In my previous thread I defined and presented how Truth is integral for knowledge and Solution as opposed to the confusion and frustration produced by lies. Kindly follow here for the premise.
https://www.nairaland.com/4800452/lied-islam-christianity

The Truth is that Truth is everything we are living for.
To know the Truth about our Existence. To know the Truth about our selves. To know the truth about nature. To know the Truth about How things work and how to make things work through Inventions and Solution-provision.
However everyone seems to have different ideas and ideologies of the Truth. This explains the explosion of various knowledge. This explains Philosophy. This explains Science. This explains Religion.

But for this discourse I will speak on the integral Truth. The Religious Truth.
What is Religion?
Religion by definition is Man's search for meaning of life and understanding of his existence though a relationship with a deity, a super power.

However there are myriads of religions presenting diverse encounters, revelations, ideologies, principles and doctrines according to the Truth of the religious leader.

So which one is the Truth?
How does one identify the Truth?
What are the parameters, criteria and litmus test to confirm the efficacy, validity and integrity of the Truth?

I have been exposed to various religious teachings, doctrines, etc both locally and globally. Thanks to the internet, information is readily available for anyone driven by interest and given to diligence and patience.
I will not delve into the doctrines of other religions. That would prove to be an exhaustive and inconclusive discourse. Hence I will focus on Christianity.

I was born into a Christian home as most of us in this part of the world (Nigeria). As life so happened I lost faith in Christianity and became an atheist.
This I later realised would give me an unbiased unrepentant evaluation and impression of Christianity. I suddenly hated the religion I was raised to love. It suddenly didn't make any sense to me any more. It even made be angry thinking I wasted a significant aspect of my life believing a lie. Or so I thought.

As Grace would have it, I was truthful and humbled my self to realise I was lost without a solid religion. I searched but couldn't find the Truth. I eventually, created a thread comparing Wisdom and Intelligence. God is not without a sense of humour. I will explain this later.
In the course of reading and responding to the comments I came across a comment that hit home.
I realised that intelligence could be learnt but there was something about Wisdom. There was more to Wisdom. There was a mystery to Wisdom. Undeniably wisdom was supernatural. Wisdom could only be God-given.
This humbled me to realise I needed to find Wisdom. I needed this supernatural encounter. I knew I once had it, but some how lost it. I knew I now lacked it.

The truth is, I was honest with myself.
My intelligence was now a shadow of the wisdom I used to have.

I eventually ended up in church again. I eventually humbly started as a new comer, like a baby, to know this God that gives wisdom.
The things I thought I knew about Christianity, I realised I never knew.
I would later understand that I knew the letter, but not the Spirit. As aptly put by the scriptures, the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life.

The rest is history. I finally knew the Truth, and truly as promised, the Truth set me free.

I earlier mentioned the criteria, parameters and litmus test that confirm the validity of a Religion. I will list a few;

It teaches and provides Salvation.
It teaches and provides Peace of Mind.
It teaches and provides Joy and Happiness.
It teaches and provides Righteousness.
It teaches and provides Justice/Equity/Fairness.
It teaches and provides Protection.
It teaches and provides Good health and Long life.
It teaches and provides Assurance and Confidence.
It teaches and provides Love.
It teaches and provides Purpose.

Now what is the Truth?
The Truth is;
You cannot know your true self until you know God.
You cannot know God until you receive the Holy Spirit. (The Spirit of Truth).
And you cannot receive the Holy Spirit until you Believe and Confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with us now and for ever more.
Amen.

If you believe wisdom is superior when it is gotten from supernatural sources then kindly explain why it took centuries to deliver health care systems that even believers of supernatural phenomenon pay good money to have.

LordReed:
If you believe wisdom is superior when it is gotten from supernatural sources then kindly explain why it took centuries to deliver health care systems that even believers of supernatural phenomenon pay good money to have.

I'm not going to pretend that I have that answer.
An inkling perhaps.
God is a God of order. God is a God of purpose.
Perhaps it was not time for it. Perhaps the person to fulfill that purpose wasn't born or was distracted by the enemy.
Only God knows Time. Only He knows the Masterplan.
We also have a dream/purpose he has for each of us. But unfortunately most of us are busy chasing our dreams. If only we knew out higher purposes.

pressplay411:


I'm not going to pretend that I have that answer.
An inkling perhaps.
God is a God of order. God is a God of purpose.
Perhaps it was not time for it. Perhaps the person to fulfill that purpose wasn't born or was distracted by the enemy.
Only God knows Time. Only He knows the Masterplan.
We also have a dream/purpose he has for each of us. But unfortunately most of us are busy chasing our dreams. If only we knew out higher purposes.

LoL what a lame half-assed explanation. Can you not see this thing is just a fairytale? All these pastors and their loved ones get the best of healthcare and feed you bunkum about faith and all that jargon. High purposes my foot, what is higher in letting people die without sufficient healthcare for thousands of years? If this supernatural wisdom can deliver results, it would have delivered results thousands of years ago.

LordReed:


LoL what a lame half-assed explanation. Can you not see this thing is just a fairytale? All these pastors and their loved ones get the best of healthcare and feed you bunkum about faith and all that jargon. High purposes my foot, what is higher in letting people die without sufficient healthcare for thousands of years? If this supernatural wisdom can deliver results, it would have delivered results thousands of years ago.

There's a language veil between us that occured since the tower of Babel. And it is responsible for our confusion.
My communication is different from your understanding even though we both speak English.
And everything is all about understanding. Once we understand one another, we will easily agree.
I wish I could make you see from my perspective. Seeing from my perspective is the real understanding, not the words I speak.


And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
Genesis 11:6-7

God bless you sir.

pressplay411:


There's a language veil between us that occured since the tower of Babel. And it is responsible for our confusion.
My communication is different from your understanding even though we both speak English.
And everything is all about understanding. Once we understand one another, we will easily agree.
I wish I could make you see from my perspective. Seeing from my perspective is the real understanding, not the words I speak.


And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
Genesis 11:6-7

God bless you sir.

I don't need to see the sun from your perspective to know that the sun will rise tomorrow morning. Truth that requires some myopic perspective is just self deception.

@pressplay411, thank you very much for this testimony. As a dear brother (one I hold as my teacher too) would say, "it is as if we all need to spin our wheels before we start taking the Truth seriously". All of us have our stories. The more mature one becomes in the Faith too, the more we come to appreciate how gracious God is toward us.

Please receive my comments as coming from a brother who is very pleased to have you in this Race as well. Even if we don't completely agree regarding everything, we both love the Lord Jesus and look forward to life in eternity as one Family.

Wisdom and Intelligence are really synonyms as far as I know. Colloquially though, I'll admit that we don't tend to treat them as the same thing today. Wisdom does have that air of mystery and otherworldliness because of the way we use the word today but that is a cultural issue not a literary one. There isn't really a difference as far as I can tell.

I think it is important to point this out because of the way that believers approach issues surrounding understanding spiritual truths and dealing with unbelievers like atheists (you may be familiar with notions of a "head knowledge" and the concept of using natural intelligence/the carnal mind to understand spiritual truths. These are often wrong applications of Bible teachings in 1 Cor 2).

The Bible notes two kinds of wisdom in the letter of James: the earthly kind and the "wisdom from above". The earthly kind is limited to material experience. It only tolerates explanations that respond to the physical senses. The heavenly kind is different, however, and more robust since it is spiritual in nature.

James 3:13-18
[13]Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.
[14]But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.
[15]This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.
[16]For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.
[17]But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.
[18]And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

There is a wisdom, therefore, which is earthly natural and demonic which only produces bitter jealousy and selfish ambition which result in disorder and every evil thing. It isn't uncommon at all. It is back of all unbelief. You may remember that in your days as an atheist, you were likely very arrogant and puffed up in your mind thinking you knew everything that needed to be known and you restlessly provoked rancour everywhere you were. It is still there today among other atheists.

This type of wisdom can also be found in believers when they fail to pursue spiritual growth and production. In fact, James was not speaking to unbelievers in that letter. It is a wisdom that insists on the earthly. It does not submit to Heavenly realities and refuses to account for them.

Although such an attitude can be found in secular disciplines like science, it is not necessarily synonymous with them. A believer may be a scientist without having a bloated head or an overinflated sense of self-importance. This is possible if they remember that that which can be seen came about by that which cannot be seen so that, in fact, sensual, material experience does not define spiritual reality, rather spiritual reality defines material experience.

The wisdom that is from above is synonymous with the Truth of the Bible. Knowing and understanding the Bible is true wisdom. To understand the Bible is to understand God Himself. And what could be more important to understand than God Himself? Also, if God is so gracious as to enable you to understand Him, then, it only follows that you will be able to put material reality in the proper perspective. Not that you will automatically become a star scientist or a genius of some kind when you become spiritually mature, rather it is that you will have a more robust, more comprehensive appreciation of material existence (which seems to me to be the same thing you said hers as well). And it will make you humble. Note the qualities of this wisdom: "pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy".

Now, I note that there are questions that you humbly admit lacking answers to. Your humility is commendable. Your sensibility too is applauded. But I must tell you too that it is the Lord's Will that we grow in understanding of His Truth so that we know what we believe and can teach those who do not know whether through the actual act of teaching if we possess the spiritual gift or through the way we conduct ourselves. So, please allow me to beg you to make a priority of learning the Truth, the whole Truth of God today, not so that you can sound intelligent and show off your erudition to others (things I doubt that would tempt you that greatly), rather that you will not be threatened by the opinions of men whether believers or unbelievers.

To learn the Truth and grow spiritually and fulfill our ministries from the Lord whatever they may be, according to Eph 4:11-12, we must have a gifted and prepared teacher to teach us. Therefore, I implore you to commit to learning from someone whom the Lord has given the gift of teaching and who has taken the time and diligence to prepare for the very important work of teaching the children of God so that they grow and become thoroughly equipped to fulfill their duties to the Lord in the Church.

I recommend https://ichthys.com.

Alternatively, you could visit and study under https://www.bibleacademyonline.com.

Here on Nairaland too, I maintain two threads that you will find in my signature or on my profile where I try to provide the Truth to believers just as I too have been and am still provided for.

In my experience, true teachers are far rarer than one might think. I looked in different churches and books and people I came across in life but I only found one after all the trouble. Now I know more than one. But three teachers all told, with churches at literally every corner in Nigeria? I wouldn't knock churches I don't know and pastors I have never met but it seems to me that if believers themselves are anything to go by today, true Bible teaching is probably as rare as water in the desert. So, please avail yourself of these options I have given you. I am sure that there is no regret waiting for you at the end of this road.

The Grace and Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ remain with your spirit.

PS. I should elaborate that there is such a thing as "Natural Revelation" which is essentially the natural ability that every human being possesses to understand material reality for what it is: the signature of a Perfect God, a testimony of our sinfulness and guarantee of the inevitability of our judgment. That is, we all have the ability to properly appreciate the world around us whether we are believers or not. This is why even unbelievers can understand Science among other things. They have the ability to and do accept natural truths which are discoverable/discernible to our natural senses. But when they reject God, they essentially disconnect those natural truths from any real meaning. That is what changes for the one who chooses to believe in the Lord Jesus: we come to see natural truths as witnesses to spiritual truths which are of eternal significance.

Ihedinobi3:
@pressplay411, thank you very much for this testimony. As a dear brother (one I hold as my teacher too) would say, "it is as if we all need to spin our wheels before we start taking the Truth seriously". All of us have our stories. The more mature one becomes in the Faith too, the more we come to appreciate how gracious God is toward us.

Please receive my comments as coming from a brother who is very pleased to have you in this Race as well. Even if we don't completely agree regarding everything, we both love the Lord Jesus and look forward to life in eternity as one Family.

Wisdom and Intelligence are really synonyms as far as I know. Colloquially though, I'll admit that we don't tend to treat them as the same thing today. Wisdom does have that air of mystery and otherworldliness because of the way we use the word today but that is a cultural issue not a literary one. There isn't really a difference as far as I can tell.

I think it is important to point this out because of the way that believers approach issues surrounding understanding spiritual truths and dealing with unbelievers like atheists (you may be familiar with notions of a "head knowledge" and the concept of using natural intelligence/the carnal mind to understand spiritual truths. These are often wrong applications of Bible teachings in 1 Cor 2).

The Bible notes two kinds of wisdom in the letter of James: the earthly kind and the "wisdom from above". The earthly kind is limited to material experience. It only tolerates explanations that respond to the physical senses. The heavenly kind is different, however, and more robust since it is spiritual in nature.

James 3:13-18
[13]Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.
[14]But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.
[15]This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.
[16]For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.
[17]But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.
[18]And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

There is a wisdom, therefore, which is earthly natural and demonic which only produces bitter jealousy and selfish ambition which result in disorder and every evil thing. It isn't uncommon at all. It is back of all unbelief. You may remember that in your days as an atheist, you were likely very arrogant and puffed up in your mind thinking you knew everything that needed to be known and you restlessly provoked rancour everywhere you were. It is still there today among other atheists.

This type of wisdom can also be found in believers when they fail to pursue spiritual growth and production. In fact, James was not speaking to unbelievers in that letter. It is a wisdom that insists on the earthly. It does not submit to Heavenly realities and refuses to account for them.

Although such an attitude can be found in secular disciplines like science, it is not necessarily synonymous with them. A believer may be a scientist without having a bloated head or an overinflated sense of self-importance. This is possible if they remember that that which can be seen came about by that which cannot be seen so that, in fact, sensual, material experience does not define spiritual reality, rather spiritual reality defines material experience.

The wisdom that is from above is synonymous with the Truth of the Bible. Knowing and understanding the Bible is true wisdom. To understand the Bible is to understand God Himself. And what could be more important to understand than God Himself? Also, if God is so gracious as to enable you to understand Him, then, it only follows that you will be able to put material reality in the proper perspective. Not that you will automatically become a star scientist or a genius of some kind when you become spiritually mature, rather it is that you will have a more robust, more comprehensive appreciation of material existence (which seems to me to be the same thing you said hers as well). And it will make you humble. Note the qualities of this wisdom: "pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy".

Now, I note that there are questions that you humbly admit lacking answers to. Your humility is commendable. Your sensibility too is applauded. But I must tell you too that it is the Lord's Will that we grow in understanding of His Truth so that we know what we believe and can teach those who do not know whether through the actual act of teaching if we possess the spiritual gift or through the way we conduct ourselves. So, please allow me to beg you to make a priority of learning the Truth, the whole Truth of God today, not so that you can sound intelligent and show off your erudition to others (things I doubt that would tempt you that greatly), rather that you will not be threatened by the opinions of men whether believers or unbelievers.

To learn the Truth and grow spiritually and fulfill our ministries from the Lord whatever they may be, according to Eph 4:11-12, we must have a gifted and prepared teacher to teach us. Therefore, I implore you to commit to learning from someone whom the Lord has given the gift of teaching and who has taken the time and diligence to prepare for the very important work of teaching the children of God so that they grow and become thoroughly equipped to fulfill their duties to the Lord in the Church.

I recommend https://ichthys.com.

Alternatively, you could visit and study under https://www.bibleacademyonline.com.

Here on Nairaland too, I maintain two threads that you will find in my signature or on my profile where I try to provide the Truth to believers just as I too have been and am still provided for.

In my experience, true teachers are far rarer than one might think. I looked in different churches and books and people I came across in life but I only found one after all the trouble. Now I know more than one. But three teachers all told, with churches at literally every corner in Nigeria? I wouldn't knock churches I don't know and pastors I have never met but it seems to me that if believers themselves are anything to go by today, true Bible teaching is probably as rare as water in the desert. So, please avail yourself of these options I have given you. I am sure that there is no regret waiting for you at the end of this road.

The Grace and Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ remain with your spirit.

PS. I should elaborate that there is such a thing as "Natural Revelation" which is essentially the natural ability that every human being possesses to understand material reality for what it is: the signature of a Perfect God, a testimony of our sinfulness and guarantee of the inevitability of our judgment. That is, we all have the ability to properly appreciate the world around us whether we are believers or not. This is why even unbelievers can understand Science among other things. They have the ability to and do accept natural truths which are discoverable/discernible to our natural senses. But when they reject God, they essentially disconnect those natural truths from any real meaning. That is what changes for the one who chooses to believe in the Lord Jesus: we come to see natural truths as witnesses to spiritual truths which are of eternal significance.

Thank you sir.
You are an answered prayer.
I hope to keep following your threads.
I am truly blessed and edified.

More Grace, Wisdom, Knowledge and Understanding to you.

pressplay411:


Thank you sir.
You are an answered prayer.
I hope to keep following your threads.
I am truly blessed and edified.

More Grace, Wisdom, Knowledge and Understanding to you.

Thank you for your kind words and for your prayer for me. Amen to that prayer. I am very glad to help. Please don't neglect those links. The teachers there have well-developed material covering more and more on the Scriptures so that you can grow faster with them than you would with me. But I will be happy to help you in every way that I can.

Ihedinobi3:

Thank you for your kind words and for your prayer for me. Amen to that prayer. I am very glad to help. Please don't neglect those links. The teachers there have well-developed material covering more and more on the Scriptures so that you can grow faster with them than you would with me. But I will be happy to help you in every way that I can.

I haven't made time to go through them.
Will make time ASAP.

pressplay411:


I haven't made time to go through them.
Will make time ASAP.

That would be great. I will do my best to support you and your spiritual growth in prayer everyday.

Ihedinobi3:

That would be great. I will do my best to support you and your spiritual growth in prayer everyday.

Thank you sir.
May God's Grace, Wisdom and Counsel guide us.

pressplay411:

Thank you sir.
May God's Grace, Wisdom and Counsel guide us.

Amen.