This photo summerizes it all.

Imagine the kind of person

Good to know about her

Yes, ojoro offside don backfire

How e take be offside all these FA thief?

Reflect7:


YES.

That poor looking shrine is a result of SOCIETAL NEGLECT AND SHUNNING OF TRADITIONAL RELIGION.

That is why it looks like that.

Do you know that JAPAN practices a religion that is virtually identical to Edo religion? (There is actually evidence of ancient Edo settlement there, but that's another story).

It's called Shintoism.

There are over 100,000 Shinto shrines in Japan today.

Many are directly funded and maintained by the government.

Here is what they look like:







This is what shrines LOOK LIKE absent of colonial destruction of traditional religion.

When we MAKE THE CONSCIOUS DECISION to recognise our traditional religion as VALID in its own right, and treat it accordingly, our shrines will start to look like the ones in Japan.

I've studied Shintoism, and it is simply Updated African Religion in everything but name.

Those images above are what African religion would have look liked today, without European and Arab invasion.

Just like Africans had changed their devotion towards African dieties over the years, You know, Africans were taken aslaves which also constitute societal change in America today, your write up is like saying, let all African Americans begins to migrate back to Africa which is not possible.

So, it is also not possible that Africans should begin revert into African deity devotion the way it was before they first interacted with Europeans, such that they now begin to build temples in their capitals, it's not possible.

See, what will be will surely be. Leave it the way it is.

It is also beautiful like this .

Variation is paramount.
Change is paramount is the evidence that GOD IS MOST POWERFUL, there is nothing anyone can do about it

SCAM! SCAM! SCAM! SCAM! SCAM!

LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES

If these things are real, show us in the bible that suggest so.

Because, only fairly tales of African extracts which was used to deceive Africans are the only references you can get in support of these fictional imaginations.

WE CANNOT PERCEIVE WHAT IS IN THE SPIRIT RHELM DOES NOT MEAN THAT ANYTHING WE IMAGINE IN OUR HEART DO EXIST IN THE SPIRIT

JessicaRabbit:
Before you grab your pitchforks, I want to make my intentions clear. First and foremost, I'm not creating this topic to mock or ridicule anybody's faith. And if you're going to take offense to any of the things I'm about to say in this post, then perhaps you should consider the possibility that it's because my words might have grazed upon a truth you haven't fully examined. We shouldn't confuse offense with introspection, or discomfort for disrespect. Consider my comments not as barbs, but as invitations to a deeper exploration of your own beliefs.

Of all the various forms in which Christianity manifests, few are as culturally dominant as Pentecostalism. For cynical observers such as myself, this movement, heavily characterized by its' ecstatic outbursts during worship, as well as its' fire and brimstone sermons and prayer sessions, often resembles a theatrical production. Although, I do understand that many might find solace in the movement's emotional fervor. Anyways, let's talk about the Pentecostal belief. What's the cornerstone of this movement? It's the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This mystical experience, often accompanied by speaking in tongues (glossolalia to the theologically inclined), is considered the ultimate religious power-up. It's like getting some divine update that grants fluency in a language only the angels and other hosts of heaven can understand. The problem is, many linguistics worth their salt have dissected these utterances, and more often than not, they bear a striking resemblance to… well, gibberish. In fact, let's even accept the tiny probability that there might be some phonetic similarities to known languages. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's fluent. It's far more likely glossolalia is a product of our remarkable brains' ability to generate novel speech patterns under heightened emotional states (Occam's Razor). How do we seriously differentiate between a genuine spiritual experience and an overactive amygdala?

But I've said enough about tongues. Let's talk about the disturbing emphasis on public displays of piety. Whether it's swaying like a willow in a hurricane during worship or bellowing declarations of faith until your voice cracks, Pentecostalism thrives on outward expressions of devotion. One can't help but wonder if this is about genuine spiritual connection or putting on a show for the divine audience, and more importantly, the congregation who might loosen their purse strings a little wider for tithes to drop. Now, I'm all for supporting your local house of worship, but Pentecostalism often takes it to a whole new level. The prosperity gospel, a staple of many Pentecostal denominations, suggests a direct correlation between piety and financial blessings. Basically, the gist is that if you can donate generously, God will shower you with earthly riches. Sounds like a convenient theology for televangelists with private jets and a taste for the finer things in life.

Oh, and what's the deal with forcing people to go to church? Isn't a genuine connection with the divine a more personal experience, one that transcends the four walls of a church and doesn't require a weekly attendance check?

Honestly, I wonder if Christians have ever stopped to take a break from rapping in tongues like they're Busta Rhymes, and dancing wantonly in the church aisles to really evaluate what they believe in. I wonder if they have ever taken a moment to ponder on the true nature of their faith. Is it about outward displays and material gain, or is it something deeper, a connection that transcends the public performance?

You are absolutely right!
It's not only peculiar to pentecostalism but it's also a problem of both Catholics and Protestants. They all flopped!

It's the same reason many Christians on NL see me as not being on the Christian side, because i keep raising these kind of questions with the aim of trying to portray what true Christianity should be.

I keep saying that God is more interested in the entire universe than a mere building or place including all it activities that is called the church.

But it seems that people are so perverted in the mind that there is nothing one can do to change their view about the church and set them free .
And pastors are the ones enjoying these whole episodes while they are the ones loosing

Oga, the earlier you people come out clean, the better for Christianity.
What do you mean by God paying his workers, does God do regular money payment to people?

Psalms 24:1 The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

So every message in church that tells you that your primary service to God is being a pastor, an Usher, a choir member, an evangelist, a keyboardist, a pulpit decorator, a man server, etc, is not of God.

This will just be a surprise to many Christians especially the conservatives.

When God created man, he asked them to replenish the earth and subdue it. He didn't ask them to engage in religious activities.
So you that has a profession and you are huzzling to make your money to keep your family, build your house and beautify your environment living in peace with your neighbour and engage in selecting a better ruler to govern you in order to provide basic infrastructures, jobs, aiming at a better economy that will impact positively to everyone, you are actually doing the primary assignment God has created you for.

And the good thing is, this primary assignment is not restricted to just one Sabbath day like every sundays. It is something you do everyday, just like your worship to God is everyday.

Leviticus 6:12 And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings.
Leviticus 6:13 The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.

Lovely praise session

When oyibo man ask, what is happening here? You will tell them, this is how we do praise in Africa, they will simply appreciate

For 9 years now that Buhari had closed the borders, his intention was to encourage local production of food supplies. But without considering the effects of irregular power supply and insecurity to the industrial and Agricultural sector, his good intentions became an economic reproach for 9 years now due to monopoly of local producers and distributors who consistently embarked on increment of price of consumable goods against all odds of price control
As the surge of deregulation of the down stream sector of the petroleum industry sets in by the Tinubu administration which had impacted greatly to transportation of Agricultural produce,prices of food materials produced by local farmers have been on the increase, thereby leading to extreme starvation and hunger which have never been experienced for decades.

Since the Federal government have failed to encourage local producers through the provision relatively stable power supply to industries and security to farmers, therefore it is imperative to allow opening of the borders pending on when they are ready to fix power and security for local producers as immediate opening of the borders will enhance competition which is essential for price reduction and stability of exchange rate as it were, before the on-set of this 9 years. of Buhari /Tinubu led administration

Image123:


Repentance was never a requirement to be a Christian. You said that, right?

Is this suppose to mean when a Christian sin he does not have to repent?

In case you don't understand the meaning of the word requirement and how it applies
To pass government in waec is not a requirement to be admiited in the university for studying Biochemistry.
Does that mean that a student prospecting to study Biochemistry should not pass government in waec?
The answer is no!

When you have difficulties understanding simple logic the reasonable thing to do first is to ask questions, or you don't have business quoting me, talkless of using words like clown on top of what your brain is not developed enough to understand, otherwise you make a fool out of yourself.

Now, don't quote me again except you have anything reasonable to say, or I will not respond

Image123:


Reason why i rightly called you a clown unbeliever, i am not just knowing you today, obviously. Nobody talked about or mentioned what God sees as sin, i guess that is His business, ba? The fact is that if you sin, you have to repent of your sin.
Obviously, Ananias, Sapphira, Demas and other backsliders were not seen as Christ but as people who satan entered their hearts. Paul, Peter and other apostles evidently did not have this danjalous revelation that only you and your pastor received from we know who. Even Jesus was not briefed.

I didn't say that when you sin you don't have to repent, did I?

Where?

Image123:


You don't like the word "clown", then stop behaving like one. You make satan and unbelievers laugh at the christian faith with your acrobatic displays. You were not constructive in your assertions.

point out one of my assertion that i wasn't constructive

Image123:


Hear a clown unbeliever that knows more than the apostles that counted 3000 souls and discipled them.

You have started again abi?
Can't you make your argument without using words like clown?
You are very free to counter anything i say, but do it constructively and not with insult and i will see your point and agree with you

I will not respond to you again if you repeat this

Image123:


He that is born of God does not commit sin, believest thou this?

certainly.

It depend on what God sees as sin, not what we see as sin.
The truth is, whosever is born of God is seen by God as Christ himself. Not by what he actually is. Because of this, he does not commit sin in God's eyes.
That is, God has forgiven all his iniquities in advance because of Christ

Ken4Christ:
I

How does one become a Christian?

There are two possible ways to become a Christian.
1. By birth : as in new birth in Christ.

1 Timothy 2:15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

A child that is born and brought up in Christian home is a Christian right from the point of his birth until he decides to change his religion when he becomes an adult.
If he choses to continue in Christ and die a Christian then he has eternal life, simple

2. By conversion : that is, when someone that wasn't a Christian initially is preached to, and he believed. At that point he is a believer

Ken4Christ:


Believing alone doesn't make you a Christian

this your statement contradicts Romans 3:28

Romans Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Besides, you must believe in your heart and not in your head.

you didn't attach any scripture in support of this

The template for conversion is contained in Romans 10:9-10.

Romans 10 is very straight forward to understand.

start reading from verse 1 you will understand what the whole chapter is explaining

Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

The aim of this whole Epistle of Paul is that Israel should be saved. And for them to be saved they have to confess Christ. That is, to agree that Jesus is the Christ, simple.

The opposite of the word confess there is to deny.

To confirm this, read the stories of Jesus while he was yet alive before he was crucified. The Pharisees who were the leaders of the Jews(Israelites) actually denied Christ as their Messiah.
Even till today

It's in two stages.

Stage one - Believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead.

the scripture did not mention any stage.
It is just believe that's all.

Whether you believe in the heart or mind or confess it out with your mouth that Jesus is the Christ, it is still amount to believe which all Christians today have done in their heart too

Not everyone believes this. For instance, The Jehovah Witness do not believe that Jesus was raised from the dead bodily.

that is their own cup of tea.
What is important is that the vast majority of Christians all over the world today have believed

Second stage - Confess that Jesus is Lord of your life. This is what finally initiates you into the body of Christ.

confess, believe, accept, they are all the same synonyms, therefore there is nothing like second stage.

The point is, Paul had used all these synonyms to say one thing, which is to believe that's all

Jesus put is as one, not on stages by saying whoever believes in me should not perish but have everlasting life.

Even our Lord Jesus said that it's your word that justifies or condemns you - Matthew 12:37.

one can only say the words that he believes. Meaning, if you don't believe in your heart you cannot confess or say it out .

So everything still amount to believe

FxMasterz:


Romans 10:9-10

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

let's look at what it means to confess Christ in the context of this scripture.
It does not necessarily mean to confess sin. For instance, if someone is a fornicator it doesn't mean that the person should confess that he is a fornicator. Confession in this context actually mean to be convinced and accept it to the point you can say it out with your mouth that the Jesus that was crucified is the Christ or Messiah(as anticipated by the Israelites of that time).

Don't get me wrong : I'm not saying that confession sin to a Reverend father or a pastor is wrong. But I'm saying that, this is not what the context of that scripture is referring to

Now, do you agree that everyone, especially those that were born and raised by Christian parents have no problem confessing Christ according to this scripture, and therefore they are all saved?

LordReed:


Not really. She hopes going to church will change my mind.

Just go along with her for the sake of love and for the sake of the children. I will do the same if i were in your shoes

LordReed:


Or they know that people are emotional and respond to emotional appeals rather than judgemental ones.

Exactly!

Check it, most big churches that have altar calls don't preach fire and brimstone often if they do at all.

primarily, preaching was suppose to be educative. The time was suppose to be used as opportunity to enlighten church members the content of the bible and how the two basic messages of the bible are applied to this present reality which are :
1. Love God with all your heart
2. Love your neighbour as yourself

But unfortunately, they have totally abandoned that mandate to pick up their own personal mandates of distorting from people in the face of a dysfunctional economy

LordReed:


Yes. Specifically for my wife, if not for her I wouldn't unless it was maybe a wedding or something like that.

Did your wife sometimes encourage you to maintain your atheism since the church cannot change your position?

FxMasterz:


That's because they know that anyone who is a believer in Christ wouldn't have any conviction of the Holy Ghost to answer an altar call.

Altar calls are for fresh believers in Christ as well as those who want to rededicate their lives to Christ. They usually explain by saying 'If you have not given your life to Christ, come forward". So those who come forward know by themselves that they've not given their lives to Christ. The pastors also add that "If you've given your life to Christ but have not been living for Christ, come forward and rededicate your life to Christ '. They mention the specific categories of people they're inviting to the altar. Then, the Holy Ghost does the conviction.

It's not easy for anyone to answer an altar call except he or she is convicted and propelled by the Holy Ghost.

To you, who is a believer in Christ ?

LordReed:


LoLz. It's not a problem, you are not using emotional intelligence. If you call out people like that they are not likely to respond because it puts them on the spot. It makes it look like they are being judged. You don't see pastors say if you are a prostitute come out, if youa re an adulterer come out. People will not respond to such, even if they did the people in the congregation are going to look at them funny,guaranteed.

definitely you are right. I understand what you are saying.
It follows that altar calls are never the right approach to win souls since the pastor cannot determine who exactly among the congregation is unbeliever. Because any attempt to make a general call will also include ignorant believers or Christians whom the church has failed to educate them in that aspect to let them know that they were already saved by virtue of the fact that they were born Christians and were made to believe in Christ from childhood.

So, a better approach to catch up with Non Christians is to preach the word of salvation from the pulpit. If any of them deem it fit or decides to change their religion at that point, will do so quietly, or approach the pastor secretly to inform him that he want to be converted.
This is more appropriate than throwing a random call for salvation to the general congregation. Except their target is to continue deceiving people to make money from their ignorance

LordReed:


LoLz. You think if a pastor says that I will go out? That is not how to appeal to people.

So, the aim of these whole thing is to appeal to people, not necessarily to win souls?

FxMasterz:


The case of lordreed is not an exception!

My dad went to church as a Muslim. He married my mum from there. Many Ogbonis are in Church. A lot of witches and people of the occult are in Church! Some robbers go to church too. But according to you, they don't need to give their lives to Christ?

Most pastors in Nigeria especially don't specify who they are calling out, that's the problem.

What is hard for them to just say emm! Muslims,Ogboni,Witches etc, come out!
Than for them to put a general call where most people coming out were either members of other denominations of Christianity who were invited to church?

The worst is, they make it look as if these people were never Christians at all by tagging them church goers

LordReed:


There are several atheists who go to church, I am not really an exception.

why then are postors not saying if you know you are an atheist in this church, come out for salvation?

Why are they targeting Christians?

FxMasterz:


But not everyone who is in church is a Christian.

who told you that?
Have you ever see Muslim or atheist going to church?
You are still finding it difficult to define who a Christian is

Not everyone who goes to church is a believer.

lies!
Big lies

A believer is anyone who believes in Christ.

John 3:16 ...whosever believth in him should not perish.

The only reason why you see anyone going to church is because they believe

Have you heard that lordreed, and renown atheist on this forum also goes to church every Sunday?

lordreed case could just be an exception. It's like a true Muslim attending church which is not common.

But most people you see in church are Christians in Ernest, you can't dispute that .

By the way, what's all the altar calls for?
To catch up with one muslim or atheist who possibly is not available among a hundred Christian population in the congregation?

What a hypocritic wild geese chase

Goodlady:

Don't be confused, read below. And I don't v appetite for long talks so grab all I say at once if you don't want brain resetting slaps cos I still need to go and cook and prepare for the hee weeek.
So read below:

You and the op need to understand that preachers or evangelists just their their jobs randomly to all. If you are a Christian (not a worshipper or Church goer) you ll know the message isn't for you. Giving life to Christ is for those who backslided or haven't done so before. Understand English and meaning of programmes, events etc that warranted such.

Ok, is that all?

Yes