fstranger3:

Nice post Kilode?

Ha ha stalker! You were waiting for it shey?

All shall stand and give account before the almighty. If you do mislead people into worshipping stone figurines, streams and hills, you will give account before christ and be appropriately judged.

^^I thought Christ's Judgement will start from his church. No?

Let Jesus judge His worshippers, Leave Olódùmarè to judge his own believers.

^^It will start with his church but not end with his church.

for me i believe religion of all kinds serve as a metaphor to deal with  the many unknowns and unknowables about human life. it is very useful but always a creation of man and therefore should be indigenous and relevant to a people's culture. when it is imposed from outside with the added message that our own creations are evil and we willingly particpate in that fallacy we have agreed to be enslaved for ever. that is our tragedy here.
for africans  to be beholden to foreign gods that did not account for us for more than 95% of the time that we have been on this planet is really confusing. my understanding is that some people now worship a jewish deity jehovah, a rather blood thirsty and genocidal character that was rebranded in europe and shipped to africa quite recently.my understanding is they can't quite work out whether he is now 1 or 3.europeans have convinced these people that their fathers worshipped stone images and idols. well africans are not that foolish. people need to find out more but that is the essence of slavery rather than using the most precious gift that other animals lack ,the brain,many fall back on; the great book says this and that without questioning where that book came from or who wrote it. but it is for sure a slavery and a tyranny which many dare not try escape from. just imagine a nigerian christian or moslem decides they want to follow ifa. their main concern will not be whether it is the right path or not but rather how will those people whose approval they desire react?? food for thought is that what religion is about??
jehovah is  the very same character that said it is a sin to menstruate and women must pay 2 pigeons every time they committed this monstrosity as a sin and guilt offering. what did he do with all those pigeons? about 20each for the 300000 women that came out of egypt whom he all killed in the desert over a 40 year period. what a god,this jehovah.pigeons that were sold exclusively by aaron and his brothers. this character, we are told said;
i am not a man that i should change my mind
so i guess all those africans worshipping him owe a quite lot of pigeons. if his antecedents are anything to go by payback time will be quite unpleasant for them.
funnily these religions have not succeeded in killing the african spirit completely but have incorporated many practices that are traditionally african. however the damage done is immense because many carry this subliminal message that they as black people are inherently bad and their people have not contributed any thing to humanity.
ifa for me therefore is a route to freedom and harmony internal and external

now you know book

hun?

hun?

aribisala0:

for me i believe religion of all kinds serve as a metaphor to deal with  the many unknowns and unknowables about human life. it is very useful but always a creation of man and therefore should be indigenous and relevant to a people's culture. when it is imposed from outside with the added message that our own creations are evil and we willingly particpate in that fallacy we have agreed to be enslaved for ever. that is our tragedy here.
for africans  to be beholden to foreign gods that did not account for us for more than 95% of the time that we have been on this planet is really confusing. my understanding is that some people now worship a jewish deity jehovah, a rather blood thirsty and genocidal character that was rebranded in europe and shipped to africa quite recently.my understanding is they can't quite work out whether he is now 1 or 3.europeans have convinced these people that their fathers worshipped stone images and idols. well africans are not that foolish. people need to find out more but that is the essence of slavery rather than using the most precious gift that other animals lack ,the brain,many fall back on; the great book says this and that without questioning where that book came from or who wrote it. but it is for sure a slavery and a tyranny which many dare not try escape from. just imagine a nigerian christian or moslem decides they want to follow ifa. their main concern will not be whether it is the right path or not but rather how will those people whose approval they desire react?? food for thought is that what religion is about??
jehovah is  the very same character that said it is a sin to menstruate and women must pay 2 pigeons every time they committed this monstrosity as a sin and guilt offering. what did he do with all those pigeons? about 20each for the 300000 women that came out of egypt whom he all killed in the desert over a 40 year period. what a god,this jehovah.pigeons that were sold exclusively by aaron and his brothers. this character, we are told said;
i am not a man that i should change my mind
so i guess all those africans worshipping him owe a quite lot of pigeons. if his antecedents are anything to go by payback time will be quite unpleasant for them.
funnily these religions have not succeeded in killing the african spirit completely but have incorporated many practices that are traditionally african. however the damage done is immense because many carry this subliminal message that they as black people are inherently bad and their people have not contributed any thing to humanity.
ifa for me therefore is a route to freedom and harmony internal and external

Excellent post.

this is an interesting link
it discusses the concept of ORI INU it seems to me that this may be similar to the igbo concept of CHI http://www.njas.helsinki.fi/pdf-files/vol16num2/ademuleya.pdf

this is an interesting link
it discusses the concept of ORI INU it seems to me that this may be similar to the igbo concept of CHI
not sure
http://www.njas.helsinki.fi/pdf-files/vol16num2/ademuleya.pdf

I have thoroughly enjoyed this thread, please keep it up! I was raised xtian like most of us, but have been asking questions for the last 5 years and enlightening myself in knowledge and stepping away from the whiteman's religion. I will definetely purchase some of the books recommended here and try and get more knowledge about IFA. It is who I am as a YORUBA, the way of my ancestors.
We have worshipped the white 'Jesus' long enough, it's time to go back to our roots and learn the ways of our ancestors. Only then will we be able to rise up as Africans and come out of the delsuion we are living in.

'When your Lord, Saviour, Alpha & Omega is a man of another ethnicity, then automatically by default in your subconscious, that saviour's ethnicity is superior to yours'

The Chinsese gods/dieties Nuwa & Fuxi look Chinese and are always portrayed weraing their traditional attire.
The Indian gods/dieties (Budha/Krisna) - they look Indian
The mexican God Quetzalcoatl looks mexican

Only we black people follow around a white Jesus because we do not have a perception of the Almighty for ourselves - sorry I take that back - our ancestors had a perception but were deceived and lied to by white folks that the African way is evil and wrong and then we wonder why we are at the bottom of the world social order when we do not know ourselves.

I am one of the descendants of the african slaves that were taken from your continent. I have a vested interest in this conversation as one of the black americans that is pursuing the traditional beliefs of Yorubaland. I am also in a new romance with a Yoruba woman who is a Pentecostal Christian. I know alot and there is alot that I have to learn about the traditions but outside of my personal feelings regarding africans and the descendants that follow the christian faith. I think even for the sake of understanding our roots to understand Ifa is to understand who and what we are as a people. The black american Malcolm X made a speech to his organization the Organization of Afro-American Unity(OAAU). I will post the excerpts of the speech that speaks to the issues of our people all over the world.

""Of all our studies, history is best qualified to reward our research."

--Malcolm X

ANCIENT AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS

Now then, once you see that the conditions that we're in is directly related to our lack of knowledge concerning the history of the Black man, only then can you realize the importance of knowing something about the history of the Black man.

But if you want to take the time to do research for yourself, I think you'll find that on the African continent there was always, prior to the discovery of America, there was always a higher level of history, rather a higher level of culture and civilization, than that which existed in Europe at the same time. At least 5,000 years ago they had a Black civilization in the Middle East called the Sumerians. Now when they show you the pictures of the Sumerians they try and make you think that they were White people. But if you go and read some of the ancient manuscripts or even read between the lines of some of the current writers, you'll find that the Sumerian civilization was a very dark-skinned civilization, and it existed prior even to the existence of the Babylonian empire, right in the same area where you find Iraq and the Tigris-Euphrates rivers. It was a black-skinned people who lived there, who had a high state of culture way back then.

And at a time even beyond this there was a black-skinned people in India, who were Black, just as Black as you and I, called Dravidians. They inhabited the sub-continent of India even before the present people that you see living there today, and they had a high state of culture. The present people of India even looked upon them as gods; most of their statues, if you'll notice, have pronounced African features. You go right to India today--in their religion, which is called Buddhism, they give all their Buddhas the image of a Black man, with his lips and his nose, and even show his hair all curled up on his head; they didn't curl it up, he was born that way. And these people lived in that area before the present people of India lived there.

The Black man lived in the Middle East before the present people who are now living there. And he had a high culture and a high civilization, to say nothing about the oldest civilization of all that he had in Egypt along the banks of the Nile. And in Carthage in northwest Africa, another part of the continent, and at a later date in Mali and Ghana and Songhai and Moorish civilization--all of these civilizations existed on the African continent before America was discovered.

Now the Black civilization that shook the white man up the most was the Egyptian civilization, and it was a Black civilization. It was along the banks of the Nile which runs through the heart of Africa. But again this tricky white man, and he's tricky--and mind you again, when I say this, it's not a racist statement. Some of them might not be tricky, but all of them I've met are tricky. And his civilization shows his trickiness. The tricky White man was able to take the Egyptian civilization, write books about it, put pictures in those books, make movies for television and the theatre--so skillfully that he has even convinced other white people that the ancient Egyptians were White people themselves. They were African, they were as African as you and I. And he even gave the clue away when he made this movie, "King Solomon's Mines," and he showed the Watusis, you know, with their Black selves, and he outright admitted in there that they looked like the ancient pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Which means that the White man himself, he knows that the Black man had this high civilization in Egypt, whose remains today show the Black man in that area had mastered mathematics, had mastered architecture, the science of building things, had even mastered astronomy. "


Now why is this necessary well because all the world over africans and the descendants have grown up for centuries since the missionaries coming to africa with the common theme that white is far superior to black. Without white africans were primitive, backwards and stupid. In the United States we have grown up in our communities with this idea that anything from africa or of africa is something to be ashamed of. It wasn't unusual for someone to hurl the insult at another child you african booty scratcher or some other african connected insult that was considered the worse thing possible. I remember growing up me and my brother used to sneak and watch Tarzan movies which were forbidden to be watched in our household where you have actors who portrayed africans and the portrayal was meant to imply stupidity and incompetence. A lack of control over their own lands and animals. Along comes the white Tarzan who comes to save the africans from their own land or animals. In the American school system when it came to history. The land of Africa really was not touched compared to european history even in areas where you have all black communities. What you did learn of history concerning blacks was we were slaves who got set free and we were oppressed during Jim Crow who got rights from Civil Rights. As someone that paid no attention to the things my parents said growing up and embraced as much of white american culture possible purposely running from anything that I felt was black culture to now being a person who has really dug into my past and interested in learning much more about Ifa but there is only so much you can learn when you are a non-initate and initiation opens you up to learning much more. I find Ifa to be a very valuable tool in the education process of Africans and the descendants of Africans who have never stepped foot on the land. Anything that can instil a sense of cultural pride in one self is vital considering no matter where you go in the world. We as a people suffer greatly from hating our own look so many of us will endanger our own lives and health by investing in "bleaching creme" to lighten our skin complexion to appear less african and more european as possible. In regard to the argument of if Ifa is so great how come it didn't save us from the europeans. No society is perfect you will always have mankind with issues and people in a position of power who want even greater power. The europeans didn't initially come in with guns a blazing taking things and land by force. They came in bearing gifts and used trickery. If anyone can watch the movie Shaka Zulu pay close attention to the battle scene where the europeans help shaka gain a victory with the use of cannons. Especially pay attention to the conversation. This is a metaphor how africans were tricked out of there beliefs into the beliefs of the missionary. Whether its African(Black)Americans or Africans anywhere else. We have been influenced by the europeans for generations so no matter how small we all suffer under some form of conditioning that has allowed the europeans to instil in us a sense of dislike or hatred of our traditions and culture.

Watching the movie "Avatar" gives a pretty good detailing of the european mindset regarding indigenous populations that were not of their own.

In older anthropology texts and discussions, a primitive culture is one that lacks major signs of economic development or modernity.

For instance, it might lack a written language or advanced technology and have a limited and isolated population. The term was used by Western writers to describe foreign cultures contacted by European colonists and explorers.

It is also the title of a major work by Edward Burnett Tylor, in which he defines religion as "animism" which, in turn, he defines by reference to contemporary indigenous and other religious data as "the belief in spirits". Another defining characteristic of primitive cultures is a greater amount of leisure time than in more complex societies.

Make your governors and all public officials swear by Ogun, Sonponna and Sango during their swearing in ceremony. Give them a good Sigidi to hold whole swearing and place it on each of their tables as a reminder, they must pour libation to it every morning.

They must touch their pen to the Sigidi and strike it on their foreheads before signing government checks, contracts or laws.

Do those things and more, and you will reduce corruption and looting, thereby improving your economy. Cool

Trust me, they respect and fear their ancestor's beliefs more than Oyinbo religion, most of them will act right!

true talk. guess that will encourage morality in Nigeria.

Please Mr. I want you to tell me what you know by the name of one of the Yoruba (deity or orisa) like statue; alade-igbo by name. one like masquerade & d other like hunter as I heard from someone. Just wanna know more about it niooo

In antiquity, there’s evidence to suggest that during a certain point in time, all humans on our planet are African; black, brown and bronze.

Two distinct phenomenon occur simultaneously:

(1)Geological phenomena i.e. Ice Age

(2)Biological phenomena i.e African women are granted a unique special ability that allows giving birth to non-African looking offspring.

These two distinct phenomenon are said to have combined to create the environment for the new ethnic groups that would later join the African on planet Earth.

Africans have been in existence since the dawn of time, whilst records put the current stock of Europeans and Asians in existence as of Before the Common Era.(B.C.E)