₦airaland Forum

valdovas:
I hate the very fact that I have to wade into this MMM talk. For starters, I did NOT participate in the MMM scheme, even though I understood their business model.

My sole reason for commenting on this, is the annoying self-righteous, high-horse, whitewash talk coming from people. You hear people arrogantly declaring how the scheme was horrible and stupid, insulting those who participated, and aiming thinly veiled mockery at them.

My questions is this, to what end? I mean, for what purpose? Check well and you'll see all the warnings came from either of these 3 sets of people:

1. The angry: This set of people are actually comfortable in life, and somehow are bitter that some people of lower financial estates had the guts to want to change their financial fortune. Almost 40% fall in this category, and involves the banks who are angry that their fixed deposit customers are running away; the government people who actually would love to strike a deal with MMM for tax returns in exchange for legitimacy; and the plain wealthy people who just hate to see the poor feed himself.

2. The jealous: This set of people are usually not so comfortable financially, but are jealous that some of their peers and lower-downs had the balls to put their money in an unknown scheme in order to change their level financially. I don't know which percentage to quote, but considering the Nigerian factor, I'd say 50%. You know, from the jealous uncle, to the jealous landlord, to the jealous mates. The list is endless.

3. The sincere: This set of people actually care about the uncertainty of the MMM scheme, and their warnings are borne out of an honest desire not to see people lose their money. The banks, the government, and some religious people are sure not here. This is the 10% group. Bless them.

There's another group that I don't even know where to place them. The Religious Group. They say God told them that people who invested in MMM had their names struck out of the Book of Life. Liars they are. God told them nothing! And they would not go unpunished after using God's name in vain.

It is sinful to desire to see the downfall of others so you can say, "I told you". That's Satan's way of doing things, not God. Never God.

Furthermore, there are several reasons for feeling restrained from participating in anything. It could be God, your spirit, level of exposure, experience, etc. As a believer, please, if you aren't sure of which, do not pin an unrelated scripture to it and say "God said..." Rather, tell the truth and leave it at that.

Finally, I hope the scheme comes up in January -- it should actually -- so that people can pull their money.

Writer: Eke Diligence.

Pure Crap.

I was actually expecting a more thoughtful article that delved deep into the greedy, confused and desperate psyche of the Nigerian masses, that despite basic education in simple mathematics and economic principles, despite warnings from CBN and EFCC, still clung on to the irrational belief that somehow, a miracle would be churning out 30℅ interest on their money every month.

I thought the article would highlight that common sense, in Nigeria, is not so common after all.

I thought the article would highlight our religious hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy highlighted by the fact that most Nigerians would accept money and seek wealth by any means possible.

LDaVinci:
Don't you think this is a very childish way to argue or reason regarding the existence or non - existence of God?

" Let the children come onto me , for their's is the kingdom of God " .
Chew on that.

plaetton:
In the early days of the Roman Catholic Church, the church fathers were baptising pagan gods and idols and re-inventing and re-branding them as Saints.
They commandeered Pagan temples and shrines, consecrated the lands and built their mighty churches.
They fused much of Pagan practices, symbols and traditions into christianity.

They thumped their chests and congratulated themselves that they had Christianized Paganism], and therefore had defeated it.

Little did they know how wrong they were.
Two millenia later, Paganism, the universal,natural and nature religion of mankind, is still alive and thriving.

Chritmas, the most popular and celebrated festive holiday in the whole world, not only has its roots as a Pagan holiday, but has , today, completely been re-captured by Paganism, which has re-asserted its pre-eminence and universality by entirely removing the christian Jesus from the christmas festivities.
Christmas has become a universal festive period for shopping, gift giving, partying and merriment, Santa clause, christmas tree, misletoe, Rudolph the red nose Reindeer, the Grinch, and even Frosty the snowman. All these names and themes go way back to the original Pagan festivals of pre-christian Europe.
Except for the inside of churches, no one hardly remembers or even accepts that christmas was supposed to commemorate the birth date of Jesus.
The same goes for Easter holidays. There, the Easter Bunny and the egg, both pagan symbols has long replaced the Jesus theme.

It seems that Paganism survived the early christian onslaught by simply camouflaging itself under the false flag of Christianity for nearly 2000yrs.

So, it is very ironic that while the early church fathers were deluding themselves that they were Christianizing Paganism, they were , infact, actually Paganising Christianity.

So who has the last laugh now?

He laughs best who laughs last.

LOGDAN:
By the special Grace of God, everything will be good in 2017

Lol.
And where was the special grace of God in 2016?

MrEverest:
What is Leo Stan talking about? Igbos have the largest middle class in Nigeria. Absolute poverty is almost inexistent, if he is talking about rich !diats that pauperised the country through graft and exploitation like Danjuma, Dangote, Abacha, Obasanjo, Babangida etc then he is right, Igbos dont have them but if he means honest, hard working and grass to grace rich men, then Igbos have them in abundance!!!

I am sure he either misspoke or was misquoted.

Godgay:
dude China is a third world country, (no offence)read up on them.

Dude.
You're knowledge is 30yrs out of date.

China is an economic, military and technological superpower.
By far the biggest exporter in the world, the biggest trade surplus in the world, the biggest foreign reserve in the world, the biggest gold reserve in the world, and with a modern space program right behind Russia and the USA .
The larges economy by GDP, the largest and burgeoning middle class in the world.

If those are your definition of third world, then maybe I need to go back to school.

Godgay:
..(they are still a third world country),swenden and Norway/Denmark should be our role model

I doubt that you have ever been to China , or even read up on the China of today.

mmsen:
As to your comment about this happening at a beer parlor, strip club or hotel/brothel - have you not noticed how it doesn't happen to those venues, only those built to honour deities?

Why is that?

What does that tell us about the nature of the people involved in the business of religion? Does it not suggest that they are even more unscrupulous than those involved in other businesses?

Even the famously corrupt Nigerian civil service has managed to avoid the ignominy of building collapse and yet churches that take in so much money in Nigeria are crumbling and causing mass loss of life.

Excellent, excellent point.

Plappvillemoi:
I don't care to know that. If it doesn't interest anyone, no course for alarm. I felt they deserve comfort now. Needles coming to mock or laugh.

There is type for emotional sentiments and time for rational thinking and actions.

We in Nigeria tend to mix up the schemes, and as a result, keep going in circles.

This particular man of fraud, his Church and the PFN have billions of cash stash that could be immediately deployed to help the victims and their families.

Have you heard even a whimper, an offer condolence or financial help from the PFN or their big shots, Adeb-ole, Ole-depo, Oyaki-ole , etc ?
You should be asking where is their humanity?
You should be asking, what exactly is a Church all about?
Is it just to go to a venue to give money to these slimy scums on the pulpits ?

Church buildings falling on and killing worshippers, worshippers being trampled to death at crusades, miracle performances gone awry: These are the preventable tragedies that we have been shocked with every few months in Nigeria.

The government usually keeps mum, because, well, it's Religion.
Anything related to Religion is sacrosanct in Nigeria.

It makes one wonder why the two abrahamic Religions that dominate our geographical space are somehow impervious to any form of accountability.
Bad PR for god ?
Go figure.

Now, there is a simple, modern, rational, fair, non-controversial way to checkmate the safety and health hazards that religious houses and religious rituals pose to the general public.

It is called INSURANCE.

The government, all tiers of government should, as a matter of urgency, enact legislation that mandates all Churches and mosques to be registered and INSURED.

The size and capacity of the Church, the location and other important factors shall determine the amount of coverage.
Coverage should start at a minimum of N500m and right up to N10b for huge Churches with capacity more than a thousand.

Now, I hear you all asking; how is insurance going to prevent accidents and catastrophies ?
Let me explain.
If Churches, Mosques and crusade venues are indemnified for unforseen catastrophic events like falling buildings, stampedes or miracle performances gone awry, then the big INSURANCE companies, in order protect their own potential losses, recurring losses, would, as a prudent management practice requires, would take proper proactive steps, guidelines and measures to ensure that their clients, the Churches and Mosques, meet proper standards in building, health and safety practices.

In other words, rather than getting emotional , irrational and sentimental about how to regulate unsafe religious practices, we should just pass the responsibility to corporate institutions that make or lose money by managing unforseen RISKS.

The government should do this with legislation as a matter of urgency.

akintom:
If you ever know or understand the place of manipulative shock therapy, in mental conditioning, you will comprehend my gist.

Empathy does have different meaning, to the different folks who romances it.

SHOCK THERAPY !

That's the operative word.

joywendy:
Yes show empathy! Either ways if you can argue for people who were killed in bars and what have you, what makes it different for people who were in the church? Aren't they all people?

You guys seem to have forgotten all this and jump to making fun as though nothing serious happened. what makes you different from the theist that mocks you when you fall ill because you don't believe in God....how does it make u different?

You are both the same, different sides of the same coin.

Joywendy,
It is obvious that your own emotional intelligence has been found to be wanting.
First of all, you have noooo idea how emotional and angry I am at the needless loss of many lives in this tragedy.

You have noooo idea how further emotional and angry I am , knowing fully well that those directly and indirectly responsible for this tragedy will go Scott free, open other churches in future and continue to ply their trade.

You have noooo idea how emotional and angry I am , knowing fully well that the families of the victims would get ZERO compensation, not even funeral costs, no counseling,..in fact, they would likely be insulted with words like " it was the will of God" and other crap.

And my dear, this is a repeating scenario that we see every so often.
I truly wish the governor and the owner of the Church was among the dead,.then perhaps everyone would pay proper attention to these recurring tragedies.

Now, back to your question.
As I pointedly asked sometime ago when about 32 people were trampled to death during a night crusade in Anambra;
what is it that brings people out at odd hours, at odd places, at unsafe venues to venerate pulpit pim.ps and their useless Stone-age myths ?
What is missing or wrong with our national psyche that causes mental addictions to the remnants of toxic fumes from the Stone-age middle East ?


Like akintom says, there is NOO better time to remind ourselves, to take a sincere look at the silly beliefs that draw millions out into all manners of exploitations and dangers every single day.

It is the best time, the only time that we can attempt to SCORE important points with the rational part of the human mind.

There is NOO better time for reflection than now.
And people MUST BE forced to do this reflection.
By " forced" , I mean they must be goaded, prodded, even MOCKED into this important reflection.

We do not mock the dead. No.
We mock the living, the survivors, those that would be doing Thanksgiving services in the next few Sundays

In a few days time, all this would be forgotten, save for the families of the victims who would live silently with great pains that we could never imagine.
And then the rest of us would go back Church, unsafe places, to enrich charlatans, and thanking God for sparing our lives, while waiting for the next big Church tragedy to occur ?

This is why we cannot remain silent in the wake this current tragedy.

Plappvillemoi:
Anyone subscribing ?

.
Why don't you first check the bank account of the Church and it's owner.

KingEbukasBlog:
I'm not sure what they teach in other churches but in my church we are taught we should be prepared at all times because death could come to anyone when his time comes.

You continue experiencing God's divine protection till your time comes . Trust me , some of those people may have been in life threatening situations in the past but came out unscathed .

Take a look at Paul the Apostle sir. He was bitten by a viper but God rescued him

Acts 28:3-6
3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. 4 When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice[a] has not allowed him to live.” 5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

The same Apostle Paul faced other life threatening situations but came out unscathed

2 Corinthians 11:25-27
25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food,[a] in cold and exposure.

But when his time was up , what happened ? He was possibly beheaded though the bible was silent on how Paul died . But decapitation was the common punishment at that time in Roman to people who opposed their gods , the Roman gods .

The same terrible deaths happened to Stephen , to Peter , to Bartholomew , to James , to Matthew but that's not important . What's important is the salvation of the believer . Not spending 100 years on earth and then suffering for eternity in hell . Where they born again ? Where they saved ? What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and lose his own soul ? Answer me ? A word to the wise is enough .

May the souls of the dead rest in perfect peace and may God give their families the fortitude to bear the loss .

Amen .

What manner of rubbish is this ?

So god protects his faith,.. until death comes in the form of a church building crushing their skulls ?

This is entirely new to me.
So, Christians pray to and give endless supplications to god to protect them from all..(? ), Until such a time that danger and calamity come falling down their skulls ?

This is a mighty interesting new doctrine.

sarrki:
Man of God wish you soonest recovery

N to all others that lost their loved ones

May God grant you the fortitude to bear the irreparable

Loss

Man of fraud.
I really hope his leg gets amputated.

That would be the real test of his faith.

It would make me and a lot of other concerned citizens a tad optimistic that a person responsible for this calamity is paying a price, albeit a small one, for his negligent homicides.

mii4u:
God's ways are not out ways and His tots are beyond human comprehension...meanwhile God does not slaughter pple, He only allows somethings to hapn.

Doesn't that make Religion, god and prayer redundant, and superfluous ?

Realgeo:
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

And this babble means ....?

All these fxxers should be in prison serving long sentences.

Nonsense people.
God saved Ini Edo and allowed an estimated 160 others to be crushed like minced meat because.......?

tuale4u:
How can you increase supply more than demand in the period of dollar scarcity?? We are in d period of lowest dollar revenue and you are saying increase dollar supply b4 reducing d demand? Bros!

Why is dollar scarce ?
Because the FG flip flop policies and war against Capital has scared both local and foreign providers of dollars to either run or hoard their dollar supply.

What about the $20b or so remitted every year by Nigerians in the Diaspora ?
Why doesn't the government or CBN allow people to collect their remittances in dollars, as previously done during the Soludo era ?

Do you know that that measure could double or triple the dollar supply in a twinkle of an eye ?
The public beneficiaries benefit, the economy benefits, the Naira exchange benefits, the government loses nothing .

Nema officials have obviously been bribed to keep the figures the minimum, for PR purposes.
That's Nigeria for you.

I actually wish the governor had been among the casualties.
The national conscience would have benefited more from this tragedy.

Plappvillemoi:
I can understand you are disappointed in him because your value system does not lines up with His. Its making no sense givig you scriptures. You have sealed your mind.

Only terrorists have similar value system with the biblical god.

Ferruccio:
You seem really upset and broken. Have you lost a family member?

A tragedy like this diminishes all of us in big ways.
You don't have to lose a family member to feel emotionally upset by this very sad preventable tragedy.

Plappvillemoi:
Can you show me where God killed people who were worshipping him in the Bible? I only see promises of protection for those who love and do His will in truth.
The Psalms of King David are filled with praise for God as He protected His chosen one against his enemies.Psalm 18:3, 54:7, 138:7.

No matter the amount of power that David’s enemies brought against him, they were no match for the protection of God. If God be in that Building, or was Ising some members. He will reveal the event before it happened or used other means to engage them from not been at the site that same day. God has the ability to deliver us out of every physical calamity or trouble. But sometimes, Sin, Sin ! Prevent us from the promised protection. He alone knows the state of everyone man. You and i can say what we want But He alone knows the heart of a man.

What exactly the fxxx do we have more than 100,000 churches in Nigeria for ?
What do Pentecostal charlatans like Adeboye, Oyedepo, Oyaks, Okotie, Okonkwo ,TB clown Joshua and all other PFN fraudsters sell to the gullible public for filthy lucre ?
Is it not blessings and protection from the unknown ?

Plappvillemoi:
Is God also responsible for the plane Crash in Brazil? Common? You dont blame him for your calamities. Search your heart instead.

What exactly is the purpose of praying for God's protection and blessings ?

mrmrmister:
Everybody come and see
God's attorney is here
So hundreds of people were worshipping god, yet they died because they rebelled
It's funny how this people reason

It's funny.
But it is also very dangerous, very dangerous to public safety and health.

I mean, try to compare this Line of Reasoning to Book Haram and other Islamo-terrorists, who justify murdering presumed infidels for god.

skeendyke:
If disasters were avoidable, there wouldn't have been any need for the word 'accident'. This is so common sense.

Sir,
Beseeching a sky fairy while trying to defy the laws of physics is not an accident.
It is stuuupidity.

This is death by foolishness.

skeendyke:
Gosh, what specie of thought process is this? If Christians meet gruesome and horrible deaths in the hands of people, God did not protect them. They meet gruesome and horrible deaths through accidents resulting from human failure, God did not protect them. What is your point exactly when considering both instances?

Well , the Christians who preach to me everyday tell me that god and Jesus are comprehensive insurance policies against evil, catastrophies , loss and sadness.
The many churches on my street preach the same on loudspeakers almost 24/7.

I mean, every journey on a public transport in Nigerian start with lengthy prayers for protection.

A Church is supposed to be a fortified sanctuary of sanctuaries.

If people come to Church to die horrible deaths, to have their heads smashed, then what exactly is the purpose of worshipping god and praying to him, and sowing seeds of blessings ?

What would be the purpose of paying insurance premiums( worshipping god) , if at the time of redemption( god's protection from calamity), the insurance company gives you reasons, reads to you the fine print, why your comprehensive insurance policy is worthless to you alive, only available for redemption if and when you die ?

mrmrmister:
Where is naijadeyhia who claimed he raised someone from the dead?
Your services are needed there

They have all gone AWOL.

Kingebukasblog, where was your god ?

PaperLace:
I would have ignored your type on a good day, but when people start this _Girls say this...girls do that ...girls are this and that with me, I feel the need to put them in place.
Are you a kid? Is everything a gender battle to you?
Biko focus on the topic.

If someone is interested in music or fashion, does that make him or her dull? Oh pls...

Actually, in case you missed it, I was responding to a post that also made general statements about men.

The fact that my post got you a bit edgy and a knee-jerk response is ....well....I don't know.

We are merely having casual fun here.
Don't take it too personal my dear.

PaperLace:
[i]lols




_ I hate boring guys that can't keep a conversation going.

Lol.
Girls always say that, as if they themselves have anything remotely intelligent, other than music, fashion and other banal talk that men have to pretend to be interested in.

Believe me sister, you have noooo idea how we truly feel about your so-called " Interesting conversations " .