There seems to be a church in almost ever second houses on streets in nigeria this days, there are so much churches now, that people are even confused of which one to attend.
There seems to be more churches that even the church goers, we all go by the name christianity, yet we have so much differences, how do we know which one God will condemn and which he won't.
Will condemn send a child of his to hell fire all cos he accept blood tranfussion?
Will God condemn a saint into hell fire all cos he attended a Birthday party?
why all these confussion, and yet we all pray to God and scream and pray,

let's ask them which of the churches is recommended by Jesus. Why do we have so much with each one preaching different gosples?Some of them are even making advertisement of Jesus christ,they turn Jesus to indommie noddles.Different pastors advertising is own church and believe,let's ask why

To answer your question about the number of churches in naija;
It is all about the money,cash,ego,owo.No business like church business.
They should all be made to pay business taxes,the socalled pastors,i mean.

So that means that all the churches that ought to be tehre for teh people and help people and show people the way has failed the people then,

It does not matter which badge people wear in the name of religion, church, sects etc. Their activities clearly mark them for what they are actually. The laws of God are independent of any religion, it is universal and it is perfect. In heaven, their is no religion but only those who have lived and obeyed the will of God. Indeed any person who observe himself, his neighbour and world events will be left in no doubt that church and true service to God are different things. Those who truely serve God do not go about harming their neighbours or themselves. Any person who cannot love his neighbour as himself is not serving God no matter what religion or sect he belongs to.

That means most of teh chruches is just for show then, cos so many donte ven love their own sibblings, talk less of their neighbours

@topic,

We are told in the scriptures that "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea." If in practical terms God determines that it will involve a church in every home, then so be it. Who are you to question His moves?

On the other hand, if you are concerned about the decay of our society despite these many churches, please imagine the society with none at all. You don't say you will no longer put salt in your soup becuase the last soup you eat didn't taste good despite the fact that salt was added. The salt (Christains) are not the problem.

There will always be differences in our beliefs as Christains, however, one thing remains the same and unchaged. We are all in agreement that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that no one can come unto the Father (God) without Him. We are all in agreement that God was indeed in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. Anyone who deviates from this is certainly not a Christian.

Are there deceivers out there? Certainly. It is nothing new. Apostle John witnessed that even in his days, antichrists were already in manifestation. There is nothing happening now that wasn't happening then. Jesus said God's decision is to wait till judgment day to separate the wheat from the chaff. That He said is necessary in order not to uproot the wheat along with the thorns.

I'm curious about one thing, When the bible said "Jesus the way, the truth and the life", was it referring to the person of Jesus, or to the way of life? If it's the way of life, I fear a huge number of christians are in for a great shock.

@Banderas,

I'm curious about one thing, When the bible said "Jesus the way, the truth and the life", was it referring to the person of Jesus, or to the way of life? If it's the way of life, I fear a huge number of christians are in for a great shock.

It encompasses His ways and His life. There is the Life of Jesus and the principles of Jesus. You need both. While His life gets you eternal life in heaven, His ways makes you pleasing before God and grants you success not only in this life, but a lot of reward in the hereafter!

TayoD:

@Banderas,
It encompasses His ways and His life. There is the Life of Jesus and the principles of Jesus. You need both. While His life gets you eternal life in heaven, His ways makes you pleasing before God and grants you success not only in this life, but a lot of reward in the hereafter!

You do realise that his ways, his life, and his principles are the same thing. I was asking about his person.

Just a thought,

The Bible said that God search for who can save the world from "her' misery and there was none, God looked down from heaven and no one was doing good on da face of the planet, till Jesus voluntered to come and die for the sin of the world, so the name of same Jesus has been lifted above every other name, so his way, his name and all about his will only save, cos he is the one sitting beside God tell God that he died for me and you, and that God has to honour His words regarding us, so the answer is that " no one can enter into the kingdom of God, except thru Jesus"

The greatest church and religion is loving your neighbours and doing what is right to them as you will like them to do it on to you. the ten comandmments are enough for the world to be a lovely and peaceful place, people are not taught about loving and doing justice to their neighbours any more in the churches, they are only decieved by the pastors to love jesus and god and thats all(the love of god and jesus is all you need to do they always tell the members of their congregation). how can u love god that u can't see and fail to love your fellow neighbour? until we start to love our selves and our neighbours, we can all turn all our houses to churches and mosques yet nothing  positive will ever happen to us as a people and as a nation.

@Banderas,

You do realise that his ways, his life, and his principles are the same thing. I was asking about his person.

You are totally wrong. Jesus's ways, principles and His Life are completely different things. I'd be more than happy to discuss this with you if you so care.

Just a thought,

Let me give you some thought too. Let's make "LOVE" an example.

According to Jesus's principles, you must prefer your neighbour to yourself.

According to His ways, sacrifice without love is useless.

And His life tells you one thing: Jesus Himself is love.

We'll expand these as we go along!

Jesus, the son of God is not the founder of any religion, neither was he a member of any church. God created the world without a church and God can equally save the world without a church. Indeed if religion is important in going to heaven, then heaven will loose its heavenliness. Reading through all the treads on the religious forum will show the hidden and atimes open animosity between those of different religious persuations. Even those that belong to the same religion dispute among themselves on the correct interpretation of their sacred texts.  A sin remains a sin irrespective of the religious inclination of  the sinner. A murder is a murder whether it is commited by a christian, budhists, moslem etc is irrelevant. Similarly the acts of love, humility, compassion, purity etc remain the same irrespective of the religious cloak of the person involved. Our activities including our motives, thoughts, actions, words, imagination etc show clearly whether or not we serve God. It is as simple as that.

The churches, temples, synagogues, and mosques are all competing against one another. There are churches who are of the same denomination, in the same town, the same diocese, which mean they have the same beliefs and worship the same God. Yet, they never come together. What is so ironic is that these churchgoers all feel that church is the place for unification and love.

In a mostly-free market, competition is always good for the consumer. Thanks to competition in the Nigerian religious sector, most church-goers get a lot of value for their money in the form of free high-quality entertainment. Great!

Mazaje, u have a great and wonderful point, however, i think it is more than the work of the pastor to talk about love, i will blv that love is a religion on its own, and the preaching starts with the home where we are all raised, see how a father shows more love and importance to a male child, unknowingly such are love that a lady dont feel, and we new generation are showing same signs, loving one neighbour is a practice that is so important, and i so much agree with you that we need to go back to the basis and hopefully the land of nija will be healed.

If we have love in nigeria, we will be able to tolerate one another and live together and harmony, if a leader loves his nation, there is no way the leader will steal the money that belongs to everyone and leave the nation in a disarray, if a man love his wife, there is no way he would cheat on her and abandon her, if a woman love her husband, she will be submissive too, waoh, i guess we have all missed teh road of love

There is nothing like "too many churches", as a matter of fact, we need more churhces, God will pour out his spirit in the last dayz,

ABOUT the confusion part:

This is the end time, I call the end time "the faith testing time", u wouldnt have problem with confusion( fake pastors, fake preaching etc) if u are strong and firm in the lord, ur eyes go dey open. (be watchful and vigilant, na bible talk am)

How come?

The end time is near , thats how come

be blessed

MP007, granted, we are in the last time, but how do u explain all these "mush room" chuches, most of the are just like 10 or 15 people, why cant they all put aside their pride and the profit, come together and be more effective?

MP007, granted, we are in the last time, but how do u explain all these "mush room" chuches, most of the are just like 10 or 15 people, why can't they all put aside their pride and the profit, come together and be more effective?

Nicely said

You dont have to be one milion to have the presence pf God, were every two or more people are gathered , God is there, i kinda like churhes with few people,

MP007, i would rather have tehf ew people churches called fellowships, the fewer the people in da church, the less effective they will be

Because everybody wants to be their own 'god' and writes their own version of 'bible'

Hi, ,

Sorry I didn't understood your post clearly. Can you post it once again.



name badge ribbons

Seun:

In a mostly-free market, competition is always good for the consumer. Thanks to competition in the Nigerian religious sector, most church-goers get a lot of value for their money in the form of free high-quality entertainment. Great!

oga seun, na wa for you oh!!!!
putting things in a capitalist context- i guess it goes with the lust for filthy lucre that seems to drive most of these churches.
Thanks, nwankwo and mazaje for your beautiful insights distinguishing between religion and godliness/spirituality. This is also reflected in Christ's conversation with the Samarritan woman in John 4.

Banderas:

I'm curious about one thing, When the bible said "Jesus the way, the truth and the life", was it referring to the person of Jesus, or to the way of life? If it's the way of life, I fear a huge number of christians are in for a great shock.

indeed, quite a number of us are going by what Christ said [url=http://www.christnotes.org/bible.php?q=matthew+7%3A+15-23&ver=kjv]Here[/url]

shalom

1. That people may know that you are my disciples if you have LOVE among yourselves
Love is lacking in Churches and elude whatever they preach. My uncle no longer go to Church today because the pastor snatched his wife after 6 children. Believe this!

2. What do Churches preach?
They preach wealth, success and prosperity. Jesus never preached prosperity. The focal point of Jesus' preaching was the kingdom of God which will solve mankinds' problems

3. Do the Churches make known God's name?
How would they if they misplace jesus' place in God's arrangement of things. Jesus is never the almighty God as Churches preach. JEHOVAH is the name of the almighty God and he is greater than Jesus, his son

4. Does Chruch goers truly have faith in Christ?
Well, they may say yes. But how true is the yes. Faith is not because you wish to have something better in return. Christiandom Churches tell people to believe in Christ becasue he would do everything for them including blessing them. This then is a misplaced love and faith

5. Is the Church' worship a way of life or is it ritualistic, a formality or even a norm?
Think about the mannerism in the worship of Catholics. Why the enchanting? when did Jesus teach that? Does the worship depict the inner heart? Why the image in worship? Why the Bishops' gown and robe, why everything, yes why? Worship whould be aroused out of love and not out of a written tenet outside the Bible codes.

6. Are Churches Separated from Politics?
Even a child can answer this. Remeber the Okoties, etc. But Jesus said he was no part of the world and he said the followers too would not be. So so,

So inasmuch as Chruches fail to uphold the Bible truth and directives, there must be confusions.
To learn the truth and know where to fine true peace and security even at this troubled and confused world and, learn from the witnesses at www.watchtower. org