₦airaland Forum

Zonefree:
According to Shaggy, "It wasn't me".

If Heaven wan fall, always maintain "it wasn't me".

An allegation remains an allegation until proven otherwise by a reputable court.

I was just about to say this

triplechoice:
No, not true. The argument often repeated by a lot of atheists that most religion in the world have a supreme diety which they worship directly and an hellfire which they also threaten non believers with is founded on falsehood .

If you're asked to mention at least 20 from the over 20 thousand as support for your claim,you will struggle to come up with a quarter of that figure .

majority is this context is not the number of religions but the number of people in a religion

triplechoice:
Every religion in the world is not insisting theirs is the only way to God or threatening people with hell.

but the majority do.

Dtruthspeaker:
Presumably you are Nigerian, so I ask, this English you are speaking or the clothes, you wear, are they part of your religion?

I am certain you can even speak and behave better than Americans, yet are these cultures your religion? No.

Religion is a choice because that is what it means when a person grows up and we see him conduct himself in certain way both in action and in speech.

u have raised an interesting point and i agree that things like ur language, clothing, and behavior can also be adopted from various cultures without necessarily being tied to religion. but then the difference is that religion, unlike language or clothes, often claims to shape ourr identity in a deeper & more fundamental way. religion often defines ur worldview, morality, and even your purpose sef in this life
which r things that go beyond surface-level culture.
....while you say religion is a choice, I would argue that for many, it doesn’t feel like a true choice. If for instance if someone is raised in a deeply religious household, surrounded by a society that reinforces a single belief system, can we really say they had the freedom to explore other options? Or when a child is taught from birth that a certain faith is the truth, do they truly have the space to choose otherwise?

for some people eh, maybe religion is a conscious choice as you have said now but for many, their religious identity seems more inherited than chosen. Just like how I speak as u say English because I was raised in an environment that valued it, many people follow a religion because it’s part of their upbringing

.....does that make their faith less genuine, or does it just reveal how deeply cultural conditioning has shaped us and limited our choices

xtianchris:
You already answered your questions ... Lemme highlight them. Most Religions are man made. I call him the prime creator... I don't really want to dive in so much .. He has created everything. . Nothing loss bro.. It's left for the individual to connect to him through ways and means. Witches, socoress, pastors, Bishop, Imam. They are all the same .. There's good and Evil.. In Christiandom we use the Bible to connect.. That's why the word hypocritic comes in most don't practice what they preach. The Bible is an analogy..( broadly figurative language).
Literature beautiful story .It only takes us to Victoria but can't get you inside Victoria. And try to study Meta physics..
I love this law very well . Law of divine oneness❤️1 John 4:8 .. Don't read only the Bible read other Books.

And please don't let your Environment and upbringing influence you. You should be the one to influence them.. If you get knowledge and wisdom my bro . Forget... You be like a magnet 🧲.. People will get attracted to you.

You're correct, I do read other books and they've all helped me see things differently.

The law of divine oneness, I've never come across
I'll do well to check it out

Procashtips:
The culture of give and I get
The culture from paganity where people go to the gods with gifts to get something in return

Yea and selfish reasons too

Most are drawn to Christianity because of the material wealth promises these prosperity pastors have been preaching.

They most go to church for these material promises.

Remove these worldly promises and see them disappear.

Churches not giving them these lies are not as filled up as the other.

Fact, and that's why people stop believing because they've set an expectation that can't be attained easily.

New generations of humans would not give a hoot about religion anyways as we're all heading to Individualism thanks to internet, social media .

It'll be all man for himself soon

xtianchris:
For me all every religion is true . Depends on the Individual... In reference to Duality.. Good and bad. So depends on the person. There are good Christians and bad once .Same goes for other religions..

I get what you're saying... & I agree that within every religion, there are both good and bad people. The duality of human nature itself good or bad is universal, and it exists regardless of religious affiliation...but I think this then raises anothet interesting question in support of my main post
If every religion is true, how do we reconcile the fact that each one often claims to be the only truth? eg, many religious doctrines teach that following a specific path is the key to salvation, which directly conflicts with other religions or denomination or a particular religion. Can all these paths really be true at once?

also, while it's true that individuals have the capacity for good or bad, I still believe that the religion a person identifies with is often more about cultural context than personal choice. The "good" or "bad" behavior of a person might be influenced by their environment and upbringing, but so is the religion they happen to follow and to even think further
Who determines what is good or bad sef?
In the end, the individual matters more than their particular religion.

And to everyone reading this I ask again,
how much of ur belief is shaped by ur upbringing rather than Ur own conscious, independent choice eh?

Y'all can check this out
Is your religion your choice or it was predetermined and chosen for you by your position in time and space

https://www.nairaland.com/8238211/religion-really-choice-just-cultural#132407010

Let’s talk about something I've always had to pointt out to religious people who behave holier than thou when comparing themselves & their religion against another that often goes unquestioned:
[color=#0f017a]Religion[/color]
We grow up hearing that religion is a deeply personal choice, somethin we believe in because it's our truth. But is it really true??

Think about it for a second. If you were born in Saudi Arabia, would you likely be a Christian or a Muslim? Now, what if you were born in India? The odds definitely point to you being Hindu. And if you were born in a largely Christian nation like the U.S. or Italy na? Well, the answer seems obvious. These patterns aren’t coincidences becos they’re cultural.

My argument is simple: most people’s religion isn’t something they consciously choose as it’s a product of where they were born and how they were raised. You’re more likely to adopt the religion that dominates your surroundings. Religion, in thiss sense, seems less like a spiritual discovery and more like a cultural inheritance.

This then begs the question: if where you’re born and the beliefs you’re exposed to from childhood play such a massive role, how much of your religion is really your choice? If religion were purely a choice, wouldn’t the world’s religious demographics be more evenly spread across all regions?

Think about a very devout Christians in southern or west Africa, the Muslims in the Middle East, and the Hindus in India. Are they truly choosing their faith or has it been chosen for them by their culture?

I’m not saying that faith isn’t real or that it does not even matter. But maybe we should challenge this notion that religion is an individual choice when, in reality, it's heavily shaped by external factors and christians of whatever denominstiom, Muslims and the rest should not try to force their religious norms on most of us they feel are nkt being christian enough or religious enough.

What y'all think?

Procashtips:
Most Nigerians are just religious people, nothing more.

Even the religion is mostly cultural, already adulterated with their own culture.

By the way I think as the world develops, culture changes, so does religion and I've not had time to complete a right up untill this morning about religion and culture and will attach the llink below for any religious person to counter

https://www.nairaland.com/8238211/religion-really-choice-just-cultural#132407010

sreamsense:
Stop misinterpreting Bible for your own selfishness, Satan also knows Bible and quoted for Jesus when tempting him. Do not forsake the assembly of God's children so you can strengthen and encourage one another. Christians are the church not the building, don't forsake the assembly of other brethren. Apostles were meeting physically and regularly too to encourage themselves. Stop deceit of Satan in your life trying to deceive you and makes you spiritually dead and lukewarm in this end time. Be warned!

To encourage themselves, why did they need encouragement? Was it because they were persecuted?

Not many people need to be encouraged to worship their God, not many people need encouragement.

If as a Christian after all the years of going to church I still need to be encouraged then I'm not serious.

I take the bible as a textbook, the church as a school.

There comes a time where you should graduate from that and focus on your life without making going to church a necessity.

Procashtips:
And when COVID happened, did God also go on holiday since physical service got halted?.

Does it mean for 2 years, there were no more Christians and serving God stopped?

That's what it means and thus we are all going to hell 😭

Procashtips:
What's the difference between those that watch online and those that still goes to physical service but end up viewing the activities on screens fixed in the church due to distance from where you're seated and the altar?

Question should be: Why do you attend service and what are the impacts, effects and spiritual results in your life, lifestyle and your country at large?

Word, if pastors think it's not good why do they have TV channels to broadcast sermons

It's not about which is better anymore because it's not actually supposed to matter.

But because other Christians will make you feel less of a Christian if you do it online.

Verily i say unto you, the way to salvation is within not another mans own.

VeeInsider:
I need recommendations on where I can buy a brand new Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra in Lagos.

There are too many refurbished phones being packaged as new phones.

It's an old device they're newer models
Hard to find a new one in Nigeria.

I'm not even sure you'll find except maybe refurbished or those they just packaged with nylon

Baxilexi:
Nairaland will continue be a place where true compatriots can continue to teach one another, dismantling poorly fabricated lies and opinions about how the tools of death and misery are the building blocks for national development and give hope to the despondents amongst us that there are those who bring light and the current darkness would one day fade away .

I share with you my morning read, hopefully the right audience gets educated of how abysmally the Nigerian economy is being coordinated in comparison to those with human faces.

Let’s all remember, people build nations, nations don’t build people.


What Is a Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) and How Does It Work?
A cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is an increase made to Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to counteract the effects of inflation and rising prices in the economy.

COLAs are typically equal to the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for a specific period. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) represents the average prices of a basket of goods and is used to measure inflation.

The COLA was 3.2% for 2024. Someone who received $10,000 in Social Security benefits in 2023 would see their 2024 annual benefit increase to $10,320. The COLA for 2025 is 2.5%, meaning that someone who received $10,000 in 2024 benefits would receive $10,250 the following year.

Key Takeaways

A cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is an increase in Social Security benefits intended to counteract inflation.
Inflation is measured using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).
Automatic yearly COLAs began in 1975.
The COLA is 3.2% for 2024, and 2.5% for 2025.
Understanding the Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA)

Inflation was high during the 1970s so compensation-related contracts, real estate contracts, and government benefits used COLAs to protect against inflation. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) determines the CPI-W that the Social Security Administration (SSA) uses to compute COLAs. The formula applies the percentage increase in the CPI-W from the third quarter of one year to the third quarter of the following year. This information is updated regularly on the SSA website.45

Congress ratified a COLA provision to offer automatic yearly COLAs based on the annual increase in the CPI-W that went into effect in 1975. Social Security benefits were increased when Congress approved special legislation before 1975. COLAs were based on the increase in the CPI-W from the second quarter of 1974 to the first quarter of 1975 in that year.

They were based on the increases in the CPI-W from the first quarter of the previous year to the first quarter of the current year from 1976 to 1983. COLAs have been dependent on the CPI-W from the third quarter of the previous year to the third quarter of the current year since 1983.

Inflation levels ranged from 3.3% to 11.3% in the 1970s. The COLA increase was 8% and the inflation rate was 9.1% in 1975.

The COLA reached the highest level in history at 14.3% in 1980 when the inflation rate was 13.5%.

Drastically lower inflation rates prompted small COLA increases averaging 2% to 3% per year during the 1990s. That continued into the early 2000s when even lower inflation rates resulted in no COLA increases at all in 2010, 2011, and 2016.

The COLA for 2023 was 8.7%, due to the 8% inflation levels witnessed in 2022. The COLA fell to 3.2% in 2024 and dropped again to 2.5% for 2025.

How COLA Is Determined

COLA is reliant on two components: the CPI-W and the employer-contracted COLA percentage. CPI determines the rate of inflation and is compared yearly. Recipients don't receive a COLA when consumer prices drop or if inflation hasn't been high enough to substantiate a COLA increase. There's no COLA increase if there's no CPI-W increase.

Hold-Harmless Provision

The hold-harmless provision in the Social Security Act prevents the benefit amount for some Social Security beneficiaries from decreasing from one year to the next if there's an increase in their standard Medicare Part B premiums. The Part B premium will be reduced to ensure that the nominal value of the Social Security benefit will be the same if the increase in Part B premiums causes the beneficiaries' Social Security amount to be less.

Few individuals are typically held harmless but they may be impacted by this provision in years where there's no Social Security COLA. There was a 2% Social Security COLA in 2018 and 28% of Part B enrollees were held harmless. There was virtually no COLA in 2016 and 70% of enrollees were held harmless from the Part B premium increase.

Other Types of COLAs

Some employers such as the U.S. military occasionally give a temporary COLA to employees who are required to perform work assignments in cities with a higher cost of living than their home city. This COLA expires when the work assignment is completed.10

How Much Is the COLA Adjustment for 2025?

The COLA adjustment for 2025 is 2.5%. An individual's annual benefit would increase to $10,250 in 2025 if they received $10,000 in Social Security benefits in 2024.

How Do You Calculate Your COLA Increase for 2025?

Take your monthly payment and multiply it by 0.025 to calculate your COLA increase for 2025 then add this number to the amount you received in 2024. This will show you the amount you'll receive in 2025.

Does Everyone on Social Security Get the COLA Increase?

Yes, everyone on Social Security will get the COLA increase. The purpose of COLA is to ensure that benefits are not eroded because of inflation.

I've always said this thing, although I didn't know it had a name called COLA.

even cost of transportation should follow same formula.

Imagine fuel is 1k and transport is 1k, fuel increases to 1200 and a driver somewhere decides because fuel is now 1200 he'll charge 1500

Make them follow trace where them buy that pal to prevent more people having issues

Nigerians playing COD plenty pass people applying for Army.

Just reform army do adverts with COD make them feel it's same experience and then fit consider una

Natbrowny:
👉 Chief build house unknown to family members
👉 Chief carry am give side chick mayb 5years
👉 Side chick makes videos n pictures of her new house
👉 Mesages n comments were pouring in
👉 Side chick became the center of attraction
👉 Chief was enjoying the pussy UUUNNTIL
👉 After expiration of 5years chief sold the house, without telling side chick
👉 The new owner of the house came to take over
Side chick was bounced like Olajuwon was bouncing his 🏀

I like the way you put am.

No need for "Alle" "elleg" "allegedly"

I believe this more, I'll take is a the truth

I like the idea, they should modify it.

Would prevent expensive burials, decongest mortuaries etc.

As for the revenue, at this point what they'll be using it for should not even bother us again, cause they will always use revenue for what they like!
Even if theyre to thief it.

Maybe after 2 weeks of no burial they can start charging, cause why will you be keeping dead for 5months to a year preparing money for burial

Lavor234:
Manufactured chaos

according to the first user.... And if you do agree with him,

what sort of support is needed from the presumed low quality human who cant focus.

Those that are not low focused so far what have they done? If they're down something what effect has it had on everyone?

correctguy101:
Baba, the kind fight you dey talk about here one person no dey fight am, so what are you saying? You qwan send person pikin go hell?

If everybody fights what they can on their end, it may make a difference.

As for me I'm no longer interested in this country, I believe the only solution is for the whole country to burn down and then hopefully like a phoenix we rise again.

Cos as far as we have the broken institutions that can't stand on their own, nothing will be better.

Now one man saying another man is distracting him or others from trying to make Nigeria great simply means he himself is not even ready or capable because he's waiting for someone he doesn't like.

vdm is doing what he thinks can make a difference no matter what anyone says, the main fact he brings this things to light for a discussion is enough for me.

The person who said that should try and make a change for once in his own house, if his house is perfect, he should try making a change in his neighborhood and try to make all of them fight alongside him.

Not standing behind his phone and saying jack.

If he only criticised vdm I won't have an issue, but saying vdm is distracting us from whatever is what a sissy would be saying.

Who is even Us?
From social media comments I've deducted that most people who use the word Us collectively do so so as to give themselves a false sense that they're doing something most times.

When I see such people on twitter or here, it just annoys me that their thinking is sooo shallow.

If VDM is distracting him that means every other thing asides fighting or raising awareness on his end is a distraction, maybe he should stop going to church, eating, talking or even looking at his phone sef.

As they're all distractions when he has a goal to achieve

Lavor234:
Distractor in chief, distracting

Are you a man or a woman?
Whichever you are you're behaving like a sissy.

Who is he distracting? Is he distracting you?
If he is then you're the problem.

Go out and fight and stop being distracted

Vision101:
CNG is fully produced here. There is abundance of natural gas that is being wasted. No importation issues. No rate of dollar. LPG is imported that's why the price is going up.

i understand cng is produced here and it's cheaper. but what i'm saying is with mass adoption it will get more expensive and then the government will think of ways to make more from it

Asides environment I think the government is trying to kill 2 birds with one stone by basically diversifying energy products to prevent us from being dependent on one.

Imagine converting to cng and then it gets saturated and then the price of cng increases too because of demand then both petrol and cng become expensive and we then have nowhere to run to.

Time and space are two things I'm so fascinated about and have spent years studying and doing research on.

I'm just busy rn to drop a full comment on this.

But would come back sometime this week to drop something concrete.

But as someone said above.
It depends on who is asking, who's point of view were using.

Anither563:
Elon Musk doesn't look happy and engaged. He looks more like a captive being dragged along.

If you've follow that guy and know him for a long time

There's nothing captive , that's his behaviour in real life.
Doesn't his behaviour their correlate with his twitter behaviour?

The guy is a weirdo

flokii:
CENTCOM should come to Nigeria biko.. We are tired of ab0kis and their insecurity wahala.
They don't value human lives, reason insecurity is nothing to them unlike South where lives are sacred.

Centcom has no business with Africa.

There's africom that'll involve itself with African affairs

Penguin2:
Objectivity can go to hell.

If you talk objectivity, you will find reasons to justify Boko Haram and their actions so far - remember their leader was killed first.

If you talk objectivity, you will find reasons to justify the actions of Bandits so far - remember they were helpless victims of cattle rustling for so long before they went rogue.

You see, if we go from your perspective, we would find reasons to justify every evil act and every doer.

So, you see why you shouldn’t think like that?

Death to all terrorists!

Damn,
I've never thought from this POV.
Makes absolute sense

Bwilliam:
You have already started stretching the truth with the opening statement you made.

How

AuthorMan:
I know they will hide under AI.
And as corrupt as naija is. They must have gone to the NETWORK PROVIDER to wipe traces of such conversation.
You see, I have lost hope in Naija tey tey.

They can't do that,
Any Telco that does that is putting it's reputation at risk.

And not like the Telco has the conversation itself.
It only has the metadata of such conversations, date time, how long it took, people involved etc

Thegamingorca:
The lawyer wey draft this nah polytechnic he graduate from

I swear, the fact he used AI, I just wondered if he's actually tech savy and understand how this things work