₦airaland Forum

LagosShia:
"Jehovah" is a word unheard of before the 16th century.so i dont know how anyone can conclude that the deity Israelites worshipped and the tetragrammaton refered to could be an image or idol of the pagans?

"Jehovah" is a pressumption from the tetgrammaton or "four letters" (YHWH) by injecting vowels.those four letters are not articulated.also,if you search deep you will know that the tetgrammaton (YHWH) is not a word but an adjective phrase refering/describing the uniqueness to/of the One Almighty God who is Unseen.YHWH refers to "He that is Present" or "Oh He (who is)" in literal arabic and hebrew.the tetragrammaton can also be found in the Holy Quran in several places by the phrase "Qul HoWaH[/b]Allahu" which means "Say[b] He is Allahu"!

the prefix,"YA" is an exclamation in semitic languages meaning "Oh".if you add "Ya" to "HoWaH" it becomes "YaHoWaH" (YHWH).

"HoWaH"="He is"!


so[b] YaHoWah[/b]="Oh He (who is)".

what hapens is simply injecting vowels into the letters (YHWH) in order to make the letters pronounceable.



see here for a similar post and thread:

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=753786.0#msg9124983

By jehovah, I'm simply refering to deity that christians believe as the ancient diety of the hebrews.

Jenwitemi:
Don't insult paganism by connecting Jehovah with it. Pagans worship much more evolved gods than Mr. Jehovah.

Jehovah or yahweh was the pegan deity of the ancient isrealites. That is undisputable. Yes , I agree.Pegans of every culture worshipped much more evolved dieties than jehovah.

frosbel:
^^^^


Stop writing about things that are far beyond your level of comprehension.

You will do well to study and learn, and not yell outbursts regarding matters of which you have nil knowledge.

Frosbel, you are a certified religious nut. The worst type there is . I expected a rebuttal of my argument, but u didd not. Typical of your type.
You have no knowledge of anything. What could you possibly learn when you are hostage to your faith. There is no comparison between you and I. I am a free person, you are not. I live to learn and regularly upgrade my knowledge . You asume you alreeady know.
You are on on Narailand spewing poison to everyone and everything that differs from your beliefs. From experience, I 'm sensing  a mild form of mental illness .You are a HORRIBLE poster child for your faith.You are everything that is wrong with religion.

He knows not who KNOWS that he knows not is a child, teach him.
But he knows not who KNOWS NOT  that he knows not is a fool. Scorn him.

Again if you read the bible you will notice that Moses, when addressing the Isrealites, would always saw" Your God". He never ever said " god or our god". also when addressing Yahweh, he would always say " your people" and never ever refered to the Isrealites as "my people or our people".
These verses in the bible clearly shows that Moses was not an Isrealite as has been claimed and that Moses understood that every tribe had their own deity.

Ofcourse. Read the bible. Jehovah was the deity of the ancient Isrealites. Before then he was worshipped in canaan as El Shadai(god of the mountain) because his abode or shrine was in the Sinai peninsula. As with any pegan diety, the priest sacrificed animals and in some cases humans, to seek favour from him.
It was during advent of the new christian faith, that the roman bishops nominated jehovah as the god and father of the newly crowned saviour-god Jesus. Of necessity, they had to do a complete whitewash of jehovah as the ever loving creator of the universe and Redacted scripture to tally with this new doctrine.
It is therefore not surprising that the jew still wont have anything to do with chritianity and jealously guard the sanctity of their diety.

Good points. I have read it before that the ancient Hebrew Rabbi's believed that That Yahweh was the father,Baal the son, Asherah the wife and consort of Yahweh and Lilith was the daughter and the Queen of heaven refered to in the bible, whom the ancient Isrealites also worshipped.
We see that it was during the time of Prophet Elija that the priests of Yahweh moved to stamp out the worship of Baal and Ashera by the mass killings of the priests of Baal and Ashera and burning their sacred places(a celebrated case of religious intolerance).

It is my belief the philosophical underpinings of most religions are much more valuable , sturdy and durable than the actual beliefs associated with such religions.
I have strong doubts about the existence of jesus and the most of the stories associated with him, but I do find myself, many times, quoting from the teachings attributed to Jesus.Whether they came from actual an Jesus or not, to love thy neighbor as yourself,and others are universal ethos.
However, as Ansel tried to pointed out, Christianity is unique in that it is a religion whose enormous edifice , power and wealth over past two millenia have been built on the strenght of fantastic claims. Claims, that today, appear to  many as fairy tales due to the glaring absence of historical and acheaological foothprints.
Speaking for myself, as early as 14yrs of age, I began to view the judeo-christian narrative with great suspicion and by 18yrs of age, I came to the conclusion that Christianity was a contrived religion. By the time I entered University to study, Chemistry, Biology and Physics at  higher levels, it became very easy for me to jetisoned all prior beliefs I held regarding creation,heaven and hell ,and eventually the existence of god alltogether.

So, to answer your question , Yes, lack of accuracy(or the presence of deliberate inaccuracy)formed the valid basis for suspicion and eventual rejection of the tenets of my former religion and adopting an athiestic worldview.

You reap what you sow is a universal truth.If you want to predict the future of any nation, just look at quality of educational system. The quality of education is directly proportional to future economic, social and political progress. If our the men we send to schools turn into full time gangsters, robbers and thugs, and the young girls we send to school turn into into fulltime prostitutes, then what can we expect from the future?
One does not need to be a prophet to see that the futre is very bleak for Nigeria.

I could not agree with you more. Calling it religious junk is a gross understatement. It is more like religious toxic waste, and it is rapidly destroying the social landscape and the future outlook of the african continent. It is like a more pernicious form of slavery and colonialism.

@Toba:
The fact that even 4% of the world's population are athiests is quick a remarkable given that religious belief has being defining our realities for all of the history of humankind up untill the last 100yrs or so.
Remeber ,people hardly make choices about religious beliefs. They are fed into their minds at infancy. That a small percentage of humanity manages top break free from thier rigid religious orientations are quite interesting and remarkable.
But most importanly, if aitheist are wrong about the existence of god, Do you, Toba, honestly believe that your god gives a hoot about what you and I believe or dont believe? The planet Jupiter is about 800 times the size of the earth, and there others much bigger than that. Whether you and I believe it or not, does it make any difference to Jupiter?
Atheist simply think its wiser to have start with doubts , have an open mind and show child-like meekness in the search for truth.
There nothing diffeent between you an an athiests. You express skeptism and doubts in YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE on various issues. as an estate valuer and surveyor, you deal on facts and figures. Do you accept survey reports based on blind faith?. You follow the time-tested and proven laid down rules of your proffesion to do your job. When doubts arise, you ask relevant questions like what,Who, when,how and why. Do you not? We all do the same, the difference is that you MAKE AN EXCEPTION when it comes to RELIGION and atheist do not.
That is the only difference.

@Toba:
You open a thread, you dodge simple questions and then move on to open another one on the same topic. I dont mean to be rude, but you seem very disengenous.
You obviously believe in god, which I figure is a great thing for you. But PLEASE, WHAT IS YOUR OBSESSION WITH ATHIESTS?
whether there is one athiest in the world or 1 million, so what? Does it somehow diminish your own faith?
I have askesd these questions before and let me ask them again.
Does your god need me more than I need him?
Are believers lonely and need more people?
Is there safety in numbers?
Do you need to constantly engage with athiests to validate your own faith?
iIm beginning to suspect that your personal faith is shaky thats why you need constant validation.
PROVE THE LOGIC OF ATHIESM

Ok let me try. And I want your rebuttal pls.
My simple logic behind my athiesm is that since thiests cannot say, prove or even theorize who created god, then god could not exist if god does not have an origin.
Does that satisfy you once and for all?

Can we try to remove money from christianity and lets see what will happen.
How do does any one make sense of the fact that have we the most churches per kilometer and are also the most corrupt in the whole world?
i'm scrtching my head.

U cannot teach an old dog a new trick.
"do not cast pearls before swine."
Trying to educate a bunch semi- illiterates about earht's history is futile.
"A mind convinced against its will is of the same opinion still". You dare not try to educate these plebians. It confuses them. You have to brake it down into tiny chewable bits accoding to the size of their minds, otherwise ur just aggrevating yourself for nothing.

sexsinners:
so, why are you guys Atheist?

i can't imagine living without a God.

like how do you live life?

what do you do when your in trouble or depress?

Get out the bug thats buzzing inside your head before you try to figure out why others dont have the same bug. If you cannot imagine living without god, then who is the one in bondage? What do to when you are in trouble or depressed? Deal with the issues or take prozac(lol) or better still, call your mummy.lol.
If you need imaginary comfort to feel whole and alive , sorry for you. You are in a deep dark pit. You need to climb out.
Good luck.

N:B It is so hialrious when people who tacitly admit their fears and their bondage just cannot understand why others cannot share those same fears and bondage with them?
Are you guys so lonely in that dark pit?
Do you see safely in numbers?.
Do you need atheists to validate your faith for you?

Must there there be a tribal or ethnic dimension to every issue? it seems that Nairalanders take more delight in dabbling in ethnic and tribal innuendos than at looking at issues pragmatically. Strenghtening regional integeration is good for everyone whether it is delta , Igbo or Yoruba. Let every region harness their strengths.

Excellent.
I see that we are gradually going back to regionalism. That is what Nigeria needs to develop. For a long time, we have put so much hope on a useless and incompetent federal govenrment with zero to show for it. If the various regions begin to integrate their economies and their strenghts, we can demystify the so called federal might and unlease the creative power of the Nigerian people for the benefit of the Nigeria people.
Its about time. lets keep the momentum.

sexkillz is here now.
maybe u can present more sensible arguments, though I dont expect it. "Blessed are those who do not expect , for they shall never be dissaponted". - Bola Ige.
surpise me with a good argument for why atheist are foolish for not believing in god.

ecenter:
Because they just want provoke God. Because Atheism is the belief that God or Satan does not exist. Imagine the likeness! Let me tell you what the Bible said about them. The Bible said that there is no peace with them and they are fools who say there is no God.

So, your god, the creator of the universe, can be provoked just because I( a grain of sand in the desert) does not believe in him? So who's feeling insecure? Does that mean that your god needs me more than I need him?.
and pls , If there is one and only god then who is satan? where is satan in the creation story? when and why did your god create satan or are they brothers? pls explain.

I did not respond on his behalf.
I posted on my own. You always refuse to respond to simple arguments. It is always the same with you. prove this and prove that. i have never seen you articulate any good and coherent argument to support any positions you hold. You behave like a sniper who is there just to shoot down whatever is moving.
No matter our differnces in beliefs, i eagerly yearn to read a good and sensible argument, neccesarily convincing, but sensible, from your camp.

Here Goes Toba again asking athiest to prove this and prove that. When will he get it? Athiesm is neither a religious or even a philosophical proposition. It is not a dogma. It is not a competing religion. Maybe u get confused with the ISM. An athiest does not require any specialized knowlege. It is not a requirement. Infants are ,by default,athiest until parents begin to program them with beliefes. An athiest is in control of his mind. You , on the other hand , are a product of your faith. Your worldview and viewpoint are shaped by the beliefs that hold you. An athiest viewpoints are his,not the other way round. He is free to upgrade his knowledge and viewpoint anytime without fear of contradiction.
And I want you, are you lonely in your faith? Why the angst against people who just simply say they dont beleive in god? Why do you and your fellow christians use the hate and deparaging of athiest to validate your own deep faith? I hate atheists therefore I am? You prove that your beliefs are rooted on shaky grounds when u need an athiest to prove this or prove that.
THERE IS NOTHING TO PROVE. I cannot prove a negative. Common sense and skeptism are universal. Use yours as you deem fit and leave others to theirs.
If we athiest are wrong , on judgement day, would your all-wise and all-knowing god judge me my beliefs while on earth or for my deeds and actions while on earth?.

Flashaldrin:
The problem with atheists is that they've choosen to be blind to every reasoning contrary to theirs.
Let me ask u, how do u know atoms nd electrons exist, enzymes, dna, hormones, current?? How?? Books? Journals? Yet u believe.
Have YOU ever seen it with your eyes??
Ok, lets say u want to confirm, u would then have to visit the labratory nd see for urself.
But yet u sit at your home, watch the telly and expect miracles to happen in front of u. Nah, u'v got to go out, to places where they 'claim' such happen, see the before and after, and then believe or keep being deluded.
U said u want to see medical reports, so u waiting for the doctor to bring it to you??
The way i see it, atheists are a lazy bunch of people, they are too lazy to engage in religion so they just relax, making excuses and trying hard not to get convinced.
The person that died for two weeks and ressurected, was a local pastor, and was brought to life by a very prominent american evangelist, reinhard bonnke, here in nigeria. When it happened, it was broadcast worldwide, videos, tapes, documentaries where made out of it containing real live scenes, testimonies and eye witnesses. U can still google it.
But no, u wont see that kind of news, u will only see what u want to see.
Even the best surgeon in the world, ben carson, attests to miracles!!

UNBELIEVABLE.
This is an award winner. This has got to be the most Ignorant post I have ever read on nairaland. The man thinks atoms, enzymes and DNA only exist on books and journals. I iIgues he has never been to a lab in his life. Gosh.
There special places where miracles happen? Where, and how many have you personally witnessed?
Athiest are too lazy to engage in religion? that is by far the silliest statement i hv ever seen from a grown up person. Bonke is German and he does not do evangelism in his home country because they have long grown beyond such. He preys on ingorant and superstiious Africans for his trade.
All your miracle claiming pastors fly to Europe and America for their medical checkups and treatments every few months. I see them.

What is a miracle? Juesus supposed cured some leppers, but scientist, Dr. James Lind, and others, found the permanent cure for leprosy that  pavee the  way for  total eradication of leprosy. That is the MIRACLE.
Each time I see a jumbo jet take off and land, I still see it as one of the greatest miracles of all times.
To send an unmanned spaceship 5 billion miles into deep space into another world and then have the spaceship land at exactly the same spot you want it to land is another great miracle of all times. Its is shooting an arrow from lagos  to Australia and hitting your target bulleseye.

Crick and watson and  discovered and isolated DNA(thats a miracle) and we successfully mapped out the entire human genome(thats a miracle) and are now targetting specific genetic diseases for elimination(That would be a miracle).
We ignore the true miracles and focus on the delusions and illusions of conmen.

@sexkillz:
I never come into this forum to insult or force my opinions on anyone. I usually come in here out of curiosity to read what people are thinking or saying on certain topics. But I go through the threads, i cannot help responding to to some  of the baseless and shallow arguments people use to back and advance their opinions.

sexkillz:
Chei! Wait make i laugh first! CRETIN! This is why pastors will continue to get RICH! Those are pure fables! If indeed your paster performs such miracles, why do we still have Blind and Crippled ones roaming the Streets? Pathetic arranticus nonsenticus! My friend GET REAL ABEG!

For once I agree with You sexkillz.
ignorance is bliss. Do you see what we have been trying to say ?

ikanya:
An Atheist, even though does not believe in God, might believe in the service of humanity. Love for one's fellow is an inborn nature to man, not necessarily what we learn from our religious faiths. If an Atheist felt that the Catholic has the best network to reach out to humanity, globally, and then made donations for such cause, does not mean that he has chained in his belief on the non-existence of God. Catholic accepting such donation merely acted in line with the biblical injunction of "thou should not be a judge upon your neighbour ,

WELL SAID

Its not too difficult to figure out why Nigerians embrace pentecotal churchianity so easily.
You see, if you love god fervently with all you heart, you believe that your salvation is assured, and therefore you do not need to love your fellow man. No responsibility.
But if on the other hand , you love your fellow man, then You might need to show honesty,kindness and compassion towards your fellow man. Human nature being what it is, most of you choose the former because it is easier.
Your situation is quite understandable.

How many of our jet-loving pius, god-loving Churchmen have donated any penny to any worthy cause? I NEAD AN ANSWER PLS.
I am involved in charities and it shocks me to see that Nigerian Churches are MISSING IN ACTION when it comes to charities. SO MUCH FOR YOUR SO-CALLED LOVE OF GOD when you cannot love your fellow human beings. Its quite easier to love an invisible being that to love fellow creatures that you see and interact with everyday. I
Indolent cowards

God this and God that. All this godism is deafening and blocking our reason. Has any one of you godmen taken note of  strong corrolation between the  increasing godism and churchianity in our nation with the accompanying increase in all the forms of immorality and all the social vices?
The pre-emmincence of any philosophical or religious system can be measure by the quality of its output and influence on the society.
If more godism and churchianity  = less ethics, more immorslity and more social vices, and more intolerance, THEN THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE SO-CALLED RELIGIOUS FAITH.
A lot of posters come here to say that atheists are this and athiests are that without saying in what way atheists have affected their lives in any negative way.  These are the people that time forgot. their bodies are here in our present era, but their minds are stuck in the dark ages.

Thank you Frosbel for confirming the shallowness of your own faith. the catholic church is the mothe rof all christian churches. Every christian sect and denomination sprang from it directly or indirectly. The bible that love to so much from, was assembled and put together by a synod of catholic bishops around 300AD to 325AD. The devinity of Jesus inserted into the gospels by catholic bishops at the council of Nicea in 325AD.
My point is , if the mother church is evil and fraudulent as you are alleging, then all of her offsrpings and progenys cannot be any different. An Vulture cannot give birth to doves.
If the catholic church was founded on fraud, then the entire ediffice of christianity therefore stands on the same fraud. How can it be any different.

Typical" My Church is better than yours" syndrome. Frsbel, you have all the characteristics of a religious nut.

I am quite sure that the donor gave the money to support the many charitable works of the catholic church. Charity is a universal ethos and does not carry a religious symbol.
unlike the pentecostal parasites that have invaded Nigeria, the catholic and anglican churches are involved in many charities to help alleviate the sufferings of the world's poor and neglected. if you are doing good deeds in the name of your religion, should I not support you simply because I'm an athiest?
I guess that is why we are different from you. We carry no religious baggage that be becloud our thoughts, out judgements and our hearts.

Most People are tire of listening to the same old crap week after week from their infancy althrough their lives. Any thing new? Any new gospel?

God loves you. Good but so what?
Jesus is the son of god and he loves you. good but so what?
The devil is out to decieve and harm you. Really? Then why can't Goad and his son Jesus team and kill the devil for one last time and then game over?