₦airaland Forum

noblefada: It's what I or what we think, it's always has to be what the scriptures says it is. Let ask you this question, was a physical tree, fruit or a literal serpent?

I guess we are all aware that a scripture (both in xtianity and other religions) can be intepreted in multiple ways
it is very common for aderents to claim that their understanding is what the scripturs says
Thats why islamic extremists believe/think/know that they are doing the will of their God

for example, you've asked if the tree and snake were physical or literal
And you really expect me to give an answer with finality without any scientific or logical reasoning?

....umh
You could start by answering if God is a man? (pls dont tell me that 'he' is a spirit ooo. Let's go beyond that. Use the scripture to tell me if 'he' is also a man and/or woman?)

A final food for thought

is there a universal beauty that all creatures ascibe to?
for example if a horse sees a girl that I consider beautiful, would it stare,
and if i see a horse that horses consider extremely attractive
would i say wow!! this is beautiful?


..just musing

i'll explain further

If i am to hold a pen and paper and create characters for a book
I could decide that some creatures that walked on all fours and had 3 eyes were the good and perfect guys
While those that had 2 legs, walked upright, and had 2 eyes were the bad guys. I could therefore design stories of good and bad around these.

On the other hand,
i could create my good and bad characters around what is already considered good and bad in the world i presently exist in

When God saw that something was good
what was his point of reference?

Is there a universal good that God was comparing the things he was creating to?
or was he the one defining good?
was he seeing that these things were good because they conformed to a sought of internal vision he has/had?

THE GOD, THE GOD

When you read the chapters of the creation, something stands out clearly
God on his own creating things and then seeing that it was good

This has got me thinking for many, many years
a kind of thinking that seems to escape many
..i'll explain

^^^
Great that you are so 100% sure that what you think is what is
I only "believe" what I have said, and I am still very open to reasoning

The way the present world was designed was for us to face challenges
its like friction -there is no movement without friction

Enoch lived a life contrary to this rule, and couldnt exist again on this earth for it is written
"Enoch walked with God, and he was no more"

So when you face challenges, smile and remember that there was a tree in the perfect garden
like David, reach out for your sling and run towards the giant
...this is what you were created to do

Esere826 : Preacher, I'll tell you what I believe.
God did not create man to worship him. Except our definition of worship is not an act where we open our mouths to praise God while lifting our hands...Nope
God made man for "his pleasure"
And his pleasure is that we "overcome". There is no overcoming without a challenge

That is why the tree was in the garden. That is why one of the the 1st instruction he gave was for man to "subdue"
Subdue means to put down something that rises against you
Many things were designed to challenge man: the tree, the snake and even the challenges we face today
The reason God made us was to have pleasure in watching us overcome these challenges

Now, I bet you understand what is written in Revelation 2: 7
"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God"

THERE WAS A TREE IN THE GARDEN

The Preacher : Halelujah children of God. The reason you were made was to worship God
Esere826 : emm pastor,.. where did you get that from?
The follower : That is what we are taught in church, it is what the bible says
Esere826 : Pardon me Mr Follower, I was asking the preacher

The Preacher : The scripture says let those that have breadth praise the lord.
It also quotes Jesus as saying that stones can be raised up to praise the lord
Esere826: umhh, ok naw.... but looking at the first pages of the bible, what I see is that there was a tree in the garden.
God could have avoided all these trouble by getting rid of the tree and even the snake

The Preacher : Are you one of those aethists?
Esere826 : Nope,... but common, don't tell me that that is not a logical argument. Dont tell me that you'll live your kids around chemical weapons, if there is even a chance that they could use it and harm themselves mortally

The Preacher : God expected man to obey. The tree was to test man's obedience to God. And besides, Adam was a grown #ssed man

It is my belief that the Spirit requires us to not only wait but listen to his prompt
so for example,
he looks at point A1 and sees a snake there, so he says wait
At point A2 and A3, he says move ahead to do so-so-and-so

Just before point A4 he sees a lion and tells you to move on to B3 and then B4 quickly
At point D6, he might see a wolf in sheep clothing, and comparing to the emptiness in point C7
not bother to lead you at all. He'll go have some cofee at that point and leave you to make your choice
especially if he knows that both tribulations are equal and will both lead you to point D7

The waiting and driving goes on and on until you reach glory land
Somewhere along the line, you might have made the wrong move like A6 and A7
but not to worry, if you get back into the grove
he'll sure lead you to point A8 and that might just be the point where you tap into full glory


..................Thanks for allowing me to share

This diagram is inspired by "Snake and ladder" game + "XY axis" charts

My 'whatever-it-was" began to teach me that waiting was mainly God's way of keeping us in a state of rest where we dont need to struggle hard
if you look at the diagram, I believe you'll understand what I mean

This time as I sat in church listening to the pastor and rebelling in my spirit
a message dropped in me
(i no tok say na holy spirit tell me ooo, neither have i said its not him)


My imagininations quickly took me to an Excel spreadsheet and did some quick analysis
I ran home to try it, and it made good sense to me. I have presented an adaptation of my analysis in the diagram below

WAITING ON THE LORD THROUGH THE EYE OF MATHEMATICS

This topic conects to my earlier post here: https://www.nairaland.com/1301280/secret-dwellers-like-father-like

As I sat in church listening to the sermon
my spirit wasn't staying still...it couldnt

the topic was on Christians waiting on the lord
I had heard this sermon a thousand time,...and I have always had a problem accepting what most preachers say about it
They seemed to suggest these these things:

-We should just wait (i.e. waiting is an end onto itself)
-God likes doing things gently (i.e the still voice) so why hurry him, besides a thousand years is like a day to God
-God just says wait. We must therefore obey and not sin by disobeying
-God wants to teach us tobe patient
-Well if you've not got what you want yet, it's simply your time of waiting (...To me, this one na wayo preaching. it provides an alibi for every pastor)

Why do nigerian players born abroad refuse to play for nigeria u ask

I dont know how true this is, as i'm yet to confirm
I hear that our constitution forbids nigerians born abroad from contesting the presidential election

if this is true, i dont expect them to owe any shred of loyalty to the country.
....i wont

DonCrust: Very interesting story but OP why you come use my name? The truth is, I'm inspired by your story and i'm ready to show my badoo side to....all the ladies!

O boy
this story was not meant to inspire anyone ooooo....abeg

its just to show how upset FFK must be feeling right now with his ego bruised
and how he would be wishing that he literarilly branded her while previously (if it occured) participating in intimacy with her

*places a fat cross at the entrance of the thread*

[quote author=uj_sizzle]I don't know about the rest of the world, but maybe your daughter needs to understand her bedtime stories better. Every fairytale I've watched as a child always taught something vital, the most important being that good always prevails.

.editted....[/quote]I agree with most of your arguments
altough my arguments is light entertainment ,
it however does not remove the nevertheless important point that there just might be some subtle autosuggestions that we are not aware of


For example,
how does your kid define good and evil?
what is the frame of reference for these things?
Do you know some kids think that black is evil? and that good (white) will always triumph over evil?
(hope u get the point)


.......Remember its a light argument, and not one to bring out the big guns for

He soon got over it and formulated a new strategy,
he will not bring up the past with Nnkechi again, instead, he would pursue her afresh

So he did pursue her afresh, and made sure he nacked her properly this time
not just small nacking, but very innovative ones that he was sure she would not forget


Indeed, some years later when he met her again
she sure did not forget this time

The moral of the story is this:
.................anything worth doing is worth doing well

Ola spent a considerable period agonising about Nnkechi's denial of the event

-was she lieing?
-he felt sick and distressed that just perhaps, he did not make a big enough impact on Nnkechi for her to remember that he was close to her hole of glory
*Men have an ego u know*
-Is it that is willy willy was so small or what?
you mean that he cld not comfortably boast to his friends that he had once dicked the girl on the screen
-where the number of big men that had ridden her so much that she could not remember him?

Ola and Nkechi did not see much after that incident
Some years later, Ola met Nnkechi
Nkechi by this time was a successful and beautiful nollywood actress
and Ola was not doing bad either plus he was very single and available

Ola wanted to continue from where he stopped, and opened up the topic with Nnkechi
while they devoured a meal of hotpepersoup, he jovially tried recollecting their sexcapade
To Ola's surprise, ..Nnkechi could not remember the incident (or was she pretending?)
He tried to tell of the numerous lickings that took place between them,
but she was angry at him for lieing against her(or was she pretending?)

Nnkechi warmed up to him as her big bros
and Ola finally got her to his room
He did a lot of heavy petting (I no go fit tok everything)
but he could not make love to her because she was a virgin and was screaming in pain
the reason he could not make love to Nnkechi was multifacetted. They included:

1) He was an only child, and so was she.
So he felt it would be safer if he used a condom instead of getting her pregrant and not being able to do anything about it
(I hear it is hard making love to virgins using a condom)
2) although his door was locked, he was worried that his girlfriend if she came around would hear the painful screams and he would be bursted


To cut the long story short, she got away

When Ola was in university, he had a steady girlfriend whom he was inlove with in the Nigerian way
In his 4th year at the university a beautiful yellow paw paw jambite Nnkechi came into university
He had once met this girl some 5 years ago when she was a small pikin at his uncle's house (they were neighbours)
and had not tought twice about her then
(much unlike how Senator Yerima wld have reacted)

Seeing her in the university, he could not help marveling at how she had grown up
everything on her was at attention
The devil taunted him on what he could do with her watermellons et al

The lesson that bianca and Femi could learn from my friend Ola

Did you read Femi's outburst against the Igbos
when his childishness was about to be forgotten
he wrote another article with the objective of showing that he was an Igbo lover

In the article, he mentioned that he was once Bianca's mounter in chief
Bianca would have none of it, and denied ever knowing him talk less of knowing him. She treathened to sue

After trying to appease her, Femi has now responded angrily telling her to do as she pleases
and insisting that he climbed her to his fill
(see Femi's response here: http://saharareporters.com/news-page/bring-it-former-nigerian-minister-femi-fani-kayode-taunts-ambassador-bianca-ojukwu-over-le)


It is said that there is nothing new under the sun
Bianca, Femi and we the viewing audience can learn a lesson from a similar even that happened to my friend Ola

*This na real story, but names and locations have been changed or hidden so that I no go be like Femi*

Ujujoan: Puh leeeeeeeez!

Your so-called Zainab's story has been in circulation on BBM for month now.

Seriously!!
[i have never activated my BBM, so i wont know]

Well, if what you've said is true
then it only emphasises that kids and adults are thinking about this at the same time
...and its serious

Such similar thinking patterns is nothing new my dear
read you history books on inventions where people from different parts of the world invented same things without knowing each other


..there are billions of people in this world madam
there is a huge probability that more that one person is doing exactly what you are doing at the moment.
hope you are able to process that^^

Its not imposisible that someone in this big wide world as not previously tought and written about this topic
or other other topics written on NairaLand

you really need to go back and study about plagiarism to find yourself approved
Puh leeeeeeeez!

Ishilove: People should stop being mean to ugly people. Don't we deserve love too??

Here is my picture. I might look 'unique' on the outside, but I'm beautiful on the inside

Buzz me, I'm waiting

Looking at the pix again
i think i might need to crawl back into my stereotyping

........you look extremely wicked

Ujujoan: @ OP

Not all fairy tale stories gave that impression. Snow White's step mum was very beautiful. The fairest in the land, I.e before Snow white came along and became the fairest!
.....................

agreed
but the primary essence of my argument is an inquiry into what these stories teach our kids

I think snow white teaches our kids that their beauty can get them killed if they dont avoid taking gifts from ugly looking people

AjanleKoko: Hmm.
So the moral of this story is. . . More Shrek stories!

Yep
at least with such stories where the ugly are made to have beautiful minds being sown into our kids
the next generation of Zenith bank managers will begin to hire ugly people too
not the fine fine babes that they have decorating their offices

Ujujoan: @ OP

....................editted...................
PS: why don't you give the source of your Zainab's story instead of pretending it actually happened to you

Source ko, sauce ni
not everything has an external source my dear
I dont need to call Zainab's real name nor disclose my relationship with Zainab either

I even actually have the right to narrate the cinderella story witout a source
because the story is not owned by anyone


...............uhmmmmmm make i no yab u
if not, i for tell u say make you go back go read research methodologies et al ..........

I cringed when I realised that for a long time as a kid
i actually thought that not-so-good looking people were wicked


Such stories are sown deep inside the minds of growing kids

I wondered if such fairy tales that elevated the princes
wasnt one of the reasons why we (especially young ladies) are star struck
(Fairy tales make princes fall inlove with beautiful girls, and make princesses fall in love with strong men who fight for them)

And finally, as I let my head rest on my pillow
I wondered if my girlfriend would not abscond with Prince Williams or Harry if they give her a wink
*I turned to look at my babes lovely bakassi*

....umh....God will indeed have to save the king from me if that ever happened

The Cinderella tale relates looks to character =>
So an ugly person is bad, while a beautiful person is good
The step sisters are ugly while cinderella is beautiful

The tale elevates vainess as the spark for love =>
Cinderella had to dress good for the prince to fall sick and madly inlove with her
Her character was barely expored by the prince in the few minutes they spent together at the ball/party
He couldn't even recognise and appreciate her until her her feet fit into the glass slipper

For the first time in my life after Zainab's reply
I was forced to rethink the story of Cinderella, and other fairytales
and assess the impact such stories have had on my life growing up,

..and continues to have on the lifes of growing kids world over

Some of the fairy tale stories have beautiful lessons,
but in my opinion, the Cinderella story like nollywood is one that is great for entertainment
but could be seriously damaging to a child's values (psychological building block)

For those that know nothing about the story of Cinderella,

.....she was an oyibo orphan girl who was maltreated by her step sisters and step mum
(much like events in our own african folklore)

All the wicked people that maltreated her (step mum and sisters) where all ugly
After an encounter with an oyinbo good winch, who rearranged her (Cinderella's) wardrobe,
Cinderela managed to make her way to a party hosted by the Prince of the land

At 12 midnight (when the oyinbo winch would be going to bed),
Cinderelaa needed to run back home from the party
otherwise, all the pretty clothes she was wearing would turn back to rags

She managed to run back home just in time
but forgot her glass slipper
(interestingly, every other thing changed back to rags excepth the slipper)

The prince picked up the glass slipper,
and went around the town seeking the girl whose feet will fit into the slipper
he finally found Cinderella whose feet fit just fine
He therefater married her

....and lived happily ever after

^^^
You could try teaching people what you have learnt so far
It helps for practice and memory retention