₦airaland Forum

Alan Ball created True Blood? Why oh why have I ignored the series?
Saw Amar Akbar Anthony, and a Monica Bellucci thing with unpronounceable French titles. Well into her forties and still gorgeous.

Hmmmm.
The Bible contains inaccuracies because it has a history of its contents being meddled with, edited and in some cases, added to. There are some things in it that were added as late as the 9th century,  and apparently aren't in the original manuscripts. The originals are lost, and all there is are copies of copies of copies,each ''copier' meddling some with the manuscript, incorporating the group's opinion on doctrine and adding new material, and all these in addition to unintended editing and translation errors.But it appears these are slight. It's a collection of different manuscripts or books, and some Bibles contain material omitted from ther versions because the authorship or message is of dubious quality, for example, the Book of Judas, which was obviously intended to be passed off as the work of Judas Iscariot,since the ancient writer could have no way of knowing future generations would invent dating techniques. It was written four hundred years after the death of Christ, so the book is a fraud. Each denomination has a right, I think, to judge these things for themselves. If they want their Bible to contain 66 or 660 books, so be it. There's no law stipulating the number of books a Bible may contain. In early Christian times no such thing as a Bible existed. When Paul wrote that the 'word of God is a two-edged sword'', you'd be surprised at how many Christiáns take that to mean the Bible,even though a bible didnt exist when he was writing those words. I'm well aware the Ethiopian and Greek Orthodox bible has' more books than the standard bible. So? The problem comes from the Nigerian practice of insisting every single word in the Bible is divine and flawless. The Bible itself is not flawless.Human beings put it together, and there are mistakes in it. So? Its message is divine.

What did you find shocking about how Christianity is practiced in those countries, exactly? Correct me if I''m wrong, but isn't their message about the New Testament Christ?  That's what makes a Christian church, that's the essence of Christianity and what churches everywhere preach and are united under,irrespective of other theological differences.       

You're making me sigh here. Nowhere in my posts did I say Catholics aren't Christians. It's not up to me to determine which denominations are Christian and which aren't. My posts said the opposite; one segment of Christianity woefully failed me (Catholism), but Christianity itself did not. I'm talking about failing me as a spiritual being, you're talking about disagreeing with their teachings. I do disagree with some of their doctrines and with many of their practices, but that holds true for some other Christian sects as well, and is completely besides the point. Catholism failed me as it has failed many, and nothing can change that. Still I found my spiritual niche within the same Christianity in which one segment wholly failed. That is my point.

Don't sweat it.
We are ALL going to find out the answer to that question.
Eventually.

oyinda.:
I'm listening to God Shaped Hole now and I quite like it. downloading it.

yea I like switchfoot too but don't have many songs by him. just dare you to move and meant to move.
I used to listed to this college radio show every sunday when I was around 13. They discontinued the show years ago but I found most of the artists online and I love them. That's how I was introduced to most christian artists I know.
ok i just downloaded a bunch of switchfoot songs

Glad you liked PLUMB. I found most of my favourite contemporary Xtian artists through the Dove awards or Grammies for Best Gospel Album.I checked them out and remained a fan of those I like. Switchfoot videos are a better intro than audio.

There's a God-shaped hole in all of us
And a restless soul is searching

I liked the song in Bruce Almighty,though I prefer Christian rock bands like Newsboys and Switchfoot. Don't you just love the Switchfoot video for 'Stars'? Shine and the Going Public album was how Newsboys got my attention. They rock!

Go Fash go!
That kind of leadership, or better, is what the entire country needs.

A real addict.
Do you listen to PLUMB? The movie Bruce Almighty featured her music; God-shaped Hole.

Heyyyy
Another Newsboys fan

Eric Clapton- Get Lost
Linkin Park- Crawlin
Phil Collins- Do You Remember
Seal- Kiss From A Rose
ColdPlay- Speed of Sound
Switchfoot- Meant to Live
Evanescence- My Immortal
Newsboys- Shine
Outcast- Hey Ya!
Stevie Wonder- Superstition
TOTO- Africa
John Mayer- Clarity

na2day?:
she will end up dying within

Dying within?Men fall more deeply in love than women. They're far more capable of true love and their emotions are generally more intense,irrespective of whatever they display on the outside. If the guy likes her he WILL tell her. If she wants a relationship with him, she'll wait for him to ask her. If she wants a fling, she should go and throw herself at him. It appears he's about to ask. But the suspense is killing her and she's impatient and wants to preempt him.You'd better wait. Or next time,steer the conversation to what he said he wanted to tell you and encourage him until he does tell you. Don't risk all for nothing.

Don't tell him. DON'T. Get a hold on yourself.

ifele:
you dont need religion yu neeed god.

Yes. But this is about the poster, not me.

bawomolo:
mad_max : are you willing to try other religions?

When I was searching I was, and did. Bindex started that conversation a page or so back. I thought he was an ex-Muslim but it turns out he's much more. I left Christianity. But when I found myself, it was back within it,after a fashion. I wasn't talking about gallivanting from one Christian denomination to another; I was merely contrasting my two extremely different experiences of the same religion.

Totally. I wear blouses made of local fabrics with denim, and sometimes add a leather jacket. Match colours and wear whatever you like with tons of confidence so you get away with stuff, you know?

Does your wife's EDD actually fall on that date or you merely exaggerating your dilemma? It's clear you and your best friend are very dear to each other. But it appears both of you still think you're kids in high school going 'Best Friends Forever.' The moment you married your wife the relationship between you and your best friend changed. I very much doubt any married man would leave his pregnant wife to oblige you. Why is your friend being so unreasonable as to want to force your hand, forcing you to choose between your wife and him? He should cherish and respect the relationship you have with him, but he should also respect the one you have with your wife and not see it as something that competes with his. You were his BEST Man. So what? It's not the same thing; he didn't have a pregnant wife at home who might go inot labour while he was gallivanting about with you, he was single. This is your wife and she is expecting your first child and she will be apprehensive of dealing with labour without you. She did not marry members of her family, she married you, and she did not get married to you so she can have a child that belongs to you both,alone. She has every right to want you with her.

Realize you're a MARRIED MAN,and your family comes FIRST.And the sooner your friend realises that too, the better. The decision is yours,but I would listen to some good advice you've already been given; Tell your friend you want to be there,but that he should have a stand-in for you, if your wife goes into labour and you can't make the wedding. If your wife's water doesn't break and she isn't in the labour on the day of the wddin get to Benin very early and be there for your friend. Be ready to leave if your wife calls that she's in labour. Otherwise,be the Best Man,but return same day.

An action movie with a body count of 180, and Bale single-handedly kills 150 of them. While Bale and I continue to dislike that 'tasteful' movie, feel free to count it among the world's best.

No one can merely 'like' Memento. It DEMANDS your devotion.

I'm sniggering. I can't help it.
I know you have a thing for Bale,but even the guy himself regrets taking that role and featuring in the movie. Guess that makes him tasteless as well.

duduspace:
I was a muslim for the 1st 14 years of my life and later converted to Christianity after my dad died. I was a Christian for over a decade. I lost my faith in the bible and the god it was talking about when reality hit me real hard. It was a TRAGIC experience but I think looking back its kind of good that it happened, I know understand life and people better than before when i was living like a blind man groping in darkness for what is not there. I understand what it means to lose your faith, I was once in the posters shoes, I creid for weeks but as things became clearer to me I was happy that I no longer held those beliefs. I know how Painful it is that is why I encouraged the poster to hold unto his beliefs if it will make him happier.

You must have been devastated. "Things became clearer to you"? How? You don't have to answer that, of course. Did you leave Christianity for the same reasons you left Islam? Why did you convert to Christianity in the first place? What did you want,while you practiced it, from that religion? What did you want it to do for you? Obviously, it failed you in this regard.

I know you know religion has two kinds of adherents: those who chose it because it reflected their true spiritual identity, because it spoke deeply to something hidden in them. And those who had religion thrust upon them; it was the family religion and they believed what everyone else believed. Most of us fall into the last category,and many are accepting of this and continue to be blind,indoctrinated mice to the end of their lives. At some point we should question what has been thrust upon us,reject it, and then seek our true spiritual identity and the religious philosophy within which it flourishes. It might turn out to be the religion of our parents after all, but this time we would know what we believe; it would be our choice. It might be another religion entirely. If one religion has failed you,does it mean ALL religion has failed?NO. If a segment of a religion has failed,has that religion failed?NO. 

I was born Catholic and practiced that impressively solemn,futile horror of empty religious ritual until I couldn't stand it anymore and hated religion. It was easy to conclude that was the Christian experience, and abandon that religion. I did. But after a while I started searching again. Did Catholism fail me, that beautiful,utterly lifeless,ritualistic,pseudo-religious monster?YES!!! It has failed many and turned them from God,like it did me. It's very good at that.Did that mean Christ, and by extension Christianity has failed? Absolutely not. Religious institutions are human institutions, and sometimes when men fail we think it is God that's failed. Er, NO.

And yet Catholism has many indoctrinated devotees: I can't comment on the genuineness of their religious experience because I don't know it, I only know mine,which was empty,zero,nothingness. I do know that God is merciful and ignores many of the artificial human constructs,like 'denomination'', that separate us. In spite of the fact that I had different experiences with different segments of Christianity, Christianity is one. The divisions of which much is made, are mostly unimportant differences in biblical interpretation. In the essentials,all of Christianity is in agreement: Christ is the way, the truth and the life. All else is plain silliness.

And yet,and yet:dead emptiness while practicing Catholism,which is within Christianity, the emptiness going away when I departed from it. And aliveness and wholeness now, and within the same Christianity I was so eager to give up after being let down by a segment of it.

Perhaps something similar happened when you were a Christian.

WALL-E forever.

Memento

Equilibrium! That's the Christian Bale movie I couldn't stand. Been trying to remember.

@Katho
Are you an Oliver Stone fan?

Karma, how shall I put this?
Bite me.
Asiri ke? I'm not ibkaye. For some reason everytime I logged in that day I was rerouted to his or her account.

TS got negative reviews? Probably cos Arnold wasn't in it. But I enjoyed everything Bale ever did, minus one, so I'll probably enjoy this one as well.

Dexter
Waiting for Mad Men season 3 premiere in August.

Testing 1,2

Testing 1,2,
Okay, I think it's righted itself.

The Simpsons. It's clever, and genuinely funny.Though,well,it has been twenty years.
Family Guy isn't funny. The characters are all annoying.

Astonomers at Harvard-Smithsonian Institute for Astphysics discovered a diamond in space years ago. I can't believe I just heard, and I'm crazy about things cosmological.

Astronomers discovered the largest diamond of all times in space. The weight of the precious stone reportedly makes up ten billion trillion trillion carats or five million trillion trillion pounds.

The space diamond is 4,000 kilometers in diameter. The stone is located at a distance of 50 light years from Earth, in the Constellation Centaurus.

Scientists believe that the diamond is the heart of an extinct star that used to shine like the Sun. Astronomers have already dubbed the space diamond as Lucy in a tribute to the Beatles song ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.’

Er-nowhere did I state my faith is based on hearsay. It is not. You merely assumed that, and you're free to. Many Christians have a personal relationship with God, and know him and his power and grace in their lives; it's nothing new. He reveals himself. But there are Christians who don't know him personally,but 'borrow' from others. I'm telling the poster to not rely on hearsay,but know God for himself too; God isn't to be found in empty religious rituals. He takes the emptiness away and gives it all meaning.

You've gotten the erroneous impression I'm interested in debating my personal convictions and spiritual experiences, and the equally wrong impression explanations are due you, from me.I gave answer to the guy's post,as others have done. If he has questions about anything in my post, I'll be happy to elucidate.
You're not asking me anything in your post, you're telling me.
Run along now, Bindyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

I saw provoked. She was an overacting mess,as usual. Not convinced she really loved the Bachan boy either. Calculating wench.

blackspade=topic=274559.msg3911756#msg3911756 date=1243082489:
My whole family believes in god and I do too, but recently (as in the last few months) I've been questioning myself with things such as: does god exist? what if religion is just one of the worlds longest running fairytales? why are there so many contradictions in the bible? am I wasting my time worshipping something I can't see? is christianity just a mechanism used by europeans to spread their idealogy and culture?

I want to believe in god, and recognize some of the things in life that we can't explain, and can only be explained by god, but sometimes I just don't know. I've been feeling a little depressed lately, so maybe that has something to do with it, I don't know. What the hell is wrong with me? Am I just going through a phase?

It's possible you've been experiencing 'God' vicariously, through other people. You have no personal knowledge of him in your life; you hear of him from your pastors or other religious people; they tell you what he's like and you have to take their word for it,because you don't know for yourself. And perhaps you've been thinking that that is what 'faith' and Christianity is, that's all there is to it. Perhaps you've lived for years this way, and are resigned to a lifetime of this sort of thing, second-hand knowledge of God and monotonous religious activity.

You do yourself a great disservice.
You're designed to seek God and know him for yourself,[/i]personally,intimately,like you know your family and closest friends. God is not some unknowable abstracism, or some harp-strumming ball of gas; He is a real person who talks and feels and loves and hates, and is powerful. He is a mystery in the sense that we don't have the equipment to fully comprehend him,but he is fully accessible to you and loves you and wants your love and companionship as only such a being can- profoundly.

He's there, independent of belief. It's easy to get lost in the spiritual babel the world's become, thanks to our cunning adversary and his tired deceptions. But God keeps finding us and reconciling us to himself. He's the only constant, a steady,turstworthy anchor, and you may hold on to him and be assured of safety.

It's very very clear you don't know God personally for yourself, only through others;perhaps through what your pastor preaches [i]alone. If you had personal knowledge of him, while you may have crises and many,many questions, you will never question his existence. It would be as absurd as questioning the existence of one's mother after years of knowing her and blossoming under her love. If you had only heard of a 'mother' and other people's experiences of one, but did not know one personally,only then might you question if such a thing exists.

God is right there, with you, all times. It is pride and self-sufficient arrogance and a tragic superiority that keeps most of us from reaching out to him when we so easily can. Try to wean yourself off dependence on other people's experiences of God and seek to know him intimately for yourself. Your knowledge of God must not,not,not,not,be purely academic. It simply mustn't. It would be like listening to what other others say and researching expert opinion and current studies on (pardon me) your mother,retreating behind human thought on the subject when she is right there.

If you seek him you will find him. It's impossible not to. You've probably been indoctrinated and spoon-fed religion and you're now feeling the hollowness and futility that comes from religious rituals while not knowing God personally. Religious rituals and practices, while they have a place, are not a substitute for God. You're supposed to find and know God first, or let Him find you; what you do after that in the name of service and worship will proceed naturally,happily and willingly from your heart. It won't be empty,monotonous, hollow 'duty'.

Many Christians go through what you're going through at one time or the other. I'm sorry you are and wish you didn't have to, but there it is. It's important you know what you believe, and that you experience God for yourself,and then nothing can take Him away from you,ever. Hold on and don't give up.

Hmmm. I've never had a 'You're not my parents' drama before, and don't know enough about it to want to save myself from it. Frankly, the thought never occurred to me. All my thoughts are for my boy. I didn't think about how not saying anything might constitute a lie by 'omission', and a 'secret', and I made it plain we can't live that way.

~Sissy~:
Mad, this is really a hard one i must admit. Adoption is a subtle issue.
telling them when they are young i think is better cause they will tend to adjust better to it than telling them when they are older which they may see as a betrayal. gradually introduce the concept of being "adopted" as being very special. whenever you decide to tell him/her that he/her was so special, that why you chose him/her to be your child. and that you love them so very much. use gentle and simple words that wouldn't complicate or confuse things. There’s no easy way to have the conversation or guarantees on how your child will react. The only way to prepare is to build an open and honest relationship with your adopted child and to confront the subject directly.

I love idea of 'adoption' as 'being very special'. It actually made me smile. Hmmmm. Thanks.