Topgainer:
I don't think so Op. The real destroyers of religious mind are the false Prophets, fake Pastors, imposter Bishops and Apostles who sell hopes, promises and miracles.
God said there are 100 persons here who must give 100 thousand each for the expansion of ministry ( Papa Bishop and Mummy Bishop group of companies). Lies
God will bless you for giving a donation (stolen money) to the spreading and flourishing of the ministry. Lies
The only way for you to be blessed by God is by paying tithe. Lies
Only those who sow a seed to Bishop will come to Church with a testimony. Lies

U killed it, u mentioned the major factors but I will tell I didn't see it that way until I came into nairaland,
With post of all those intelligent atheist i think Here serves as the major place where things are stated according to reality/nature

butterflylion:

And i meant it, because being in church and occupying a high position in Church doesnt make one a.Christian. A Christian is he who does the will of God as stated in the Bible.

u can't be a Christian without the help of religion, atheists does the will of God as u stated but lack believe does that make them Christian s, don't try to tell me doing the will of God is matter of believe

Wilgrea7:
I don't seem to be able to find this road to atheism... i don't know if there's any procedure to being agnostic or being an atheist...

OP nice story by the way... i enjoyed reading it... mine is similar... nl atheists and deists did play some role in my life..

i was not born a Christian but at 4-5 i started going to church cuz that's when my parents converted

i was indoctrinated into the system... i believed all and never dared to question.. little by little i was swallowed up in ignorance and dogmatism... until a day when i was researching about tithes then i stumbled on nl.... i read comments and was amazed by the knowledge of people here... i was not yet a member but i was a constant “visitor" of the religious section.. i saw atheists like hopefullandlord... i found SOME of his arguments interesting and logical... i saw pastor aio.... i didn't know he was a pantheist sef... but he made some very logical points in his arguments.. i saw winner 01 and Kingebuka and how they made atheists cry... i saw frosbel... i still regard him as the hero of my faith because he once talked about finding out things for yourself....

but before i saw all these people... i saw otem... his doctrine hit me like a bomb... i began to question and reject a lot of things... i didn't see much theists battle him and i assumed they didn't because they couldn't... so later on i decided to go on research.. mostly because of otemanuduno.... i did one hell of a research on so many things... i regained my faith cuz i found the truth in so many things and i questioned his doctrine as much as i questioned my bible but i also gained logic.... i tried to be unbiased in my research and i discovered a lot of truths and discarded lies. my best friend (agnostic) told me i was becoming an atheist.. i laughed cuz it was possible before but its impossible now... so later on i joined nl to battle the doctrine that once killed my faith.... and from there... my journey began...

so i don't know which step i missed that would've led me to atheism

Well if you really want to find atheism or even Agnostism, I would recommend this blog
www.godisimaginary.com
I was irreligious and agnostic before I read it, it made me an atheist.

Lennycool:

Well if you really want to find atheism or even Agnostism, I would recommend this blog
www.godisimaginary.com
I was irreligious and agnostic before I read it, it made me an atheist.

I've viewed that website before... more than once sef... my agnostic friend recommended it to me at the particular time i was questioning my beliefs.. i questioned what i saw there as much as i questioned my bible... i found a lot of hasty generalizations there... plus.. if we're talking about books (letters). the foundation of my faith doesn't rest on only the books of the bible

Wilgrea7:


I've viewed that website before... more than once sef... my agnostic friend recommended it to me at the particular time i was questioning my beliefs.. i questioned what i saw there as much as i questioned my bible... i found a lot of hasty generalizations there... plus.. if we're talking about books (letters). the foundation of my faith doesn't rest on only the books of the bible

Its not just viewing did you read it?
Plus how can the bible not matter to your faith?

Lennycool:

Its not just viewing did you read it?
Plus how can the bible not matter to your faith?

i read it... about 50 tests for God.... the second time i read it was after the months of my research.. the bible matters... but its not the foundation of my faith... Jesus is... evidence of who he is wasn't gotten from only the bible

Wilgrea7:


i read it... about 50 tests for God.... the second time i read it was after the months of my research.. the bible matters... but its not the foundation of my faith... Jesus is... evidence of who he is wasn't gotten from only the bible

Then where is it gotten from

Wilgrea7:


i read it... about 50 tests for God.... the second time i read it was after the months of my research.. the bible matters... but its not the foundation of my faith... Jesus is... evidence of who he is wasn't gotten from only the bible

But Jesus is the word of God which is the bible... John 1:1

Lennycool:

Then where is it gotten from

different texts bro... the bible made me think God can be comprehended... i got some info from some books not added in the bible... although i still got info from the bible but the website was unable to refute the info i got

randomperson:

But Jesus is the word of God which is the bible... John 1:1

Jesus is not the bible o oga .. don't reduce God to the likeness of a book... abeg

Wilgrea7:




Jesus is not the bible o oga .. don't reduce God to the likeness of a book... abeg

So don't agree when the bible says Jesus is the word of god?

randomperson:

So don't agree when the bible says Jesus is the word of god?

i agree when the bible says Jesus is the word of God... i don't agree when the Christians say the bible is the word of God... it doesn't mean its not inspired... there's a difference

Wilgrea7:


different texts bro... the bible made me think God can be comprehended... i got some info from some books not added in the bible... although i still got info from the bible but the website was unable to refute the info i got

You are very funny if you say you base your faith on the life style of Jesus but not on the bible.

That's like saying I believe in the existence of Harry potter but I doubt JK Rowling. Jk Rowling created harry potter the same way the bible created the character of Jesus.

Let me tell you that outside the bible there aren't more than 4sentences in total in all of literature since the era of Christ that describes Jesus without using biblical references.

The only writers to mention Jesus outside the bible are Tacitus, Josephus and Suetonius and none of them were contemporaries of Jesus, in all these 3 writers don't have more than 4sentences talking about Jesus. Am wondering what you learnt about Jesus from those 4 sentences.

All the millions of literary works about Jesus all use the bible as their one and only reference.

So how do you come to the conclusion that the bible is imperfect but a particular story about a man in the bible must be perfect and worthy of emulation. Even the story of Jesus has so many contradictions in it, issues like resurrection, virgin birth and even crucifixion have so many contradictions in the gospel.

Am sorry Mr man, no need to be half smart and half believing, choose one side.
Maybe you see Jesus every day and discuss with him over breakfast, if that is the case then we might need small proof.

Wilgrea7:


different texts bro... the bible made me think God can be comprehended... i got some info from some books not added in the bible... although i still got info from the bible but the website was unable to refute the info i got

And where did these different texts get their idea of Jesus from?

LiberaDeus:


You are very funny if you say you base your faith on the life style of Jesus but not on the bible.

That's like saying I believe in the existence of Harry potter but I doubt JK Rowling. Jk Rowling created harry potter the same way the bible created the character of Jesus.

you my friend.... are wrong... the bible did not create the character of Jesus... if you have proof of such... please bring it forward

Let me tell you that outside the bible there aren't more than 4sentences in total in all of literature since the era of Christ that describes Jesus without using biblical references.

you are sooo wrong... outside the bible, there are texts .. tons of them.. go and read them.. there are gospels outside the bible that show who Jesus really is.. history confirmed he walked the earth.. the jews confirmed he performed miracles... the essenes confirmed he was a great teacher.. go and read the gospel of nicodemus, gospel of Timothy.. have you ever wondered why almost every religion tries to make reference to Jesus??

The only writers to mention Jesus outside the bible are Tacitus, Josephus and Suetonius and none of them were contemporaries of Jesus, in all these 3 writers don't have more than 4sentences talking about Jesus. Am wondering what you learnt about Jesus from those 4 sentences.
All the millions of literary works about Jesus all use the bible as their one and only reference.

you're wrong again.. not just the books of the bible.. maybe we should discuss the genealogy of the four gospels

So how do you come to the conclusion that the bible is imperfect but a particular story about a man in the bible must be perfect and worthy of emulation. Even the story of Jesus has so many contradictions in it, issues like resurrection, virgin birth and even crucifixion have so many contradictions in the gospel.

i didn't state that the bible is imperfect neither did i state that the gospel accounts are perfect.. i said i got info both within and outside the bible.. I've read books outside the bible that made me believe in Jesus more than i did... the virgin birth did happen.. the resurrection happened... oh... lord... where do i start??

Am sorry Mr man, no need to be half smart and half believing, choose one side.
Maybe you see Jesus every day and discuss with him over breakfast, if that is the case then we might need small proof.

you feel believing in Christ needs to be by faith alone.. my belief is both by faith and facts

AgentOfAllah:

And where did these different texts get their idea of Jesus from?

what do you think?? read the texts and tell me please.. lemme give u a few
*gosoel of Nicodemus *gospel of truth *gospel of Thomas *gospel of Philip *Sophia of Jesus

AgentOfAllah:

And where did these different texts get their idea of Jesus from?

what do you think?? read the texts and tell me please.. lemme give u a few
*gosoel of Nicodemus *gospel of truth *gospel of Thomas *gospel of Philip *Sophia of Jesus

GoodMuyis:
Nairaland has brought out the Radical Christianity in me

Suffer not the witch to live then. Oh, you might want to consider killing wayward kids

FreeSpirited:
There seem to be a force that drives the universe. Different religions ascribe certain name, story, myth and legend to this force just to claim political authority of this force.
This force seems to operate on some set of universal laws, most of which are mystery to humans.
There's probably a God, he's not the way the religious describe him to be, at least not entirely. Religion is just a pathway that seem to describe how to get to this God. In the end, we usually end up experiencing the God our mind is able to paint and fathom

It does not seem like a force, THERE ARE FORCES DRIVING THE MULTIVERSE. the verse we exist is not uni but multi. There are dimensions our senses (our antennas) cannot detect because of its limited range.

Our ears detect vibrations at certain range of frequencies and our eyes detect vibrations at another range of frequencies. Even our brains work at certain frequencies which are yet to be discovered.

Mankind is seeking to connect with this forces controlling the multiverse and work its way to the ultimate force where we can reconnect back to our source of power that transcend the physical realm (dimension).

Wilgrea7:


what do you think?? read the texts and tell me please.. lemme give u a few

*gosoel of Nicodemus
*gospel of truth
*gospel of Thomas
*gospel of Philip
*Sophia of Jesus

Very funny of you.

You are right that the above books didn't finally enter the Christian canon but the fact remains that at some time they were considered scriptures by some churches in the Roman world at that time.

But can you honestly compare a religious book to objective neutral literature
If you want to base your knowledge on apocryphal scripture then fine that's up to you.

Pidgin2:
Sadly hades will be full at this rate, just what satan wants

lmao
They have used this hell to whip y'all into place well well

Wilgrea7:


what do you think?? read the texts and tell me please.. lemme give u a few

*gosoel of Nicodemus
*gospel of truth
*gospel of Thomas
*gospel of Philip
*Sophia of Jesus

Wow! So apocrypha texts in conjunction with the canonical gospels are the compelling sources of your idea of Jesus? Never mind that they are just as ridiculous as the canonical books.
I guess it's the bed of nails effect! a single nail piercing through your foot is a potent object of destruction; but standing on a bed of nails; the pressure applied by any one of those nails is inversely proportional to the number of nails on the bed, ultimately making the collective impotent.

So it seems with your belief too! The ridiculous inconsistencies in the 4 gospels caused you to question your belief, then you decide to read more ridiculous books; effectively dampening the effect of the cognitive dissonance inflicted by each individual one...well played sire!

AgentOfAllah:


Wow! So apocrypha texts in conjunction with the canonical gospels are the compelling sources of your idea of Jesus? Never mind that they are just as ridiculous as the canonical books.
I guess it's the bed of nails effect! a single nail piercing through your foot is a potent object of destruction; but standing on a bed of nails; the pressure applied by any one of those nails is inversely proportional to the number of nails on the bed, ultimately making the collective impotent.

So it seems with your belief too! The ridiculous inconsistencies in the 4 gospels caused you to question your belief, then you decide to read more ridiculous books; effectively dampening the effect of the cognitive dissonance inflicted by each individual one...well played sire!

if i start now it will be as if I'm telling story..
history talks about some details in the canonical and apocryphal gospels.. reading both the canonical and apocryphal gospels... you can get some facts which are consistent.. like the divinity, and message of Jesus... you guys are ready to reject history when its against you... what exactly is your beef with the canonical and apocryphal gospels?? except you have proof that they were made up.... if not...... ..... ..... ...

LiberaDeus:


Very funny of you.

You are right that the above books didn't finally enter the Christian canon but the fact remains that at some time they were considered scriptures by some churches in the Roman world at that time.

But can you honestly compare a religious book to objective neutral literature
If you want to base your knowledge on apocryphal scripture then fine that's up to you.

yes... some books were not included... what's your point?

why do you guys hate the canonical gospels so much... if you have proof it is fake or made up pls bring it forth

Wilgrea7:




if i start now it will be as if I'm telling story..
history talks about some details in the canonical and apocryphal gospels.. reading both the canonical and apocryphal gospels... you can get some facts which are consistent.. like the divinity, and message of Jesus... you guys are ready to reject history when its against you... what exactly is your beef with the canonical and apocryphal gospels?? except you have proof that they were made up.... if not...... ..... ..... ...

Which historical book talks about some details in the gospels?

The only books that talk about some details are Christian literature with already biased authors.

There is no beef with anything. The only thing we want you to admit is that you depend on the bible for truth and not some imaginary character of Jesus. The bible contains the character you adore.

So don't claim you hate the seed and love the Orange because the orange comes from the seed.

Wilgrea7:




if i start now it will be as if I'm telling story..
history talks about some details in the canonical and apocryphal gospels.. reading both the canonical and apocryphal gospels... you can get some facts which are consistent.. like the divinity, and message of Jesus... you guys are ready to reject history when its against you... what exactly is your beef with the canonical and apocryphal gospels?? except you have proof that they were made up.... if not...... ..... ..... ...

Not so fast champ! The fact that the stories aren't self-consistent and downright contradictory is proof that they were made up! That's usually how lies are detected. So my friend, it's you who should convince us why, in spite of these obvious contradictions, you believe the stories. I mean, to start with, how do you even ascertain which one is the correct one...assuming any one of them is?

LiberaDeus:


Which historical book talks about some details in the gospels?

The only books that talk about some details are Christian literature with already biased authors.

There is no beef with anything. The only thing we want you to admit is that you depend on the bible for truth and not some imaginary character of Jesus. The bible contains the character you adore.

So don't claim you hate the seed and love the Orange because the orange comes from the seed.

really... i didn't know that they were written by biased authors... i just want proof why we can't trust the story of Jesus especially after seeing the similarities between the gospels plus the ones not in the bible..

AgentOfAllah:

Not so fast champ! The fact that the stories aren't self-consistent and downright contradictory is proof that they were made up! That's usually how lies are detected. So my friend, it's you who should convince us why, in spite of these obvious contradictions, you believe the stories. I mean, to start with, how do you even ascertain which one is the correct one...assuming any one of them is?

yessir!!

so because there are contradictions i should disbelieve the story? really... i understand that there are tiny differences... but what of the details that are consistent?.. people obviously telling the story couldn't seem to remember everything 100%... but they had the 90% accuracy... so before u convince me to throw away the story cuz of the 10%, disprove the 90%

Wilgrea7:

so because there are contradictions i should disbelieve the story?

Yes, this is precisely why you should discard the whole story! Remember that the story is supposed to be divinely inspired...so you tell me, what do contradictory statements say about an omniscient god? One that can't seem get its shit straight?

really... i understand that there are tiny differences... but what of the details that are consistent?.. people obviously telling the story couldn't seem to remember everything 100%... but they had the 90% accuracy... so before u convince me to throw away the story cuz of the 10%, disprove the 90%

First of all, I don't know where you're getting your statistics from. I'm not even sure we're talking of the same bible anymore. Try reading the stories of Jesus' resurrection from the canonical gospels in parallel, and you'll readily find that the only point of agreement is probably the claim that Jesus resurrected. Otherwise, no two gospels agree on the remaining details. If anything, it's the contradictions that are 90%, not the other way around.
Secondly, (and you need to appraise yourself a little more honestly) supposing men of god are trying to tell a story about god, and they forget some of the detail of the all important event, will an honest god be pleased with them for applying "artistic license" to the story? By your own admission, there are inconsistencies in the stories, even if it's just 10%, this makes the stories besmirched by the lies of some/all of the writers. I ask you, what kind of savior condones lying on its behalf?
So again, you see that it's not me that should prove to you why you should discard the "90%", it's you that should explain why the "10%" inconsistencies haven't caused you to question the veracity of the so-called 90%!

It's often been said that the internet is the place where religion goes to die. This is one more example of the power of the internet to educate and induce critical reflection.

ifenes:


Suffer not the witch to live then. Oh, you might want to consider killing wayward kids

Why the unsecured feeling or thought. OP is expressing his opinion am expressing mine.
But you are thinking something else. nobody force you to be what/who you are

But are you sure you a balance or Just trolling

butterflylion:

You were born in a Catholic.religious home, not a Christian home. Christianity is not a religion.

Christ never gave anyone a religion, he gave us a Kingdom. Go and get saved.

Lol Christianity is not a religion u mad bro I tell u