₦airaland Forum

sinequanon:
Most of what you wrote was for you to address -- your problem of admission and folly and so forth.

I made it clear in my first post what I mean by religion -- when people follow things en masse as a result of conditioning by their environment and superficial circumstance. i.e, if you had put the same person in a different environment, with similar exposure to various alternatives, they would have still opted for some majority package for their worldview.

You didn't make the bolded clear in your initial posts. Nonetheless, your definition includes culture, does it ? You didn't think it through before posting, right

Emmalot121:
Atheists argue that life popped out of nothing, therefore God is not needed in the equation. They are quick at using M and B word. They say Earth is billions of years old and man is millions of years old and evolved from tiny organisms. They have refused to give us detailed reasons why it took so long and every process man took, if possible catalyze the whole process, subsequently giving us a human being.
Let me use the experiment that Galileo Galilei used to stun the entire world of science; the experiment that every object falls at same rate when air resistance is absent. To do this, we have to pump out the air to give us a vacuum (though logic tells us the vacuum is something, the absence of air molecules gives us a perfect example of nothing since we are only concerned about the air molecules and its emptiness.)
Through this experiment, we see that for nothing(absence of air molecules) to exist, something must have triggered it. What if we want to get our air molecules back(a very important component of life itself)? Should we wait for a few days, months, years or centuries for air molecules to pop out of nothing? A sane mind will realise that something can't come out of nothing but nothing can come out of something. This proof singlehandedly shows that the genesis of the 'faith' of atheists is shaky.
Since its now being proofed that life started from something and not nothing (even nothing must come from something,) we can then try to highlight the properties and characteristics this something must possess:
1) Must be called God because everything was created by him because without him was anything made that was made.
2) He must be infinite because he is infinity, he came from infinity, therefore he has no source, neither can he have an end because he is infinite.
3) He must be all powerful and infinitely intelligent. The works of his hands are sufficient proof.
4) He must possess properties beyond normal, properties beyond our wisdom e.g an invisible Spirit. People will wish to argue this one but Hebrews 11:3 says: Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that "things which are seen are not made of things which do appear". This applies to everything in the universe, including you and this knowledge is applied in the making of televisions and phones.

Yet this God takes all the semblance of the human. He is the Who that starts everything, but no ONE to start him because if he had a beginning, the entire sequence of creation will have to be followed by a endless chain of many Who-s. God is a classic case of anthropomorphism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism). If God was not given the characteristics of a human being then HE would become an IT. If we stop finding answers filled with HEs, we will make more progress.

sinequanon:
Most atheists and theists are religious in their beliefs.

But one doesn't follow from the other.

I don't know which dogma you are having to protect, but I am neither atheist nor theist.

So "folly of admission" is your own problem. It doesn't apply in my perspective.

I doubt if the above reply was meant for my prior post, because I don't see what you addressed to qualify as a reply!

Saying atheists and theists are religious is unhelpful because for the course of this thread, the term - religion - is vague. What matters is whether theism is a religion as well as atheism.

Juju is found in the remotest rural areas where ignorance and sheer ignorance reigns supreme. Juju is an extension of traditional religious beliefs, it is supposedly supernatural. But since prayers and fasting (which are harmless) can inhibit the effects of juju, then juju is equally harmless.

sinequanon:
You are absolutely spot on.

You only have to look at the language that they regurgitate like clones to realize that the majority arrived at atheism through brainwashing.

For most people, atheism seems to be an emotional and psychological backlash against religion, rather than something they are fully in control of.

So, ironically, most atheists are driven by the god they say doesn't exist. Where is the laugh emoticon? We badly need one!

Doesn't it follow that since atheism is a religion, then theism, the direct opposite of atheism is a religion?!

The folly of admitting atheism is a religion is equal to admitting theism is a religion. Atheism is as much an umbrella categorisation as theism. It is true there could be atheistic religions (religions which have no focus on deities).

It is left to each man to act as he preaches. One's actions does the best talking. In the pastor's case, his actions are not speaking for him favorably. He is trapped with an unhappy wife, his marriage is at the verge of collapse. The supposed right formula for marriage that he is preaching for does not seem to work for him! One has to assume he followed his formula and from the look of things, it is not working.

And there is only one person to blame -- himself. He should hold himself accountable for his wrongfully selection.

malvisguy212:
maby youu dont understand my point here, in religions salvation is attained by human effort,example if you Good deed surpass your bad deed God will have mercy on you,this is differs from the moral law. But in christianity, it is the free gift of God,your must genuely repent to deserv the gift of God in christ jesus.

That does not imply that Christianity is a true religion as a result. It is merely that Christianity has a different view from others.

MadCow1:
Kai!!!


Nna lekwa trap men..







NO!!! It wasnt..

REASON:: That was Genocide, not War..

If it happened in a war, would it be justifiable?

samplegirl:
@Horus the problem I have with people like you is that you don't have identity if not it will be interesting to invite you to a debate.

No American government has been accused of human right violation but they still operate GITMO even when Obama sang he will shut it in his first tenure campaign. The gullible Nigerian will think you are actually fighting for the innocent Nigerians caught in the web but we know you are fighting for your group which is boko haram. No matter how you present it we know your intent. You are a member.

mtcheeewwww!!!!!!

the video was graphic enough! It is a Nigerian problem, the civilians in Borno are have the same rights as other citizens living in other parts of the country. The implication of State brutality must dawn you because if the Borno man's right worth nothing, yours equally worth nothing. Even if America plays the hypocritical dog, it is still our problem.

The moderator in your rubbish video was sayong that the north is under developed but the idiot failed to point that northern leaders do not want them to go to school, take immunization and the rest of them, The fool did not mention the fact that this President has built more schools in the north than any other president.

I find fault with your label on the video as 'rubbish'. The remainder of the above quote is a distraction. Yes the North is severely impoverished and an insurgency has arose as an indirect result, does that make a holocaust permissible?! Does that justify detention without trial?!

MadCow1:
Ofcourse... If I was the Victim, I would be on the streets of Abuja with a placard calling for 1billion Naira in compensation.. And if the current guys do it, I would support them..

But again I say!! THIS IS WAR...

All non-combatants should have left the area.. The Nigerian Army are running scared.. They are fighting against an unidentifiable enemy. So what happens is when they enter an Area, all Men (and now Women) of combat age are arrested and filtered through.

I dont blame the Nigerian army for this approach of clean sweeping an Area, my Problem with the Army is the time it takes to investigate and identify the innocent ones from the insurgents..



And like I said:: All is fair in War..

Was the Holocaust fair?

Mogidi:
See how re'tarded that statement is? The military for want of something to do, went to a poor students house and put him in jail for 3yrs. Did you bother asking why they left all adjoining houses but went to his? Flawless logic, now clap for yourself.

What should matter is whether the detention was fair, useful and lawful. If it is not either of those, then there is no good reason to support the detention. It is a further indication of incompetence on the part of the military.

And another way this can make sense, is if you believe the military is unquestionable and a carnage is necessary to do their job.

buoye1:
Is she Jesus?how could she av conquered death?Please face what you here to do and I choose to believe whatever I want to it's never yOur business...#thanx

If she wasn't Jesus, then she couldn't have practically floated

Where did God go?

buoye1:
When I read the book "biography of katheryn kuylman" oh my God I was so terrified and fear God in another dimension,a chapter was dedicated for the miracle God did through her healing service.....I was dazed with such aura and power she carried.....A woman that Practically floated in d air during one of services! When you read about her,u can testify

You gullibly believed all that! She couldn't even conquer death.

sandijey:
Often the same people who ask where God was following a disaster thinklessly forget to worship and honour him for years of peace and calmness. They disregard God in good times yet think he is obligated to provide help when bad times come. They call into question God's attribute of mercy and compassion. Call into question the mess that we made on earth in which we live.


When God created the earth, it wasn't intended to be this way. The beauty that is in the world was God's idea. The mess was ours and now when we see a judgement caused by sin and we see judgements in that world. We blame God!!!!!!.

Many blame God for the disasters that take place yet in good times they deny his very existence.

God has established a universal law. We reap what we sew. Perhaps there is a connection with all the terrible things that take place upon the earth and our blatant rejection of God and his word. Rather than take responsibility, man chooses to believe God is the author of evil. That way we can question God's love and fairness.


God knows his people and his people know him.

This is sad.

This snake oil solution 'you shall reap what you sow', is abjectly false. Let us take the Christians' lives an example. They are as vulnerable as other humans who have 'rejected God'. They constantly seek for miracles and escapes from the rigours of living. They fear death, they fear diseases and losses; so they create a fantasy world (which they sadly cannot live in) where they imagine all the joys and wealth they cannot afford on earth. They daydream. Christianity is in a few words is Escapism. Wouldn't life more fruitful if they are at peace with themselves and with life. Accept Life for what it is.

The only Miracle is when Christians stop suffering.

paulGrundy:
Wow! Seun hasn't even bothered to investigate the claims of the OP before jumping into conclusions. There have cases where miracles have made frontpage of reputable newspapers around the world, if no miracle has been on CNN or whatever, its because they don't consider it a priority. Sometimes skeptics can go to any lenght to discredit an act of God. Instead of jumping into conclusions, why don't you try and verify the claims of the OP?

It is only in the realm of faith for mountains to move and for cemeteries to rise to life but in reality the Christians remain the same, suffer like everyone else.

nanizle:
According to the American Cancer Society:
... available scientific evidence does not support claims that faith healing can actually cure physical ailments.
One review published in 1998 looked at 172 cases of deaths among children treated by faith healing instead of conventional methods. These researchers estimated that if conventional treatment had been given, the survival rate for most of these children would have been more than 90 percent, with the remainder of the children also having a good chance of survival.
A more recent study found that more than 200 children had died of treatable illnesses in the United States over the past thirty years because their parents relied on spiritual healing rather than conventional medical treatment.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing
Faith cannot cure physical ailments. A simple proof is to gather all your pastors and let them pray for an amputee's limb to grow back. I bet you it won't.

malvisguy212:
in the beginning, God created us in his image, we are holy and sinles, that is how God want us to be, but becaus of freewill,God alow evil to happen for human to express true love for God,without evil non can express love for God or each other,but in christianity, beliving in jesus make you a new creation,born again meaning you are a new creation just like how God created you from the beginning,infact is as if satan has never infected you with sin before. THIS IS THE HOLINESS OF GOD.

In a court of law,if you are being found gulty no matter your good deed,you will be judge accordingly , you see,the moral law of God apply to the physical law that is what christian preach,with the grace of Jesus gives us.this is how you will know the true religeon, but most religeon believe that you will be judge base on your good deed, even when you are gulty of the crime commited you will not be punish, can we then called God a righteous judge?

Sin is possible only under a moral law such as is found in the Bible. What if the Bible is one of the many perspectives of morality? That would change everything we understand about morality. It would change the erroneous idea that there is an absolute morality. The Bible itself is proof of this. Within the Bible, are two wills or testaments: the Old testament and the New testament. The moral regime in both are different from one another. The Golden Rule of love thy neighbour as thyself is absent in the Old testament. The Golden Rule follows that Compassion is the basis of morality.

And I have searched the length and breadth of the Old testament, and haven't found the Golden Rule. Rather in Job, God declares he is the Almighty, Lord of Good and Evil

malvisguy212:
CHRISTIANITY IS DIFFERENT :
No other religion provides a provision for God's forgiveness of
sin, which is why I believe Christianity to be the only true way
to God. Jesus said He is the only way to God and that all people
must follow Him to enter heaven. All other religions are man's attempt to become acceptable to God. Only Christianity says
that God alone provides the only means to be acceptable to
Him. So, either Christianity is true and all other religions are false or
Christianity is false and God does not hold people accountable for law
breaking. Personally, I would not want to rely upon God ignoring His
own rules. It doesn't seem to be logical reasoning. This is the choice you must make.

This is laughable.

Christianity can not be true as a result of the above, because there is no such requirement for a true religion.

Buddhism identifies the fundamental problem with human existence as Suffering, it makes a genuine attempt to banish human suffering. A careful thought reveals that even Hell, and all punishments are part and a parcel of Suffering. The fear of death, the fear of the unknown, the fear of one's neighbours, fear of one's Gods are all part of suffering.

Each religion is unique and each builds it own 'universe' with its own premises. In conclusion, it is a futile exercise to search for the true religion.

These are the undesired consequences of worshipping a 19th century God.

The OP is the perfect example/proof that man makes his God whatever he wants it to be. This man's God is clearly not most Nigerians' Gods, because they disagree with fundamental value.

Whether homosexualit.y is natural or not is forever irrelevant. It is a moral issue.

Hiswordxray:
God building a home.
Jesus finding a wife which is of his kind. A wife that is him in another form. A wife that will be his glory.
An everlasting romance.
An outlet of an all consuming love.
Emancipation of a frustrated passion.
To answer the call of a God who is hopelessly in love.
What purpose could be better than this?

Kay17:
So the purpose of a Christian is to build house, find wife (in a woman's case, I'd assume husband), look for romance and emancipate a frustrated passion. But these items you mentioned have to be a means to some end, they have to be for happiness at least. They cannot be ends in themselves. Having a romance is not for the mere purpose of having a romance, people naturally expect happiness to result from such romance, don't they?
In a few words of protest, these do not seem like a purpose.

Hiswordxray:
Yes you have found what you're looking for; another misunderstanding, another excuse to tell your desperate heart that Christ is not they way. But you no that a lie.
You know you didn't understand what I wrote.
But you are happy you've found another excuse.
How long would you continue like this?
How long would you continue to fight that voice in your heart?
How long would you continue to find excuses when you know it is not working. Your heart still continue to cry out for God.
Did you think you can find something else to fill that emptiness?

Well stop deceiving yourself.

I will have to assume you concede to me about the nihilism of Christianity and its shallow meaning.

Next, I will address your 'psychoanalytical' exercise on me. It is virtually impossible for you to read my mind and extract the above information. The best you can do is try to generalize your condition. Meaning that you equate your emotions and condition for mine. The 'inner voice in your head' is assumed to be in everybody's head. And you assume your vulnerable nature is assumed to be the nature of everybody else. And that your only saviour -- Jesus is everybody's saviour.

The only person indulging in self deception is sadly you.

Hiswordxray:
God building a home.

Jesus finding a wife which is of his kind. A wife that is him in another form. A wife that will be his glory.

An everlasting romance.

An outlet of an all consuming love.

Emancipation of a frustrated passion.

To answer the call of a God who is hopelessly in love.
What purpose could be better than this?

So the purpose of a Christian is to build house, find wife (in a woman's case, I'd assume husband), look for romance and emancipate a frustrated passion. But these items you mentioned have to be a means to some end, they have to be for happiness at least. They cannot be ends in themselves. Having a romance is not for the mere purpose of having a romance, people naturally expect happiness to result from such romance, don't they?

In a few words of protest, these do not seem like a purpose.

Runwellnow:
Kay 17, This is not an abdication as I have other matters to attend to and those mentioned are better thinkers than me. Also I contribute to the Wallington Gospel Hall website and the article "Is there any Convincing Evidence for God?" asked atheists some hard questions. However if you wish to discuss “faith” this is changing the subject and so I suggest that we open another topic called “Faith, God and the Bible”.

Sigh.

Hiswordxray:
Oh sorry I misunderstood you.
The purpose of a Christian life is to participate in God eternal plan which he had from the foundation of the word.
A plan which was once hidden in a mystery but have now be reveal to us through the spirit (1Cor 2:6-12).

What is it? ? ?

Hiswordxray:
The reason why you feel life has no purpose and is meaningless is because you are lacking Christ.
This is not a problem of humanity, this is a problem of you heart.

Again, is it sin that made you run away from God?
Are you finding it difficult to stop committing sin?

There is a way out.

This man, do you have a problem with basic comprehension?! I didn't tell you my life was meaningless, rather I asked what is the purpose of a Christian's life

Hiswordxray:
The concern of this trend doesn't matter.
My urge to evangelize doesn't matter.
What matters is you!!!
You are suffering from guilt.
But why suffer when he died to set you free from guilty consciousness.

God said "Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool." (Isa 1:18).

Since what matters is me, then explain the purpose of humanity qua my purpose.

yes, I'd assume there is sin for the sake of convenience, but how relevant is the problem of sin to human existence?

^^

The word 'help' is self explanatory enough! There isn't much I can say about 'help' other than it connotes assistance, support, etc.

Hiswordxray:
Yes that word "guilty "
What did you do that make you feel guilty?
No matter what it might be God will forgive you.
You can't run away from God because of guilt.
The Bible says "For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things." (1John 3:20)

i understand your authentic urge to evangelize, but lets stick to the concern of this thread or its fallout.

What is the purpose of human existence in Christianity other than going to Heaven?

Hiswordxray:
I know you are scared of hell.
The thought of ending up in hell torment you.

But you don't need to be scared when you can simply come to Jesus and he would show you the way.

I don't feel guilt neither i do fear Hell

AlfaSeltzer:
both.

If your parents carried you around all the time, you would never have walked.

It is strange to condemn the few helpers and empathizers we have in the world by saying help itself is ironically harmful.

What is wrong? the means of providing help or the help itself?

Hiswordxray:
Here you go again, ignoring the voice in your heart and indulging yourself in silly argument.
Is this argument more important to you than your so?
Is this more important than the fact that you are ignoring God's love and heading towards hell?
Make you decision now.
If you what to do it secretly you can email me.

What has hell got to do with the relevance of man's existence?