₦airaland Forum

A few days ago I saw the construction of the Olympic rings and the realization of London 2012 finally sank in for me.

To be honest I don't have much faith in how the event is going to be executed but still I’m actually quietly anticipating it.

FXKing2012:
Where did u hear that there are many Gods? No religious person in the world has ever subscribed to the notion of many Gods, they all believe there is one God but their view and interpretation of Him is what differs.

I don’t think you grasped my question fully.

Which “religious people” are you referring to? Are you factoring all belief systems? Don’t forget that the religious populace also includes the polytheists or are they exempted from your discussion?

Yes many people call on the name of “God” but all these God’s are not in harmony with each other i.e. a Muslim does not adhere to the trinity although the authority they address and submit to has the same title as the Christian “God”.

There are many interpretations of God as you have rightly said thus is it still the same God governing all these believers but with different aliases? Are these Gods not in opposition to one another? The fundamental thing "religious people" have in common is that they believe in a God not necessarily the same God.

People pay obesisance or like you said “commune” with their individual rendering of God and if that like you have implied should be enough to validate the existence of a God then by that criteria there are multiple Gods. Hence my question.

musKeeto:
There are so many gods in India. About 30 million, I think,  I live there, didn't get this off the internet.

Wow. If that census is correct that’s like 15 times the population of Namibia.

Which makes me wonder . . .if there is "one true God" . . .which "one" out of the vast population of these higher beings is the legitimate God?

FXKing2012:
What about those who commune with God on a regular basis,  why can't the non-believers accept there is a God (even if they dont want to serve Him)  by virtue of the fact that some other pple are able to commune with Him

Could you as a believer accept the beliefs or even God(s) (even if you don't want to serve Him) of other believers contrary to your own by virtue of the fact that some other people are able to commune with Him?

FXKing2012:
What am I driving at? So many clowns come up to declare there is no God simply becos they have not been able to see Him, feel Him or even commune with Him. So is that enough to claim there is no God?

So by your reasoning all those that have experienced God(s) validate his existence?. . . if that is the criteria then do you accept that there are many Gods? And if there are many Gods which one(s) do you follow? Why didn't you consider the other potential Gods?

If the child got bored of play-acting as a “pastor” I doubt those activities you listed up there are her remaining options in life but it’s revealing that you listed those activities to convey the carelessness of a child. Your assertion that a child should be “trained” in a faith (not of their own choosing) is dampened as you have quite aptly illustrated the care-free nature of children. Religion comes with responsibilities thus in such matters the individual should be entirely responsible for themselves. It should not be a parental right to decide what religion the child should adhere to (plus that just defeats the principles of “faith” anyway). At best, parents can be good examples of their faith. Conditioning could lead to consequences in the long run thus such “training” is actually a disservice.

skillet:
i hope you are not trying to fan my ego here. you know, man *beating chest* being like gods

No I wouldn't want to do that. If I fan your ego the population of gods will increase.

skillet:
later on we drifted to athena goddess of war and justice, and amazons as her offsprings or believers. i also drew on the fact that gadaffi's elite female sqad could be seen as amazons. now i found these out also

Gaddafi's female fortress, the amazons and Athena obviously do share similarities.

I also find it interesting that Gaddafi’s female bodyguards were all virgins but there obviously must have been a reason for that. I doubt Gaddafi would have wanted to be competing for their loyalty/affection but I think it was an ego thing for him to have an all beautiful untouched female fortress. I also think it was an ego thing for them to be selected to protect a once prominent male figure because usually in a relationship the dominate role is played by the protector but then again he had the wealth which must have been their motivation so he could still order their steps.

OmoPastor:
@ emofine
Do you know about this verse?

Yes.

What is your definition of a "righteous ruler"? A "born-again politician"?

OBasseynJo

They've grown on me now. The yellow diapered one is quite cute

@OP

Can you narrate how you "deconverted" these two fellows, please?

manmustwac:
You just taught them how to think for themselves.

Striking paradox.

mabell:
Is it not better to mimic glory than "shakira' or 'minaj's song?

Mimicking Minaj or whoever is not something I would personally encourage however my worry is that some young children have their so called faith decided for them – which shouldn’t be so. Some of them like the young “pastor” in the video start of by acting and depending on the type of relatives one has they will continue in that pretence or fake-acting until the character eclipses the actor. Isn’t this suppression?

If she was brought up in a Muslim household she may be doing just the same – and to the same people fawning over this display. . .would you still declare such exhibition as “impressive”?

Faith should not be involuntary.

I am impressed to see a child at such age, be able to recit the word like that. I watch a Little boy live on Emmanuel TV like this some months ago.

Repeating “glory" is not exactly what I would call being “able to recite the word”. If anything she is patterning her behaviour on preachers not the bible aka “the word” thus she is merely acting. Does she even understand what she is doing other than being given the limelight that she utilizes so well in order to be applauded?
Does she know the purpose of why she is in church? Does she understand what she is doing and reiterating?
She is most likely doing it to please people not God.

I would be impressed if she made up her mind at that tender age to become a Christian independent of any instruction which I highly doubt. How does a 2 year old come to conclude that Jesus is the way the truth and the light without it being hammered into their sub-conscious?
Is she in danger of going to hell if she at the age of 2 got bored of playing “pastor”?

Once upon a time I was that little girl. I could mimic the pastor, even knew how to "recite the word" at a young age but certainly it wasn’t “impressive” as indoctrination never is.

This child would continue this way she has started

Well that remains to be seen.

skillet:
kia! you harsh o.

Ndo

kia! i don tire!

Tire for wetin? for copying and pasting abi?

see, athena and the amazons were not women, women. they were more or less, men.

Even though I don't agree with the wordings I understand what you're trying to say here. Reminds me of the quote in which I'll badly paraphrase: whilst women were trying to be like men, men were busy trying to be god.

(Excuse my very bad paraphrasing, I can't remember the quote word for word.)

skillet:
there are more similarities between the orishas and the greek gods than you imagine.

In terms of faculties. Yes, I know

i was doing some research alog these lines sometime ago. its unfourtunate i have deleted most of the files i have, connected to that research, but i will try to find some of thoses materials online. i will post them here.

Please do.

traditional religion of all cultures have similar projections as dieties. this are some examples:

1. they all have goddess of fertility not gods

Well I would imagine as the womb is a symbol of both the woman and fertility.

2. they all have god of war, not godesses

My favourite ancient god is the goddess of war - Athena

as for the truth and deciever issue, i will get to that in due course. you see, that is a really personal issue to me but since you have asked, i will share. just give me some time to collect my thoughts.

Ok. Take your time.

sauer

skillet:
if on the other had you are asking[b] if we are making gods in our own (individual or personal) images [/b] then,
i think the answer is still no. becos if the mountain and fire christians differ from the deeperlife christians, it is only personality differences. understand?  some call God one of mercy and others call Him a consuming fire. in ancient religions this was so too.

Ok that’s why I was focusing on the ancient gods. Ancient socities depictions of their gods mirrored the people of those societies. . . i.e. the orishas don’t resemble greek gods but they have similar faculties.

i would say the answer is no. there is the truth and the deciever. simple. if you want i can expanciate, later.

Expanciate please

joe george:
while expressing ur opinion u should bear in mind that there is a true religion and there are many false religions. there are also those who profess the true religion but don't follow its teachings. don't be decieved u need God

What's the "true religion"?

What's the "false religion"?

If by "qualified" you mean being "Christian" . . .then no I am not "qualified" in the slightest.

And as regards to your question, yes I am deadly serious. Why should the "spread of the gospel" be given greater priority in our current state?
Education, health, security etc are more pressing matters. If your motivation for seeking "born again" politicians is to further the gospel then remember that Aso rock is no altar and that such duties should be primarily exercised in church. If an Animist or Muslim etc wanted to propel their own belief system via the corridoor of power by the same admission that "heathens" shouldn't be left to "run it" how would that exactly serve our nation?

And you're talking as if there's never been a "born again" politician.

can a pastor be a politician? I do not think so with the do or die attitude of politicians.

Ironic considering Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor suggestions for GEJ. Na real “do or die attitude”.

^^ Ok got it. You online?

I know this is an old topic but I only came to drop by and say that the opening post was so beautifully composed.

mkmyers45:
Deism is a better way of life than all this religious crap,  There is a GOD but looking at it from a sane point why take a guess from 4,000 options (1/40,000) when you can just believe in him yourself and live right,

That's an interesting way of putting it. But perhaps there is a common denominator: the similarities found in most belief systems. And perhaps people built on top of those foundations. Maybe one could thus search for commonalities if they hope to narrow their search or alternatively carve out a unique path that way no danger of being misled

OmoPastor:
How then can christians influence the polity in this country? Do we let the heathen run it and make decisions that hinder the spread of the gospel? What can we do?

Excuse me but doesn’t Nigeria have more pressing issues than the “spread of the gospel” ?

skillet:
i suspect that you already have the answers to your queries

Hmm not quite. I’ve been pondering over this recently. I carry an opinion regarding this topic but it’s not necessarily the correct answer.

they (the ancient people) too needed salvation so they discovered who could save them from what. this is the reason you have different deitiesfor different causes

But the faculties of their dieties were also a reflection of their wants/needs.

if you really want to be more grounded on this topic i would advise you  research the similarities between ancient religions and present day abrahamic faiths and some non abrahamic ones.

Yeah I’ve been loosely considering the relationship between some of the ancient gods in different societies. Some of their roles were similar which made me wonder if some gods were just mapped out into different cultures.

One of the most popular god is the goddess of fertility. She probably existed in most traditional beliefs but was called upon by different names depending on the society. So the presence of this goddess in such societies reveals that fertility is prized. Women who could not bear children at the time probably consulted this particular deity for the fruit of the womb.
Thus I wonder if this deity was conceived out of the human desire to have children. If these gods are manifestations of our wants did our inner desire create these ancient gods?

For example: I have my own ambition but I don’t pray/adhere to any deities whose faculties correlate to my desires but if I did would I have just imagined such a deity into existence? Won’t these deities just be the perfect extension of me as they embody what I want?

Even when you study the depiction of gods in times past, they resembled the people in their society hence the quote “Man made God in his image”.
These gods that resembled the people also contained the abilities that these people most likely wanted/needed. Thus I wondered if these ancient gods were perhaps Man’s alter ego because their existence was born out of what we lacked/wanted and packaged into this supra being whose function governs a particular ambition of ours.

the question is this: did the binis make up their religion? if they did why then do they have symbols which show that by a cross (or rather by the sacrifice on a cross) all the world would be joined as one? one of their symbols clearly show the heavens joining the waters and the land with a cross. another shows a cross where all elements are present.

Okay this is interesting and perhaps something to consider. I wonder how religions were born because it appears that there are very fine similarities shared amongst some of them or others were slightly influenced by another.

mkmyers45:
Man is supposed to live,behave and pattern himself in the true nature of the God he believes in so a Man's behavioral pattern is in direct pattern to his God.

What is the “true nature” of the gods? Didn’t Man’s wants give birth to these ancient gods?
Maybe man "pattern"ing themselves onto the “nature” of these gods could be man seeking to acquire those gifts perhaps.
These gods have distinctive roles thus they are specialist and therefore the ultimate pin-up of their ability.

If our imaginations/desires conceived these ancient gods man was probably hoping to convert the intangible into something real/touchable (by later carving these gods) and thus attainable. And to satisfy our desires we sought those wanted attributes from these devised ancient gods.

He is supposed to be a role model but i doubt any religion in this World truly depict their God/god's true model.

I wonder if this leads to a god-complex since people usually want to emulate their role models.

She is mimicking what she has been nurtured in and some people find this display of indoctrination endearing?
It’s merely a gimmick used to impress but it’s really obvious she doesn't know the purpose behind what she's doing. I'd be more interested in seeing this little "preacher" when she has matured and left her parent's household.

Watching that video actually made me sad. It's not cute it's cringeworthy.

https://www.nairaland.com/Smileys/green/grin.gif https://www.nairaland.com/Smileys/green/lipsrsealed.gif

There is a well-known quote . . .”Man made God in his own image”. . .that serves to highlight that certain religious deities are essentially a reflection of the people in those societies.
But what about the desires of these people? Are not the functions of their deities a reflection of their ambitions?

Despite the various depictions of god, one can learn more from the faculties governed by each god.

The ancient gods appear to be manifestations of Man’s inner desires or what they themselves hoped to embody.  Thus these desires (and elements like the sun) were packaged and projected as god or more precisely an ability of god. i.e. the goddess of love and beauty, the sun god.

So if the faculties of the gods are attributes of what Man hopes to attain is god therefore Man’s alter ego?  Or a devised role model perhaps?

*largely my thesis focuses on the ancient gods and not the ones of the Abrahamic faith*

I thought "Islam" meant submission?

Dap07:
But Christ has borne all our sufferings, and so is it d will of God 4 us to still suffer even after Christ's redemption??

Let’s be honest. Who would remember to pray to this deity if they weren’t afflicted?

Also isn’t suffering considered a trial to test one’s faith (in Christianity)?

Lastly, how did Christ "borne all our sufferings"? Please explain. Or do you mean what Man would have suffered if the "messiah" never came down to die for our consolidated sins?

bekay911

where una dey since?

Neҳ̸Ҳ̸ҳt:

the old cast

This is such an ambiguous question
Well actually it’s not because you specifically asked tbaba12345 who is God and he gave you a rendering of the God he adheres to.
The answers will vary depending on the person.

But I wonder if the evidence that some present of their individual God will vary.

Honestly I have never seen a person who is at peace with themselves come to the salvation of Christ. It’s usually a last lifeline for those who feel hopeless, broken and there is no other way to turn. Really. . .why is it when one is sinking suddenly a lifeguard appears and says. . .hey take this lifering on one condition . . sign the dotted line which agrees that you accept Jesus as your Lord and saviour. . .(you know, kinda like those debt commercials).
So yeah, I think suffering is a necessary step to “salvation” because if no one was suffering there would be a whole lot less prayers and quickie conversions I tell you now.
The process of humbling oneself or being humbled is perhaps a necessary step.

kola oloye:
^ here is your birthday gift,Oyah take it   

Thanks, although you're over 4 hours late