₦airaland Forum

italo:
Fallacy!

If Christianity could start from nothing once, it can start from nothing again.

So how come it didn't start from nothing in the isolated peoples of the Americas and Australia before your Christian brothers arrived to genocide them and force the religion down their throats? How come not a single pacific islander got a revelation of Christianity from god before the oyimbos came to indoctrinate them? After all christianity makes logical sense and god was appearing before people all the time like Moses and the prophets and Peter and over 200 disciples at the assumption, and Paul. Saint Paul even made it clear that even though Jesus' mother and brother and disciples were still alive, he didn't receive any of his knowledge from them, but direct from the lord (Gal. 1.12).

If God was so happy to show up so often, how come he didn't pop down to visit any of the millions and millions of people who were culturally isolated from the middle east so that they too could learn how to be saved without having 90% of their populace wiped out by invading Christians?

Newton and Leibniz independently invented calculus. Darwin and Wallace independently discovered evolution. That's because unlike in religion, 2 people looking at similar evidence and applying the rules of logic will always eventually reach the same conclusion. Religion on the other hand has to be taught and people need to be forced into conformity. The moment you stop being able to coerce any group of religious people, they'll split off to form their own sect with a different set of beliefs. The only way 2 groups of people with different religious beliefs can ever agree is if you wave a cutlass over their heads. That's how Constantine established orthodox christianity back in the day.

What you will never see is some teenager in North Korea coming up with the principle of vicarious redemption through a Galilean carpenter or the bread and wine ritual on his own without first hearing it from another Christian. If it ever happens that would be pretty convincing proof that Christianity was at least partially true. It might even convince me.

italo:
Am I the only one who sees a contradiction?

People who don't play golf have nothing in common except that they don't play golf. People who don't believe the unsupported claims of religion have nothing in common except that they don't believe the unsupported claims of religion. Atheists are not a natural group. You don't describe a group using properties its members don't share, you use what they have in common.

Thanks to the bigotry and intolerance of religious people many of us never got to interact with other atheists during our deconversion process. Most of us became fully formed skeptics and atheists by our own reasoning with little or no external guidance. Dapo777 above is an athiest and he's never read Dawkins. (Note to honeychild: Not having read one particular author does not make a person unenlightened you simpleton!) If atheism is just another religion, why don't we see people deducing Christianity and Islam from first principles without having been brainwashed by others or reading religious books. You people are just parroting what you've been told, there is no rational chain of logic that leads to Christianity or Islam or any other religion.

If you kill all Christians destroy all their writings, Christianity will be wiped out forever never to return. If you did the same with atheism, it'll be back the moment the next generation turn 10 or 12 and start noticing that the religion they were taught doesn't agree with reality.

Also even if we were to form an Atheism Legion of Doom and select a prophet, it wouldn't be Dawkins. All respect to the great scientist, but with the quality of candidates we have to pick from he wouldn't make the top 200. Who is Dawkins when we have great writers and thinkers like Bertrand Russell and Robert G.Ingersoll, people like Thomas Paine, Baruch Spinoza, Arthur Schopenhauer; men like Jean Meslier, people like Pythagoras and Diogenes and Epicurus who had destroyed your best arguments arguments before 300B.C.E. Even if we had to pick a scientist, what happened to Hawkins and Einstein and Darwin and Rosalind Franklin and the dozens of others who have contributed as much or more than Dawkins?

The gospel of Mark (which is the main source for the other three) is basically an allegorical story used to push the idea that the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple by the Romans was a punishment from god for he Jews' sins. Many of the old testament prophets also said the same thing about the previous disasters that be fell the Jewish people. Pontius Pilate was a well know (and thoroughly hated) figure among the Jews in the late 1st century when Mark, Matthew and Luke were written so its not surprising he was included in the story. The best way of thinking about the gospel of Mark (and also Acts of the Apostles) is as a historical novel by a writer pushing an agenda. You can see from the way the writer links every single thing Jesus did to passages in the greek old testament (including ones that were mistranslated). Later the story was historicized and Christians later started insisting that Jesus actually existed.

The problem with the historicity of Jesus is that even if it is impossible to disprove that a minor pacifist rabbi called Joshua was executed during Pilate's reign it is very easy to prove that one of the notable miracles attributed are likely to have happened. The story of the star settling over Bethlehem is clearly nonsense, Bethlehem Epathah was abandoned at the time Jesus would have been born, Nazareth likely never existed as a town until 300 years later, the "sea" of Galilee is far too small to have had a storm capable of capsizing a ship, there was never any midday darkness or earthquake at any time during Pilate's reign, and the curtain in the temple was never torn until the day it was destroyed. Not a single one of the signs and wonders attributed to Jesus or his disciples was ever recorded by any non Christian source.

Many of the notable miracles in the new testament were so big that had they actually happened it would have Ben unthinkable for not a single one of the many writers living in the area at the time to have mentioned them. That alone proves that the gospels are suspect.

If anybody is interested, I have 3 free steam keys to Insurgency, a nice multiplayer tactical first person shooter. Click on this link to get the game, but you better move fast before they're all gone. The game is pretty good, its like a slower, smarter version of Counter Strike or COD.
And sorry but it's PC master race only. You'll need a Steam account to download it.
https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/1/14262/715579-insurgency_800x600.jpg

Source: I got the keys from a humble bundle sale. You can buy 4 games for any amount, 10 games for $6.30 or 11 games including Saint's Row 4 for $12.

If anybody is interested, I have 3 free steam keys to Insurgency, a nice multiplayer tactical first person shooter. Click on this link to get the game, but you better move fast before they're all gone. And sorry but it's PC master race only.
https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/1/14262/715579-insurgency_800x600.jpg

Source: There's a humble bundle sale going on. You can get 4 games for any amount, 10 games for $6.30 or 11 games including Saint's Row 4 for $12.

Edit: Apparently nobody here likes free shìt. All 3 keys are still available which I find very strange. I mean the game is worth $15 and its good! Anyway, I'm going to offer them out elsewhere so final warning to anybody that wants.

AllNaijaBlogger:


Go and buy a real console like the PS4.

You pc gamers and your cores and graphics cards.


See, we ps4 homeboys don't need to worry about upgrading our hardware.

Silence peasant!

Instead of talking nonsense why don't you spend some time meditating on the idea of playing games at 1080p, ultra settings at 120fps. Perhaps then you will realize the truth, that you are living in squalor with your pathetic 900p, 30fps, medium PC settings equivalent machine.

When you have achieved enlightenment and are ready to ascend to the glorious master race, come back and see me. I will be there to guide you on your journey.

Proffdada:
we r saying the same thing only I choose to go with core I7

Just to buttress my point about how CPUs are seriously overpowered, here's an image someone captured from the new Far Cry 4.
https://i.imgur.com/LCaMNKM.jpg

8 core CPU and a brand new, AAA game launched just days ago is running on only one. And yet, look at the frame rate! 127fps!!!

And this is an AMD CPU whose individual cores are far slower than Intel's.

Proffdada:
in computer processing pipelining is very important. corei7 ensures ur 4gb graphics card works at optimum rendering and tandem not only in gaming but several programs that demand high end processing. of course core i3,i5 with good gfx card will do but I said NEXT 10 Years

Most high end games don't use more than 30% of the recent i5's processing power and many don't use more than 2 cores. The main bottleneck is the GPU not the CPU. In modern gaming the graphics card is the star of the show and all you need from your CPU is to keep the graphics card fed which an i5 can do easily.

An i7 may or may not last 10 years but for most of that time you won't see any significant benefit for the added cost. Plus the extra you spend on it will mean you'll need to settle for a less powerful graphics card which will bottleneck your performance and go obsolete long before your i7 does.

The newer i5s are more than powerful enough to keep you satisfied for years to come. Hell, an i3 or even a pentium dual core can do a decent job if paired with a decent GPU. They may not be future proof, but they are more powerful than the netbook-class joke of a CPU that the PS4 and XB1 share.

Like I said before, if you do CPU intensive work like 1080p or 4k video editing, then you can justify an i7. But if you are building a PC just for gaming, then you should spend the bulk of your money on the component that matters the most: the graphics card.

Proffdada:
just buy a PC that'll play future generation games e.g system with specs of at least core i7 4-8gb nvidia vram 12gb ram and all games shall bow to you for the next 10years

This is bad advice. Do NOT by an i7. Modern CPU are seriously overpowered for gaming processes and the bottleneck is virtually always the graphics card. That means that as long as your CPU is midrange from within the last 5 years, getting a more powerful one makes very little difference to performance while getting better GPU makes a huge difference.

i7 CPUs very extremely expensive compared to i5s and AMD alternatives, but for a gamer they offer little additional benefit. Instead on wasting your precious cash on an i7, save your money and get the most powerful graphics card you can afford. Unless you are doing CPU intensive work like video editing, there is no justification for buying anything costlier than the latest Devil's Canyon i5. It completely slaughters the current gen consoles' CPUs, will serve you well for the next 5 years at least and is easy to overclock.

Read this guide if you're interested in building a PC before you waste your money. You can get yourself an extremely powerful, long lasting PC for very little money if you pick your parts well. Sites like tomshardware.com have frequently updated price/performance charts that well you choose the right parts.

dominicson:
I'm not religious but I'm very aware like our friend should also be made aware also that we live on His land, breathe His air... So we can't afford to say a thing against Him.
I had a similar encounter like the OP recently, I felt the same as he felt if not more than him/her. But later, I got to realised that He gave us life and we should be creative about it, you may be blind, cripple, dump, anything! You must thank Him for it, whatever you make of that gift is a question of how creative, dumb, stupid, lazy... you are.
More than a decade ago, a son of a former aviation minister told me, "pal, use your head, however you make it, the glory will go to Him."

Are you sure you're not religious? Are you sure?

I don't find it funny the way religious people use backhand logic to claim supremacy and ownership over everything and to justify their intolerant, dominionist thinking.

"I mean of course it's my particular monotheistic god who owns the land and the air you're breathing so how dare you say a word against him."

You need to spend some time on YouTube watching interviews of ISIS members. It will help you identify the flaws in your thought process better than anything else.

okeke00:
what of those ones that comes to motor parks to pray for travellers and will later ask them to doe a seed. is that also the part of begging?

Yes it is begging.

Prayers don't work so they are just making noise and embarrassing travelers. They are a nuisance and the authorities need to get rid of them.

Hiswordxray:
One thing I don't understand is why do atheist try so hard to convert religious people?
Why are they so restless in doing so?

One thing I don't understand is why do sane people try so hard to treat mad people? Why are they so restless in doing so?

JMAN05:
No, no, no no! You are missing the point.

The fact that he called Jesus the Christ never mean that all the writing in the Antiquities were forged. It is true that it is doubted whether Josephus had called Jesus Messiah in that his work, but that he referred to Jesus whom we know as the Christ is never in doubt.

1. Josephus mentioned that this Jesus was baptised by John the baptist, who else answered Jesus that was baptized then?

2. It is never never true that Josephus was referring to another Jesus. No! Why?

In the writing of Origen who was a christian who lived in the Third century CE, while he was replying to Celsus, he mentioned the writing of Josephus as a prove. (ie, Antiquities of the Jews). So, your doubt is sad to hear. No good historian doubt that Jesus exists. even the famous atheist Richard Dawkins do not doubt it. Know that!

3. Now you see a Christian who quoted his work as far back as the third century prior to the work of Eusebus you referred to.

Remember Christians were severely persecuted and never had the enjoyment which others had in the Roman empire, this was even confirmed by Tacitus himself. So it is not strange that people will ferment lies against christians. They were even accused of starting a fire that they never did by Nero.

Therefore, I have presented many proves here: An encyclopedia, the word of a classical historian, wikipedia, Tacitus, Josephus works, even your link was also another point against yours.

But it is true that you dont need to believe before the story is affirmed as being true. But accept the truth. If you reject it, that cant change it, remember!

Origen mentioned the Josephus passage about James, but he knew nothing of the testimonium flavianum which is what we're discussing. In fact, he stated outrightly that Josephus didn't believe in Jesus. Given that he was highly familiar with Josephus' writing there's no way he would have said that if the passage existed back then. It was a late forgery.

Also, all your grammar won't change the fact that the academic consensus is on my side. Even Christian academics and the catholic encyclopaedia agree. You can fool yourself all you want but you shouldn't post falsehoods on the internet.

deleted

JMAN05:
It is true that wikipedia shouldn't be given 100% trust, but not all that is written there are false. The statement I posted can be confirmed from another document aside from wikipedia.

I have also produce other proves that the Antiquities is not doubted by many, but by few. It is only the other work of Josephus that has many who accuse it of being forged, I stated that above too. Your link is a discussion by people just as we are doing here. However, even there, what I have said here has not been faulted.

I quote:

"Thus, at least in Josephus' mind, there was a man named Jesus who had some kind of following. This does not affirm any of the miraculous claims of the New Testament, though. Just the mundane fact that some guy named Jesus actually lived and did things"

I have shown that of Tacitus as true, and the statement by a classical historian. My current doubt now is: Can I trust you as a sincere person despite all these proves? We all know that the truth remains the truth no matter how often we deny it.

Jesus, or rather Joshua, was an extremely common name back then. Josephus alone mentioned 11 didifferent people named Jesus most of whole didn't fit the description I. the gospels. The only description that do are the ones we know are forgeries.

If Josephus actually wrote about Jesus, how come early Christian fathers like Justin Martyr and Tertullian never knew about the passage. These were men who wrote numerous texts arguing in favour of the existence of Jesus.
and quoted Josephus extensively. If the passage existed during their time, it would have been by far the strongest evidence they had and they would have shouted it from the rooftops. Instead, we find that nobody ever mentioned the passage until Eusebius, a known forger of ancient documents "discovered" it in the 4th century. Note also that people have been doubting the existence of Jesus since the early second century, possibly earlier. This is something you don't typically see with other historical figures.

When you add to all that the fact that the passage doesn't fit in with the text before and after it, uses a language style completely different from how Josephus wrote, makes claims ("he was the messiah" ) that Josephus clearly didn't believe, uses grammatical forms ("tribe of Christians" ) that weren't in use till 200-300 years after Josephus died, and that Josephus' writings were hand copied and preserved exclusively by christians who had the motive and opportunity to change things, there's no way any reasonable person can claim it's legit.

It is entirely a forgery. Lying for Jesus is something Christians have been doing right from the day the religion was founded. By continuing to promote these lies you people are discrediting yourselves and showing your true colours.

JMAN05:
It was never forged my dear. No single prove can prove it was forged. The facsimile is available for confirmation.

Wikipedia said:

The very negative tone of
Tacitus' comments on Christians make the passage
extremely unlikely to have been forged by a Christian scribe
[42] and the Tacitus reference is now widely accepted as an
independent confirmation of Christ's crucifixion,

The respected classical historian Michael Grant also said:

If we apply to the New Testament, as we
should, the same sort of criteria as we
should apply to other ancient writings
containing historical material, we can no
more reject Jesus' existence than we can
reject the existence of a mass of pagan
personages whose reality as historical
figures is never questioned.

Of course, there will will be some who hate to accept the truth. But majority of scholars dont doubt Jesus existence.

Josephus writings have been doubted, however, it is only few that question the Antiquities. So, am not wrong to talk about his testimony.

As for the gospels, I guarantee you that it was a true account. The time that lapsed before its writing is not enough for forgery.

But I wont discuss the authenticity of the gospels in this thread. If you are interested in it, open another thread.

Stop quoting wikipedia abeg. Literally anybody can become a wikipedia editor. The problem with that is that the editors most motivated to contribute to and edit articles discussing christianity are Christians so most of those articles end up heavily biased in their favour. We see the same thing with the wikipedia Islam portal which is a complete joke so it's not surprising that it tries to claim that the Josephus passage is legit.

The truth is that that passage an obvious forgery and even a layman can see the signs by reading the English translation. I've made this point enough times in the last and I'm not really interested in rehashing it again so just follow the link in my previous post if you want to learn something.

LordReed:
@EvilBrain1

With the growth and perfecting of facial recognition software don't you think some of these other biometric identification methods could be rendered obsolete?

Facial recognition is nowhere near reliable or accurate enough to replace fingerprints and is unlikely to be ever be. Plus computer algorithms are easy to fool using hats and disguises. I don't really care if they have my pictures since they can't do much with that alone.

The real problem is the mass fingerprinting and forced data collection. We have no clue what that data will be used for or who will have access to it. Most people don't know that our clueless FG just handed over the national ID card database to the Americans the moment they asked for it. For all we know, they'll put the whole thing on an unencrypted hard drive and forget it somewhere for criminals to find. Or maybe policemen will start using it to track down the new guy shãgging their ex-girlfriend.

I'm sick and tiredbof shooting down the same lies everyday. The most annoying thing about Nairaland is the way people just keep regurgitating the same nonsense over and over again no matter how often you correct them.

The reference to Jesus in Josephus is a crude and obvious forgery. This has been an established fact agreed by both Christian and secular historians for centuries.

The fact that all the evidence for he existence of your saviour amounts to one passing reference written 70 years after and one forgery should be a source of embarrassment to you people. Sadly some of you don't seem to have any shame.

More pics

[img]http://4.bp..com/-mRy9ZoFhKj4/T46wiQMJItI/AAAAAAAAAJc/3NoqFyPZ3r4/s1600/holocaust_tattoos_children.jpg[/img]
https://www.dailystormer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/w-numbers-081612.jpg
https://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/05/13/us/13lede_holocaust.jpg
https://d2yhexj5rb8c94.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/holocaust-men.jpg
https://www.thejc.com/files/imagecache/body_landscape/%252Fimages/290410-Holocaust.jpg
https://www.kosherdelight.com/GermanyHolocaustChildrenPoland.gif
[img]https://santitafarella.files./2009/02/5c-dachau-1945.jpg?w=640[/img]
https://la8period3.pbworks.com/f/1240081258/children%20liberation.jpg

The reason the last group were smiling is because they had just been liberated by the Americans Soviets. Most of these pictures were taken by Allied soldiers as they captured territory from the Germans.

The holocaust never happened? How do you explain the pictures, video footage and written records then?


[img]http://flashtrafficblog.files./2014/04/holocaust-photo.jpg[/img]
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Ebensee_concentration_camp_prisoners_1945.jpg
[img]http://www.darkmoon.me/uploads/buchenwald51.jpg[/img]
https://www.alanhart.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/holocaust3.jpg
https://www.libertynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/childsurvivorsofauschwitz.jpeg

The problem with giving to beggers is that it encourages people to take advantage and become professional parasites. You see a lot of that up north where Islam has legitimised that lifestyle.

I strongly believe that people should work for their food. Any charity we give should be aimed towards converting the beggers into productive members of society. Most people with disabilities can be useful in some way, they just need help finding their niche. And able bodied people who want live off charity instead of hustling like the rest of us deserve to starve.

But this idea that many beggers have that they are somehow entitled to my hard earned money, or that I'm a bad person for not giving them something is nonsense.

^^^^Christians forged and edited ancient documents all the time. It was a very popular pastime in the 4th century and continued to happen for hundred of years afterwards. Even today we still see people posting lies for Jesus here on Nairaland and elsewhere. That is the same mentality at work.

And there are no eyewitness accounts in the bible. The oldest gospel, Mark, was written at least 40 years after the last possible date of the crucifixion by an educated Greek speaker. If Jesus existed, then him and his followers would have been Aramaic speaking Jews, not Greek speakers. Matthew and Luke copied and pasted from Mark with a few (mostly contradictory) additions. And John was written (also in Greek) far too late for the writer to have been an eyewitness.

No serious academic still thinks the gospels were eyewitness accounts. They certainly weren't. Also, you should edit your post to remove that claim that the passage in Josephus about Jesus wasn't a forgery. It only makes you look ignorant and undermines the credibility of everything g you wrote before.

Toyolad:
#sighs#...we all tend to preach what we believe in,paul never met jesus christ when He was alive.Paul was never gullible,he decided not to talk about the story of Jesus told by other apostles,he preferred to preach and relate his teachings based on his own encounter with Jesus on his way to damascus.

Believe it or not,many notable historians wrote one thing or the other concerning Jesus christ.

The first-century Roman Tacitus, who is
considered one of the more accurate historians of
the ancient world, mentioned superstitious
“Christians” (from Christus, which is Latin for
Christ), who suffered under Pontius Pilate during
the reign of Tiberius. Suetonius, chief secretary to
Emperor Hadrian, wrote that there was a man
named Chrestus (or Christ) who lived during the
first century (Annals 15.44).


For more info,open this link and be informed@timmy2409
www.gotquestions.org/did-Jesus-exist.html

Its completely dishonest to claim that "many notable historians wrote about Jesus". The truth is that few if any did. The passage from Tacitus was written more than 70 years after the last possible date of the crucifixion and was only reporting what Christians claimed about Jesus, i.e. that he was crucified under Pilate. It doesn't provide anything since the author had no was of knowing other than what he'd heard from and about Christians.

Also, the passage is probably a forgery anyway since none of the early Christians mentioned it. And these were men who scoured ancient texts looking for evidence in favour of Christianity and none of them happened to see this passage, (or the obviously fake one from Josephus) that "confirms" Jesus existed. Even Tertullian who frequently quoted Tacitus e saw this passage. That's probably because it was added to Tacitus' writings by Christian forgers long after his time.

Proffdada:
I'm a PC gamer

I think you meant to say you're a member of the GLORIOUS PC GAMING MASTER RACE!!!

Do you pirate exclusively? Or do you also buy legit on Steam, Origin, GOG, GMG and others? What's your Steam handle? I barely know any other Nigerians on Steam and I'd like to add you. Maybe we could build a local mini-network for multiplayer purposes.

LordReed:
That article was in 2013, do you know the status of the bill now?

All I know is they haven't signed it yet. The national assembly doesn't really see fit to let riff-raff like us know what they're doing. And they like to keep the more repressive, anti-people bills quiet.

Maybe they'll sign it in secret and let the news trickle out weeks later like they did the anti-gay law.

LordReed:
You make a compelling point especially with that bill looming.

Thank god, another convert. Just 160 million more and I can rest.

LordReed:
If mass surveillance was the goal then I think the TELCOs would have been a better point to do it from because not only do they have your identity they can also track your location and associations.

What do you think the SIM card registration exercise was about? Or are you one of those geniuses who thought that kidnappers would use their personal phones to call for ransoms?

FYI there is a warrantless phone tapping bill presently working its way through the national assembly right now. Expect Lord Rétardeen to sign it into law any moment now.

This latest scheme is a ploy to add our financial info to what they already have. Maybe next they'll legislate themselves the power to unilaterally freeze anybody's accounts from Abuja. Or maybe journalists will start getting anonymous tips about an APC chieftain spending money on kínky underwear for his mistresses. Or maybe opposition financiers will start getting quiet "warnings" from the SSS. The sky is the limit when you have everybody's information, no one to answer to and no scruples.

We are giving away our freedom and clapping for those who are taking it. We have fallen asleep at out guard post. When Nigerians finally wake up and realize that what has happened don't think we'll be able to roll back these laws easily. The state doesn't not relinquish power without a fight.

LordReed:
Most technology is a two edged sword, this is no different. On one hand the BVN can be a great tool to stem fraud and on the other it could be used to put down political rivals. Evil uses do not necessarily arise from the technology itself but from the people who use it so won't it be a better solution to choose a more responsible class of people to be in charge of our affairs rather than screaming at potentially useful policies/tech?

It's not a useful policy, at least not to us. We already have court orders that the government can use to individually target criminals. But mass fingerprinting the whole population and cataloguing their bank accounts is not a substitute for real police work.

Mass surveillance is not a crime fighting tactic, it is a fascist tactic. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance and we are falling asleep on our watch. If these people get everything they want, the next generation will not forgive us.

LordReed:
Really? Was it credit info the NSA was tracking? Who did they ask permission from?

As far as we know, the NSA has mostly been tracking communications.

But banking info is potrntislly ore useful to the government. I'm sure the FG would love to know who and who have been funding Buhari's campaign and what he's been spending his money on. I see no reason why we should make it easy for them.

LordReed:
If tracking is your biggest concern over this issue then I wonder what you are doing on the internet and why you use ATM/credit cards. You think all relevant data concerning you can be tracked at this very moment? You think your phone logs and phone calls can not be tapped and traced? Are you living in a secure bunker where you location cannot be identified?

There is big difference between my bank, ISP and phone company tracking my use of their services and the government doing the same.

A company tracking the services you use is necessary for billing and to provide quality services. Plus its completely optional and limited to those services. I allow google to see my gmail box in exchange for free services, but I get to chose whether or not to use those services and they can't hack into my yahoo inbox without my say so. If google overreaches their authority and their customers find out, they will lose business and possibly face civil and criminal liability.

On the other hand the government is not asking for permission, they are not limiting their spying to the boundaries you set, and there are no checks on their power aside from. people like us protesting their excesses. If the government illegally violates your privacy, there will be no one to punish them since they're both prosecutor and defendant. Plus they can just pass laws to retroactively legalise their crimes like George Bush did.

In real democracies you can make a case that government has limits but in Nigeria where the army and police are literally massacring people on YouTube with no repercussions, do you really think its a good idea to give our corrupt and irresponsible government that isn't answerable to us more personal information?

Ishilove:
Before you finger all pastors, I know for a certainty that some men of God cancelled the healing programs in the churches they pastor until the ebola threat was subdued. Let's not be quick to villify pastors.

So you want us to praise them because they agreed to temporarily stop defrauding people? Can't you see that the main reason they stopped was to keep themselves safe from desperate Ebola victims coming to church for a solution?

Doctors from all over the world are flying to Ebola hit areas to set up treatment centres because they know what they're doing works. Pastors, on the other hand, are stopping their healing services because they know its all a lie.

There is nothing lower than defrauding the poor, sick and the desperate. All healing pastors are greedy, parasitic, worthless scumfucks. Its better to be an armed robber specialising in orphanages than a healing pastor.

Just stop going to church.

Problem solved.