₦airaland Forum

JuanDeDios:
Please help a brother out with this.

If it takes a guy 12 minutes to read 200 words of a book, how long will it take him to read the entire book which is 15,000 words?

Thank you.

whitecloth has answered your question, but I would like to know where you got the question from and if you need any help in learning how to figure out the solution by yourself.

johnydon22:
Doesn't that make it 'Subjective' and therefore unreliable in a collective term.

Jesus did imply a number of times that only a tiny fraction of those who claim to follow him are actually his. He made it clear that christianity is not a popularity contest, the weeds will overshadow the wheats.
Don't let the fact that the weeds and ghe wheats look alike fool you.

Would anyone care to share their witches and wizards stories?

Some yeras ago while on my way to Benin from Lagos, a few of us on the bus got into a nice friendly discussion about this very topic of witches and wizards. They were all in agreement concerning the existence of these wicked humans that operates on a different plane of existence to cause untold harm to their families and neighbours. I was alone in opposing their view and I maged to put up a good fight.

After a few back and forth, I was able to make a positive impact on everyone except for the young lady that sat behind me. So I asked her if she has seen a witch before? She said yes.....and went on to narrate a very heart wrenching story that is gauranteed to draw a little sympathy from a psycopath.
The summary of her story was that a woman from her community had seven children but lost them one after the other through freak accidents and illness as a result of her a decision to kill them in the witch world. So, when news of the death of her last remaining child reaheched her, she went raving mad not out of grief but of a dawning sense of reality that there will be no more child for her to feast on in their coven.
I told her that the death of one child is enough to make a woman go mental not to talk of seven, but that her inability to see the woman as a human has prevented her from seeing it that way. That a christian who loves their neighbour as themselves will not allow the woman to carry the weight of such tragedy alone, they will do everything in their power to help her feel a sense of belonging.

johnydon22:
Nope it's an affirmation of reality. . . Lets face it most Christian practises and beliefs were directly hewn from older pegan practises and beliefs.

I can agree with you on this, but then again not all who identifies as christians believe the same thing.

johnydon22:
[b]So such beliefs are fully incorporated in the Christian belief [/b]only being dispelled now by the wind of Secularism, information, education and scientific illumination..

All religious moderation were tampered by these values if not they would still be same till today!

Is the bold an assertion of yours or a suggestion that my previous statement implies it?

johnydon22:
European Christians also believed in witches and even killed Witches. . .more than 600,000 alleged witches were burned at the stake by the Church in medieval Europe

Christianity did not originate from Europe they also had elements of their indigenous paganic religion that was fused with christianity when it was adopted as their new religion.

johnydon22:
Fear: Is a very important aspect of our natural self, it is rooted in survival and is a fueling value for our Survival Instincts

But when this Factor is misplaced, misused, far stretched and imaginative, it becomes a dangerous value, it becomes detrimental to survival and a psychological prison that can mar our psychological well being.

I live in a society deep in the heart land of Enugu like all southern states is lit with magnanimous religious activities, a gripping clutch of outright superstitious fantasy, a pitiable belief and fear of witchcraft.


"Mrs Mmuo has been accused by her daughter
in-law of being a witch.
She lost two babies in miscarriages and the last was a still birth.
the only chant she knows right now is

"My mother in-law is a witch, she ate my babies, my pastor confirmed it"


Mr Obiajulu has been branded a wizard by his Children, he had laboured to see them through school now they are independent.
the first son had some troubles in his business and the man of god's never wrong pointing hands fell on his father.

Now the song is "My Father is a wizard working against my progress, man of God confirmed it"

Yes little children are not left out of the party,
any child with a slightly unique but different character is a witch, a reincarnation of an ancestral spirit .

The prayer house even used Cane on the little Ada to get her to confess.
Marks of darkened cane stripes adorn her flesh as a testimony.


"Holy Ghost fires" rents the air as the church beside attack spiritually the witches of the night while the rest of us need to twist and turn in bed unable to close our eyes from the shouts and bangs robbing us of sleep.

The average Nigerian society is riddled by the fear of Witches and Wizards, by the fear of such vague abstract notions that is no more than a psychological epilepsy conceived by a misplaced fearful mind.

it is a dangerous belief, a social menace and a stumbling block to our psychological growth.

-Every whiff of wind is a witch-craft manifestation.

-the rats and cockroaches in the house trying to find something to eat are in fact monitoring spirits sent from the village to monitor progresses.

-The cry of owls in the night is actually that of a witch in assignment..

-A child talking in the sleep is possessed.

- Every weird looking uncle or grand mother is actually one responsible for your problems.

-Every night mare is a revelation that an evil is attacking you.

It has gotten to the point that Husbands can accuse wives, mothers accuses children, wifes accuse mother in-laws, uncles, fathers, grand mothers, grand fathers.

everyone is caught in that web of fearful accusations and untold scare.

If you wear a red shade, you will see everything in a shade of red, the trees will beam down with red leaves, the sky will be smeared with red

It is time to take out that red shade, time to rid your mind of unhealthy baseless beliefs rooted in sheepish fear, ignorance and simplistic gullibility to what bible wielding, tongue firing, swag bearing men of God said.

The mind can be our greatest ally and our greatest foe, if you convince yourself that you are being chased surely you'll live the rest of your life running from nothing other than your own mind.

You'll spend your life battling imaginary enemies every night and day in an unending streak of illusionary wars.

You will be a prisoner of your own mind, a captive of your own fear and that can only diminish your ability to live freely.

It is time to take out the red shade and see clearer
time to shed these vague abstract fears and breathe freely

Nothing diminishes the human potential more than victimization of one's self.
Stop blaming every other thing for your misfortune and thereby making yourself the victim.

One problem with such fearful vague fantasies is that it keeps you busy fighting over enemies that are not there, compounding your problems with imaginary causes thereby invoking the need for imaginary solutions.

That is when our belief and fear becomes an enemy to self.

The rate of such demeaning belief etched in the minds of the average Nigerian makes this society an easy prey for selfish con men who would utilize this fear to extort the masses while dipping them deeper into this illusionary show down of fearful fantasy.

It is either you choose to be master of your own self by ridding your mind of any diminishing belief and fear or you subject yourself to the rule of your fears.

Removed the red shade and put on a clearer one
That a suit wearing man accused your mother to be the architects of your problem doesn't make it true, your illness are natural, your dreams are a projection of your mind, nobody is tying down your progress.

In a life and society ruled by random uncharted interactions there is bound to be an uncaring outcome from these events.
Good and bad can happen to anybody irrespective of their belief or character, what you make of such situations is all that matters.

Roping them around belief in witches rather compounds your problems and keeps you busy chasing and fighting nothing ..

We should all gun towards a healthy mind, unshackled by fear of vague concepts and unbound by imaginary battles.

Our youths should stop mobbing old men and women in the name of killing witches such practises are long gone in the global scale and are regarded as the dark ages in human history.

Children should stop being beaten, maimed and even burnt because of flimsy baseless accusations emanating from a con mind swallowed by a fearful and gullible mind.

With the sad eventuality of this demeaning beliefs in such a vague notion as Witches, with it's effects found in almost every nook and cranny of our society.

One can rightly assert that belief in witchcraft is a social menace, one we must evolve and leave behind for our own good.

Cc. ValentineMary (Who suggested this topic) Hahn, opeyemiolu, Shollyps, plaetton.

This is arguably one of your best write up, it should be on the front page indefinitely to help educate people about harm of labelling someone as a witch.

CoolUsername:
Fighting witchcraft is a dominant part of the Christian belief in this part of the world. Why do you think this is so? What is your take on this?

CC: opeaceo, Oxytocin

The reason is very simple, it is as a result of the syncretic fusion of our residual african paganism with christianity that gave rise to such beliefs.

urahara:
I have never in my life seen a xtian dat doesnt bliv in witches neva

I am a christian who doesn't believe that there are witches and thefe are many more like me.

hahn:
And I have corrected him.

Do you believe in witches? Do you believe it is possible that people can ruin one's destiny? Do you believe that witches use cats to operate on people? Do you believe that some children are witches? Do you believe that the devil is responsible for the evil in the world?

A big YES or NO please

As a christian my answer to your qustions is a big fat NO.

You should either get a job or start a proper business of your own instead of looking for how to deceive people in the name of God.

This cartoon illustrates the frustration that you feel about the relentless attack on your faith by atheist.

cevek11:
While praying today, an angel appears to you and says you have less than a day to live. Also that God has given the authority to grant you one and any prayer... Warning that a request for additional time on earth is useless...

What would that prayer be?

And yes! The angel had to add the notice seeing that you are a Nairalander (sense people)

Is heaven so bad that one would consider using their single use guaranteed prayer card to ask that they be given more time on earth?

Olugbenga28:
Bro, God gave u 100% and after eating ur own 90%, u now want to use God's 10%...my advice for u is either u leave the boy @ home or use ur 90% if not u will just pay d fee in vain if u use ur tithe cos God himself MAY frustrate the boy's effort in school cos its HIS share u are using n u will still pray to the same God to help ur brother pass his exams...so how will wen u are using his share...same thing, u don't use ur tithe as hospital bill cos its God dat heals n yet u are using his share to supposedly cure the sick.

This your god is worse than the mafia, why worship him?

gesolyn:
Pay your tithe and see the blessings that will follow you or do otherwise and see the problems that comes thereafter. Don't eat your future please. As you obey God, He will provide other ways to pay the school fees and block devourers - sources of wastage from attacking you.

The op like many other tithe payers are yet to see this blessing that pastors are always talking about as they smile to the bank.

johnydon22:
Don't you see if the world thought as you did then we all would cherish belief over what is true..

This is not a matter of what you believe or want to believe, it's a matter of what is right so the bolded is completely out of it..

Believing or not believing something doesn't make it true or untrue, if it is then it is

by first diminishing your scope of deduction by i don't believe in chance you have already concluded on what you want the answer to be even before looking

So we should judge our progress by the depth of our questions and the sincerity of our answers and our ability to agree with what is right rather than believe what feels good

what is the chance that in a sieve of 200,000,000 holes, a drop of water must pass through one?

what makes you think the universe or nature must be designed?


Since they can be 1 then they can be thousands or even millions or a whole race of them even joint in the design set.

so what makes you think 1 is less of an assumption than 1,000

What you see as chance is what I see as incomplete information. The example you gave of a drop of water and 200,000,000 sieve holes is a good example. With little or no information one would be unable to tell if the drop of water would even hit the sieve, with more information one would start talking about a reasonable certainty of which part of the sieve the water will pass through. And with complete information you will know with certainty which hole the water will pass through.
To believe that the universe came from random chance is even more of a stretch in my opinion. If it is random why do you bother to try to understand it?

johnydon22:
Lmoa... well moving on..

So why then do you think there is need to place a god in the corner of universal causality.

what prompts intelligent design?

And how are there not more than 1 or an entire race of these god entities.

Because I don't believe in chance, I think it is the scientific equivalent of God did it. Events only appears random when the limits of our understanding is exceeded.

Please rephrase your second question, I did not quite get it.

God is the universal set, so if there are other Gods, then they would be contained in Him. But if a God or Gods exist outside of Him, they would constitute a disjointed set and effectively be nonexistent to us.

Scholar8200:
Now dorox, you talk of moral justification. By what ethics or standards or reference are you seeking a moral justification of or condemnation of Hell fire.

I am using the fact that God said that He is love, that is why I am finding it difficult to reconcile the act of torturing souls for eternity with one who is love.
Now, don't get me wrong, love does not deny responsibility nor does it condone wrongdoing or let the guilty walk free. What is does is to give us a path to salvation as long as we are alive. Since there is no pathway to redemption for the souls in hell, can you tell me the purpose of keeping those souls there in never ending torment?

johnydon22:
Ok god pull them right out of himself?

That is one way of putting it.
I am sure my grandmother felt the same way when she saw Oyimbo's magic for the first time.

johnydon22:
now for God to make the universe he had to find the right values to give to various constants for make this kind of universe.

so therefore these values were there before god utilized them to fashion a universe?

or there weren't and god first had to pull them out from somewhere before utilizing them

Yes, all possible values is contained within God. Nothing exist outside Him.

johnydon22:
This still doesn't answer the question. . We are alive. we live but yet we cannot pull out a watch from ourselves or from no where.

So since there was no universe how did god derive a universe to create, from himself? magic?

He spoke to himself and the universe popped out?

I am sure that if the energy that birthed the universe at the moment of the big bang is endosomatic to you, then making a universe would be a matter of finding the right value to give to various constants for the kind of universe that you want.

johnydon22:
So energy existed alongside God before God fashioned stars out of it?

By definition being alive means that there is a measure of energy that is endosomatic to you, it is part of you and makes you, you. So also it is with God, He is alive, therefore there is an immeasurable amount of energy associated with His person.
As I said before, God is the universal set, and everything else is derived from him.

johnydon22:
You are missing the point here...

If there was nothing there cannot be a design since there isn't anything to design anything from.

we have the energy to design a watch but we cannot pull a watch out of no where, materials needed to make a watch existed long before we designed and made a watch.

So since there was 'nothing' only God at an aboard of literal nothingness, from whence did he design something when there really isn't anything to design..

assuming there was nothing at all only God or God(s) from what
exactly did the God(s) create everything from?

From nothing?

Energy in the right form will produce any material you need, the stars and planets once existed as pure energy before condensing into matter.

johnydon22:
it's ok if we discuss it here..

the infinitely conscious all knowing entity thingy is an even bigger problem but i'd leave it and focus on the causality and design premise

You see this re-opens the former problem? there was no universe and you think god caused and designed the universe.

Which means since there was no universe god had to design it out of nothing, there cannot be design if there is nothing to design it from.

so how did this happen?

I guess one can say that depending on which point of view that is taken, one could argue that either your question or my answer is as meaningless as debating how many angels can dance the cha cha on a pin head.,
From my point of view, the infinite nature of God means that all the knowledge, whether it existed in the past or exist in the present, or is yet to be manifested, is known to God. So unlike human with incomplete knowledge God does not need a template for creation.

analice107:
Hahahahahahahaha. I can't believe this. So with all the scriptures a posted, am the one who is dreaming this hellfire schemes? On whose side are you this JW?
Which part of the "HELLFIRE WAS NOT MADE FOR MAN DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?" ANY MAN WHO ENDS THERE CHOSE IT

why are you so hooked on the punishment but nothing on the rebellion or the way out that man has refused to take? What is wrong with you?

Since we started this discussion, I have been asking you to pls let's talk about man's responsibility for once, but you will never hear of it. All you are interested in is hellfire. Hellfire is the end product not the process. Let's talk about the process for once, but no, you won't. Imaooooo.

We are both in agreement that the bible speaks of divine judgement on all who rebel against God. I think their punishment will be an everlasting death, while you think they will be tortured in hell forever. This is where we have a difference of opinion and what my op is about. Is death not enough for sin? What does everlasting torture achieve? Please address these issues.

johnydon22:
Fair enough..

Now since the universe is contained within god therefore a part of god, how so then can the universe be designed.

God designed himself?

The context of my use of the word contained has little to do with spatial relationship, it is more of a causative relationship.
Since God is infinite, it would imply that the knowledge was within Him.
This kind of discussion tends not to go anywhere, can we just go back to discussing science, or move to the section that is better tailored to it?

johnydon22:
You are missing the point here...

If there was nothing there cannot be a design since there isn't anything to design anything from.

we have the energy to design a watch but we cannot pull a watch out of no where, materials needed to make a watch existed long before we designed and made a watch.

So since there was 'nothing' only God at an aboard of literal nothingness, from whence did he design something when there really isn't anything to design..

assuming there was nothing at all only God or God(s) from what
exactly did the God(s) create everything from?

From nothing?

Your statement presumes that the universe and God are disjoint Set, that is not so because God is an infinite personality, hence the universe as vast as it is, is a subset of God and is contained in God.
The statement above is my notion of God. I do not pretend that I can prove this notion to you, or anyone else, but I am happy with my belief.

johnydon22:
I want to pull off a little discussion here.. Let me assume the universe was created by a being or race of beings.

Tell me assuming there was nothing at all only God or God(s) from what exactly did the God(s) create everything from?

The universe is too vast and complex for any human and certainly not me to know all of its mysteries, however with continuous study the resolution to this unanswered question will keep getting clearer.
Back to your question, we now know that energy is the great enabler, so guided by knowledge one can create anything with enough energy. God had the knowledge to design the universe and the energy to bring it into existence.
I know it was me that brought God into a science, which I really don't like to do. Perhaps it will be better if you open a thread in the religious section if we are to continue this discussion.

analice107:
No, she didn't have to punish me for that long, that's because I changed.

What do you call a finite crime?

Guy, hold up. My mother is not God. I just told that story in responds to the illustration dorox used.
There's no way you can go about justifying eternal punishment.

God is not going to judge the sin or crimes of killing, stealing or raping, per say. What God will judge is a NATURE. There's the nature of God and there's the nature of Satan which keeps man prisoner and propels man to sin.

When Man fell, he changed sides. He adopted Satan as his master and dropped God's nature.
But God didn't leave him completely in the hands of Satan, that's why there's a way out, JESUS.

Apst Paul found himself possessing that nature of sin once, when he cried out, Christ heard him and gave him the new nature.
It's that New nature we need to access the kingdom of God and his Christ. Without that nature, even God can't help you. He can't go back on his words.

If you read Romans 7:16-21,23-25
Now if I do [habitually] what is contrary to my desire, [that means that] I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it.

However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin [principle] which is at home in me and has possession of me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh.

I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]

For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.

Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts]

but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [fixed and operating in my soul].

So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.

But I discern in my bodily members [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh].

O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am!

Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death?

O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

theres a nature of sin in man which needs dropping and a new nature in Christ taken up, without that, no hope for anyone who stands here wailing.
Before we justify hellfire, let's justify man's continuous rebellion against God.

In your case the objective of the punishment was to help modify your behaviour, but in the case of hellfire there seem to be no other objective apart from torture just for the sake of torture. Can you not see this important difference? It is what makes the concept of hell evil to me, just keeping people alive forever in order to subject them to the most unimaginable pain with no intention of letting them get redemption from their suffering.
Is your sense of compassion so dead that you can't see that only the devil can dream of this kind of lie against the Most Holy Person of God?

goodnews201668:
U

Okay, he was murdered in the bush. But if you brush that aside no wahala.

But since he is no longer alive physically as you asserted, he must be a spirit then.
His blood according yo the Bible was crying, my question is do spirits have blood too?
Mind you his blood was crying from the ground not heaven.

It is so sad that many so called christians cannot see that the immortality of any part of man makes Jesus sacrifice redundant and his promise of a resurrection superfluous since man is already alive.

double post.

@UcleSnr: Is there any conception of God as defined by its adherent that you would wish were true? If yes, why?