₦airaland Forum

God forgives all sins. but you will still reap what you sow.

A Seed for Contemplation

When we give up attachment to everything, including the little self, then we find wisdom, power, and freedom.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

A Seed for Contemplation

Become an expert in something. You need to be grounded in something. When you do something for God, for the highest principle, you do each step until it sings.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

@ sweetnecta

also remember the story of the good samaritan in the christian bible. a man was beaten up by thieves and left for dead. a pharisee and a levi passed by and did not bother themselves about the man but a samaritan passed by and stopped and took the man to a place where he received treatment. he did this without any expectation of reward and without knowing the man. this is another example of unconditional love. i do not want to bore you with examples from my own life as of course you do not believe that unconditional love exist.

this is not uncommon in real life. it does not pass for any viable example of unconditional love. he played a normal human humane nature, whereas the others showed their human i am mining my on business attitude. if what you post above is what is great love in your book, a ton of it is done daily by muslims and non muslims alike. unconditional love, is similar to unconditional forgiveness; you love when people expect you to hate or avenge or revenge. you overlook and do not punish when you are in position to do so as just measure.

out of all the replies you gave, this particular reply is the only one that matters to me.

this particular action of giving love even when hatred is given to you is what matters in life. if as you said that tons of it are being done daily by muslims and non muslims alike i do not think that our country Nigeria would have been the way it is now.

in reality there is so much unforgiveness and so much hatred and i can tell you as a fact as i have experienced it both in the hands of moslems and christians alike.

people tend to give love only to those that are in the same religion as them. i do not want to bore you with specific experiences but i can assure you that this is what is happening.

the question i am still asking is how can we get people when it comes to the issue of giving love to look beyond their religion and their sect and extend the hand of fellowship to all life.

for me it will be a very wonderful starting point for harmony in life.

let the end result of who is right or who is wrong rest with God. and of course once you die you will come face to face with reality but unfortunately by then you will not be able to send a post to nairaland from beyond to tell us what you are experiencing.

so why not give love first and surrender what comes next to God.

that is my humble opinion

thanks

A Seed for Contemplation

The quest for God is the quest for true happiness.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

KunleOshob (m)

@benodic
I would love to meet you, are you based in Lagos? There are number of issues I would like to discuss with you.

unfortunately no. i am based in the northern part of Nigeria. i would have been glad to have a meeting with you too. if the issues you want to discuss are private you can reach me through my email: benodic@yahoo.com.
thanks

@ Sweetnecta

now, to actually ask if islam has made my life better, is even worse than asking a man who practices decency if he is decent. you have eyes. you see him avoiding all obvious societal pitfalls, and trappings.

no matter how you see that question it still stands. because it is a very important question. the easiest way to tell the effects of a religion is to look at those practicing that religion. what has been the impact of that religion in their life.

how can you expect someone who is surrounded by members of another religion who does not give a damn about the person and does not show any love to that person, to ever think of becoming a member himself. people have eyes and they do see that the so called people who practices decency when people are looking goes back to animal behaviour when he thinks they are not looking.

if benodic thinks that God's love is unconditional, why is the hellfire created? How many a people has God destroyed, for loving them unconditionally, i ask you? How about the people drowned in the flood of Noah? how about the people of sodom and Gomorrah? How about the people of Egypt?

for your information i am not a christian. i am an Eckist, a member of Eckankar, Religion of the Light and sound of God. i do not believe in the god depicted in the old testament of the bible. Jehovah is a tribal god. and of course a very jealous god. he is a much lesser god in the hierarchy of the heavenly worlds.

the God i am talking about is the supreme God.
The Supreme God belongs to no religion and does not take sides. It of course did not create any hell and nor did It destroy anybody. It created us and sent us down to the lower universes to learn divine and unconditional love and become like It at the end and then come back home to become co-workers with It.

while many concort their own false hope of idealism, the reality is quite different. Anyone who violates God's Commandments and dies without offering repentance,  can such a person expect forgiveness from God? what state is he in when he is being punished in hellfire; unconditional love from God? may God protect us from such an end. Amin. that is truly a bad state of affair.

it is clearly stated that whatever any one sows that will he reap. if the person does not reap it and dies. such a soul will have to come back again to earth through the process of reincarnation to reap what he sowed in his past life.

there is nothing like hell fire where a soul will burn forever. it is actually out of God's love that a soul is given another chance to redeem itself. the purpose of reincarnation is so that a soul will learn about the effects of its action and learn responsibility and love from it.

Anyone who believes that he can love unconditionally should imagine a worse case scenario, where somebody is violating him or his loved one. can he love unconditionally, all the time including that very moment when his emotion is raw from the experience? all rational people will hate the perpetrator. the opposite of unconditional love is a momentary hatred of what is hateful [what should be hated]. A person who cant hate cant love and justice and fairness and love are abilities he lacks. Paradise is the opposite of Hellfire. Love is the opposite of Hate. Tall is the opposite of Short. Large is the opposite of Little. Big is the opposite of Small. Day is the opposite of Night. Light is the opposite of Dark. Which one do you disagree with? Unconditional love is unrealistic. It is a hopeless thought. An idea that never exist, since God Him does not practice it. After all He is the best that can give love. He hates at least satan. No?

the test of unconditional love is the ultimate test of spiritual mastership. it is out of unconditional love that Jesus christ who is one of the masters that taught about unconditional love,  was able to put back the ear of a soldier which his disciple peter had cut off, despite the fact that the soldier came to arrest him.

it was also out of unconditional love that Jesus was able to say," forgive them lord, for they know not what they do" at a point when he was being crucified by the Romans and was in serious pains.

also remember the story of the good samaritan in the christian bible. a man was beaten up by thieves and left for dead. a pharisee and a levi passed by and did not bother themselves about the man but a samaritan passed by and stopped and took the man to a place where he received treatment. he did this without any expectation of reward and without knowing the man. this is another example of unconditional love. i do not want to bore you with examples from my own life as of course you do not believe that  unconditional love exist.

and of course God does not hate satan. satan is actually working for God. nothing that is impure will ever enter the pure heavenly planes. it is the job of satan to test souls to find out who is strong and who still have weaknesses of the flesh. if you fail the test set up by satan then you repeat the class. if you pass then you move up the ladder of spiritual purity.
   
all these are what my religion Eckankar has taught me. Its teachings has opened my heart to the divine love of God. naturally i am able to give unconditional love even to those that wrong me. why? because my heart centre is filled with love. there is no room for hatred or anger. it is a state that you have to experience to understand.

@ Pastor AIO

@Sweetnecta. I think you miss his point. Let me ask it in my own way.

How has your practice of Islam made you a better person? How does it make your fellow practitioners better people? All I've ever heard from you is all sorts of twisted arguments about why your religion is superior to others, but please can you point me to any practical tangible benefits of practicing your religion that I can observe in the real world.

thanks a lot pastor for making it clearer. the few moslems that i have met that were really spiritual in their outlook on life were sufis. these guys have had experiences with the Holy spirit which changes them from inside out. they are naturally good. true spirituality is not a mental thing. you do not argue it. you become it. sweetnecta said that unconditional love does not exist and that i for one can not show it. .

this is exactly the point i have been making. if sweetnecta believes that unconditional love does not exist then you can imagine the kind of world we will be living in if all moslems can not show unconditional love.

from day one i entered my religion the lessons i have been learning was all about learning how to give unconditional love to all life. gradually over the years i lost the narrow way of looking at life. i see all life as one. we are all sons and daughters of God.

who am i to judge you or another person based on your tribe or religion. God has Its reasons for allowing all these various religions to exist. my own goal in life is therefore to love life the way that God loves all life. and that is unconditionally.

thanks

A Seed for Contemplation

When we are filled with love, the protection of Divine Spirit comes to help us in our daily lives.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

@ Sweetnecta

@Deep sight and Benodic; You will have to agree that your position at best is 50/50 chance that you are correct, while mine 50/50 chance that I may be wrong in matters of the absolute presence of God and or my chosen religion.

if you understood what i wrote at all you will realize that i do not give a damn if your religion is the supreme one or not or if your religion was handed directly from God to your Spiritual leader or if your religion is the purest on earth today.

what matters to me is how has that religion changed the followers of that religion to become better and more loving people. if you look around in Nigeria today you will have an inkling in what i am talking about.

Nigeria is well known as a very religious country but we are also well known as a corrupt country. it is the same religious people in nigeria that form the bulk of the corrupt people.

why is it that the religions in Nigeria has not been able to bring out good citizens meanwhile the white countries that have relegated religion to the background are doing very well.

so for me the test of a religion will always be how it affects its followers. and how its followers treat others who are not from their religion.

a religion will always be judged by the action of its followers. there are no excuses. so please keep your religion to yourself and give me your unconditional love if you can.

for it is unconditional love that takes us closer to God and definitely not your religion.

thanks

A Seed for Contemplation

Divine Spirit often begins working for our welfare after we have made some small effort first.

The love and protection of Spirit surround you at all times but must be accepted with a loving heart.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

@ poster,

what really matters in a religion? for me it is how close has that religion brought me to God and how has that religion helped me in developing love for God and love for all life.

some of the posts i read in this thread reminds me exactly why i left some religions and have absolutely no interests in some other religion.

the first time i come across a religion the first thing i look for is how has the practice of that religion made the followers of that particular religion better people and more loving people.
unfortunately most of the orthodox religions i have come across is filled with people who have no love for those outside their religion and some have no qualms killing you if you are not members of their religion. it is really sad the state of most religions in the world today.

at the end of the day, religion ultimately should be an individual thing. strictly between you and God. and the end product should be something beautiful to behold.

love fully personified and overflowing to all life. kindly keep your religion to yourself but please give me your love for that is what we need to survive in this world and beyond.

thanks

A Seed for Contemplation

The cycle of creative action begins with the concept we carry in our minds of what we wish to do. The next step is to outline on paper some plan of how to accomplish this. The final step is action in carrying out the plan.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

A Seed for Contemplation

Because of the restrictions of business and running to make appointments, some people don’t often feel there is time to be human, to let others know they’re appreciated. Other people have an attitude that says, "I like your company. We have to do business and we might as well enjoy doing business."

People who have this attitude are openhearted. They love their work. And through this love for their work, they are reflecting the love of God.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

A Seed for Contemplation

When you don’t put a definite shape to what you imagine, Divine Spirit can have unlimited freedom to fill that mold. But if you put a limit to it, you often strike out because you’ve allowed for only one possible outcome.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

A Seed for Contemplation

When you work with the fullness of heart, the golden heart, you find things are being done right you never realized were being done right. This occurs when there is balance and you have the perception to see the true value of things that come into your life.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

@ Pastor AIO

@Benodic, What happens if in the process of getting to know your belief you come to find that your belief is erroneous?

that is a very interesting question. i can assure you that if in the process of knowingness i come to see that my belief is erroneous i will drop the belief without blinking an eyelid and without any reservations.

that is why in my path you are advised to make inner inquiries on whatever you believe. if the believe is false you drop it and if the belief is true you work with it. there are no sentiments involved. The Holy Spirit is there to teach any soul that is ready to work with It one on one.

A Seed for Contemplation

Many feel that a person who spends his time soul-searching is more holy than a merchant who hawks his goods at the market. A highly spiritual person is actually one who has found the comfort zone that exists somewhere between the two extremes.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

@ jenwitemi

i really share your misgivings. but it does not surprise me at all. just check out what alexleo posted

Infact you people constitute a bunch of viruses that must be wiped out from this forum. You can request for your own forum if you like.

seriously people like him have no business in a forum like this. i would suggest that they create a christian evangelism sub forum for Christians in NL where they can do their preaching without any of us interfering just like was done for moslems. since moslems and Christians share similar mindsets.

we viruses as alexleo called us can continue enjoying ourselves here with people who are more open minded.
keep up the good work. i am with you all the way. we will not allow NL to slip entirely into their clutches.

A Seed for Contemplation

When we give up attachment to everything, including the little self, then we find wisdom, power, and freedom.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

@ Trex73

I can't agree less, but it still comes down to you believing first.
For what make you believe in that particular being or thing, Is there a proving evidence you experienced that made you believe in that?, or rather your upbringing.

the point i am making is that it really does not matter what you believe in. but you must take it a step further to really know what you believe.

it is in the process of achieving knowingness that you will come to realize the fallacies of your beliefs and the ones that are truth.

then still take it further to become that truth once you have known it. if you do not take these steps you will continue spinning around in the wheel of ignorant believer.

@ jenwitemi

LOL! Cheesy That is just so typical of christians, benodic, especially of their clergymen. As a matter of fact, if one should believe the doctrines of both the christian and the islamic faiths, nobody will enter the kingdom of their respective heavens. So, what's the point of this heaven, then?

i wonder my brother. i really wonder.

the whole thing is an ego ride. my God is bigger than yours mentality. and when you go close to them there is absolutely no love in their hearts for those who are members of another religion or sect.

but look around you, even a fool will recognize the evidence of God's love all around us. the sun and the rain and the air is there for everyone even for the so called atheists that do not believe in the existence of God.

God does not care whether you appreciate It or not, It continues giving love. why? because it is Its nature to love.

@ jenwitemi

Thank you, benodic. You are a soul that knows what's up. It is good to interact with a being that is maturing very nicely spiritually. I don't even know where to begin with the rest of the people in here. Sweetnecta and the others are so far back, it is unreal. The Abrahamic religious faiths are such awesomely effective spiritually retarding devices. Amazing thing to behold.

I will leave sweetnecta and her fellow christian brethren to their state of development until they finally start catching up on their own volition. I'm out of here.

i sincerely concur with you. i do not think it is worth it explaining anything to them because they will never understand for now.

what i know is that the closer you come to God consciousness the more love you develop. in that state there is absolutely no fear.

as par what was written in the bible about fearing God. you only fear what you do not know. the problem with the bible has always been that of interpretation. as the bible was interpreted from one language to another a lot of meaning was lost. that fear that was written could have meant respect.
i respect God a lot as i respect my father. but please i do not fear God or my father.

so like you jenwitemi i will take my leave.
thanks

@ poster

the last sermon i received in the church went thus:
the pastor started by saying that heaven was the ultimate. but the question was, who is going to enter heaven?

he started by automatically bundling all members of other religions that are not christians into hell fire.
then he came down to Christianity. he started by bundling all the Catholics into hell fire. he then came down to protestants. he bundled the Anglicans, Jehovah witnesses and Presbyterians into hell. when he finally got to his own church he bundled all those that are not baptized and those that are not full members into hell.

by the time he was through only about 0.000009% of the world's population was going to make heaven.
that sermon gave me a very serious food for thought. i had to ask my own questions and find my own answers.

@ poster,

belief is a primary level. you need to go beyond belief to knowingness and then finally to beingness. the problem we have in religion today is that people get stuck at the primary level of belief. then they go forward to convert and convince every other person to believe what they believe.

if you believe for example in Jesus Christ, you have to take it to the next level of knowing him in and out. not just believing in what was written about him. you make the effort to meet him in the spiritual realms one on one and get the knowledge about him from the horse's mouth.

then you now take the next step of beingness. which is the action part of the spiritual triad. you now work to become like him. in and out. by the time you get to this part you will discover that you do not even need to preach to any one anymore. your life becomes a living evidence to people that Christ is real or that God is real. your life becomes a shining example of God's love on earth.

this is what it takes. but very few people know this or even try it out. this is the reason why there is all this debate in NL about whose God is bigger and whose belief is better. and also the reason why people are getting killed in the name of God.

let us all work hard in whatever religion or path we find ourselves to improve ourselves spiritually by going beyond mere belief to actual knowingness and beingness.

stay blessed.

@ jenwitemi

No, i have never feared anything. Fear is not part of my life,

there is nothing so pleasing to behold as a soul who is fearless. if we know who we really are, then we will realize that there is really nothing to fear in life.

And as for "fearing" god, only fake gods need be feared. The true and loving God need not be feared, but loved. Love and fear do not go together.

these are my thoughts exactly. God is love and love alone. you can not get close to anything you fear. but if you love something you will want to get closer to that thing and you will also want to do anything to please it.

For me i do not fear God and i do not fear anything in life. why? because i am soul, created in the image and likeness of God with all the qualities of God and God is my father. why then should i fear my father?

A Seed for Contemplation

Those living the high spiritual life are the knowers, not believers. There is a world of difference between knowing and believing.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

A Seed for Contemplation

Creativity, bountifulness, and gratitude go hand in hand.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

A Seed for Contemplation

The secret is that one cannot live without love. You’ve got to find the kind that agrees with your spiritual makeup. Once you have it, you find it a delicate thing that can slip away like water through the fingers.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

A Seed for Contemplation

Truth is so simple. So why doesn’t everybody know it? Because it’s too simple. Because we have our preconceived notions about what truth is or what it should be.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

@ justcool (m)

Re: Why Does God Allow Bad Things To Happen To Good People?
« #20 on: Today at 01:36:06 AM »

@ xgel

There are two sides to this question. The first side is this:

(1)How do we know what a bad thing is?

We as humans with our limited perceptive ability cannot clearly overlook everything; only that which is at our level and that which is below us can we overlook. The highest thing in us, our true self, is our spirits, the breath of God in us; only through our spirits can we overlook or truly see anything as it really is. And even with our spirits we cannot see that which is beyond the spiritual ream, only that which is spiritual and below the spiritual can we fully comprehend; that which is Divine will remain a mystery to the human spirit. i.e. we can never know it fully. Hence when an individual slumbers spiritually (not utilizing his spiritual perception or intuition), naturally his ability to comprehend also narrows, albeit his being unaware of it. Such a person will hold on only to what his brain (intellect) can comprehend; but the realm of operation of the intellect is so limited, and hence a lot of things will not be understood by such a person, especially things having to do with the non-physical, God and His Love.

I will give an example to illustrate our limit in perception. A faithful believer prays to God to pass Jamb and enter university; while his fellow student laughs at him for praying. He studies, while his friends parties around; and in the end they take the exam, his friends, who never prayed to God, makes it while his own result is ceased, and hence he could not enter the university that year. He cries and wonders why God allowed such a bad thing to happen to him.

But what he does not know is that had he entered the university that year, he would have been exposed to temptations that he could not have withstood; he most likely would have lost his faith and end up a cult member who would have been pressure to commit murder or he may have been killed in the long run.

So what he thought was a bad thing—his jamb result being ceased—was actually not just a good thing but a blessing from above, an answer to his prayer. Because by not entering the university that year, his faith, his salvation or his soul, his most precious possession, is protected. This alleged disappointment gives a whole year to build up his faith to be able to surmount the temptations that the university will come with, or neglect his faith and become like his friends. The choice is up to him. This alleged disappointment is nothing but a gift from God. But in his human intellectual perception he will not perceive this gift from the love of God. So what he calls a bad thing is actually the best thing that ever happened to him.

Behind everything, every blessing, in every disappointment lies the Love of God; everything is actually driven by the Love of God; but sometimes the outward manifestations of this love are hard for us to understand with our very limited intellect.

Only experiences come later, after a disappointment, to show us that the disappointment was actually a blessing. So this guy while waiting for another year to take another jamb might win an American lottery visa; a greater opportunity comes his way, an opportunity he would have missed if he had entered the university along with his friends that year. Only then will he realize that the alleged disappointment was actually a blessing.

Now to the second side of the question.

(2) Sometimes the difficulties that people experience in life are actually a reaction from a former wrong action.

There is a law in creation that “each individual must reap what he/she has sown in the past”; this is the law of reciprocal action which manifests in the entire creation, and which is also a manifestation of the Love and Justice of God.

So the setbacks that a good person experiences now maybe as a result of the wrong things he did in the past; it could be in his previous incarnations.

Yet this is also a gift of love, as it affords the individual the opportunity to redeem his karma, because with such karma he cannot enter the kingdom of God. By going through the bad experiences he once put others through, if he learns from the experience, the karma is redeemed, and the individual is forgiven. This is a great gift of love from God.

Apart from this, if he learns from the experience, he will become wiser and a more knowing person; for example, experiences can make a hardened man meek and compassionate, devastating blows of fate can make a proud man humble. This way experiences models us to become individuals worthy of Gods kingdom, if we learn from these experiences whether good or bad. They are priceless gifts.

In reality there is nothing like a bad experience; it lies with the individual whether to drive good from it or bad from it. When it comes to experiences, goodness or badness is only in our perception. All experiences, all that we encounter in life, are manifestation of the Love of God; they are priceless gifts.

I hope this helps.

Thanks and remain blessed.

my dear you have really said it all. for those who are matured enough to understand. everything that happens to us in life is all about one thing and that is to draw us ever closer home to God.

A Seed for Contemplation

" Therefore, if you desire love, try to realize that the only way to get love is by giving love. That the more you give, the more you get; and the only way in which you can give is to fill yourself with it , until you become a magnet of love."

Paul Twitchell
Stranger by the River