₦airaland Forum

Rottentomatoes.com is full of rotten, bitter movie snubs   they wouldn't know a great movie if it sat in their lap and called them mama 

A-40 and Moonstone - get a room    . . . oh my bad you're already in one 

Moonstone:
Where's my dear Jesoul?

My sister I dey o jare    busy with work but about to go on vacation  Hows the homeland treating you? hope you've been having a blast and not getting too dark with all that sunshine 
Yeah NFL season will soon be up and running and we'll return to the regularly scheduled yabbing and smack talking 

Magic will need more than just Vince carter. Their offensive 'strategy' was simply to shoot their opponents out of the building, they need more than just more offense.

RIP MJ [size=5pt]and I hope you were Known by God[/size]



@ iice my fellow Transformers fanatic 
  Just saw it this past weekend and it was drop-dead AWE-SOME!!!!    the blockbuster of the summer hands down. I couldn't believe how funny it was, laugh out loud funny. The returning characters and new additions were just  plot was nice, action sequences dope, Micheal Bay is an action freak! The entire theatre broke out into applause after the movie      and my Transformers fanaticism has been taken to a whole new level 

  now I can't wait for part 3. Everybody go see it . . . forget the Megan Fox nonsense and just go see it

No2Atheism:
@osisi am sorry that u voted for him.

- I do not support either of the candidates neither republican nor democrats , cus they are just the same coin but merely different side of the coin.
- obama was put forward by the NWO controlling the USA (e.g. Geogre Soros and co) because of his exoticness, skin color, anger against the republicans, anger against Bush and all other favourable reasons.
- In all reality there is little difference between Bush and Obama in terms of policy implementation e.g. some of the security and secrecy issues created by bush are still being used by him.
- I am glad that people are starting to wake up to the deception known as Obama.
- The Bankers broke the economy, and then Obama goes ahead to hire the same bankers connected to the scandal to try and fix the same problem created by them (Timothy Giethner and co).
- Bush was a pawn.
- Obama is also a pawn. He is just a black pawn.
- The fact that the state of isreal can call the bluff of the USA President is reason for u to realise that Obama is there is execute some people's programs and not necessarily do things that benefit people.
- yes the original post is a little bit ridiculous at times, but there a slight element of truth to it.
- Africans need to realise that Europeans have never done anything that benefits Africa, their actions are based on ulterior motives and greed towards a longterm benefit for Europe. So long as Africans keep looking to Europe for solutions, we would still continue to be backward, until we iron out our own problems and pick ourselves up just like the Chinese and Japanese (who were also once decimated/dominated by European power at one time or another).
- IRS keeps extorting people and yet they are not even a government institution (yep they are private).
- Federal Reserve has caused 2 markets crashes till date, have benefited from them and yet they also are not a goverment institution (yep they are private)
- The truth is that no party affiliated politician can be trusted, even wen it looks like they are innocent, cus they would never be in their position if they were not team players.
- The best thing and closest thing to having a trusthworthy politician is if the policitian is an independent.
- The solution to debt management is not more debt instead it is less debt, yet here u have Obama and most of the politicans advocating for TARP and other stimulus packages that only the wealthy people actually benefit from and which the poor people and their future generations have to pay for. Yes i have heard people claim that the wealthy pay more tax than the poor, well if u consider that in value yes , but in terms of cash flow, not really, cus the rich have the means to get back wat they paid via other means. Hence while the poor pays the tax and sees it no more , the rich however can still get back a percentage of the tax via cash flow towards him through other areas.

@jesoul

wats ur opinion

Me I just like to sit back and listen when my elders are talking in here  but yeah I'm a registered Independent and did not drink the Obama kool aid when it was the PC thing to do. I do actually agree on a lot of the points you make above and you're right to say Democrat or Republican, it doesn't matter, left wing or right wing - they're both wings of the same corrupt bird. All the hope and change nonsense . . . lol, politicians are all the same. They have only 2 jobs - 1. Get Elected, 2. Stay Elected.

blacksta:
The Carnal Mind is blind - All these so called Athesit cant even resist the bait called Christians. They are so so quick to post .

Indeed my brotha, not just blind, terribly hostile to anything holy or godly. If they had even bothered to read the piece they would've realized the "Cross" is meant figuratively.

[quote author=$osisi link=topic=289103.msg4096255#msg4096255 date=1246046330]Tayo -D,I know we diagreed heavily on Obama during the elections.
Now I regret voting for the guy and encouraging others to do so
He's been nothing but a huge disappointment in my opinion
He's trying so hard to erase the ancient landmarks
I am no longer a fan of his[/quote]      I was reading along quietly until I saw this, Osisi was Obama's biggest fan on NL     

[quote author=m_nwankwo link=topic=287415.msg4082850#msg4082850 date=1245861811]Hi JeSoul. I am fine my sister. And you? Thanks for your kind words. I also find your entries very interesting. Above all, you are a very honest and good human being. May God continue to strengthen you. I reached such a position following my experiences in material and non-material creations of God as well as through revelations given to my spirit by God. Stay blessed.[/quote]Forgive me, I somehow missed your reply. Oga, your kind and measured words are always a breath of fresh air   

I definitely appreciate that your current belief system was developed out of your personal experiences but pardon me to ask how do you know and trust your personal experiences are right? I mean since you don't refer to the bible or any other manual for guidance?

bindex:
Jesoul I dey, hope you won't mind a trip to the caribbean? . How you dey? My best nairaland Christian.

Trip to the Carrib? why shall I mind?  Send my tickets o jare, I am waiting

Flying school? hmm I give mad respect to those of the aviation persuation, mad respect. I hate flying  guess I like to keep my feet on the ground 

I just had to say that it would have been ludicrous, had it not been mostly sad to see the carnal mind trying and failing to understand the things of the Spirit.

Chrisbenogor:
First question is this why is belief so important

Because God values the quality of faith more than anything else. Faith says "God, I believe you, I trust you and I hope in you. Think of your own earthly relationships - friend, girlfriend, wife, parents, siblings etc what is the thing that holds a relationship together but love and trust?

The scriptures say this so much better than I ever could:

Heb 11: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval from God. 

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

1 Cor 2: My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

Chrisbenogor:
First question is this why is belief so important, not whosoever is kind to fellow human beings

Oh but yes loving your neighbor is the second most important commandment after God,

Mark 12: One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. . . he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this:. . . . Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Are you saying the above means the bible or Jesus' messages?

While the gospel is God sending Jesus to die for us, the entire bible captures the entire story from the fall to the redemption so I do see the entire bible as the story of the gospel.

If God spoke the bible why then are there the many contradictions?

My dear Chris translational errors do not equal 'contradictions', pretty much all the verses whipped out by anti-bible crusaders can be attributed to translational inadequacies. The essence of the stories and accounts do not lose their legitimacy simply becos a transcriber did not carry an extra '0'.

Why is the old testament God vindictive and Jesus Christ a lot different? Christians are fond of using duct tape to put even parts that make the least bit of sense together.

It is one and the same God - just a different dispensation where He gave us a new system of mercy and sacrifice, instead of the instant judgement in the OT. Which is what makes us so blessed to live in these times - Jesus paid for our sins so we wouldn't suffer the terrible judgement our ancestors faced in the OT.

Let us not even go too far, why do the gospels which I think is a big foundation of Christianity so contradictory? How come God contradicts himself?

Again a case of a missing '0' is not sufficient to throw out the baby and the bath water. And other instances where 'different' accounts are given, its simply a case of logic - does one account exclude the possibility of the other happening? no. Recall the case of the 4 blind men touching different parts of an elephant - each gave a different account but they were still all correct.

I would proffer you a solution though, could it be that these men wrote how they feel about God? and not what "God" spoke? Just a thought,

I wish I could lend you a day in my life to feel and experience the power of the word of God, how I wish to my soul that I could.

Chrisbenogor:
For the sake of keeping our laser focus, let us concentrate on the above as it summaries all we have been saying. Can you give me something biblical to hold onto that buttresses number 1.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" 
John 20:29 "Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
John 17:20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

Number two on the other hand contradicts number one, the bible is made up of the words of men, teachings, traditions and yes religious practices.

Your opinion, many of us believe it is the word of God spoken thru men.

Unless of course you believe that the bible is the undiluted word of God, then you will have to point out to me just why God stopped talking to man after the book of revelation.

Who said God stopped talking? its more like men stopped listening. I hear Him and feel Him in my heart and spirit every day.

You also need to throw more light on why the bible is different from what anyone can allege these days, I mean did God come down and write it himself?

God spoke the bible, men simply transcribed it.

In summary is there any parts of the bible that classifies as the words of men, teachings, traditions or religious practices?

Once Paul made sure to stress an advice he was giving was his own personal view and not from God. Other than that no.

Furthermore, you keep throwing in the whole personal experience thing and I keep pointing out to you that personal experiences can be really skewed, christians do not see jinns in their sleep, they see christian demons and they feel the power of God fighting the christian devil. So emm the personal experience trump card is kinda flashy but really achieves less.
Cheers.

In your view, perhaps.
To the rest of us christians this 'personal experience' is very real and tangible and is what shapes our lives. Is it subjective? absolutely. But does that dismiss it as irrelevant? absolutely not.

P.S. Just Heard Micheal is Dead,

Yeah heard it too. Its def sad, I grew up doing the 'thriller' dance at every opportunity

Bindex, yeye boy, how have you been?
Now as for your 'question', the answer is in verse 5. I always tell anyone who'll listen, God is just as loving as He is fearful, He dispenses mercy and grace with the same intensity He dispenses wrath and judgement.

Chiogo,
   girl I tell you, I will be upset  . It is so hard to find a good, young point guard in the nba that has been tried and proven - and you want to trade you becos of why? you don't like his atittude?  the stupidest thing I ever heard.

  by the way, you can probably catch the draft online somewhere . . .

Bawo,
  Shaq did not trade himself did he?  and as for Rondo, continue to hate we all know what he can do.

Chrisbenogor:
Sorry for the late reply, yes I believe because of mutually buttressed evidence, in principle you can check out that evidence by yourself and when a science book is wrong it eventually becomes discovered and corrected, this my dear does not happen with the holy books.

Mutually butressed by whom?    We're not talking about science now but the statement you made that these laws of nature can sometimes be simply bent but not totally dismissed. What is the proof that this is true?

You miss the real meaning behind the question, I mean a huge tenet of christianity is faith, so the issue here is not whether it can happen but what will be your reaction if it were to happen. In order words if the evidence staring you in the face contradicts that which you believe by faith, which do you throw out?

No Chris the issue is you're soliciting a response to a scenario that can never happen, my imagination as wild as it can get cannot picture it and neither can it drum up a response for you. But if you're asking should science present 'evidence' that contradicts scripture, I'll believe the scripture over it. Science is not definite and by no means have the final say on everything, the sands are always shifting - I see that everyday. Something that was accepted as safe a decade ago will be dangerous tomorrow.

I knew you would do this and fail to see why this argument pretty much seals the deal that either the bible is weird or the people that compiled it are dumb. Ever heard the words do not read the bible in isolation? One of the main reasons why I think it is weird is a combination of so many ideologies, this is why a happy content person would cherry pick a juicy part while someone looking for revenge against the enemy goes straight to the book of Joshua! Even you cannot be naive enough to believe that just that verse in the bible tells us how Christians are supposed to treat others

lol seals which deal? I said the bible concludes this is what religion should be about. How is that 'reading in isolation'? Please open up anywhere in the NT that contradicts that verse. Show me anywhere in the Life of Jesus and the apostles where they didn't hold to that verse.

 I know next you're going to crack out your favorite "God killed babies and women" verses from the OT but please lets do this one step/issue at a time. Lets focus on the NT first, show me anywhere where this verse is contradicted in the NT:
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

The point I was pushing across is that religious practices these days do not really give room for teaching kids to examine the evidence and come up with the answers, they hand the children a template (the bible) with which to guide their answers by.

By the way, what exactly are you refering to by "religious practices"? A solid definition would be necessary for me to respond accordingly.

To test everything but not the existence of God?

How do you suppose you 'test the existence of God'? something that cannot be proven becos it is a personal thing. The bible teaches knowledge of God is inherent in each of us, but some of us choose to ignore and silence that knowledge.

To search out the truth? Let me show you a few things you have said in this discourse
Can you see how those two statements contradict each other? If we tested everything like say Noah's story scientifically and show it could not have possibly happened ( which I suspect you know ) would you be picking the verse that asks you to test everything or you go with the one that says never doubt God?

You keep mixing things Chris.

 Testing the words of the bible and testing the things you're taught by men are two different things. Here lemme lay this out so there's no mix-up.

1. The bible/gospel is not meant _{(it can be)} to be proven/tested - it is meant to be preached and either believed or not.

2. The words of men, teachings, traditions, 'religious practices' are to be vigorously tested and studied and proved true or false.

Now I know you're going to say aha #1 is blind devotion that doesn't make room for 'scientific validation'. You're right but also wrong. When people like me who have believed the bible, followed by the evidence of seeing the powerful hand of God on our daily lives and in our hearts as the effect of holding these beliefs - THIS IS THE TEST AND PROOF TO US!

Well Shaq is definitely better than Ben Wallace for the Cavs. But they'll still need more help on the wings if they intend to outdo Beantown and Orlando.

  And let the record show that if the Celtics and Danny Ainge are that stupid/dumb/idiotic/crackheaded/airheaded/foolish enough to trade Rondo, I will cease to be a Celtic fan. I refuse to be supporter of idiots.    Who cares about 'atittude' *hiss* do they produce on the court or not? Abeg this is not a game of love or feel-good, its business.

JJ thanks for sharing that beautiful piece. We all have to go thru the Refiner's fire in order to come out pure, tried and proven.

I think its becos its getting really long with so many pages and that creates problems with loading/ freezing/replying/timing out etc . . . Long threads have been getting locked and restarted afresh.

By the way I just checked and its open. Just a minor mix-up?

lol @ bumping 

You won't go wrong with any of these:
The Prestige
Dark Knight
Ratatouille
Any of the Bourne installations (Identity, Supremacy or Ultimatum)
Gone baby gone
Shawshank Redemption
300

They all fall under drama/thriller/action/suspense. Except Ratat . . . a delightfully gorgeous animation/comedy. I'll be back if I remember any more good ones.

As for Naija flicks . . . I'll leave that to the nollywood experts 

Edit: All the best with the surgery!

Chrisbenogor:
Hi again Jesoul, I think I am actually gonna bite.

hehe your retraction is most welcome 
 

You see I believe that there are laws in nature and we can only bend these laws to our benefit not dismiss them totally, I do not think there is anything mysterious about how the red sea could have parted or that a Lion would not eat someone if the stories are anything to go by but that was not the point I was driving home.

I'm thrilled you used the word believe. Before I address the rest, care to state how you arrived at these beliefs?

In a thread titled in the light of new evidence I asked what would happen if somehow we were able to grab a hold of Jesus' DNA and then it showed that Jesus truely did have a biological father and also we traced the evidence to who the father was?

You're asking a question in which the scenario is 100% certain to never happen. I bet it is conceivable to you why any christian wouldn't and couldn't answer that. You might as well be asking what if I was never born and my parents had a boy instead.

Sadly religious practices mostly never have a really good base or foundation, the bible or quaran is the basis for christians and muslims, and if there are 72 virgins in the offing to take out yourself and innocent people people go ahead and do it. If we trace the path back the reason is because they have seen it in the holy book and they want to abide by it.

I agree. People complicate things more than what God intended. The same bible concludes this about what religion should be about:
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Simple! you see how easy and straightforward it is? Where are the verbal and spiritual gymnastics here? Men have taken a beautiful thing and as usual corrupted it.

Religion does not give many people room to think for themselves, I dropped my friends off in church on Sunday evening and went in since it had been such a long time, I saw a couple of kids coming out of the church running around in excitement, they had in their hands a small book with an orange cover. The book was a catechism book and I remembered how as kids looking to get our sacrament of first holy communion and confirmation (yes I was a confirmed catholic ) we used this book and chanted all saturday and sunday evening. Let me dramatise my point a bit, the very first question in the book was
1. Who made you ?
Answer- God made me
you had to repeat this answer on top of your voice for about ten times
2. Why Did God Make You?
Answer- God made me to know him, love him, serve him in this world and to be happy with him in the next
we shouted this on the top of our voices for as many times,

The indoctrination above does not give mighty room for a child to grow up and question how his religion wants him to treat others ( unless you were a renegade child like me who always ran off to play football ), if there is anywhere in the catholic faith or biblical faith that required people to kill in the name of God that is what most Christians would do. We really do not have much luxury to change and since we are all different some kids take it more to heart than others. Doubt in God begins when I look at a verse in the bible and say hell no a loving/sensible/morally good God will know better than to ask for a kid to be stoned to death for cursing his parents, so it is easy to call it baseless when it is not yours, hope you catch my drift.

Oh but I so beg to differ! Perhaps man-made religion and baseless rituals and shallow repetition of recycled prayers and indoctrination of powerless words and practices do hold back and prevent true growth but don't mistake this for what true christianity is about, it so ain't so my brotha.

The bible teaches in so many places to study to show oneself approved, to search out the truth and to test everything. Where are you getting this idea its all about blind and zombie-like devotion? I am a student of life and the bible, and I have barely scratched the surface of the things I need to learn to become what God had in mind when he created us. And I'll spend the rest of my life studying and thinking and pondering these things which all too often seem so unattainable.

bawomolo:
how do you differentiate between those who have perverted the teachings of the bibe and those who haven't?

By their fruits.
Which group of 'christians' exhibit an uncommon love and concern for the poor, weak and especially their enemies? This is what the bible calls "true religion".

Most of the christians I know spend their time quietly going to work, taking care of their families, serving the community as much as they can and honoring God in everything they do.

This is the biblical standard:
Gal 5:
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law

iice:
[color=#9900ff]You joking?
He's movies are imaginative. . .dark, depressing and ethereal sef He's not for the conventional. . .heck he's doesn't even look normal sef . Totally see how someone like him would be drawn to Helena I adore his style. . .reason why i couldn't watch pushing daisies. . .so bloody bright and cheerful it was more than i could take [/color]

I have come to expect nuthin less from you iice Dark and weird is right up your alley .

toneyb:
Please Jesoul don't pull a Chris on me.

lol . . . aight my Chris has been rescinded

[quote author=m_nwankwo link=topic=287415.msg4082368#msg4082368 date=1245857742]The laws of Nature are the laws of God in material universes. By studying the laws of nature we start to gain understanding of the working of God in material universe and then undertand the works of God in non material universes. Thus the laws of God operating in material universes or Nature is the law of Nature. The laws of God operating in the spiritual universes is the spiritual laws. The laws of God operating in the divine worlds is the the divine laws. And the origin of these these laws of God is God himself. In other words, God is the living Law. But what actually does laws of Nature mean? The Laws of God simply are the intrinsic properties of all formed and unformed creations of God. Because these properties are intrinsic, they appear to us as laws because of their immutability and impossiblity to annual. In other words, their are really no laws in actual sense but intrinsic properties, potentialities and abilities. Thus for instance, if an object has an intrinsic property of physical mass, it will attract other objects. This inevitable attraction is what is designated as law of gravity. In reality the law of gravity simply puts into concept the inevitable attraction between objects due to the intrinsic property of mass. He who undertands how these intrinsic properties or nature of creations can adapt to them and achieve things which are regarded as miracles. Such a one will also know that certain things are impossible even for God because they negate the intrinsic property which God himself made. For instance it is impossible even for God to convert stone into a human body because the stione as it was originally made by God has no precursor or substance from which a human body can be derived. It is impossible to make a seed of corn to develope to a plantain tree because the intrinsic nature of the seed of corn has nothing in it from which plantain can develop. Thus it is impossible to change the intrinsic nature of creatures and creations. You can only change the forms. Thus a clay remains a clay and nothing can change it. But the clay can be moulded to a pot, a plate etc. Looking at a beautiful plate, it will be hard for many to see the clay that was moulded into the form plate. Only when a man can see the clay in the pot, the plate, the calabash etc has he taken a step forward in understandanding the laws of God.[/quote]Sir, how have you been?
I always find your entries most colorfully intresting . Where I predict we'll have a handicap in discussing is that you do not subscribe to the bible as a reference - which makes my job virtually impossible. But I do find your above submission most intresting. May I ask how you reached such a position on the matter?

[quote author=Tudór link=topic=287415.msg4082453#msg4082453 date=1245858364]@Jesoul
Oh please spare me the honorable debater charade!
There's nothing new you can say other than same old twisting the meaning of scriptures however it suits your point.
So i likewise pull a chris and rest my case. . . .[/quote]If that be your opinion of the matter so be it, you are most certainly entitled to it. No qualms brotha.

justkunmi:
Saw.State.of.Play. . Crowe.is.really.getting.old. Almost.in.the.Clint.Eastwood.category.sef. . .lol

@JeSoul
Nice.summary. Very.on.point.
But.the.movie.got.a.little.boring.at.some.point. .then.it.picked.itself.back.up.

Anyone.seen.Duplicity? Clive.Owen.and.Julia.Roberts?

Vesc mentioned seeing it a while back, right brotha?

vescucci:
I was swimming in the pacific. I noticed a patch of what seemed to be oil from a spillage. Upon closer inspection, it turns out to be a spill of oestrogen hormones vials. I could swear voices were coming out of the * cough * cesspool * cough * saying things about Johnny Depp, Alan Rickman. Fighting voices would be more appropriate. Next thing I knew I woke up & found myself on this thread. Fancy that!

What's up, crazy ladies of the ladies club?

What? a little frightened by all this girl-power? 

Timmy Burton - me thinks he was given too much crayon and water color as a kid    Over-the-top constumes, colors and make-up don't really tickle my fancy much. But I am a huge fan of Alice . . . I hope he doesn't ruin it for me.

Chrisbenogor:
@Jesoul,
This is where I rest my case, your still the best, cheers.

That's too bad, I was looking forward to a good discussion. But thanks for remaining the gentleman that I've become very fond of


Toney & Tudor,
I'm tempted but I'll resist. I know neither of you fine fellas are really intrested in true discourse, but moreso just wish to air your greviances against all things religion. So I must pull a Chris on you and rest my case also .

Chrisbenogor:
Is there any thread here on Nairaland where there is a victor? When the issues cannot be proven by scientific method like say "God will send fornicators to hell" we can aruge till dawn but when it comes to scientific issues such as "Did Jesus Christ have a father", "Was his mother a virgin at birth", raise lazarus from the dead, and so on we have a definitive answer which is a yes or no even if there is little surviving evidence.
Before I go on I should ask you if any our over zealous fundamentalists here have written a peer reviewed journal on why evolution is false and refer us to it, I see no reason in wasting time to show what over 98% pf the scientific community in the world believe to be true.

Let me try and drive this home to you as an analytical chemist, you tell me that a metal conducts electricity, a non metal does not conduct electricity, but then I scream foul play, how come silicon conducts electricity too, you say well for now you do not know but it seems it has a relationship with temperature and I scream lie lie lie the bible says all elements do not conduct electricity! I mean when were the noble gases named so and all elements grouped accordingly? or where was silicon first put on the periodic table? I hope you get the point.

You miss my point Chris. I get where you're going with the above scenario but the bottomline for a christian is this God is not bound to or limited by the laws of nature, physics, chemistry or biology. He can choose to break them whenever He wants as is narrated so many times in the OT - the crossing of the Red Sea, the plagues on Egypt, Daniel in the Lions den, the 3 Hebrew boys thrown into the furnace but didn't suffer a scratch etc . . .

You are saying faced with such evidence you would throw the evidence away and pick the bible that all elements created by God must react and even when Argon does not you shrug and say well maybe Argon is not an element.

I'm saying faced with a scenario that is physically, chemically & naturally impossible, I believe and know to be true that God can do this apparent impossiblity. Which is why I say even if science proves this or that cannot or did not happen - it will remain irrelevant to me and my fellow christians - because God does the impossible all the time!

Deary, this is yet another reason why I think being religious is not for me at all and a purely irrational state of the mind, doubt is the catalyst behind many great things that have happened to man, without our doubting faculties we are nothing but robots programmed to do the bidding of the master (which sadly is the man who interprets the "word" to you) without asking questions as to why. Without doubt we hijack planes and slam them into the world trade center, without doubt we strap bombs to ourselves and blow innocent women and children, without doubt we would look at a verse in the bible that clearly shows babarism and no respect for women at all - genesis 19:5, judges 19:23 only a mind without doubt would read this and not be mad at the outright disregard for a woman as a human being!

You're mixing so many issues here I'm not even sure where to begin.
Doubt in the God what we never entertain, doubt in the world around us is welcome at all times . And no doubt is not what caused the terrorists to fly into those buildings - it was baseless religious fanaticism, one which was void of love and compassion. A good yardstick to measure ones religion is to see how your religion teaches you to treat your friends and enemies.

Now as for the OT, I'm wary of going into 'discussion' with you on it cos I've noticed it hits an intense emotional cord in you. But let me say this, every christian, has struggled immensely with many events God allowed and even commanded in the OT. And I will tell you now that several of them I have no good answer for. But what I've seen is that until we understand the complex nature of God, the fireceness of His love and wrath, we won't understand the things He did.

Ok lets calm down now, I do not need to bible to tell me that people in the world see things differently, truth of the matter is nothing we see touch, feel, smell and hear are really very accurate  representations of what really is. The human brain runs a very sophisticated simulation software, our eyes for instance never give our brains a true picture of what is out there, the brain continously constructs an updated model updated by coded pulses and optical illusions should make that point very clear to you ( do a google search on the necker cube or a hollow mask and see what tricks your eyes can play on you ) same goes for our other senses. So my dear we all experience different things on different levels it does not make the experience any more spiritual.

I think 'differently' was a severely inadequate word for me to have used . . . as far as the east is from the west, and as high as the heavens are above the earth - that's the difference btw how you & a christian will think. Its more than just different experiences and backgrounds, so much more than that. I mean the evidence is right here on NL, see how much you disagree with the other christians on the board - the way both sides think so differently?

bawomolo:
and what exactly does it mean to be a christian? a mormon, greek orthodox or a baptist etc?

The Bible is a book open to a wide range of interpretations.

The time in which the bible was written should be taken in context. We should expect a book that old to weird and well a bit archaic.

A point that was never in dispute. Which is the problem we have today of every manner of sect and looney group using the bible as justification for their various twisted belief system.

Look all I'm saying is this, just because people have abused the bible and perverted its teachings to their own agendas doesn't automatically discredit the bible. I'll keep saying this, there are so many christians out there doing good, whose actions and behavior and lifestyle are undeniably righteous by all human standards, why focus on only the bad eggs and say "there, christianity is false"?

toneyb:
"[Cognitive Dissonance Theory] has shown how individuals cannot easily dismiss a belief or attitude they hold, even when the attitude is directly contradicted by evidence or events. People will sooner adopt farfetched ideas to explain events than relinquish their preconceptions."

- Marc Galanter

By all means, Mr Galanter is entitled to his theories.

Chrisbenogor:
Jesoul,
True there are many people who do good that are Christians but that is not because they have rationally considered what they are doing they are just blindly following the bible to the letter

lol . . . I'm not quite sure what to make of this. Are you suggesting that all christians who follow the good teachings of the bible are simply misguided? Say it ain't so Chris.
 

and even in the face of overwhelming evidence they still choose to follow the bible. Take the position of some resident biologists here on Nairaland, they would rather follow the position of what some men wrote thousands of years ago and all the while thinking that others who follow their own writings from thousands of years ago are gullible!
To them the book is always true and if its the evidence that contradicts it then the evidence must be thrown out.

Overwhelming evidence? I have read/followed just about every science/religion thread on NL, and I am yet to be acquainted with this overwhelming evidence thou speakest of. As a matter of fact both sides usually leave with each side claiming victory. I'm not a biologist, but I'm an analytical chemist who comes in contact every day with scientists on both sides and I've seen its pointless to 'argue' these matters. Becos this weird bible Chris tells me that you & I will think very differently, foolish to you is life to me, life to you is foolish to me. This unshakable fact seems to escape way too many discussants on these boards.


Besides if you knew what it meant to be a christian you'll understand that doubt is a false luxury we do not waste time on. So you're right even if all the science in the world proved tomorrow Noah's ark never existed, I'll still believe the biblical account - does this make me irrational? perhaps - but only to secular minds that have not been met & transformed with the power and grace of God on a personal and intimate level, and hence are unaware that the God of the bible is not bound to or limited by the laws of physics or biology or chemistry - He created them in the first place. He can choose to violate them whenever He pleases.


The way I see it, most times both sides of the aisle believe in something that neither can definitively prove nor disprove. And I'm okay with that. I've always said the gospel was meant to be preached, not proven - you choose to either believe it or not.