₦airaland Forum

babanne, pls continue here https://www.nairaland.com/1223844/tunisian-man-sets-himself-ablaze

snydergp: What's your problem with this ban nonsense hah, it seems you have a particular nag to ban anyone who responds in kind to people bashing there country.

Why don't you even consider baning those who instigated such reactions. I really think you should be more transparent in "some" of your actions, where some of your own countryman are concerned.

Otherwise I don't have other issues as far as your moderating are concerned.

Hi there Snydergp,
thanks for contacting me. As far as I have tried - I have always banned the instigator - as a matter of fact I usually ban only the instigators and hide the responses as long as it is not eggregious. Can you please show me the thread I banned you and not the others? could have been a mistake on my part and if so my apologies.

You usually make fantastic posts that I read and learn from - but please try to leave out the insults/abuses. The last ban was for the "white people SA" thread and your outburst was unprovoked that's why I banned you - and this after only hiding your previous posts on there which I hoped would hint at you and deter future insults.

Thanks dude.

Image123: i already explained na, i said

i'm not saying all answers to prayer must be physically received immediately oh. One can actually receive an answer, and hold on to it until it materialises. Like father Abraham. That peace comes, even though the physical evidence is on the way. where there is nothing coming, that's not good. one has to check up, or re-tune the frequency as it were. As something may actually be broadcasting and we are not on the right frequency as it were. Hope say i don explain?

Explained perfectly!!! which is why one always has to stop and ask someone to clarify before replying to my own false understanding of what I think you said. Thank you dear!

forgot to ask, how you dey?

Snr brother I dey oh. By the grace of the good Lord Almighty we are forging on and doing exploits. And you? I trust its going from glory to glory to gloriest

Chrisbenogor: Not at all, plus we are talking about Christian forgiveness here my own definition does not matter. As a human being I can forgive people when they wrong me, I may or may not forget , depending on how much if my trust is betrayed I may or may not allow the person in my life. I forgive for myself and I don't hold grudges for myself. So tell me what Christian forgiveness entails in case I missed the versed that talked about magnum 357 and blowing brains.

Lol...now you talkin!

Of course Jesus taught christians to forgive, turn the other cheek, lay down their lives etc etc (and the context of these must also be understood properly as well). As I said to Areadude - I was simply providing a counter to what I think is an impractical notion of 'simply forgive' by saying what I would do.

Would Jesoul really take a loaded gun into a courtroom (assuming I can get one in to begin) and shoot someone who says something that 'offends' me? those who thought the analogy was anything other than symbolic .... #tightlywoundup ...typical for the NL neo-pop-atheist population...apart from you of course my darl Chris lol.

Christian forgiveness - is 70 x 7 times in one single day. Christian forgiveness is NOT the suspension of human emotion - but rather a godly response in spite of that emotion. Christian forgiveness is also practical - should a known paedophile be allowed to work in a church nursey in the name of 'forgiveness'? Christian forgiveness is not foolish. Christian forgiveness is not based on carnal or worldly concepts of what 'morality' is - it is based on godly principles as put forth by many parables of Jesus.

InesQor: Haha I was pulling your legs, a pun on your usage of "Journey man"

And... aren't we all? Nobody has figured it all out, which is why as Christians we have the Holy Spirit at work in us.

A resounding Amen.

Lol. Abeg no fear me oh .

As to the thread matter....

I frequently laugh to myself and at myself when I think about how some human beings have convinced themselves (ourselves) we have a higher sense of morality - than God or Jesus. This becomes painfully and obviously apparent by our actions - or should I say inactions. This part of your OP

the problem of evil is a vanity exercise used to serve the illusion that a person's perception of the world is founded on objective impersonal reason

Infact ehn....gbim, gbam, gbosa - multiplied to e^infinity. Right on the money. And I wonder why this crucial aspect is not brought up more often. I was just alluding to this on the "Uyi thread".

[quote author=Area_boy]what would Jesus do? [/quote]...I won't attempt to answer what you think I would think Jesus would "do". I will simply say if you believe Jesus would agree and set the criminal free then no wahala - or if you believe He wouldn't then no wahala too.

I was simply trying to counter with a simple analogy the simplistic idea of "simply forgive" and how impractically untenable it is. It is funny how everyone focused on only the second half of my post - while entirely skipping over the meat and foundation laid in the first half.

but alas such is the way of these kinds of 'discussions'. Which is why I addressed Uyi directly. Me I no get power for 'debates' of this kind so forgive if my submissions break in transmission. InesQor has provided plenty of threads where we've done this to death in the past.

Cheers '_boy

InesQor: Journeyman indeed, I still am. Till hopefully someday I become a master like you.

Lol...master? abeg oh. Check your rearview mirror ... still figuring out how to love my neighbor as myself. That one alone will take me an entire lifetime. But really, I'm fascinated with how far you've gone & come. May God in His mercies continue to call, preserve & protect those who are His. Amen!

Image123: i'm not a prophet neither am i a pastor, but i think i can add to what has already been said. Praying to God for months without anything coming is not good. It is unacceptable, even the people that killed Jesus would have gotten answers if they prayed that long.

Snr brother Image, this is an interesting say here...can you please explain further before I type an irrelevant reply to what I 'think' you're saying. Thanks!

InesQor: I am more curious than you can ever imagine. I once simply used to attend Church, then I became an Ifa worshipper for some years, then I have been "New Creation" pentecostal Christian (at a time I posted on Nairaland as mavenbox), then I have been fundamentalist Christian, then I was Agnostic for a very long while, then I embraced Amitabha Buddhism, then I studied Eastern philosophies as an adherent of "Enlightened" teachers (in particular, under the guidance of the "master" Osho), and next I was even Atheist - for a short time - after which due to the poor case that Atheism presented to me, I became simply Theist on a borderline between Theist and Christian (at a time when I posted on Nairaland as Dulcet7), and then I have been an Existentialist. Afterwards I went back to being a Theist because I am a seeker and I did not find answers in Existentialism. After further study in Existentialism, I read some of Kierkegaard's works and I am currently a Christian Existentialist. My views are basically Christian, except that I place more emphasis on your role as a responsible caretaker on earth.

SO your opinion is yours but I think I have come too far to be told that I do not have an open mind.

I am simply not interested in watching this fiction at this point in time, no offence meant. Maybe some other day or time.

Na wa oh...see journey man .

Chrisbenogor: Well I think your analogy did not sound christ like at all. Forgiveness is the bed rock of Christianity how many parables did the lord give about it, the bible is awash of lines asking y'all to forgive.

Indeed it is! I have not said anywhere that it isn't. I merely gave a simple analogy that is throwing you all off - and I'm not sure why.

And please what is your understanding of 'forgiveness'? To let criminals go free?

Another part I wanted to address...

Chrisbenogor: Yes it might be difficult, but if someone harms my family, his death suffering or what ever would not bring the person back thats a fact of life, for a christian I respect sincerely expected better.

....oh! you certainly have not read the book of Psalms.
Do you think being a 'christian' divorces you from the 'practical' emotions every human being goes through? If you hurt my family you think my first reaction will be to 'pray' for you? .

PS: WHAT THE HELL DID THE PERSON WHO SUGGESTED THIS DO TO WARRANT A BULLET AS WELL.

I guess the sarcasm was lost in my example... or people are too wound up?

at all the replies. If you will re-read my post at what I actually said - not what people think I said or went a step further and applied whatthey think I said to something I didn't say. And furthermore, that's why you all aren't christians - you obviously disagree with anything I say and it is your perogative to do so. Cheers friends.

---

and @ my boy Chris...

Chrisbenogor: Haba Sister,
But that is the whole idea of Christianity! This is why I say religion is unfair, you cannot eat your cake and have it. You cannot now use this as a justification to explain an all loving God's position it just makes God very vindictive. This does not even pass the test as you have been commanded in the bible to forgive, picking and choosing again! Haba!
If God cannot forgive, then you expect jews who had six million of their brothers fathers husbands sisters killed by the mad man adolf hitler and all he has to do is say a prayer in his death bed and he is in heaven while the rest six million roast in hell? Kids inclusive?
Yes it might be difficult, but if someone harms my family, his death suffering or what ever would not bring the person back thats a fact of life, for a christian I respect sincerely expected better.

I simply gave an analogy as to why saying "simply forgive" is a problematic, unrealistic proposition. I did not post that as justification for the whatever the biblical stance is. Hope that's clearer?

Alfamann: I knew you were a closet atheist and are just pretending to be religious because of your job.

Anyway, you should have gone through the thread first and you wouldn't have said what you just said.

Well you are very different from the god you worship in that if someone harmed your family, you would shoot them, but your god would sent a member of his own family to be killed and tortured by those that did the harm in the first place.

I give up understanding christians.

Lol. Closet atheist? you may want to re-read my post.

This thread is for uncle Uyi but lemme spell it out in case anyone else wondered: I am a christian. I believe in God. I believe in the bible. I believe in the saving power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I walk everyday with the cross of Christ on my shoulder and His example in my heart. And I will believe all the above both here on earth and in the afterlife after I pass.

Closet atheist? as I once rapped in one of my tunes...

I'd rather die a thousand deaths and 1
than be ashamed of the Father, Spirit & Son

Cheers friend Alfa.

Interesting thread going here and wish I had more time to go through it thoroughly but...
but to uncle Uyi - the path you are on is fantastic. Self-discovery is exciting and everyone must come to a place where they put their beliefs to the test and figure out if it is worth holding on to or throwing away. Nothing worse than a programmed zombie either way.


In regards to the core question "Is the Christian God good/loving? especially in light of many OT events?"
^to that, I say no - at least not according to our present understanding of what good is.

This is of course problematic because we are limited by what we know. Some questions we can ask ourselves - how accurate, true, correct - is our understanding of what good/loving is/entails? does our understanding of "good/loving" change with time? generation? culture? context? circumstance? etc etc... is 'good' rigid? is it fixed? or is it relative? fluid depending on the situation?

One aspect I can speak to with confidence - when you say why couldn't God just forgive? If someone harmed my family - my husband, or children or parents - and in the court someone stood up and asked me why can't I just forgive? I will not only shoot down the criminal, I will also shoot down the person who suggested forgiveness.


All in all, I wish you well my dear. If christianity is for you, you will make your way back. If it is not for you then you will move on to other beliefs. Still, it is well with you. Godbless.

InesQor: @Pastor AIO:

I don't see this as any problem though. In as much as Moses does not say of a particular directive that "God said" do so and so, then it is safe to assume that as their leader and spiritual head he can instruct them on how to conduct their social and religious affairs. In some cases he tells them "Thus says the Lord". In the transfer of God's directives, Moses' humanity would have interacted with the information. The laws and scriptures are inspired by God, and not declared to have been a literal regurgitation of God's exact words.

I wouldn't also classify it as a "problem" per se...but rather the acknowldgement of room for the personal interjections of scripture authors should inform how we read, interpret and apply scripture to our lives.

Pastor AIO: 4They said, “Moses permitted a man TO WRITE A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY.” 5But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6“But from the beginning of creation, God MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE.
Mark 10:5


“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house,
Deuteronomy 24:1

According to Jesus Moses wrote laws that were not issued from God but rather were a compromise to the recalcitrant disposition of the Israelites. Yet these laws are part of our God given biblical laws, according to some bibliolaters.
How much of the OT is a directive from God and how much is Moses' own tinkering?

Infact ehn... we need to also extend this question to the NT... how much of Paul's directives/commands to the early church are from God and how much were his own personal judgement?

nitlad: Keep doing your thing Sis, you are awesome at it.

https://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64177000/jpg/_64177645_336fantob.jpg

Thank you me dear . Waiting for the supermods to do their thing now...

montelik: there already states that allow lawful ccw on school premises and no teacher has shot a student out of frustration, shot another teacher arguing over snacks in the break room or shot up the entire school out of anger. lol.

Yet.
Same way no one had shot up a movie theater until the joker did. And Newtown was also a very rare occurence statistically.

neither have there been students negatively affected by the knowledge that the some of the staff may be armed.

Not sure how you reached this conclusion or how it relates in this instance... what or how is a 3yr old pre-schooler going to show she's been "negative affected" by something she may not be aware of? since its a concealed weapon abi?

while it may seem unnecessary, its hardly saturating the school with guns, its simply allowing any employee who has ccw permit, to take their weapons to the work. it is not significantly different than having police or armed private security. there are not enough police to go round and some schools don't have the resources to hire private security.

I would argue that it is. A law enforcement officer is trained in a 1000 more ways than someone with a simple gun permit. I would not send my child to a school that has armed classroom teachers - this has all the makings of a tragedy waiting to happen.

See what this world has done to us - to now think that guns belong in classrooms? I understand there aren't enough police or private security to properly secure all schools - BUT this is a gross over-reaction to a relatively rare occurence.

[quote author=inspiredbyGOD:.]Good afternoon to you all.
As Christians, we believe that Jesus came to die in order to reunite us with the Father. Before ascending, He promised to send a comforter to the remaining believers on earth. True to His words, a comforter did come during pentecost. The comforter known as the Holy Spirit, filled each believer and empowered them; they become bold and confident, they could now speak other languages, perform miracles, heal the sick and do other amazing things. The Holy Spirit acted as their guide, comforted them and granted them unique qualities that differentiated them from other people (they had the fruits/gifts of the spirit). Fast forward two thousand years into the future, believers still abound but it seems like the Holy Spirit is nowhere to be found. Christians are more divided than the red sea, divided over doctrines & beliefs and they tend to paint a picture of a divided Holy Spirit. Mr A says God is three yet one (revealed to him by the Holy Spirit) and Mr B says God is only one (also revealed to him by the same Holy Spirit). How is this possible? Is the Holy Spirit the cause of all this confusion? Apart from that, the gifts/fruits of the Spirit are nowhere to be found amongst Christian brothers and sisters anymore. For those who claim to have the Holy Spirit, could you be so kind as to answer these few questions of mine?[/quote]It is simply human beings - being human beings. Our shortcomings are painfully on display at all times. We must also remember that not all who claim the name of Christ are actually of Christ - Jesus said only few will find the path that leads to salvation so we must be careful to look inward and work out our salvation with fear & trembling.

Lemme try by God's grace to answer your questions:

* Who is the Holy Spirit?

To me, He is my guide. The Spirit of Christ that walks with me, guiding me into His perfect will. I became a christian young, and I can tell you the influence, direction & guidance of the Holy Spirit right from the very moment I believed was unmistakably clear & potent.

* Does the Holy Spirit speak? What does the Holy Spirit sound like?

Jesus said "my sheep hear my voice, and they recognize it". Those who are of Christ simply know when it is Christ speaking to them. It could be an audible voice, it could be a "feeling", it could come in a dream, it could come through another christian etc etc.

* Do you manifest any gift of the spirit? (prophecy, speaking other languages, discerning spirit, spiritual wisdom, knowledge)

Yes.

* Why do you think that you have the Holy Spirit?

I love this question . Jesus said "this is how you will know you are my disciples, that you love one another". I have a deep deep love for other christians. It just brings joy to my heart when I hear of a christian somewhere or see someone reading a bible in a public place etc etc. Why do I think I have the Holy Spirit? because I have followed His voice & guidance and the results confirm that it was Him leading me into truth.

* How do you recognize that the Holy Spirit is in someone else's life?

"...by their fruits" is a time-tested, fool-proof way of knowing who truly is led by the spirit - Gal 5 tells us the different part of the fruit (not fruits, single term fruit, meaning it should be a complete package of behavior - the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Look around this section and look around your life - who has these 'symptoms'? that is a person led by the Spirit.

* How do you differentiate between your conscience and the Holy Spirit? Or are they the same to you?

They are not exactly the same - but they could both be on the same wavelength/accord on a particular issue. And some of us will be judged by what our consciences told us Romans 2: They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Cheers brother .

nitlad: You are a class act.

You embody efficiency.

Wa gbayi

Oh wow, tank you sweerie I'm here for ya'll. You guys make the section tick so anything you need, holla!

striktlymi: Good afternoon tenny,

I am of the opinion that God has given us everything we need to live a good and healthy life. The solution to your personal ish is there already...you only need to realize it and work towards achieving it. The mistake some Christians make is allowing themselves be overwhelmed by some challenges such that they refuse to do any other thing but pray. Prayer is great but Christ admonished us to watch and pray.

Praying without working hard to achieve your goals will leave you totally unsatisfied and achieving your goals would be practically impossible, unless you become extremely lucky and I don't believe that any Christian should depend on luck. Get up and face the problem head-on! The effort we put in are as important as the prayers we say.Do not allow yourself get frustrated with time-lines...if you face an ish consistently with perseverance, you will always come out tops.


Thanks!

Tenny07, this here above, is fantastic advice! you will get no better word than Striktlymi's piece. Please re-read this over and over and apply and by the grace of the Lord God Almighty, it shall be well with you and whatever you put your hands to do. Amen!

nitlad: https://www.nairaland.com/1223301/israel-massively-exaggerating-iron-domes

I think this is worthy of the Front Page Mod. It's definitely an interesting topic for discussion.

Sure thing. I've just submitted it to the supermods. Cheers friend.

thisisayus: i got the piece, thanks

You welcomes sir .

[quote author=Tayo-D]@JeSoul,
What then is the solution to an active shooter? A tele-prompter aided speech?[/quote]Lol. Of course the solution to an "active shooter" is to shoot him down - but that is not what we're doing here - yet.

Now you get it. It's all about empowerment to protect yourself and others. Police never arrive at a shooting scene until the deed is done. Perhaps this would give potential victims a chance to defend themselves, right?
How many times have you heard that a law-abiding citizen with a licensed gun ever turned the gun on others? The problem has always been those who obtain the guns illegally and have some mental breakdown. Current laws ensure that only those who are mentally fit would have a gun license. That won't change in this case.

I don't disagree that gun-crimes from law-abiding citizens are statistically very small compared to the overall gun problem.

My problem is saturating what should be a safe place of learning, a school with armed teachers. I'm sorry. I don't see the sense in providing more guns and thereby more opportunities for something to go wrong - either from the teacher turning the gun on fellow teachers/students or accidental deaths or in the bid to respond to a situation, the teacher shoots a bystander.

What schools should be doing is stopping guns from getting in the first place. Providing better security and lockdown measures to minimize casualties in the case of a rare event like Newtown.

The reaction to such a rare happening shouldn't be to immediately put more guns into schools - thereby opening the door for more gun violence.


If you're talking about people at home, protecting themselves then power to you. But I don't think guns belong in schools - unless it is on the belt of a law enforcement officer providing security and certainly not in the hands of a teacher.