₦airaland Forum

Seun:
Believers,

I'm hungry for a debate. Let's discuss whether or not Christianity is the true religion, which is what it claims to be. What's your best evidence?

Let's have some fun!

@Seun: First, what does "true religion" even mean - and how can such a question about ideologies or worldviews not be subjective ab initio? And if subjective, how can this debate ever be meaningful?

DeepSight:
+
Dost mine eyes deceive me?
Long time!

Indeed! Good to see you still visit this place. A good friend in Lagos was trying to get a US visa under the current travel ban, so I decided to check what Nairalanders have to say about it. Lo and behold, it logged me right in, and I saw the mention. Haven't been on here in over a year now.
P.S. The section name was changed from "Religion" to "Christianity etc?" *Groan*.

DeepSight:
+
It's very rare for a Nairalanders gender to become an issue on this board. The only other person I can remember in similar terms was a poster called pilgrim1 who many alleged was viaro. Okay there was also one mavenbox/inesqor. Many years ago.

Viaro(m) was alleged to be pilgrim1(f). Unfounded allegations - and never proven. I communicated with the user outside this platform and still believe that user was wrongly accused.

Fair, mavenbox / inesqor were the same user. But no, "gender" was not an issue - rather, it was about a thin veneer of privacy. That's all I will say about that at this time.

DeepSight:
Bisimillahi rahman raheem. La illa il Allah, Mohammadu rasul ALLAH.
Allahu Akbar.

Okay I have my answer - you're definitely doing too much so it's not real. Smh

DeepSight:
Dost mine eyes deceive me, or who am I seeing?
Cometh thou from sheol?

*Shiloh

So - are you Muslim these days?

@DeepSight: Your signature! How times change. Are you Muslim now, or just being facetious / irreverent?

I was also trying to remember this DBN theme song, so I googled it. This post came up but nobody had the actual answer. I finally found it.

It is "G-Bop" by Kenny G.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMsUaR-tCXk

@MuttleyLaff:
Lmao what I googled was Naija news oh, abeg. There's no point googling inesQor, as this is the only website where you'll find that name.

Olaadegbu has been bringing people to their knees since at least 2009 na. 10 years plus, going strong.

Life happened jare. I didn't feel like I was learning so much on here anymore, and time became even more scarce. Nice to read from you too once again!

Make I return to my shell before Olaadegbu brings me to my knees.

Goodness gracious. This thread just about gave me a migraine.

Now I remember another reason I left Nairaland.

@MuttleyLaff:

Chaiiii na Edward Snowden be your name? See how you exposed our chats?

I can remember this conversation, but only barely. It's been like 8 years, man.

P.S. I googled something and ended up on Nairaland, and was surprised to find a lot of mentions, with this one being the most recent.

Who knows: is Drogon much bigger than Rhaegar and Viserion just because he was not chained up in the dungeons like his brothers?

siempere:
I wish he'll be fed to d hounds.... by Sansa preferably...

You see am for dream?

jmaine:
Lovely ending . . . . . .

What?
[size=16pt]EPIC ENDING![/size]

Uchenna42:
What is the rumor mentioned ? Any thoughts ?

Some possible theories:
(a) Wildfire (though this shouldn't be a rumor anymore. Tyrion used it in the past already. The rumor might be that the wildfire is located beneath the Septum, making it easy to take out the High Sparrow and his crew).
(b) Rumor that Tyrion is with Daenerys - and so Cersei may be considering an alliance
(c) Rumor that the Tyrells orchestrated Joffery's death. Implicating Maergery might turn King Tommen around.
(d) A rumor that undermines the High Sparrow's credibility and shows that he is a hypocrite. Some evidence of dirty linen e.g. the high sparrow is a paedophile, or something like that, could change the scene.

A man is getting tired of all the interesting theories - only to finally see an underwhelming plot on TV.

Seun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7BQKu0YP8Y

Exactly

[size=3pt]

jboy73:
So you watch porn movies? How come you censor words like f uck, and all similar sexual related words?

What harm with those words cause if you let them be.


Don't ban me. Just admit a simple question

[/size]
Seun is just looking out for the best interests of his site. Such words would "taint" the website, and search engines / robots won't consider Nairaland as a "family-friendly" site. This will likely, in turn, affect monetization.

Seun:
You may recognize some of the techniques demonstrated by former evangelist Marjoe Gortner in this excerpt from his 1972 documentary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-NwKD9laZw

Not so "modern" actually.

Barely a decade after this, Peter Popoff (healer and televangelist) was caught by Randi and an electronics technician receiving divine revelations using radio communication from his wife Elizabeth backstage - who was reading out people's names and issues to him.

If that happened in 1987 I wonder what might be going on now, with our modern technology.

This however does not necessarily mean all are fakes.

YoungForever:

I think Lyanna is going to die, and it will pain me

Ranchhoddas:
Ser Meryn Trant came out alive. So unless Syrio has magical powers, he's as dead as Ned Stark.

I find your conclusion drastic! The way this story is usually told, if nothing is clearly stated I don't assume it is so. Syrio may have managed to escape, whether or not he hurt Meryn Trant in the process. *shrugs*

If Lyanna Mormont was the one who had 3 dragons, this show would have ended already.

Vickyydera:
my mind tells me that jaquen needs Arya for his greater plan.
Or he just like her which pisses Waif off. She is scared a new girl will replace her lolz. Jaquen own is that he has a soft spot for Arya. It won't be bad to see a glimpse of romance between a man and a girl. But a girl is too young for a man, I will like to see a man kiss a girl. My dirty mind lolzz

Jaquen is so cute.

Don't also forget that Arya saved his life, and then asked him to kill himself, and then pardoned him again. Enough for a soft spot, wouldn't you say?

Lol I doubt Jaquen has any of these romantic feelings but what do I know?

eniolaamoda:
Asin d guy is annoying

GROOOVE:
Syrio Forel last seen: weaponless surrounded by lannister soldiers hungry for his head. Jaqen H'ghar as Arya? Maybe. But Syrio not by any chance

- We weren't told that Syrio Forel died, so he may have overcome the soldiers and escaped somehow (and if he is actually Jaqen the awesome assassin, it is not impossible for him). In #GOT and also #ASOIAF if we are not clearly told that someone died, the person is most likely alive somewhere.
- It is possible that Jaqen H'ghar was undercover as Syrio Forel (for some reasons we don't know). Syrio Forel was also known to have said he is from Braavos. Another coincidence?
- Jaqen even knew Arry the farm-boy is actually Arya Stark.

Johnpaul88:
What was the meaning of that inscription Margery gave to her grand mother that convinced Olenna to leave king's landing?

That's a rose, an emblem of the Tyrells. She was letting her grandma know that she has not forgotten who she is i.e. she has a plan.

Vickyydera:
It almost had to have been Jaquen that pose as Arya. We've
seen him use Arya's face before, last season.
Arya had untold amounts of cold, hard cash
and beautiful clothes seemingly from
nowhere. Her dialogue wasn't consistent with
her character. Arya also wouldn't be stupid
enough to let her guard down like that. I say
Jaquen lured the waif (who has now
disobeyed him) and is posing as Arya in a very
public way, thus giving more credence to her
death. I don't know but if you put all the details
together it makes sense that a girl wasn't
arya last night...
Never are we shown that she get a lot of
money....she didn't seem to get a lot while
begging.
Also Jaquen walks with his two hands behind his back, arya dont walk like that ,she also didn't have her needles.

I was just saying this! Nice one

What if Jaqen H'ghar took Arya Stark's form, just to catch the Waif in her brutal murder attempt after asking her not to let Arya suffer?

Jaqen seems to be really invested in Arya. What if Jaqen H’ghar is actually her former teacher, Syrio Forel?

johnydon22:
Hahahaha true i have said it many times, they seem to do the most damage with what they say when you debate them

Always better to have an opinion, know where you stand, and be able to clearly express it - even if it is constantly shifting; THAN to hide all your thoughts from scrutiny just so that you can tear down that of others.

PastorAIO:
[size=3pt]I reckon your entire argument relies on this sentence, and I believe it is very shaky.

It is not true that each person knows when they begin 'dwelling' on any thought, sinful or otherwise. I believe there is an infinity of continuous degrees between full awareness and unconsciousness. There are a plethora of cognitive processes going on in our mind and most of them are unconscious. Of those that we can say we're conscious of there are varying degrees of awareness.

Sometimes one can be fully focused on a thought. Sometimes you can be focusing on one thought but keep another thought in the background. Like e.g you're reading a book, but half your mind is focused on the gate because you are expecting a visitor anytime. Then sometimes a thought can be so vague that you are not really articulating it but rather it's just like a mood, a vague mood even. Other times you have a thought, a desire and you know it but you can't put your finger on it, you may just feel something is not right and until maybe later when you actually see the thing that has been lurking at the back of your mind then you'll realise that this what the thing that has been bothering you.

I've experienced suddenly being aware of sexual feelings that have been there all along. Imagine sitting a tough exam and then suddenly you realise you have a stonking hard on!! In the middle of cracking a quadratic equation. How is that possible?

Then there is the question of autonomy. If the greater part of our actions stem from the unconscious then what responsibility does the conscious mind really have in our behaviour. e.g if a man watching television finds himself sitting impatiently through an advert. He can't wait for the film to get started again. The next day he goes to the store, and absentmindedly finds himself reaching for a product he doesn't need and adding it to his cart. Until he gets home he doesn't even question why the hell he bought this stupid product. That is an example of how our decisions are often manipulated without our conscious awareness.

Take sex, Most of us experience our very first sexual feelings in a state of slumber. You're a teenager, you wake up and you've made a mess of the bedsheets. In fact, one of the reasons that convinced me that homosexuality is natural was due to a brother of mine who was a staunch born again christian. Back in the day I would wake up in the middle of the night and I'd hear him in the bathroom rebuking demons. In fact that was the first time I'd ever heard of binding demons cos I heard him saying, 'I bind you in the name of Jesus…' etc.
It was not until ten years later are grown men that he explained to me what he was going through. He used to have wet dreams and in these wet dreams he was knacking other men.
In his case, was he dwelling on the thoughts?

Take a look at a couple of these links and tell me what you think. I was actually looking for another one about evidence that our decisions are already made before we are consciously aware of it so it is not the conscious mind that makes decisions.



https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080414145705.htm



https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130213092305.htm[/size]

This is meaty. I'll have to get back to you on the philosophy of states of consciousness, which happens to be one of the more difficult problems in philosophy.

For now, I will like to clarify that my whole argument is actually based on the idea that whatever we pay undue attention to may multiply in our consciousness. Temptation in itself is not the problem, but paying the wrong kind of attention to it will increase susceptibility. In terms of the question in the OP, Yes, Jesus got these same temptations but he didn't pay the sort of attention to them, that weakens his own resolve to deal with them (that is what sinning is).

E.g. If I know that a particular colleague at work already has a thing for me and with the right words I can definitely get in bed with her, the fact that the thought crosses my mind at all is not a problem - it is a temptation. But the more I think about approaching her, the exact words to say, I plan the day or time that it will happen, and plan to set it all in motion, then I have begun to sin (this falls under the "wanting your own way" part of the three major types of sin in my previous response i.e. "wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important" i.e. "lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life" ).

As Christians, this is why we are charged to be careful what we think.
Prov 4:23 "Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life"

Edited to add: there were a number of other points you brought up, that I will likewise address in my next response.

PastorAIO:
It is very hard to draw that dividing line between the 'natural biological reaction' and dwelling on contemplating the action. How many seconds is one allowed to be aware of the sweet tingling before it stops being just a natural biological reaction and becomes a full blown fantasy.

Yes it's hard to draw the line between a subconscious reaction and a conscious one, but each person knows when they begin "dwelling" on thoughts of sin. The very fact that we "hear" suggestions of temptation in our subconscious means we are liable to sin, but when we consciously begin to fantasize on it then the tables turn and we are dwelling in sin.

Jesus was "tempted in all ways as we are". This statement would make no sense if he never had the urges or was not liable to sin, but the key thing is that he didn't dwell on them.

John wrote about this, understanding that "newcomers in faith" (i.e. those with less experience handling sin) need to be guided out of it.
I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good—not only ours, but the whole world’s.

"Solving the sin problem for good" means that Jesus' sacrifice gives us a fallback when we do sin. That's some hope, at least.

And he tops it up in 1 John 2:15-17 by telling us how to keep ourselves from living in sin. Reading the below passage shows that it takes a conscious effort. The subconscious temptation in itself doesn't count, so that "number of seconds" between the subconscious and conscious can't be something fixed for everyone. Sin is isolating ourselves from God, and there are some common triggers for it.
Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.

Sin places that gun in our hands, we feel the weight and contemplate using it. The choice to press the trigger is always ours, but the longer you hold on to the gun and admire its beauty and grow dependent on it for your protection, the more likely you will use it on someone.

Ishilove:
Ma niqqa... I missed you a bit too

Ishilove:
I've been okay o. Jungle don mature so the violent is taking it by force

Kudos jare. No be small thing my sister.

newguy1:
is dat not the way all fathers in game of thrones series are behaving except for Ned which we didn't really know all about him

Almost all the fathers were irresponsible / overly heavy-handed.

Ishilove:
Nice one

Ishi bebe How have you been? I missed you a bit.