natural things?

@op

Congrats for coming on this forum.
From reading your post, I can see that you are not only a man, but a Hu-man , a thinking, feeling and intelligent man.

You are among the 15% : Those who , by nature, are impervious from, and immune to brainwashing.

The human inside of you has been stirring for quite a while, and like the honest person you are, you have tried and exhausted every part of your rational mind to understand and make sense of religion.

It is quite interesting that those of us on the outside seem not only to understand religion more than the majority sheeple, but we actually project the very same virtues that the religious people only pretend to aspire to.

I was there too, though from a much younger age.

Feel free now to know that you are actually special, not odd.

Do not burden yourself with guilt for not believing in nonsense, even if you are the odd man out.

It does not penetrate your body and it never will.

Expand your mind by focusing on empirical science, the fascinating fields of astronomy, philosophy, History, psychology, and of course, economics.

Leave religion for the sheeple.
They will need you to lead them.

Can someone also tell me what I will gain if I go back to xtianity/God?

@ OP: I am a deist as at now and so my bias would still be to tell you there is a reason to believe in God. However, instead of indulging this bias I shall tread aganist it. Atheism has an advantage because it doesn't add entities like God, demons, Vishnu etc which need explanation. Atheists only acknowledge Nature's existence. To account for life, atheists generally look to evolutionary science. I will encourage you to read atheist, deist and Christian books before coming to a conclusion. For a good atheist book, 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins and '50 Voices Of Unbelief', a good deist book is 'The Age Of Reason' by Thomas Paine, and for a good theist book I urge you to read 'Summa Theologica' by Thomas Aquinas, a renowned Catholic preiests who wrote the famous 5 ways to prove God's existence which is the basis of proof for God used by theists and deists till date. All books save one are easily downloaded if you search using Google. For Summa Theologica go to Project Gutenberg, which has a cool list of classical writings.

All the best,
Uyi Iredia.

nwuyag:

I dont know if God exists, I have tried but its not working. Now I am confused.
Wanted to ask pastors on a 1 to 1, but I dont trust any, I also hate their lifestyle. The bible also confuses me.
okay, you tell me how you think God really, really exists?

There are many Gods outside if the Abrahamic scriptures. Why aren't you looking there?

Op,

Don't be confused with religion. Forget about the pastors. Forget about churches...

Start by loving ur neighbour as urself. Do to ur neighbour only what u can accept .

If you can, get this book... Romancing the Diving By Don Nori. I just finished reading it and it will answer most of ur latter questions.

You can never understand the Bible on ur own. You have to decide to move to God on ur own to fully understand it cos He will make u understand it... it is like a window into God Himself.... just a empty book...

Carry a programming textbook and see if u will understand how to write hello world when ur mind is not into knowing that programming language.

Move close to Him in it closet... talk to him and please get that book... I bought it from laterna ventures, Oko awo VI... laternabooks.com

God bless u

@Op I really feel ur pain, and I admire ur courage. but I must tell u dat deep inside, the only answer to the yearning is Christ. God created u for a special purpose, the devil is only trying to mess with ur mind.
Now let me say this, the seeming confusion u have with d bible is about the say most atheists who were once xtians had but no one to explain tins to them hence the conclude God doesn't exist! Look this things can perfectly explain 2 u, only u've bin going to the wrong source. I see many threads atheists and the like create on this forum n its based on pure ignorance, but I always leave them in their folly because they're not ready to learn.
Pls be careful the reply u read in this forum, because not all men have faith. I can clearly explain things to u but not on this forum, for instance the issue of Jesus and the rich man, u got it totally and completely wrong, sorry if dat hurts but its the simple truth, u got it wrong. I can explain to u, but privately, probably via Whatsapp. Let me know if ur interested. Shalom

To buttress my point on the rich man & Jesus, where else in the bible is it written that u most sell all u have b4 believing & receiving salvation? don't bother quoting Acts 3&4 because those folks only sold after they believed. That would have told u there's something missing in that passage. So do u really want to know?

noblefada: To buttress my point on the rich man & Jesus, where else in the bible is it written that u most sell all u have b4 believing & receiving salvation? don't bother quoting Acts 3&4 because those folks only sold after they believed. That would have told u there's something missing in that passage. So do u really want to know?

thanks for your advice.
I did not mention that I have gotten explanation to that passage before, I have even explained it to someone before. but lie I said, a lot of we christians can't follow that one. even if you dony sell all your propertie, u are not supposed to be rich. I know the real answer to that passage, I believe you also know it deep down. I also know what you will want to tell me. its not like I have not heard it before.
What if what you want to tell me is wrong?. I am stil open to your reply. Another thing is that don't you also feel mischiiveous before God when you go out searching for what else the passage meant so as for it not to mean what was actually said just because it talked about money??. I believe that you ve read the story of lazarus or when jesus talked about adulterry or when he talked about murrder, and you know wht it meant straight away?, then why do you have or any one have to look for another meaning to tht passage all because it talked about money??. or is it not possible to sell all you have or at least, almost all you have(i believe you know thatIt wasn't a parable). As a catholic before, I learnt about st franciss of assissi who did that, so twisting it or looking for a way for it to suit oneself sounds like mischiief.

ledafaze: Op,

Don't be confused with religion. Forget about the pastors. Forget about churches...

Start by loving ur neighbour as urself. Do to ur neighbour only what u can accept .

If you can, get this book... Romancing the Diving By Don Nori. I just finished reading it and it will answer most of ur latter questions.

You can never understand the Bible on ur own. You have to decide to move to God on ur own to fully understand it cos He will make u understand it... it is like a window into God Himself.... just a empty book...

Carry a programming textbook and see if u will understand how to write hello world when ur mind is not into knowing that programming language.

Move close to Him in it closet... talk to him and please get that book... I bought it from laterna ventures, Oko awo VI... laternabooks.com

God bless u

thank you for your concern.
I will try to get the book. I was into God before like I said in the op. I have also left my denomination. I have also wondered what I will gain if I do all those spiritual stuff or if I pray. I have never prayed for anything(material/achievement/accomplishment) before, and i actually don't. believe in it. I will tell you why after you reply this

Uyi Iredia: @ OP: I am a deist as at now and so my bias would still be to tell you there is a reason to believe in God. However, instead of indulging this bias I shall tread aganist it. Atheism has an advantage because it doesn't add entities like God, demons, Vishnu etc which need explanation. Atheists only acknowledge Nature's existence. To account for life, atheists generally look to evolutionary science. I will encourage you to read atheist, deist and Christian books before coming to a conclusion. For a good atheist book, 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins and '50 Voices Of Unbelief', a good deist book is 'The Age Of Reason' by Thomas Paine, and for a good theist book I urge you to read 'Summa Theologica' by Thomas Aquinas, a renowned Catholic preiests who wrote the famous 5 ways to prove God's existence which is the basis of proof for God used by theists and deists till date. All books save one are easily downloaded if you search using Google. For Summa Theologica go to Project Gutenberg, which has a cool list of classical writings.

All the best,
Uyi Iredia.

thank you from your neutral pov. good advice. I try what you saiid

nwuyag:
thanks for your advice.
I did not mention that I have gotten explanation to that passage before, I have even explained it to someone before. but lie I said, a lot of we christians can't follow that one. even if you dony sell all your propertie, u are not supposed to be rich. I know the real answer to that passage, I believe you also know it deep down. I also know what you will want to tell me. its not like I have not heard it before.
What if what you want to tell me is wrong?. I am stil open to your reply. Another thing is that don't you also feel mischiiveous before God when you go out searching for what else the passage meant so as for it not to mean what was actually said just because it talked about money??. I believe that you ve read the story of lazarus or when jesus talked about adulterry or when he talked about murrder, and you know wht it meant straight away?, then why do you have or any one have to look for another meaning to tht passage all because it talked about money??. or is it not possible to sell all you have or at least, almost all you have(i believe you know thatIt wasn't a parable). As a catholic before, I learnt about st franciss of assissi who did that, so twisting it or looking for a way for it to suit oneself sounds like mischiief.

The scriptures are not subject to any private interpretations, u must understand what the scriptures was saying there, its not because its about riches that's why I try and bring another meaning to it, no its just that u interpreting that passage wrongly. Lets look at that scriptures again n I'll ask u another question Mat 19:16-24]] NET 16 Now someone came up to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?” 17 He said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 “Which ones?” he asked. Jesus replied, “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony,19 honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 But when the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he was very rich. 23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven! 24 Again I say, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God.” now my question is in vs 21, now why didn't Jesus tell him that he will get the eternal life after he finished selling all he had n giving to the poor but rather that he come follow him? Eagerly expecting ur reply.