₦airaland Forum

James 5:14–16 (RSVCE) 14 Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. James here gives us a glimpse into sacramental confession being practiced in the first century. In verse 14 he says to call the “elders” for anyone who is sick. The Greek word for “Elder” is πρεσβύτερος (presbyteros) which is literally translated as “elder”, however, it is the Greek word where we get the English word for Priest. So its not just an “older” Christian, but rather a Priest, an ordained minister assisting the Bishop who is called to provide the sacraments to the sick person in this passage. Notice that James says to confess your sins to “one another” in verse 16. Question, who is the “one another” James had in mind here? Is it your best friend? Is it some stranger? Perhaps its your spouse he’s referring to? Well, what’s the context of the passage? It is the Elder of course… so we are to confess our sins to the πρεσβύτερος, the Priest that we are supposed to call when we are either sick or have sins to confess! Notice too what James didn’t say, namely to confess your sins directly to God. Rather, the witness of scripture, and salvation history, is to confess our sins to the Priest, the father, whom God has breathed upon with His life, and sent to bring us His reconciliation.

People believe what they want to believe.if sins are not heard.what determines whether they are to be forgiven or retained.Many a time we are blinded by teaching of pastors.when you say only God can forgive sins.nobody contest that.even from the time old the priest as to certify you clean.for does who don't know there is a sigh of relieve when you hear those words your sins are forgiven.
God the Father, wants to meet us where we are at, by
sending to us a “Father” and a “Priest”(c.f. Judges
18:19), whose job is to “to act on behalf of men in
relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for
sins.7” (Hebrews 5:1)! God the Son, allows men to
participate in His role as the one mediator between
God and man, to reconcile man to God. In essence,
God utilizes the man’s faculties, his body, his
voice, etc., to become present personally to the
sinner. A good example of this can be found in 2
Samuel 12, when, after King David had sinned,
taking Bathsheba into his bed and plotting the
murder of her husband, God sent Nathan to hear
the confession of David and to give to him
penance.
2 Samuel 12:7–15 (RSVCE)
7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man. Thus
says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you
king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the
hand of Saul; 8 and I gave you your master’s
house, and your master’s wives into your bosom,
and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and
if this were too little, I would add to you as much
more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the
Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have
smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have
taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him
with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now
therefore the sword shall never depart from your
house, because you have despised me, and have
taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’
11 Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil
against you out of your own house; and I will take
your wives before your eyes, and give them to
your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in
the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly; but
I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the
sun.’” 13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned
against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The
Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have
utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to
you shall die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his house.
And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife
bore to David, and it became sick.
Clearly, God allowed Nathan, a man, to be used in
this fashion, to hear the confession of David and to
draw him to repentance, giving him penance, yet
we wouldn’t say that David only confessed to the
man, but, rather, to God through the man! Notice
too that David never questioned Nathan about his
authority call him out of the “bushes”. You would
think David would have protested if Nathan had
overstepped his bounds, “hey, I will confess my
sins directly to God thank you very much!”
However, David accepted Nathan’s penance as
though it was God who issued it, with fasting and
praying, displaying his repentant heart. Then, after
the child died, David was blessed with another
child with Bathsheba, Solomon, who would be his
successor to the throne.

Look at what Jesus says in verse 21 of John's gospel Chapter 20, “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” What did God the Father send the Son to do? Among other things, He was sent not to judge but to save the world (John 12:47), He was sent to forgive sins (Mark 2:10), and to bring light to a dark world (John 12:35). So now does Jesus send His twelve (Judas will be replaced in Acts 1:42) to carry on His mission of reconciliation. How are the twelve to perform this mission? Easy, by either forgiving or retaining sins is how. Question then, how are the twelve to decide whether or not to forgive or retain any sins, unless they are told what those sins are? Just like the Priest, who received the sinner at the door of the Tabernacle in Leviticus, had to hear the confession first, so to do the twelve have to hear the confession of the sinner prior to either forgiving or retaining their sin.

Look at what Jesus says in verse 21 of John's gospel Chapter 20, “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” What did God the Father send the Son to do? Among other things, He was sent not to judge but to save the world (John 12:47), He was sent to forgive sins (Mark 2:10), and to bring light to a dark world (John 12:35). So now does Jesus send His twelve (Judas will be replaced in Acts 1:42) to carry on His mission of reconciliation. How are the twelve to perform this mission? Easy, by either forgiving or retaining sins is how. Question then, how are the twelve to decide whether or not to forgive or retain any sins, unless they are told what those sins are? Just like the Priest, who received the sinner at the door of the Tabernacle in Leviticus, had to hear the confession first, so to do the twelve have to hear the confession of the sinner prior to either forgiving or retaining their sin.

Gud mornin.construction management applicants please indicate

@ Kalan I have uploaded my WASSCE n NYSC discharge certificate severally but i am unable to view it.Kindly let me kno if it is a general problem been faced or wat i need to do.thanks

.for those who uploaded there o levels and NYSC discharge certificate where did u upload it.is it under d heading certificate n were u able to view it.help a broda out

anyone having problems viewing uploaded documents after upload.

My first question is what constitute worship.Moreover Catholics however misconstrued the opinion of the world is do not worship mary.Rather we honour mary.Just like God through the angel Gabriel salutation (Rejoice o highly favoured) did.Let us not tune scripture to suit ourselves.Mary is loved an honoured by catholics is scriptural.Even the bible extols her in are song of praise(Lk1:46-55).Verse 48 says "for he as remembered is lowly handmaid,henceforth all generations shall call he blessed".We cannot not read one scriptural passage and draw conclusion or make assumptions.Jesus loves his mother and except all to love and honour her.Do not be fooled by the stands of people who are quick to forget her role in Christian salvation or in the early church.Mary's name continues to echo in scripture from the birth of christ,to his presentation,to his find in the temple,to the miracle at the wedding feast at cana,on the way to calvary,at foot of the cross,even at the birth of the church.Many christians will have loved to strike her name out of scripture.But like every personality in scripture God wants us to learn something from her.Mary will fovever be loved and honoured d bible tells me so.

please when you day 1st test.do u mean the online test done individually in our homes or cafe

It is sad when people fail to look at things
objectively.The statement of the Oba of Lagos,Oba
Rilwan Akiolu 1,as raise all sort of dust.But rather
than live above our tribal and ethnic sentiments
and carry on with our lives,we act as though one
man is a nation.Many of us have yoruba
friends,some even live in houses with yoruba
people,some even speak better yoruba than
yorubas .but are quick to throw all this away as
soon as things get ugly.
Have you ever bothered to check that even though
you excel in other lands,you do not as much excel
in your land.Have u asked yourselves why.It
because rather than concern yourselves wit issues
concerning you,you concern yourselves with issues
of others.
Lagos will remain a south western state and be it
as it may will continue to develop and be ahead of
the south eastern states.
Futhermore,examples have shown us that you
enjoy non performing leaders.Its is no wonder that
Abians who complained about Theodore Orji's
woeful performance still voted him in as a senator
to represent them.Even though the incumbent
president was obviously not doing well,you went
all out to support him.
It is still a surprise to me that history as not
taught the Ibos anything.
But will like to remind you of the story of the civil
war.A man led his people to war against his
country and when he saw he was losing went into
hiding,leaving his people to suffer.Why did he run?
He knew it was a treasonable offence punishable
by death.
But a good leader extended an arm of friendship
which was not common at that time and said no
victor no vanquished and Nigeria is still nigeria
today.
And in the words of Theophilus Danguma ‘If
Ojukwu as acted like Jonathan we could have
averted a year's blood shed’.
Finally if we are only Lagosians when it suit us and
not Lagosains when it doesn't suit us.I think we
have conflicting if not confused identities.
I Lagos we are all Lagosians Yoruba,ibo, hausa and
other tribals alike.It is either/or
D voice as spoken.

I am not a relationship expert and it as taken me long time to come up with this and still i don't know if i should have posted it.
Pardon me for been so unorthodox
In a relationship there are two thing may come back to hunt you.These are whether you decide to be intimate(no sex) or decide not to be intimate.Do not be alarmed or play dumb.
In my interaction with women.Some ladies view not been intimate(no sex) as been one or more things.That d man is sexually immature or a eunuch or a man with another sexual preference or too churchy.
While on the other hand been intimate may mean the opposite.You may argue but let me make my point.
In any case whether or not you are intimate(no sex) in a relationship affects a person on the premise of who their partner is?.If you likes been intimate(no sex) and your partner doesn't there is a big problem and vice-versa.
Worst case is if a partner pretends and plays along.Sooner or later the partner becomes uncomfortable with the whole routine and relationship crashes.
This is the situation many young person find themselves in relationships today.
I have not made myself a judge of moral character and i encourage you don't too.
But i have this to say .never pretend in a relationship to be okay with what you are not comfortable with,don't even manage to cope.You will only cause urself grief.
A word they say is enough for the wise.
D voice as spoken.