neoapocalypse:
Being an atheist is probably a very daunting task in Nigeria especially when your whole family are religious fanatics , I have been ostracized and degraded. If I were you I'll keep my beliefs to myself and live life one day at a time.

I can only imagine what you've had to go through. But don't you think speaking out about your beliefs creates a very necessary awareness? When I was much younger, I hardly ever questioned my religious beliefs, just because I didn't know that I could!

rinrin23:


The delusion is so deeply rooted from years and years of twisted scriptures, false testimonies, false prophets and false religion. The average person would take a cracked laptop as a show of God's power over a death of a loved one from a disease that same God refused to cure or the Chibok girls that haven't returned. Although my knowledge on African Traditional religion is little, I would rather see Nigerians fighting/defending them over foreign gods.

Please do not make the mistake of assuming the word God to be exclusive to Abrahamic religions alone. The bolded God should have been specific as either Jehovah or Allah. Feel free to ask any question about the ancestral believe systems. Judaism wherein Christianity and Islam is derived is the ancestral believe system of the semites 'Jews and Arabs' and not of us Africans.

ghostofsparta:

Please do not do the mistake of assuming the word God to be exclusive to Abrahamic religions alone. The bolded God should have been a Jehovah or Allah. Feel free to ask any question about the ancestral believe systems. Judaism wherein Christianity and Islam is derived is the ancestral believe system of the semites 'Jews and Arabs' and not of us Africans.

Noted. But I was referring to the God your friend mentioned (in the story about the laptop).

rinrin23:


Noted. But I was referring to the God your friend mentioned (in the story about the laptop).

Hence I was specific by mentioning the God of the Jewish ethnic group called Jehovah. But I get your point anyways.

Have you read the book God Is Black by Naiwoh Osahon ?

ghostofsparta:

Hence I was specific by mentioning the God of the Jewish ethnic group called Jehovah. But I get your point anyways.

Have you read the book God Is Black by Naiwoh Osahon ?

I get yours too.

No I have heard about it but haven't been able to get my hands on it. Though I read an article of his a while ago about Adam and Eve and the "original sin"

rinrin23:


I get yours too.

No I have heard about it but haven't been able to get my hands on it. Though I read an article of his a while ago about Adam and Eve and the "original sin"

The book is very scarce to get, it's a book that should be in every secondary school and public library, that is if even the few unattended ones out there are patronized by our love-to-party generations. I could start a thread where I will type all the contents there from time to time, so we can analyze and muse over it together with others on the journey of self-discovery. What do you think?

Back to the topic of this thread;

I read a lot of Jehovah's Witness' zines especially AWAKE, and I can't but laugh at the coy their writers/editors uses to evade the same pertinent questions they're fond of entitling their issues with. I just currently read a July 1, 2014 publication of the The WatchTower: 'WHY DO BAD THINGS TO GOOD PEOPLE' and here is what the article states in page 4:

"The Scriptures say: "God Jehovah is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases." (Psalm 115:3) Jehovah does what he deems necessary to do-not everything he is capable of doing. That applies also to what he decides to foresee. For example, after wickedness became prevalent in the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, God Jehovah told the patriarch Abraham: " I will go down to see whether they are acting according to the outcry that has reached me. And if not, I can get to know it" (Genesis 18:20, 21) For a time, Jehovah chose not to know the extent of the wickedness in those cities. Similarly, then, Jehovah can choose not to foreknow everything. (Genesis 22:12) In no way is this an indication of imperfection or weakness on his part. Since "perfect his activity," God Jehovah balances his ability to foreknow the future with his purpose; he never forces humans to follow a certain course.* (Deuteronomy 32:4) What, then, may we conclude? Simply this: God Jehovah's exercise of foreknowledge is selective and discretionary.

Apart from the obvious bamboozles in the writer's defense on Jehovah's omnipotent quality, I couldn't help but to wonder how so those Biblical authors of the late medieval period knew so well about the working nature of Jehovah/Allah? It is said these so called holy books were written under inspiration of the Holy Spirit but anyone intelligent enough can write a much better fictitious anecdotes, compile it to a well packaged book designated with a term such as 'Bible' or 'Goapa' or 'Japacapa' just something to tell people it is divinely inspired and that's it, which wouldn't have been no problem since comic books are the only evidence of the existence of a Spiderman or Incredible Hulk, but when it is now been shoved down everyone's throat as a truth we all must adhere our existence to, in order to be saved, or skip hell or what not, that is when there will always be criticism which they already have several terms to label the critics as, anti-christ, agents of devil, etc...that article went further to argue in page 6 that...The primary cause of wickedness, though, is not man. Satan the Devil. So therefore we should forgive and forget the evil and atrocities European men met on the original native red indian owners of America and the Arabs enslavery and destruction of black African and instead be more concerned about Satan the Devil, the imaginary boogeyman responsible for the actions of the Euro-Arab crimes on Africa and the then New World...

One of the significant difference between the Abrahamic faiths and our ancestral believe system is that the supernaturality claimed within ours can be proven, and demonstrated today whereas that of theirs can not. Jesus walked on water, yeah so what? Can you the Pope do exactly just that moreover since you're closer to Jesus' father 'Jehovah(Yahweh) before I can subscribe to your idolatry religion? No he can't whereas walking on water among other supernatural feats can be succesfully executed through the application of certain esoteric knowledge contained in the science and tech aspect of the Yoruba believe system. The science and tech aspect is what I term Yoruba Advanced Sciences erroneously known as juju etc. 'IFA' the core of our believe system is not a religion as some thinks and others go into for, it is more than that and an embodiment of all subjects under the sun, from divination, philosophies, guidance, to the origin and destiny of mankind. Oniseguns are the ones specializing in it aspect of science and tech which every uninformed mistaken as Babalawos.

[size=5pt]*coming back to modify this post*[/size]

ghostofsparta:

The book is very scarce to get, it's a book that should be in every secondary school and public library, that is if even the few unattended ones out there are patronized by our love-to-party generations. I could start a thread where I will type all the contents there from time to time, so we can analyze and muse over it together with others on the journey of self-discovery. What do you think?

I think this is a brilliant idea. Looking forward to it!

They allow us to conclude that 'Jehovah's exercise of foreknowledge is selective and discretionary'. But one cannot chose not to know without knowing!. Jehovah can not chose not to know about suffering without knowing it exists. In other words he knows but chooses to not act on it. Its just a way to convince themselves that their God is a loving one, rather than come to terms with the glaring nature of the God they worship.

page 6 that...The primary cause of wickedness, though, is not man. Satan the Devil. So therefore we should forgive and forget the evil and atrocities European men met on the original native red indian owners of America and the Arabs enslavery and destruction of black African and instead be more concerned about Satan the Devil....<< another ploy to cover up the role Christianity did (and did not) play in these atrocities.

Can you the Pope do exactly just that moreover since you're closer to Jesus' father 'Jehovah(Yahweh) before I can subscribe to your idolatry religion? No he can't whereas walking on water among other supernatural feats can be succesfully executed through the application of certain esoteric knowledge contained in the science and tech aspect of the Yoruba believe system. The science and tech aspect is what I term Yoruba Advanced Sciences erroneously known as juju etc. 'IFA' the core of our believe system is not a religion as some thinks and others go into for, it is more than that and an embodiment of all subjects under the sun, from divination, philosophies, guidance, to the origin and destiny of mankind....<< this is one of the reasons why I am very curious about yoruba/African spirituality. One of the arms of the United Nations declared Ifá a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, yet Nigerians still regard it as evil and primitive.

Its good to be an OBSERVER i tell u.lovely thread.its very very easy to be open with one believe,that i av learnt d hard and easy way.i av learnt that d easiest way to be open when among religious people is to never answer any question but to contribute to d discusin by only asking questions,it always get them dazed and they switch to always askin me do u believe in god,i answer that by asking them what does the word god mean.

beejaay:
Its good to be an OBSERVER i tell u.lovely thread.its very very easy to be open with one believe,that i av learnt d hard and easy way.i av learnt that d easiest way to be open when among religious people is to never answer any question but to contribute to d discusin by only asking questions,it always get them dazed and they switch to always askin me do u believe in god,i answer that by asking them what does the word god mean.

Based on what you've wrote I can authoritatively say your friends dont know of Nairaland and were oblivious to the fact that there are Nigerian atheists.

Kudos to the beautiful minds that brought this discourse to live. I always respect openmindedness in people, and I must confess that I'm appalled by what you ladies have become. *doffs hat*

I am an agnostic and I am yet to meet a female atheist in real life (have I even met a male sef?). I've met folks that are tired of the vices of religion tho, but then, that's all for them, all superficial.

People like us will get there and my plan is simple! Become a blessing to the society (Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, and Solarin-style) and then see people's opinion about your religious beliefs become trivial...Something tells me tho, that the hypocritical Nigerian society may not be homely sha, but that's my plan for now.

Anyone of y'all ever come across Grayling's "The Good Book"? It's been called the Humanist Bible, and I believe it should (eventually would) replace most of the religious texts around. There's a PDF version you can download free.

May the force be with y'all...


P.S: @Ghostofsparta and @rinrin23, abeg make una carry me along as to that Jesus is Black book o!

UyiIredia:


Based on what you've wrote I can authoritatively say your friends dont know of Nairaland and were oblivious to the fact that there are Nigerian atheists.

am not talking about my friends.friends are pretty easy to deal with,they can be changed once our belief begin to cause problem, rather am talking about my super deep religious muslim families. besides i dont go beyond what peoples mind can handle,if i sensed ur mind cant handle beyond d concept of god, then i use it to my advantage and if i realized d person av got a bit of expanded thinking then i use that.i av learnt that it does no good to challenge anyones belief,rather i listen,observe and ask question,its hard to do yes but then wisdom is a lonely journey...anyone can be open with his belief if done the peaceful way but then am just an OBSERVER without any label(no belief system and no disbelief system) not an atheist

Infomizer:


People like us will get there and my plan is simple! Become a blessing to the society (Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, and Solarin-style) and then see people's opinion about your religious beliefs become trivial...Something tells me tho, that the hypocritical Nigerian society may not be homely sha, but that's my plan for now.

This is my plan too, its been years in the making but will get there.

I believe wanting to be a blessing comes with each of us as human beings, none of that 'man is inherently evil/we are born evil' biblical nonsense. I hope, with this plan, that one day we would change the world even if it just our little corner here on Africa.

beejaay:
am not talking about my friends.friends are pretty easy to deal with,they can be changed once our belief begin to cause problem, rather am talking about my super deep religious muslim families. besides i dont go beyond what peoples mind can handle,if i sensed ur mind cant handle beyond d concept of god, then i use it to my advantage and if i realized d person av got a bit of expanded thinking then i use that.i av learnt that it does no good to challenge anyones belief,rather i listen,observe and ask question,its hard to do yes but then wisdom is a lonely journey...anyone can be open with his belief if done the peaceful way but then am just an OBSERVER without any label(no belief system and no disbelief system) not an atheist

For the bolded statement, -thank you!. Truly some people's minds aren't built to handle certain types of information/information all at once/life changing information. This is why there are so many arguments on Nairaland between the theists and atheists for years!

Most would classify you as a Humanist. But I understand, there should be no use for tags and labels in an ever changing world, with knowledge and new information pouring in every day. Wisdom is all I search for, if I should be tagged I would rather be labelled 'Wise'.

rinrin23:



This is my plan too, its been years in the making but will get there.

I believe wanting to be a blessing comes with each of us as human beings, none of that 'man is inherently evil/we are born evil' biblical nonsense. I hope, with this plan, that one day we would change the world even if it just our little corner here on Africa.

Well said! Nobody needs religion to be good. In fact, I read somewhere that if religion is what you need to be good, then you lack empathy. We're not saints, but then we try to be good to as many people, under as many circumstances as possible. Way to go, mi amiga!

rinrin23:


For the bolded statement, -thank you!. Truly some people's minds aren't built to handle certain types of information/information all at once/life changing information. This is why there are so many arguments on Nairaland between the theists and atheists for years!

Most would classify you as a Humanist. But I understand, there should be no use for tags and labels in an ever changing world, with knowledge and new information pouring in every day. Wisdom is all I search for, if I should be tagged I would rather be labelled 'Wise'.

wisdom is for those that study others,knowing is for those that study self.with wisdom and knowing come with ignorance of the opposite.

beejaay:
am not talking about my friends.friends are pretty easy to deal with,they can be changed once our belief begin to cause problem, rather am talking about my super deep religious muslim families. besides i dont go beyond what peoples mind can handle,if i sensed ur mind cant handle beyond d concept of god, then i use it to my advantage and if i realized d person av got a bit of expanded thinking then i use that.i av learnt that it does no good to challenge anyones belief,rather i listen,observe and ask question,its hard to do yes but then wisdom is a lonely journey...anyone can be open with his belief if done the peaceful way but then am just an OBSERVER without any label(no belief system and no disbelief system) not an atheist

@ bold: There's a label for everyone.

Infomizer:
Kudos to the beautiful minds that brought this discourse to live. I always respect openmindedness in people, and I must confess that I'm appalled by what you ladies have become. *doffs hat*

I am an agnostic and I am yet to meet a female atheist in real life (have I even met a male sef?). I've met folks that are tired of the vices of religion tho, but then, that's all for them, all superficial.

People like us will get there and my plan is simple! Become a blessing to the society (Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, and Solarin-style) and then see people's opinion about your religious beliefs become trivial...Something tells me tho, that the hypocritical Nigerian society may not be homely sha, but that's my plan for now.

Anyone of y'all ever come across Grayling's "The Good Book"? It's been called the Humanist Bible, and I believe it should (eventually would) replace most of the religious texts around. There's a PDF version you can download free.

May the force be with y'all...


P.S: @Ghostofsparta and @rinrin23, abeg make una carry me along as to that Jesus is Black book o!

Please where can I download it. I mean 'the good book'.

alagemo:
Please where can I download it. I mean 'the good book'.

Just Google it. I dey fear NL bots. Use "Grayling's Humanist Bible The Good Book" in your syntax...should get it easily.

alagemo:
Please where can I download it. I mean 'the good book'.

http://cnqzu.com/library/To%20Organize/11%20More%20Books%20-%20July%202012/The%20Good%20Book.pdf

Its a good read. Enjoy!

rinrin23:


http://cnqzu.com/library/To%20Organize/11%20More%20Books%20-%20July%202012/The%20Good%20Book.pdf

Its a good read. Enjoy!

thanks so much. I appreciate it.

good ol' thread

rinrin23:


http://cnqzu.com/library/To%20Organize/11%20More%20Books%20-%20July%202012/The%20Good%20Book.pdf

Its a good read. Enjoy!

hmmm you ain't no atheist at all. That you don't subscribe to others ' concept of and about the Supreme Intelligence doesn't make you a non believer. Your religion is humanist sort of which is far better than our pretentious approaches in the light of the realities in the world. Pray tell, isn't self realization the best form of knowledge? Today many GOs or imams or whatever would want to talk about one God. But truth is ,we owe Akhnaton - that great pharaoh- the idea of one God behind everything in the world. And While His Royal Majesty was promoting monotheism in Egypt ,does it mean Indian's approach through pantheism- oblivious of the happenings in Egypt- be condemned by the proponents of monotheism? Truth is we have different realizations and express it differently too.

With patience and tolerance, we realize our peculiarities despite the complexities of our approaches.

In your quest at discovering the truth or the force behind everything, you would travel through different terrains of histories, mysteries, philosophies and wide sympathies ,and until certain experiences resonate absolutely with you, the journey continues.

There are only 3 truths in the world. God exists, man exists, and man tries to realize God which is the basis for all philosophies and religious theories however simple or complex.