i just dicovered that i have started developing a very big hatred for religion the way it is presented in this world.

i wish i have the words to voice out the feelings that have been bottled up in me. religion is a mess. this is something that is supposed to bring love and unity into the world but rather it is bringing death and destruction.

going through the posts that is presented in NL i have come to realise that we are in a very big mess in this world and death is the only escape.

i will never forget the experience i had in my first year in the university. i met a guy who i became friends with. he was a catholic. out of  love for our friendship i even followed him to some catholic mass. our friendship ended the day he discovered that i was not a christian. he thoroughly embarrassed me in public because of our different beliefs.

another case was a class mate that i gave all the help i could in our class for years. but the day his fellow christian questioned his friendship with me was the day our friendship ended as he suddenly realized he has been receiving help from a sinner bound for hell.

my religion taught me to love and accept others the way they are without judging them and that every soul will go back to God at its own time. but i am faced with others who believe that once i do not believe the way they do then i am condemned and they will not have anything to do with me.

how do we survive in a world like this. this question is up to everyone.

While i do understand your feeling and your outbursts, hatred to the state of religion is useless. That is nothing but waste of much needed psychic energy to solve the very same problem that you are so fed up with, benodic.

The way i see it is that, religion did have a valid place in human evolutionary journey. There is no doubt about that, or it wouldn't have existed in the form it does now. It had a purpose for humanity of teaching us something about negativity. But humanity is fast outgrowing religion now and we will soon shed off it's influence on our earthly experiences and move on to the next level. This is imminent, so do have patience with you fellow sleeping nigerians.

Your experiences with those christians were part and parcel of your own evolutionary journey to help you wake up to vibrate higher. Human beings like you are ready to move up to the next level. Many more christians and moslems will follow, i assure you.

I am personally seeing and interracting more and more with christians who are already vibrating higher than their own religious doctrines and my not being a christian does not bother them in the least. They tell me also that they are totally fed up and confused with the state of their religion and hope that something gives.

Those two guys you met were not christians.Just because some pple gather together and follow some laid out practices doesn't mean they are christians.Go is love,He gave his own Son to prove His love for us.He also told everyone who would follow Him to do same:He was our Shepherd when H e came and He left with an instruction for us to continue where He left off.
The bible says in Isaiah 64:6 that our righteousness is as filthy rags before Him.He never asks you to be good first,He wants you to come as you are.There is a hymn that says "Just as I am,without one plea"
Without one plea i.e without being worthy to be called righteous.
I hear you,I hate religion but I love Jesus.If heaven was never promised,I'd still love Him 'cos He loves me "Just as I am".
I hope you find His love.God bless you.

@adetoru

i also hope that your love for jesus will enable you to love others who do not love love jesus like you do.

The friends of mine that decided to love Jesus too was as a result of my kind of lifestyle.I have friends who are not christians.Jesus dined with 419 and thieves and prostitutes and didn't discrimininate against them.I don't know if you know the story of the adultress,who was going to be stoned?She was later one of the Marys who went to Jesus' graveside the day He resurrected.
God gave us all freewill,I can only tell someone about Jesus,I don't compel or scare(the old hell and damnation way) anyone to Christ,it's easy for anyone to recognise love.
Jesus didn't come for the righteous(Luke 5:32),He loves all.
I don't push pple away because they ain't Christians.

@ adetoru
then that makes you one of the few christians i have not met yet.

Religion is for drop outs. People hold on to religion, like a crutch because they can't make it any other way. With religion you stop being responsible for your own actions and blame someone else like God when it's something you like and the Devil when it's something you don't like.

GBAM!

Horus:

Religion is for drop outs. People hold on to religion, like a crutch because they can't make it any other way. With religion you stop being responsible for your own actions and blame someone else like God when it's something you like and the Devil when it's something you don't like.

Horus:

Religion is for drop outs. People hold on to religion, like a crutch because they can't make it any other way. With religion you stop being responsible for your own actions and blame someone else like God when it's something you like and the Devil when it's something you don't like.

  While the above rings somewhat true for a portion of religionists, but as a whole, Horus, this is a reckless statement to make. All through history, people have done both terrible and incredibly wonderful things - in the name of their religion. So to use a broadstroke and declare all religious people as irresponsible loons divorced from reality, is indicative of shallow, biased reasoning. The same criminal reasoning you accuse the religionists of.

benodic:

i just dicovered that i have started developing a very big hatred for religion the way it is presented in this world.

i wish i have the words to voice out the feelings that have been bottled up in me. religion is a mess. this is something that is supposed to bring love and unity into the world but rather it is bringing death and destruction.

going through the posts that is presented in NL i have come to realise that we are in a very big mess in this world and death is the only escape.

i will never forget the experience i had in my first year in the university. i met a guy who i became friends with. he was a catholic. out of  love for our friendship i even followed him to some catholic mass. our friendship ended the day he discovered that i was not a christian. he thoroughly embarrassed me in public because of our different beliefs.

another case was a class mate that i gave all the help i could in our class for years. but the day his fellow christian questioned his friendship with me was the day our friendship ended as he suddenly realized he has been receiving help from a sinner bound for hell.

my religion taught me to love and accept others the way they are without judging them and that every soul will go back to God at its own time. but i am faced with others who believe that once i do not believe the way they do then i am condemned and they will not have anything to do with me.

how do we survive in a world like this. this question is up to everyone.

Benodic, there's no need to be disheartened my brother. Man has always exhibited tendencies towards the above you describe. As I mentioned above, while they're ppl using their religion as a weapon unto wrong, there're those using it as a weapon unto good. Focus on the good, and those pursuing it and let it inspire your heart unto doing the same for your fellow man.

People who will kill, steal, hate, discriminate etc will do so one way or another, with or without religion. Religion just happens to be their "justification" or outlet for that which already exists in them. If religion didn't exist, they would use something else. Religion is not to blame, it is we who choose what to do with the religion we're armed with.

Godbless.

@jesoul.
thanks for your encouragement. i really need a lot of it.

what amazes me most of the time is how people in the name of religion become totally insensitive and very selfish not bothering to find out how their actions or inactions affect the next person.

in the northern part of nigeria most of the major roads in major towns are totally closed to traffic on fridays during their friday jumaa prayers. they do not care that there are non moslems living amongst them who are seriously affected by the closure of those major roads and i have never seen them bothered about it.

this to me is one of the reasons that i hate religion. if a religion can make me to be so callous as not to bother about how i am making life hard for the next person then i think i am better off without one.

benodic:

@jesoul.
thanks for your encouragement. i really need a lot of it.

what amazes me most of the time is how people in the name of religion become totally insensitive and very selfish not bothering to find out how their actions or inactions affect the next person.

in the northern part of nigeria most of the major roads in major towns are totally closed to traffic on fridays during their friday jumaa prayers. they do not care that there are non moslems living amongst them who are seriously affected by the closure of those major roads and i have never seen them bothered about it.

this to me is one of the reasons that i hate religion. if a religion can make me to be so callous as not to bother about how i am making life hard for the next person then i think i am better off without one.

Benodic, guess what the effect that the two organized middle eastern henotheistic religions are meant to have on their adherents? These folks are only displaying the nature that they have inherited from their religions. They can't act otherwise, save for very few who have somehow risen spiritually above and out of the doctrinal cages of their respective religions.

We humans are still on level 1 on the spiritual development scale, a level on which we humans are still all wrapped up in the firm grip of the ego. These henotheistic religions (as well as science, btw) are meant to keep us on that lowly spiritual level for as long as it is possible. But the good news is that mankind is slowly breaking free and moving up the scale, that is inevitable. And as mankind moves up the scale to the next level, these religions will begein to loose their relevance till they finally get shedded forever, because mankind simply won't need them anymore.

BTW, the word is not selfish, but egocentric. To be selfish is to know one's true self, and when one knows who one truly is, great compassion, great altruism arises not only for the next fellow man, but also for all mankind. And as a result, egocentrism disappears.

@Jenwitemi
You sound very much like an old nairaland friend, could you be the same person under a new I.D

KunleOshob:

@Jenwitemi
You sound very much like an old nairaland friend, could you be the same person under a new I.D

And who is that?

@jenwitemi
If you are the person I am thinking of then you should "know" by now. Anyway I just perceive a striking similarity between your world views.

KunleOshob:

@jenwitemi
If you are the person I am thinking of then you should "know" by now. Anyway I just perceive a striking similarity between your world views.

Is that so? Well, there are quite a few people here that i share the same worldviews with.

@jenwitemi

thanks for your views.

judging from the number of people on NL who share the same views with you, it makes me wonder how long it will take before people start realizing that love is what really matters and not religion

every one kills  religion or atheist  but the problem is  your belief to God   christian bible says:  not every one saying  lord lord  is  his Son but whoever walking according to  his rules   not religion is killing but people that are in religion

The question of religion is as old as p.rostitution and politics. It has little practical use and immense political and economic value to the big players

I have to tell all you guys that posted here. These posts are quite interesting.

@ Jinwitemi: Religion has always been in existence before Christians, Moslems etc, and I do not agree with you that humans will outgrow it. If not anything else, it will evolve to something else, of course humans will catalyze that. it has always been human nature to depend/believe in something, even the "scientists" who don't believe in God believe in science which is their religion. I can assure, it won't fade away.

@ benodic: To blame religion because there are some people you met and aren't so "accommodating" because of your religion is a bit shallow. Someone once asked me, if half Nigerians were truly religious, wouldn't we be the most developed country in Africa, probably the world?
I have met wonderful Christians and wonderful non-Christians, and I have met those that are not so wonderful too.

I quite agree with Jesoul, "it is we who choose what to do with the religion we're armed with.

e-resource:

@ Jinwitemi: Religion has always been in existence before Christians, Moslems etc, and I do not agree with you that humans will outgrow it. If not anything else, it will evolve to something else, of course humans will catalyze that. it has always been human nature to depend/believe in something, even the "scientists" who don't believe in God believe in science which is their religion. I can assure, it won't fade away.

When i said, "outgrowing religion", i meant religions that divide mankind into "US" and "THEM". Those religions that divide mankind into, "BELIEVERS" and "UNBELIEVERS". The "my-God-is-better-than-your-God religions. I meant the henotheistic, shallow and conflict promoting religions like christianity, islam, and judaism that turn people away from true spirituality and the one true God who unites us all as one. These are the religions that we will have to outgrow before humanity starts to know and live in peace again.

I am also quite aware that there are other religions that are very deeply spiritual, and teach as the central doctrine, that we are all one deep down, and do not promote divisions like heno religions do.

Of course, there will always be other religions, but once we've outgrown and ditched the barbaric and outdated henos, humanity will create religions that are in tune to their higher spirituality, which means oneness and peace promoting religions. That is very clearly and understandably, the evolution. But the henos have to go first, they have to be shedded and trashed before we can move on to the next level. Humanity does not want conflicts anymore. Enough is enough.

@jenwitemi

thanks a lot for your wonderful post.

it was very enlightening indeed.

my drive for truth actually drove me away from the henotheistic religions that you described because i was really tired from being told that i am different from my fellow souls just because we have different beliefs about God.

i was tired of arguments and counter arguments and endless quarrels over God. i asked God please show me how i can love thee and also how i can love my fellow souls. the answer to my plea is what brought me to where i am now.

e-resource:

I have to tell all you guys that posted here. These posts are quite interesting.

@ Jinwitemi: Religion has always been in existence before Christians, Moslems etc, and I do not agree with you that humans will outgrow it. If not anything else, it will evolve to something else, of course humans will catalyze that. it has always been human nature to depend/believe in something, even the "scientists" who don't believe in God believe in science which is their religion. I can assure, it won't fade away.

@ benodic: To blame religion because there are some people you met and aren't so "accommodating" because of your religion is a bit shallow. Someone once asked me, if half Nigerians were truly religious, wouldn't we be the most developed country in Africa, probably the world?
I have met wonderful Christians and wonderful non-Christians, and I have met those that are not so wonderful too.

I quite agree with Jesoul, "it is we who choose what to do with the religion we're armed with.

I am 100% sure that with time humans will outgrow religion as presently practiced. Religion thrives in autocratic, poor, ignorant and harsh environments. But as societies becomes truly democratic, enlightened, just and prosperous, Gods and its special representatives(priests) would lose relevance, as is seen in most prosperous societies in the world today (who were even more religious than we are).

wirinet:

I am 100% sure that with time humans will outgrow religion as presently practiced. Religion thrives in autocratic, poor, ignorant and harsh environments. But as societies becomes truly democratic, enlightened, just and prosperous, Gods and its special representatives(priests) would lose relevance, as is seen in most prosperous societies in the world today (who were even more religious than we are).

Some people evolve quicker than most. Religion had its uses in old times when humans were still trying to understand their environment and why things happened the way they did, for lack of a better explanation; they believed in all-powerful cosmic beings who would solve all heir problems and give broad answers to the unknown. The world used to be Flat and it was considered blasphemy to say otherwise, and the earth was the center of the universe as Catholic institutions had thousands put to death for heresy. but now we know better and for lack of better things to do, they turned pedophiles (had to add that for special effect )

lagerwhenindoubt:

Some people evolve quicker than most. Religion had its uses in old times when humans were still trying to understand their environment and why things happened the way they did, for lack of a better explanation; they believed in all-powerful cosmic beings who would solve all heir problems and give broad answers to the unknown. The world used to be Flat and it was considered blasphemy to say otherwise, and the earth was the center of the universe as Catholic institutions had thousands put to death for heresy. but now we know better and for lack of better things to do, they turned craddle-robbers (had to add that for special effect )

I agree that religion is very important in the early stages of a society's evolution, it helps unite people under a common purpose especially in a hostile environment with hostile enemies and rulers. Our society is in its very early stage of this evolution. Most old societies have jettisoned religion all together, the only ones holding on to it are those still in conflict and autocracy. If there is peace in the middle east for a sustained period and the society becomes democratic, Islam will start fading in that region of the world.

@wirinet

i will say that i strongly agree with you.

gradually people will start waking up to the fact that the way they are approaching religion is causing a lot of havoc and will start approaching it in a more harmonious way.

and of course taking into consideration what is happening in Europe is a clear indication of the fate that awaits the major religions in Africa as things get better people will start reducing their commitments to religion.

benodic:

@wirinet

i will say that i strongly agree with you.

gradually people will start waking up to the fact that the way they are approaching religion is causing a lot of havoc and will start approaching it in a more harmonious way.

and of course taking into consideration what is happening in Europe is a clear indication of the fate that awaits the major religions in Africa as things get better people will start reducing their commitments to religion.

We can only hope. The nigerian society is a very worrying one with this religious fanaticism. Another Jos madness is always just around the corner. It is a matter of time before such madness will spread across the country. . .

the religion that worries me more is islam.

this religion is filled with illiterates that do not read their holy books and are quick to violence once they feel their religion is abused.

when i was in zamfara i asked for the koran and some books on islam. after reading them i asked some of the moslems in my work place questions about some things i read in the koran.

to my surprise i discovered that they do not read their koran at all. this is the reason northern nigeria will remain a volcano spot for a long time to come. ready to erupt at any small provocation. may God save us all.

Jenwitemi: We can only hope. The nigerian society is a very worrying one with this religious fanaticism. Another Jos madness is always just around the corner. It is a matter of time before such madness will spread across the country. . .

Damn.. how true your statement is now..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY?version=3&hl=en