There are a lot of excuses that we use to justify not working as hard as we should. One of the most deceptive excuses is religion. Instead of doing what we ought to do or getting back up after a failure or trying a little bit harder along the way, we use the excuse that “if it was supposed to happen it would have happened” or "we need a divine intervention". This is just self-limiting.
I write this at the risk of been called an atheist by those who are too obsessed with religion to give a thought to sound reasoning, but truth must be said.

All too often, Christians (and Muslims) hide inactivity behind prayer, hoping things would get better without taking any action themselves. Though Christians and Muslims are willing to pray about things, they would end it there, thinking they have done their part.
Erik Thoennes, a professor of biblical and theological studies at Biola University says
"It is a great misunderstanding of the Christian faith to think prayer leads to fatalism or passivity. A properly understood biblical understanding of faith in a sovereign God never leads to passivity but active engagement with our world. God's plan is worked out in and through real life and our actions.”

Look at the Nigerian situation. So many things are not working well and we have the ability to set most of these things right. But what do we do? We only pray for divine intervention in the comfort of our bedrooms waiting for God to send 'someone' to set things right.

Our leadership is nothing to be proud of but all we do is pray for divine intervention instead of getting up as a people to elect good persons who can do the job rightly and take necessary actions against those who abuse their mandate.

A robbery is going on, you call the police, and what do they tell you? 'Pray for God to make the thieves leave before we get there because we don't have what it takes to fight them.'

Our educational system is going bad(if it isn't already) and what do we do? We go to church/mosque and pray for God to set things right instead of using our heads to seek ways/ideas to salvage the situation.

All these are just excuses so that we can say ' we've committed it into the hands of the Almighty so let him do all the work' . I believe in the power of the Almighty but always resorting to divine intervention even in things we can use our God-given intelligence to do, is nothing but a cheap excuse for laziness. We pray to God in crisis and stay in stagnant mode.

Throughout the history of the church, Christians had often been major contributors and leaders of great movements, for instance, William Wilberforce with the abolition of slavery, Dietrich Bonhoffer opposing Nazism, and Martin Luther King with the Civil Rights Movement.
Though they ultimately rested in God’s sovereign power and wisdom, they moved and acted for good. Now imagine if these people only prayed for divine intervention without any action on their part. None of the things they achieved would have ever come to pass.

The bane of Nigeria/Africa's progress is our excessive romance with laziness fueled by too much religion.

Let me state this fact- The almighty has left a part of himself within us and that means that we too can find solutions to our problems! If the almighty did not want us to use our heads then he would have created us without brains. God is not going to come down to do things for us. Even the Almighty will not contravene his own laws. He's a spirit and he will not work on earth unless through men. But when men only know how to pray and are not ready for action, what will get done? The answer is a no-brainer. The earlier we understand this, the better for us as people/nation.

For the Christians, hear what Apostle Paul has to say "We didn't eat anyone's food without paying for it. Instead, we worked hard and struggled night and day in order not to be a burden to any of you.'' (2 Thes. three verse Eight) Do you need me to tell you that Paul was a prayerful person? Pray and work folks!

.

God help those who help themselves..






I believe that prayers can move mountains, but I also believe that diggers can too

As a Muslim I totally agree with this post,,, and it is Exactly what Allah (God) told us to do ,,, that first he wouldn't change our situation until we act and change ourselves (Qur'an 13 : 11 ) meaning help from the Almighty God will come when we have stood up and proven we need him .

I had always told the youths that the only reason why things are hard is their attitude of expecting a miracle even when they are very lazy. God will help you, yes but only when you stand up and help yourself. Keep religion out of success, because believers and non believers alike succeed. May God help your understanding of these important points.

That has always been our problem

Prayer is the master key?!

GeneralShepherd: Prayer is the master key?!

Only prayer backed with hard work.

Pray as if everything depends on God, but work as if everything depends on you

this topic is complicated so I rest my comment.

Your problem is wrong notion about divine Intervention. Divine intervention isn't sitting down and waiting on God to act, It is acting along with God. It is waiting to get idea and wisdom from God and acting on it.
The result is always amazing when you work and walk with God.

Enhh..it should not be an excuse for laziness, but many have abused it.


In case you do not know, there is no man that is very successful and remains so for a long time without a spiritual power from GoD or otherwise ...quote me anywhere if you like



^ We don't need to RESEARCH this ^

Impressive reasoning.

The rate of gullibility in Nigeria is alarming.

People prefer to spend man-hours looking for divine intervention and fail to do the basic things that lead to success.

Imagine a shop owner who feels the next competing shop is 'taking' customers and goes to a pastor, imam or babalawo. Concoctions or spells or both are given and some are even sprinkled on the competing stall. Yet, this religionist fails in basic customer service and relationship management. How will customers be retained?

We might be driving the latest Prado but our thought process is still close to those apes that roamed this part of the universe centuries ago

God bless you OP!

I've been thinking of creating this kind of thread.

My naija people...
Almost more religious than the pope...
They use religion to shy away from responsibilities. ..
All their problems are caused by their 'enemies'...
None is a result of their (un) doings...
Hypocrisy is the bane of their existence...
Seeking for miracles that mean their neighbour must be hurt,
No true love for God or their fellow man, just selfish ambition,
Condemning what they don't understand, instead of first opening listening ears,
Forgetting the same God gave us brains to differentiate us from robots,
They forget science itself is a miracle (isn't God omniscient ),
Even with no faith, they can pray for days for magic miracle,
And when God is talking to them,
They refuse to listen, because His words don't affirm who they are,
Then they bind Him as the devil.
The devil is actually the person that commits whatever atrocity they're (unfortunately) caught doing,
It's never them, always the devil that just uses them,
Even they, are ahead of the devil in the deception game,



God help us.

TRADELYN: Enhh..that should not be laziness, but many have abused it.

Quote me anywhere I beg you!

In case you do not know, there is no man that is very successful and remains so for a long time without a spiritual power

Your last sentence is absolutely correct

yes..imagin somebody saying God will send a BIG MAN to him dat will give him big money nd change his life!!! and I'm like just like dat? without u doing anything d big man will jst come nd giv u money? is it a coincidence dat d most religious pple are not strong financially?

simp: this topic is complicated so I rest my comment.

What kind of topic can you discuss? Football and women?

Religion is the third thing that has kept Nigeria backward, after tribalism and corruption. Religion has created a huge effect in this nation that not even education can or ever would. A typical Nigerian believes everything in life occurs due to the action or influence of a spiritual force. years back when I was aggressively hunting for job.. I always hate it when someone tells me the ''God's time is the best'' thing... So I should sit at home idle and wait for God's time? And back then at school.. Some fellowship members would come out to give testimonies of how they did not read, but passed as a result of the holy spirit revealing the answers to exams questions for them in their dream. Same people are those that enter a bus, and the conductor mistakenly forgets to collect money from them, would prefer to call it ''favour'' instead of drawing the attention of the bus conductor. A pastor, who is a head of a parastatal that has vacancies refuses to advertise the position publicly, but takes the information to his church... Members apply and get the job.. And would come out the next sunday to scream ''unmerrited favour''. They dont believe in the natural occurence more, a careless driver gets into an accident- they'll say there were blood sucking demons on the road. I was just passing by my neigbourhood the other day, as small beautiful white cat was following me. My first thought was that this cat is homeless and needed a friend, i wanted taking it along untill i met a neigbour who gave me a 6 hour lecture on how witches and wizards manifest in cats. The other day again, a pastor was telling us how God favoured a jobless man by showing him where armed robbers threw away their bank robbery loot, while being chased by the police. Religion has made people not just stewpid, but also wicked as well as gullible.

Nollywood isn't helping matters either

Personally, I have done a preliminary study on this.

Next time you meet any successful man/woman in this world, the first question you should ask any of them is: Sir/ma, what's the source of your spiritual power?
You must tell me this first before start saying hardwork, integrity, etc..or I'm not interested

Trust me, It pays to serve GOD only!!!

mployer:
Your last sentence is absolutely correct

Really appreciate this write up, many don't understand the law of divinity. True God answer prayers but on ur path u need to take action toward ur prayer. Some will be in their convenient home praying and fasting they want latest car of the year, the most beautiful mansion ever built, but Alas! They don't work, and not even making attempt to find work so as to achieve what they want. And to couple it all men of God deceives them, urging them to sow seed their miracle is on the way, they feel relax and at the end they come to abject poverty. IN SUMMARY YOUR PRAYERS NEEDED TO BE BACKED WITH ACTION.

I subscribe to your opinion in some cases, especially with fanatic Christians.
When one is supposed to go out and grab an opportunity, they'll be waiting for a clarion call announcing 'God's time' which is the best time.

Prayers work but do something differently to achieve results, dont keep praying and doing the same things u ve always done and expect change.

I know of people in my neighbourhood that are lazy and do nothing! Full fledged able-bodied young men and women. Ask them, they will tell you it is the hand work of spiritual enemies I bet you, citizens of countries like Finland, Denmark, Sweden etc did not pray as hard as Nigerians before their economies became what they are today. Just do the right thing and stop thinking God will send a sign from 'heaven'. Think, that is why we have brains. Make I see anybody wey go come tell me make I fast and pray for Naija problems! Na coke bottle I go burst for the person head! Rabbish! Nansense!!!

Most Nigerians are really gullible That's why some pastor have lotta costumers .They will rather stay at home and watch TV all day and expect God to give them a "miracle" job..God does help those who help themselves

.

Thank you op.
This remind me of Daniel chapter 9 during prayer God bestowed Daniel with understanding and skill.
If you raise this issue among the Christian, they label you an atheist. Nigerian always resort to prayer at the time we need to work it out.

Have heard people say the only thing that kept us together as a Nation or better stil keepin us away from war is because of the prayers of millions of Nigerians (very Religious people). This i have faulted several times, i believe one of the key things that is keepin us backward as a Nation is our excessive reliance on prayers. God gave us the brain to change d things around us for good & Jesus taught us to do things right but we believe spending 1/2 of our lyftim 'cabashin' wil result to wonders/miracles with proponents of this belief citing Sarah & Jacob as perfect examples. Hard work first, with little prayer for direction and protection is the key.

I hate this excuse ehnnn.. it irritates me whenever pple make use of it

The Bible stated that Faith without Goodworks is DEAD. Pray as if all depends on it,work as if all depend on it.