₦airaland Forum

In the Christian Church, as those who serve the altar should live by the altar (1 Corinthians 9:13),
provision of some kind had necessarily to be made for the sacred ministers. In the beginning this was supplied by the spontaneous offerings of the faithful.

In the course of time, however, as the Church expanded and various institutions arose, it became necessary to make laws which would insure the proper and permanent support of the clergy.
The payment of tithes was adopted from the Old Law, and early writers speak of it as a divine ordinance and an obligation of conscience.

The earliest positive legislation on the subject seems to be contained in the letter of the bishops assembled at Tours in 567 and the canons of the Council of Maçon in 585.

In course of time, we find the payment of tithes made obligatory by ecclesiastical enactments in all the countries of christendom.
The Church looked on this payment as "of divine law, since tithes were instituted not by man but by the Lord Himself" (C. 14, X de decim. III, 30).

As regards the civil power, the Christian Roman emperors granted the right to churches of retaining a portion of the produce of certain lands, but the earliest instance of the enforcement of the payment of ecclesiastical tithes by civil law is to be found in the capitularies of Charlemagne, at the end of the eighth century.
English law very early recognized the tithe, as in the reigns of Athelstan, Edgar, and Canute before the Norman Conquest.
In English statute law proper, however, the first mention of tithes is to be found in the Statute of Westminister of 1285.
Tithes are of three kinds:

predial, or that derived from the annual crops;

mixed, or what arises from things nourished by the land, as cattle, milk, cheese, wool;

and personal or the result of industry or occupation.

Predial tithes were generally called great tithes, and mixed and personal tithes, small tithes.

Natural substances having no annual increase are not tithable, nor are wild animals. When property is inherited or donated, it is not subject to the law of tithes, but its natural increase is.
There are many exempted from the paying of tithes: spiritual corporations, the owners of uncultivated lands, those who have acquired lawful prescription, or have obtained a legal renunciation, or received a privilege from the pope.

If the journey to the temple was unusually long, money could be substituted for the offering in kind. At the triennial tithe, a third decimation was made and a tenth part was consumed at home by the householder with his family, the Levites, strangers, and the poor.

This triennial year was called the year of tithes (Deuteronomy 26:12). As the tithes were the main support of the priests, it was later ordained that the offerings should be stored in the temple (2 Chronicles 31:11).

It is to be noted that the custom of paying sacred tithes was not peculiar to the Israelites, but common to all ancient peoples.

In Lydia a tithe of cattle was offered to the gods;

the Arabians paid a tithe of incense to the god Sabis;

and the Carthaginians brought tithes to Melkarth, the god of Tyre.

The explanation of why the tenth part should have been chosen among so many different peoples is said to be (apart from a common primitive revelation) that mystical signification of the number ten, viz., that it signifies totality, for it contains all the numbers that make up the numerical system, and indeed all imaginable series of numbers, and so it represents all kinds of property, which is a gift of God. [color=#990000][/color]


All species of property were consequently reckoned in decades, and by consecrating one of these parts to God, the proprietor recognized the Source of his goods. However, the payment of tithes was also a civil custom.

They were payable to the Hebrew kings and to the rulers of Babylon, and they are mentioned among the Persians, Greeks, Romans, and later the Mohammedans. Tax today to Nigerian government.
COREN, NITE, NSE, ICAN and other professional bodies depend on it.

Generally defined as "the tenth part of the increase arising from the profits of land and stock, allotted to the clergy for their support or devoted to religious or charitable uses". A more radical definition is "the tenth part of all fruits and profits justly acquired, owed to God in recognition of his supreme dominion over man, and to be paid to the ministers of the church".

The custom of giving tithes reaches back into unknown antiquity. It is mentioned in Genesis 14, without anything to indicate that it was something newly instituted. Just as Abraham is there represented as offering tithes of the spoils of the enemy to the royal priest, Melchisedech, so in Genesis 28, Jacob is recorded as giving a tithe of all his possessions to the Lord. Under the Mosaic Law the payment of tithes was made obligatory.

The Hebrews are commanded to offer to God the tenth part of the produce of the fields, of the fruits of the trees, and the firstborn of oxen and of sheep (Leviticus 27:30;

Deuteronomy 14:22). In Deuteronomy there is a mention not only of an annual tithe, but also of a full tithe to be paid once every three years.

While it was to God Himself that the tithes had to be paid, yet we read (Numbers 18:21) that He transfers them to His sacred ministers: "I have given to the sons of Levi all the tithes of Israel for a possession, for the ministry wherewith they serve me in the tabernacle of the covenant."
In paying the tithe, the Hebrews divided the annual harvest into ten parts, one of which was given to the Levites after the first-fruits had been subtracted. This was partitioned by them among the priests.

The remainder of the harvest was then divided into ten new parts, and a second tithe was carried by the head of the household to the sanctuary to serve as a sacred feast for his family and the Levites.

THISDAY ONLINE.htm

Polytechnics, Monotechnics to Award Degrees – NBTE
From Agaju Madugba in Kaduna, 04.04.2006

Polytechnics and monotechnics the country are to commence the award of degree certificates, the Chairman of the National Board for Technical Education, (NBTE) Dr. Stephen Oru has said.
Oru disclosed this when he led members of the newly reconstituted board on a courtesy call on Governor Ahmed Makarfi of Kaduna State.
He said the NBTE was already working out the modalities that would enable these institutions perform this new task effectively.
He said the award of degree certificates by polytechnics and monotechnics would bring to an end the current discrimination against graduates of polytechnics in the labour market.
“We are working out a formula that would promote the award of degrees through a process of evaluation and de-evaluation. The board is going to raise credits required for admission into the polytechnics from four to five credits to enhance its credibility. Technology is the number one new thing the globally and we cannot afford to be left behind,” he said.
The NBTE chairman noted that the board was established through Act.9 of 1977 and charged with the responsibility to coordinate all aspects of technical and vocational education outside the university system.
He stated that the board now supervised 108 tertiary technical institutions as well as 150 technical colleges in the country, adding that it also advised the Federal Government on the national policies necessary for the training of technical manpower in the country.
He commended the Kaduna State government for its achievements in the building and upgrading of science and technical institutions in the state, saying that he was impressed with the peaceful atmosphere in the state.
“Kaduna State has now become a model for peaceful and harmonious co-existence among the various peoples of the country in the state,” he said.

Good talk, by their fruit we shall know them. Christ once said that not all that call me lord will enter into paradise but only those that does the will of God. If tithe was a way to paradise Christ would have taught us. Today Malachi intention to warn the priests has been twisted.

donnie:
That is because the conscience of carnal Christan's as well as their atheist counterparts will not let them rest.

You want to reap where you did not sow Donnie by waiting daily for others to bring tithe. Please cover your face, let listen to those who are new on board like 4get_me He should read early posts. We are not in court and the BIBLE is not a constitution for philosophical debate. That is the way you see the bible, we know the history and you can not claim to know more than the authors of those verses. Why they use those words has implication and dogma was never intended as today sociologist, psychologist turn pastor use it to milk the unsuspected believers. Only the truth that can set us free.

4get_me , This is Purely Philosophical Jagons. You need to know the truth not merely the use of words. Kai!

Can a Non-Christian Go to Heaven? YES Q.E.D.

God love cheerful giver, hates wage like tithe

I hope you know that Isa is JESUS CHRIST that the holy Koran described as Messiah. Do good to go to heaven not just a word of mouth

That HND is better than Bsc in Nigeria is true and a consolation statement,  fabricators of cassava processing machines are using  not university trained welders. Nigerian engineers have nothing to offer us. It is all HND holder in every sector keeping the nation on. Bsc are just teachers of what they can not teach well. Both needed by every nation.

Everybody should be allowed to advance.

Are Catholics Born Again?


Catholics and Protestants agree that to be saved, you have to be born again. Jesus said so: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).

When a Catholic says that he has been "born again," he refers to the transformation that God’s grace accomplished in him during baptism. Evangelical Protestants typically mean something quite different when they talk about being "born again." For an Evangelical, becoming "born again" often happens like this: He goes to a crusade or a revival where a minister delivers a sermon telling him of his need to be "born again."

"If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and believe he died for your sins, you’ll be born again!" says the preacher. So the gentleman makes "a decision for Christ" and at the altar call goes forward to be led in "the sinner’s prayer" by the minister. Then the minister tells all who prayed the sinner’s prayer that they have been saved—"born again." But is the minister right? Not according to the Bible.

http://www.catholic.com/library/Are_Catholics_Born_Again.asp

Christ calls the highly educated Biblical scholars of His day liars (John 8:55 - Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.) and says that their father is a liar (John 8:44 - Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.).  Paul, in what people today would call vicious bigoted discrimination, calls a whole RACE of people liars in Titus 1:12; they came from Ham.  One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
A man lies because he is afraid (Abraham - Genesis 12:11-19; Sarah - Genesis 18:15; David - I Samuel 21:12-15).

A man with a bad conscience (II Samuel 18:29) is always afraid.

No man has to lie where there is no threat of some kind.  He is told to put away lying (Ephesians 4:25), whether there is any threat or not, but human nature being what it is (Job 13:4), he still tends to lie when under stress.

What do we have in almost all the pulpits in America?  Liars!  Many even profess to be born again, they all profess that their friends and teachers are good and godly, and they all profess that their education is accredited because of the 'qualified authorities' who hold to 'historic positions' and as we see in this entire series, because of their personal opinions!

I wonder if the Father of lies has even lied to them to make them believe that they are Biblically and truly saved even though they may not be.  Now THAT would the lie of all lies, eh! 
I John 2:19 is pretty clear: They went out from us (FROM CATHOLIC), but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

I John 4:3 sure does lay down a pretty damning possibility as well - And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

culled from The Battle of the Seeds
King James Onlyism - vs - Scholarship Onlyism
Lies from the Pulpits

http://www.touchet1611.org/KJVOPulpitLies.html

lioness:
@Hnd - Holder
That means you [catholics] discriminate other christians. You despise other christians that are not catholics.
So every other christian who Christ died for is a protestant, just because they are not catholics.

We are praying for you all to come back home. The bible, the bable say, etc. Catholic wrote the bible you pick it up trying to twist what they wrote as the word of God.

wendytilda:
Would you prefer that Pastors don't get married and go ahead committing adultery like some priests that don't get married?Don't you think it is wiser be married so temptations from that aspect will at least be less.
And who says wifes are burdens or hindrances to soberness?

Those priests enjoy them self and will account by themselves. What of those pastors of Pentecostals with wife at home eating all tithes yet go about with their church members, parenting their secretaries, joining OCCULTS to get power for the so call miracles?. Stealing tithes is worst than having fun with ladies which you mentioned.

With your bible you may not go because BIBLE is just a book. Be informed that muslims and other worshippers of true God will be in heaven while your so called christians will not.

Stealing in the name of thy, Tithe

Christians Can not go while a Non-Christian will Go to Heaven if he is doing the will of God. because not all that call him father will enter heaven

Ela is coming again. Says Orunmila. Ifa says do good to enter heven.

Donnie, I hope you are reading

The Protestant movement actually preceded the 16th-century Reformation. Several dissident movements in the late medieval church anticipated the Reformation by protesting the pervasive corruption in the church and by criticizing fundamental Catholic teachings.
The four main Protestant traditions that emerged from the Reformation were the Lutheran (known in continental Europe as Evangelical), the Calvinist (Reformed), the Anabaptist, and the Anglican. Despite the considerable differences among them in doctrine and practice, they agreed in rejecting the authority of the pope and in emphasizing instead the authority of the Bible and the importance of individual faith.

The term Protestantism was given to the movement after the second Diet of Speyer (1529), an imperial assembly at which the Roman Catholic majority withdrew the tolerance granted to Lutherans at the first diet three years earlier. A protest was signed by six Lutheran princes and the leaders of 14 free cities of Germany, and Lutherans in general became known as Protestants. The term Protestant has gradually been attached to all Christian churches that are not Roman Catholic or part of the Orthodox or other Eastern Christian traditions. In the late 1990s the world had about 400 million Protestants (including some 64 million Anglicans), constituting about one-fifth of all affiliated Christians.

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555703/Protestantism.html

Born against or Again is a fanatical way of protesting. Catholic is catholic they are not protestants. OK

Akikah!

This can not be true. Because you are reading your bible out of context. What language did GOD use when speaking to this man?

COREN said October 2006.

Good morning every body from two nights in one day.

COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF 14TH ENGINEERING ASSEMBLY ON
"ENGINEERING EDUCATION, PRACTICE AND REGULATION: THE NIGERIAN SITUATION"
Held at the International Conference Center, Abuja, 20th - 21st September 2005

The Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) held its 14th Engineering Assembly in the International Conference Centre, Abuja from 20th - 21st September, 2005. The theme of the Assembly was "Engineering Education, Practice and Regulation: The Nigerian Situation".

The Assembly was declared open by the Special Guest of Honour, Engr. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, FNSE, GCFR, President and Commander in Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces, ably represented by the Honourable Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe. The occasion was spectacularly graced by several imminent Nigerians including the Former Head of State, Gen. Dr. Yakubu Gowon (Rtd), GCFR, who ably presided over the proceedings of the Opening Ceremony with his characteristic eloquence and charisma. Other dignitaries included State Governors, Leaders and members of National Assembly, the Chief Host and Minister of Capital Territory, Cabinet Ministers, gurus from the industry and academia.

An impressive attendance of about 2,500 participants was recorded at the Assembly. A total of seven invited papers covering engineering education, practice and regulation, entrepreneurship and sustainable development were delivered and discussed in the two-day duration of the Assembly.

A special feature of the 14th COREN Assembly was a special forum of the Committee of Deans of Faculties of Engineering (CODET).

The following is a summary of the presentations, discussions, conclusions and recommendations arising from the two-day brainstorming session of the engineering family on the crucial issue of Engineering Education, Practice and Regulation in Nigeria:

1. The reforms of the Science, Technology and innovation systems which the Government has initiated with UNESCO are vitally important in addressing poverty reduction, sustainable development and the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals for which Nigeria is a signatory.

2. Engineering Education and Practice have declined over the years, despite all the regulatory efforts, due to neglect of massive investment in the education sector in general and science and engineering programmes in particular. There is urgent need for governments to redress this anomaly with massive investment in infrastructures and human resource development. COREN shall strengthen its network with international bodies to ensure mutual recognition of engineering personnel and qualifications to enhance the mobility of engineering personnel so as to benefit significantly from cross-border partnerships and globalization

3. The present education of engineering personnel has been shown to fall short of the requirements of the modern workplace. The teaching and learning objectives of our education system need to be reviewed to emphasize student competencies in original problem identification, formulation and solution in a multi disciplinary atmosphere and under given constraints. COREN must insist on changing the current conventional methods of imparting engineering knowledge.

4. There is uncoordinated use of education and training capacities between industry and products of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) leading to serious gaps in the actual and expected quality of graduates produced. Entrepreneurship is considered as a major catalyst for leveraging the economic transformation of Nigeria through employment generation, self-reliance and poverty alleviation. Entrepreneurship should be introduced at all levels of education in Nigeria.

5. The training of the Nigerian Engineering Technicians and Craftsmen should be intensified through the support of the organized private sector while the government should encourage such companies through tax reduction. The current status of the Trade Centres and Colleges of Technology should be upgraded with better equipment and staffing for effective training of Nigerians.

6. Efforts should be made by the government to assemble and keep record of appropriately trained engineering technicians and craftsmen, as well as regulate the practice effectively.

[b]7. The Assembly invited all stakeholders in engineering education, training and practice to embrace and invest in the Supervised Industrial Training Scheme in Engineering (SITSIE) for technology transfer and experience development. SITSIE Certification will form the final clearance for engineering personnel to enlist for the NYSC while the SITSIE and NYSC years count as experience for the Engineering Personnel.

8. SME dusters, informal sector operators such as the Nnewi dusters are recognized as institutions with potentials and features that should be tapped by COREN in the implementation of the SITSIE programme. There is need for radical change of attitude Government and individuals as to the need for massive investment in technology education and training as a critical success factor for the advancement of our country into the league of technologically developed nations.[/b]9. Government of all levels, Engineering education/training institutions, firms, practitioners and indeed all other stakeholders are invited to make reference to the Engineers (Registration etc) Act E11 2004 to guide them in the legal requirements for education, training, practice including employment of engineering personnel.

10. In order to enable COREN realize its mandate for control and regulation of engineering practice in all its aspects and ramification, Council has instituted the Engineering Regulations Monitoring Programme. Accordingly, COREN inspectors are empowered to conduct visitation to establishments for the purposes of enforcing compliance with the Engineers (Registration) Act E11 2004.

11. The recent engineering failures especially collapse of buildings and bridges is a big shame to the image of our country. However, these failures have been found to be traceable to the activities of non -registered engineering personnel '"quacks". To combat this ugly scourge, COREN has introduced Project Control Forms PCF (A, B, C) to be submitted by design engineers and displayed on construction sites. Approving authorities should henceforth desist from approving designs or supervision without completion Projects Control Forms COREN inspectors are mandated to visit building sites and enforce compliance with Project Control Forms regulations and all aspects of quality control and assurance.

12. All universities and polytechnics are to submit to COREN and NBTE respectively, within the specified period, data on students of approved programmes and applications for new programmes in accordance with the Engineers (Registration etc) Act 2004. Only duly registered engineering personnel should be appointed as Deans, Heads of Department or Directors of engineering personnel programmes. In order to streamline the flow of information and synergy with the Universities and Polytechnics, COREN calls for the resuscitation and effectiveness of the Committee of Deans of Engineering (CODET) and Heads of Colleges of Technology (COHEADS) in the country.

13. The Assembly notes that COREN has taken the right steps on a Salary Scale for Engineers in the Public Sector (ESS), and calls on government to expedite action on approving this for implementation

Vanguard (Lagos)

OPINION
16 Mars 2006
Publié sur le web le 16 Mars 2006

Promise Adewusi


THE on-going debate on Polytechnic education and the circumstances of its graduates is a welcome one. For one, it has forced this vital sub-sector of our education system on to the front burner of national discourse. For another, it may, at the end, help rethink the purpose of poly education and bring about a much needed reshaping and refocusing of its curriculum and its philosophy.

It has bothered me for too long that holders of our polythechnic diplomas are made to play the second fiddle to university degree holders by employers. This is in spite of the fact that, on paper, the Higher National Diploma {HND} is said to be equivalent to a university first degree. But in practice what you find is that employers categorise the HND holders as middle level manpower and go ahead to discriminate against them in terms of job placements and remuneration. In the Public Service, for instance, while a university degree holder is designated as an Administrative Officer or other such nomenclature, a poly HND holder is designated an Executive or Technical officer, made to stagnate on level 13 as against a degree holder who can rise to the zenith of his career. The HND holder can hardly head a unit {no matter his experience} once a university degree holder is available.

Obviously, this cannot encourage or enhance productivity as the HND holder is wont to feel and often times does feel a sense of alienation instead of that of belonging. But then, how did we arrive at this sour point in spite of government's good intention of keeping the HND and First degree at par?

It is instructive to note that the entry qualifications into the polytechnics are usually lower than that for the universities. Whereas universities require a minimum of five credits, albeit got from several sittings, some polythechnics admit candidates with three or even lesser number of credits, and most times, also obtained from multiple sittings. Herein lies the dilemma of employers. As is often said in the IT world: "garbage in, garbage out" .The employer is then left in a quandary as to how to equate a HND obtained using an inferior entry qualification, with no attempt made to remedy the deficiency within the pendency of studentship in the poly, to a university degree obtained with a supposed higher entry qualification.

That brings us to the vexed issue of entry qualifications into our institutions of higher learning, be they polytechnics, colleges of education or universities. It is often said that higher education is not an all comers affair. Even though it is desired for all, there are those who by their circumscribed intellectual potentiality, are not well fitted for the process of higher education. This is an unalloyed truism, hard as it may seem. Any child well suited for higher education should be able to obtain five credits out of a possible nine in a singular sitting. It may not necessarily be at the first, or even second attempt, but should be from one sitting and not this "cut and paste" that has become synonymous with five credits from multiple sittings. If this was excused in the past when there was a paucity of qualified candidates for higher education, it cannot be rationalised now that there is a suffuse of qualified candidates within the context of available schools. Really, it is difficult to expect those who, otherwise are not cut out for higher education, specifically those who could not obtain their entry qualifications from a single sitting, not to cut corners when admitted. This is not suggesting that all those who obtain their entry qualifications in one sitting are "hot heads" while those who do not are "dudders" . But insisting on entry qualifications obtained from a singular sitting will be a convenient starting point for sifting the wheat from the chaff.





As for poly education, another issue of controversy is the quality of some of the teachers in some of the schools. It is not that the universities do not have their draw-backs in this regard. For instance, there are some so called lecturers in the universities who merely regurgitate lecture notes given to them by their own lecturers some twenty, or more, years ago without revising them and bringing them in tandem with current trends and advances in their particular disciplines. Such pretenders who are vitiating the quality of our university education do not have any business being in the university environment, if you ask me. But definitely, something has to be done in the area of training, retraining and exposure to modern research methodology of our poly teachers to improve employers' confidence in poly graduates.

Again, my understanding of the polytechnics is that they were set up to provide highly specialised training in some selected disciplines in technology with a view to exposing their students to more practical aspects of technology and equipping them with the necessary skills to kick-start our quest for technological emancipation and advancement. A situation where they now duplicate virtually all the courses, including in some cases the humanities, run by the universities without the necessary facilities to support such courses, leaves much to be desired and is bound to worry the employer.

The popular but erroneous belief that polythechnic education is meant for those students who are unable to get a placing in the universities, is also not helping the plight of poly graduates. Therefore, the admission requirements for entry into our polytechnics should be strengthened to bring them at par with those of the universities. This way, poly education, like " BATA" will be seen to be by choice rather than by frustration. Instead of lowering the entry qualification into the Ordinary National Diploma programmes, government should move to restructure and revitalise the Technical and Trade Schools/ Centres to train those candidates whose academic capabilities may not conveniently support polytechnic education. Such students will form the crop of the middle level manpower in the Labour market. Those who improve on their academic standing, can then go on to the polytechnics, if they so desire.