₦airaland Forum

I didn't watch the Daniel Craig's bond because he didn't look, feel or act like bond, now this guy is absolutely not going to look anything like bond. Whachama do now.

joseph1013:
You don't get it.The reason it has been copied millions of times is because the original manuscripts have been lost. They can't find the original copies again. So what the have are the fragments of the copies of the copies of the original manuscripts. That's why!

For such an important book, shouldn't the author that is so powerful preserve the original copies so that people don't believe different things from the same piece? Should it be such that people would not have to include their own words because some parts of the manuscripts have been torn so they just guess the words that should have completed some sentences.

There are so many words and sentences that are not found in any of the manuscripts in the Bible.

Moses foretold the time when Israel would be ruled by a king and recorded this special command: “When he takes his seat on the throne of his kingdom, he must write in a book for himself a copy of this law from that which is in the charge of the priests, the Levites.” (Deuteronomy 17:18) Hence, some copies of the Scriptures were to be made. The instruction was that people should make copies so that they can personally study the scriptures themselves and not just rely on a Saturday or Sunday teacher.
Copying the Scriptures eventually became a profession in Israel. Indeed, Psalm 45:1 says: “May my tongue be the stylus of a skilled copyist.” Such copyists as Shaphan and Zadok were mentioned by name. But the best-known copyist of ancient times was Ezra, who also contributed original writings to the Bible. (Ezra 7:6; Nehemiah 13:13; Jeremiah 36:10) Even while later portions of the Bible were being written, those books already completed were being copied and distributed.
When Jesus Christ was on earth, copies of the Hebrew Scriptures (Genesis to Malachi) were available not only in Jerusalem but also apparently in synagogues of Galilee. (Luke 4:16, 17) Why, at distant Beroea in Macedonia, spiritually minded Jews were able to ‘examine the Scriptures daily’! (Acts 17:11) Copying was necessary for all to have a share and for reservation. Moses wrote his laws on papyrus and other writers wrote theirs also on perishable materials, copying was a good way of making sure it survives. Its like the film iron man: age of ultron, the machine made copies of himself to survive, everyone of those copies would have to be destroyed for him to cease to exist.

How accurate was their copying?

Professional copyists of the Hebrew Scriptures (called Sopherim) were very concerned about avoiding any mistakes. To check their work, they counted the words and even the letters of each manuscript they copied. Therefore, Jesus, the apostle Paul, and others who often quoted the ancient Bible writers had no doubt about the accuracy of the copies they used.

In 1947 there was an unexpected discovery of some ancient scrolls in caves near the Dead Sea. These scrolls showed just how accurate the copying of the Scriptures had been. Among the scrolls was a copy of the Bible book of Isaiah that was about a thousand years older than any manuscript previously available. Yet, a comparison showed that the only differences between the Dead Sea manuscript and later copies were in such things as word order and grammar. The meaning of the text was unchanged after a thousand years of copying! Concerning the text of the Hebrew Scriptures, scholar William Henry Green could therefore say: “It may be safely said that no other work of antiquity has been so accurately transmitted.” Similar comments have been made about the accuracy of transmission of the Christian Greek Scriptures.


You mean the Dover Court case? What technicality is that? Can you tell us? And what ways do you think the Intelligent design proponents ought to have won?

Which valid point did they bring to the table?

The technicality was that they were trying to bring in something that the constitution has specifically ruled out..creationism. So whether it was true science, since it was proven to be linked to creationism, its out. The case of whether it was design or not was not properly explored and it would have been best explored outside the court room, where scientists from different fields who discuss it scientifically in front of their peers. Many evidences would be tabled..refuted and others brought forward..just like it is presently being done with the different variants and understanding of the evolution theory by its proponents.

joseph1013:
Not true! God knew Adam and Eve will fail the test and that's why scriptures say that he had planned for Jesus to be killed before the creation of the world.

See this:

1st Peter 1:20(New Living Translation)
God chose him as your ransom long before the world began,
but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.

Revelaton 13:8 (New International Version)
All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast--all whose
names have not been written in the Lamb's book of life, the
Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.

How about that? He knew they would sin before he created them and then had planned Jesus to die.

See, the fact that we could both dig up verses of scriptures to support different views (even though I have way more verses and examples than you do) indicate that the Bible is a confusing book. It is not inerrant and definitely not something people should live for.

The apostle Peter’s statement that Christ, as the sacrificial Lamb of God, was “foreknown before the founding [form of Greek ka·ta·bo·le′] of the world [ko′smou]” is construed by advocates of predestinarianism to mean that God exercised such foreknowledge before mankind’s creation. (1Pe 1:19, 20) The Greek word ka·ta·bo·le′, translated “founding,” literally means “a throwing down” and can refer to the ‘conceiving of seed,’ the same word was used at Hebrews 11:11. While there was “the founding” of a world of mankind when God created the first human pair, as is shown at Hebrews 4:3, 4, that pair thereafter forfeited their position as children of God. (Ge 3:22-24; Ro 5:12) Yet, by God’s undeserved kindness, they were allowed to conceive seed and produce offspring, one of whom is specifically shown in the Bible to have gained God’s favor and placed himself in position for redemption and salvation, namely, Abel. (Ge 4:1, 2; Heb 11:4) It is noteworthy that at Luke 11:49-51 Jesus refers to “the blood of all the prophets spilled from the founding of the world” and parallels this with the words “from the blood of Abel down to the blood of Zechariah.” Thus, Abel is connected by Jesus with “the founding of the world.”

Thus the time Abel was born was also considered as a 'founding of the world', so the foreknown was at the conceiving of Abel or specifically when the first faithful man was martyred, at which point Jesus has been destined to come and save mankind.

Even before children were born to Adam and Eve, God indicated that there would be enmity between the ‘seed of the woman’ and the ‘seed of the serpent.’ (Ge 3:15) Thus from the founding of the world it had already been determined that no worshiper of the wild beast would have his name written in the Lamb’s scroll. Only persons sacred from God’s standpoint were to be so privileged.—Re 21:27.

Malachi 3:16: “At that time those in fear of Jehovah spoke with one another, each one with his companion, and Jehovah kept paying attention and listening. And a book of remembrance began to be written up before him for those in fear of Jehovah and for those thinking upon his name.

This indicates that the names of these people were not there until they started doing fearing God, speaking about him and thinking on his name and God payed his attention to this and then had their names written.

Now the following verses shows that those whose actions God has judged to merit life can have their names removed when they change their course of good conduct. Manasseh name was apparently included when he changed from bad to good and probably Solomon was erased.

(Revelation 3:4, 5)The one who conquers will thus be dressed in white garments, and I will by no means blot out his name from the book of life, but I will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his ange. . .... This shows blotting out is possible.

(Psalm 69:28) 28 Let them be erased from the book of life, And may they not be enrolled among the righteous.

God's decision to blot out any unfaithful one was shown when Israel worshiped the golden calf at Sinai. After asking God to forgive Israel Moses said: “But if not, pray blot me out of thy book.” Jehovah’s reply was: “Whoever sins against me, him only I blot out of my book.”—Ex. 32:32, 33, AT.

That is why the following admonitions were given to faithful ones:
“Do your utmost to make the calling and choosing of you sure for yourselves.” Like the apostle Paul, all those who would remain in the book would be able to say this: “I have fought the fine fight, I have run the course to the finish, I have observed the faith.”

Phil. 2:12, RS: “As you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

Matt. 7:13, 14, RS: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

It is those who find it that are granted life.

So nobody's damnation or salvation was cast in stone at anytime. Jesus said he that endures to the end would be saved. if it was all cast in stone, Satan would not have bothered deceiving Jesus or anyone else for that matter.

[quote author=joseph1013 post=36873549]



[color=#550000][b]Na...na...na. You are trying to rationalize Jehovah's statement. It simply means that Jehovah does not know what he is talking about. The same way he did not know what he was talking about when he said the earth was founded upon the seas. The same way he said pillars hold the earth. The same way he said vegetation came before he created sunlight.

The bible was written by medieval men who men no idea of civilization. It's not their faults they made these grave errors.


I will like to know those verses, so we could discuss it.

PDPwayoo:
mention one good thing done or invented by your so called Awo boys?

Google Tunmise Dada, an Awo boy from part 1 to 4 graduated 2005, used entertain boyz late into the night with his guitar. I remember when he would play African Queen in front of PG hall, late at night and all the girls in Alumni Hall would just troop out to see who is serenading them so sweetly. Finished with GPA of 4.94, best graduating student from the faculty of science. Now a post doctoral research associate in Quantum Physics. Some very novel inventions have been done by their team. He is a personal friend, We Awoites dont need to delve far to get success stories. We are success.

discusant:
From a Nobel Laureate down to a Wine Connoseur - alcoholic wine sampler, Soyinka gradually condescended.

Yeah so saith a farmer.

Chelsea female team doctor Eva Carneiro was born in Gibraltar to a Spanish father and English mother. She studied in Australia, did an MSc in London and a thesis at West Ham. Carneiro joined the Blues in 2009 as reserve-team doctor. Andre Villas-Boas brought her into the first-team fold in 2011.

After being criticized at the weekend by mourinho for rushing to assist Eden Hazard, Carneiro took to Facebook to thank the public for their support. Mourinho has decided she will no longer attend first team games. The 41-year-old, will keep her job title as first-team doctor but she will not be allowed at training sessions, matches or the team hotel.

joseph1013:
DO YOU KNOW?

If you were to examine the oldest known Bible to date known as the Codex Sinaiticus or the "Sinai Bible" housed in the British Museum, you would find a staggering 14,800 differences from today's Bible and yet Millions of Christians continue to quack that the modern bible still remains the perfect unchanged word of God?

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery!

A book that has been copied million of times and translated into thousands of languages is expected to have some differences. Scholars were even astounded to see how little the differences where. Most of the differences were easily correctable copyist errors that had no impact on the original message of the Bible.

I watched the intelligent design vs evolution court case and i saw the case was thrown out on the basis of a technicality. Not because intelligent design was just hogwash.

joseph1013:
[b]
Again, apples and oranges. God is not anyone that does surveillance. God does not need to do a surveillance. He knows what Boko Haram will do next week before Shekarau was born.

I'd like to know the Church you attend because your view is not supported in the mainstream. Here are scriptural verses that refutes what you are saying:

Isaiah 46:9
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done.

Psalm 139:4
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.

Psalm 139:1-3
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive
my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out.

Psalm 139:15-16
My frame was not hidden from you when I was
made in the secret place, when I was woven
together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes
saw my unformed body; all the days ordained
for me were written in your book before one of
them came to be. How precious to me are your
thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber
the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.

Job 21:22
Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since
he judges even the highest?

1 Chronicles 28:9
And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the
God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted
devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD
searches every heart and understands every
desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will
be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will
reject you forever.

Hebrews 4:13
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.
Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the
eyes of him to whom we must give account.

1 John 3:20
Whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is
greater than our hearts, and he knows everything

All these do not say God CAN know everything. They all mean that God KNOWS everything. Your theology is baffling.
[/b]

Hi Joe,

As i have said what God can do does not always translate to what he decides to do or chooses to do.

Often times Bible writers talk about God's attributes in the absolute sense, i.e if God searched the heart of a man and discern his thoughts like the case of Cain, it does not mean he actively does it for everyone at all times. If God discerns the thoughts of a man today, it does not mean he would try to know what the man or all humans would do in tomorrow, next year or throughout their life.

(Genesis 6:5, 6) . . .Consequently Jehovah saw that the badness of man was abundant in the earth and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time. 6 And Jehovah felt regrets that he had made men in the earth, and he felt hurt at his heart.

While the Bible said the inclination of man was only bad all the time, but that is not the case as we all know. I dont think there is any man who lived throughout his life and never had a single thot that was good. That is the absoluteness i was talking about.
God searches the heart of every man to know the very depths of their motives and administer righteous Judgement, but it does not mean he peers into the future of every man to know what they would do. There would be no need for any hurt feelings.

At Genesis 11:5-8 God is described as directing his attention earthward, surveying the situation at Babel, and, at that time, determining the action to be taken to break up the unrighteous project there.

After wickedness developed at Sodom and Gomorrah, God advised Abraham of his decision to investigate (by means of his angels) to “see whether they act altogether according to the outcry over it that has come to me, and, if not, I can get to know it.” (Ge 18:20-22; 19:1).

God spoke of ‘becoming acquainted with Abraham,’ and after Abraham went to the point of attempting to sacrifice Isaac, God said, “For now I do know that you are God-fearing in that you have not withheld your son, your only one, from me.”—Ge 18:19; 22:11, 12. This indicated that he didn't peer into Abraham's future to know if he really is going to act faithfully or not.

(Nehemiah 9:7, 7 You are Jehovah the true God, who chose A′bram and brought him out of Ur of the Chal·de′ans and gave him the name Abraham. 8 You found his heart faithful before you, so you made a covenant with him to give him the land of the Ca′naan·ites, the Hit′tites, the Am′or·ites, the Per′iz·zites, the Jeb′u·sites, and the Gir′ga·shites, to give it to his offspring; and you kept your promises, because you are righteous.

God found his heart to be faithful and therefore made a covenant with him, he didnt know this millenniums in advance.

God’s arranging a test for adam and eve by means of “the tree of the knowledge of good and bad” and his creation of “the tree of life” in the garden of Eden also would be meaningless and a cynical act, if he knew beforehand that Adam and eve would fail the test. To offer the best conditions and a perfect life to them and their children knowing fully well that they would not be able to retain it is wicked and heartless.


Satan had a discussion with God about Job in which they disputed whether Job would be faithful or not, Satan knew God intimately and knew God does not know what course of action Job would take. That was why it was a contest and God said okay go and do your worst. All the other angels also were in attendance and everyone was patiently waiting to see the outcome. It would make no sense if all of them knew God knows beforehand the final outcome. Its like betting against someone who had already watch a match.

In a similar vein, the apostle Peter writes: “Jehovah is not slow respecting his promise [of the coming day of reckoning], as some people consider slowness, but he is patient with you because he does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance.” (2Pe 3:9) If God already foreknew and foreordained millenniums in advance precisely which individuals would receive eternal salvation and which individuals would receive eternal destruction, it may well be asked how meaningful such ‘patience’ of God could be and how genuine his desire could be that ‘all attain to repentance.

God uses his ability of foreknowledge selectively. He uses it when it makes sense to do so and fits the circumstances.

macof:
Bini has succeeded in saving it's traditions from bastardization

If the Oba of benin is actually dead, then Edo pple harsh pass as I think o. That means everybody just code like that for months.

ghananotnaija:
Nigerian-made weapons... Sorry to break it to you, but wars are no longer fought with spears and arrows.

The War industrial complex is actually very complex and large. you produce whatever you can produce and import what you cant. You can even upgrade and modify what you import. We import bullet proof vests, Rifles, Armoured Vehicles etc, even camos. These things are still used in any army and we can produce them here in large quantities

omenka:
It is a very pathetic situation honestly. They just kill these animals for meat and nothing more, then proudly display the pictures like the fools they are. I just get so pissed off looking at these pics.

If the white man calls us barbarians we go dey vex. Isn't this act of wanton killings barbaric??



Ps: the hippo is not among the endangered species though. Maybe you confuse them for rhinos.

They did not go and hunt the hippo for meat, it was said to be harassing farmers and therefore a danger to people. It had to be put down.

For all those who have been crying over this python. You can read this from someone who actually should talk.

Americans will not let us hear word about Cecil the Lion that was killed recently in Zimbabwe by an American dentist The protests and noise about it is alarming to say the least. A Zimbabwean writer shared his opinion on the issue in an article with NY Times & I just had to share it! Quite interesting.
So sorry about Cecil. Did Cecil live near your place in Zimbabwe? Cecil who? I wondered. When I turned on the news and discovered that the messages were about a lion killed by an American dentist, the village boy inside me instinctively cheered: One lion fewer to menace families like mine.
My excitement was doused when I realized that the lion killer was being painted as the villain. I faced the starkest cultural contradiction I’d experienced during my five years studying in the United States. Did all those Americans signing petitions understand that lions actually kill people?
That all the talk about Cecil being “beloved” or a “local favorite” was media hype? Did Jimmy Kimmel choke up because Cecil was murdered or because he confused him with Simba from “The Lion King”? In my village in Zimbabwe, surrounded by wildlife conservation areas, no lion has ever been beloved, or granted an affectionate nickname. They are objects of terror.

When I was 9 years old, a solitary lion prowled villages near my home. After it killed a few chickens, some goats and finally a cow, we were warned to walk to school in groups and stop playing outside. My sisters no longer went alone to the river to collect water or wash dishes; my mother waited for my father and older brothers, armed with machetes, axes and spears, to escort her into the bush to collect firewood.

A week later, my mother gathered me with nine of my siblings to explain that her uncle had been attacked but escaped with nothing more than an injured leg. The lion sucked the life out of the village: No one socialized by fires at night; no one dared stroll over to a neighbor’s homestead.
When the lion was finally killed, no one cared whether its murderer was a local person or a white trophy hunter, whether it was poached or killed legally. We danced and sang about the vanquishing of the fearsome beast and our escape from serious harm.

Recently, a 14-year-old boy in a village not far from mine wasn’t so lucky. Sleeping in his family’s fields, as villagers do to protect crops from the hippos, buffalo and elephants that trample them, he was mauled by a lion and died.

The killing of Cecil hasn’t garnered much more sympathy from urban Zimbabweans, although they live with no such danger. Few have ever seen a lion, since game drives are a luxury residents of a country with an average monthly income below $150 cannot afford.

Don’t misunderstand me: For Zimbabweans, wild animals have near-mystical significance. We belong to clans, and each clan claims an animal totem as its mythological ancestor. Mine is Nzou, elephant, and by tradition, I can’t eat elephant meat; it would be akin to eating a relative’s flesh. But our respect for these animals has never kept us from hunting them or allowing them to be hunted. (I’m familiar with dangerous animals; I lost my right leg to a snakebite when I was 11.)

The American tendency to romanticize animals that have been given actual names and to jump onto a hashtag train has turned an ordinary situation — there were 800 lions legally killed over a decade by well-heeled foreigners who shelled out serious money to prove their prowess — into what seems to my Zimbabwean eyes an absurdist circus.

PETA is calling for the hunter to be hanged. Zimbabwean politicians are accusing the United States of staging Cecil’s killing as a “ploy” to make our country look bad. And Americans who can’t find Zimbabwe on a map are applauding the nation’s demand for the extradition of the dentist, unaware that a baby elephant was reportedly slaughtered for our president’s most recent birthday banquet.
We Zimbabweans are left shaking our heads, wondering why Americans care more about African animals than about African people.

Don’t tell us what to do with our animals when you allowed your own mountain lions to be hunted to near extinction in the eastern United States. Don’t bemoan the clear-cutting of our forests when you turned yours into concrete jungles.

And please, don’t offer me condolences about Cecil unless you’re also willing to offer me condolences for villagers killed or left hungry by his brethren, by political violence, or by hunger.

PAGAN9JA:
Please go read biology textbook and stop wasting my time.

have you ever handled snake? nonsense.

African python kill human* smh* the illiteracy in this country is apalling

African rock python biology

Like all pythons, the African rock python is non-venomous and kills its prey by constriction (6) (. After gripping the prey, the snake coils around it, tightening its coils every time the victim breathes out. Death is thought to be caused by cardiac arrest rather than by asphyxiation or crushing (6). The African rock python feeds on a variety of large rodents, monkeys, antelopes, fruit bats, monitor lizards and even crocodiles in forest areas (3) (11), and on rats, poultry, dogs and goats in suburban areas (11). A few cases are also known of this python hunting humans (12).

African rock pythons feed on everything from birds and bats to medium-sized mammals. Large individuals may capture a warthog, bushbuck or even a crocodile, swallowing it whole. Poultry, dogs and goats all make the menu around human habitation. A huge meal takes months to digest.

It eats up eats animals up to the size of antelope, occasionally even crocodiles. The snake reproduces by egg-laying. Unlike most snakes, the female will protect her nest and sometimes even her hatchlings.

The snake is widely feared even though it very rarely kills humans. Although the snake is not endangered, it does face threats from habitat reduction and hunting.

This guy would swallow any child or man if he is hungry...no bones about that...

Keepshining:
Oh really?Tell me something.

Yeah, you too tell us something different. Don't you kiss and hug snakes in Poland, you guys should soon pass a law to legalize marrying pythons.

mayorkyzo:
Bros leave that thing..there was employment,good infrastructure,bursary for students,he pressed on oil firms that wanted to leave the state to stay...there was enough for everybody man..as for making people millionaires,tell me if you become a governor you won't empower your close friends and allies...

Guy you are funny men....there was enough for everybody...did you really say that or you are joking. That was the same thing the IBB boys said and the military and the whole Nigeria are still suffering from it.

sukkot:
too many mentally unstable nigerians amongst us. its from eating rubbish food. the other day i saw a frontpage thread with these savage nigerians roasting a snake. this snake looked disgusting but they all gathered around it salivating. these are the types of mentally deranged people that inhabit nigeria and unfortunately own cell phones and have somehow discovered nairaland. this once used to be an oasis of intellectuals. not anymore

I really don't know who some of you people think you are. So because some people killed a snake that could easily strangle an adult and which has already killed a ram, then you feel you can call them savages and mentally deranged. Who the h.ell do you think you are? Is this the type of intellect you display in your oasis, I would rather be in the parched desert.

mayorkyzo:
I see people calling him thief and looter...to me he's one of the best leaders I've ever seen..he formed an all inclusive government and all regions in the state felt his impact..yes he stole but show me a governor or state official who hasn't...all the roads we enjoy in delta state was done by ibori...the last time there was major employment in the state was ibori...He raised multitude of peeps from jobless youths to millionaires..the day ibori arrives nigeria I would wait for him at the airport...

If he is the best leader you have ever seen, then you are blind. So because he made some of you boys millionaires, all the millions of deltans left can go to blazes. If ur uncle takes over ur father's properties and gives peanuts to only ur brother, what wud u think of both of them.

The Real King of Money: The Great Mansa Musa

Everyone has heard about bill gates, warren buffet, carnegie etc mostly due to their great wealth. The chance of being the 40th wife to Dangote and becoming his gardener will make many men and women fast and pray on mount Kilimanjaro for 40 days and 40 nights.

But all these men are pretenders if compared to the real ezego, King of Money, the great Mansa Musa Ibn Abubakr.

Musa Keita I (c. 1280 – c. 1337) was the tenth Mansa, which translates as "King of Kings" or "Emperor", of the wealthy West African Mali Empire. At the time of Musa's rise to the throne, the Malian Empire consisted of territory formerly belonging to the Ghana Empire in present-day southern Mauritania and in Melle (Mali) and the immediate surrounding areas. Musa held many titles, including Emir of Melle, Lord of the Mines of Wangara, Conqueror of Ghanata, and at least a dozen others.

According to Ibn-Khaldun's comprehensive history of the Malian kings, Mansa Musa's grandfather was Abu-Bakr Keita(the Arabic equivalent to Bakari or Bogari, original name unknown − not the sahabiyy Abu Bakr), a brother of Sundiata Keita, the founder of the Malian Empire as recorded through oral histories. Abu-Bakr did not ascend the throne, and his son, Musa's father, Faga Laye, has no significance in the History of Mali.

Mansa Musa Keita came to the throne through a practice of appointing a deputy when a king goes on his pilgrimage to Mecca or some other endeavor, and later naming the deputy as heir. According to primary sources, Musa was appointed deputy of Abubakari Keita II, the king before him, who had reportedly embarked on an expedition to explore the limits of the Atlantic Ocean, and never returned. The Arab-Egyptian scholar Al-Umari quotes Mansa Musa as follows:

The ruler who preceded me did not believe that it was impossible to reach the extremity of the ocean that encircles the earth (the Atlantic Ocean). He wanted to reach that (end) and was determined to pursue his plan. So he equipped two hundred boats full of men, and many others full of gold, water and provisions sufficient for several years. He ordered the captain not to return until they had reached the other end of the ocean, or until he had exhausted the provisions and water. So they set out on their journey. They were absent for a long period, and, at last just one boat returned. When questioned the captain replied: 'O Prince, we navigated for a long period, until we saw in the midst of the ocean a great river which was flowing massively.. My boat was the last one; others were ahead of me, and they were drowned in the great whirlpool and never came out again. I sailed back to escape this current.' But the Sultan would not believe him. He ordered two thousand boats to be equipped for him and his men, and one thousand more for water and provisions. Then he conferred the regency on me for the term of his absence, and departed with his men, never to return nor to give a sign of life.

Musa's son and successor, Mansa Magha Keita, was also appointed deputy during Musa's pilgrimage.

Musa was a devout Muslim, and his pilgrimage to Mecca (a duty ordained by Allah, according to Islam) made him well-known across northern Africa and the Middle East. To Musa, Islam was "an entry into the cultured world of the Eastern Mediterranean".[8] He would spend much time fostering the growth of the religion within his empire.

Musa made his pilgrimage in 1324. His procession reportedly included 60,000 men, including 12,000 slaves who each carried four pounds of gold bars and heralds dressed in silks who bore gold staffs, organized horses, and handled bags. Musa provided all necessities for the procession, feeding the entire company of men and animals.[9] Those animals included 80 camels which each carried between 50 and 300 pounds of gold dust. Musa gave the gold to the poor he met along his route. Musa not only gave to the cities he passed on the way to Mecca, including Cairo and Medina, but also traded gold for souvenirs. It has been recorded that he built a mosque each and every Friday.

Musa's journey was documented by several eyewitnesses along his route, who were in awe of his wealth and extensive procession, and records exist in a variety of sources, including journals, oral accounts, and histories. Musa is known to have visited the Mamluk sultan of Egypt, Al-Nasir Muhammad, in July of 1324.[10]

But Musa's generous actions inadvertently devastated the economy of the regions through which he passed. In the cities of Cairo, Medina, and Mecca, the sudden influx of gold devalued the metal for the next decade. He literally painted the streets of cairo and mecca with gold. Prices on goods and wares greatly inflated. To rectify the gold market, Musa borrowed all the gold he could carry from money-lenders in Cairo, at high interest. This is the only time recorded in history that one man directly controlled the price of gold in the Mediterranean. Imagine how wealthy his country Mali would have been.

Construction in Mali
Musa embarked on a large building program, raising mosques and madrasas in Timbuktu and Gao. Most notably, the ancient center of learning Sankore Madrasah (or University of Sankore) was constructed during his reign.

In Niani, Musa built the Hall of Audience, a building communicating by an interior door to the royal palace. It was "an admirable Monument", surmounted by a dome and adorned with arabesques of striking colours. The wooden window frames of an upper storey were plated with silver foil; those of a lower storey, with gold. Like the Great Mosque, a contemporaneous and grandiose structure in Timbuktu, the Hall was built of cut stone.

During this period, there was an advanced level of urban living in the major centers of the Mali. Sergio Domian, an Italian scholar of art and architecture, wrote of this period: "Thus was laid the foundation of an urban civilization. At the height of its power, Mali had at least 400 cities, and the interior of the Niger Delta was very densely populated."

Influence in Timbuktu
It is recorded that Mansa Musa traveled through the cities of Timbuktu and Gao on his way to Mecca, and made them a part of his empire when he returned around 1325. He brought architects from Andalusia, a region in Spain, and Cairo to build his grand palace in Timbuktu and the great Djinguereber Mosque that still stands today.

Timbuktu soon became a center of trade, culture, and Islam; markets brought in merchants from Hausaland, Egypt, and other African kingdoms, a university was founded in the city (as well as in the Malian cities of Djenné and Ségou), and Islam was spread through the markets and university, making Timbuktu a new area for Islamic scholarship. News of the Malian empire's city of wealth even traveled across the Mediterranean to southern Europe, where traders from Venice, Granada, and Genoa soon added Timbuktu to their maps to trade manufactured goods for gold.

The University of Sankore in Timbuktu was restaffed under Musa's reign with jurists, astronomers, and mathematicians. The university became a center of learning and culture, drawing Muslim scholars from around Africa and the Middle East to Timbuktu.

In 1330, the kingdom of Mossi invaded and conquered the city of Timbuktu. Gao had already been captured by Musa's general, and Musa quickly regained Timbuktu and built a rampart and stone fort, and placed a standing army to protect the city from future invaders.

While Musa's palace has since vanished, the university and mosque still stand in Timbuktu today.

–Al-Dukhari, observation of the court of Mansa Musa in Timbuktu
During his long return journey from Mecca in 1325, Musa heard news that his army had recaptured Gao. Sagmandia, one of his generals, led the endeavor. The city of Gao had been within the empire since before Sakura's reign and was an important − though often rebellious − trading center. Musa made a detour and visited the city where he received, as hostages, the two sons of the Gao king, Ali Kolon and Suleiman Nar. He returned to Niani with the two boys and later educated them at his court. When Mansa Musa returned, he brought back many Arabian scholars and architects.

Mansa Musa was the man who brought sub-saharan Africa and its greatness to the notice of the Western world for the tales of his wealth and Generosity was told for several decades till it became like a myth whereas it was actual history.

The hajj planted Mali in men's minds and its riches fired up the imagination as El Dorado did later. In 1339, Mali appeared on a "Map of the World". In 1367, another map of the world showed a road leading from North Africa through the Atlas Mountains into the Western Sudan. In 1375 a third map of the world showed a richly attired monarch holding a large gold nugget in the area south of the Sahara.

.

Thanks everyone, i will to remember some more to add. Please do add yours. Real Unique Individuals.

joseph1013:



[color=#550000][b]How do you know he knows all things but chooses not to know some things? That's a new one. Never heard that interpretation before. You mean he knows Boko Haram will hit a defenceless village in Yobe State and he decides not to know? I've not heard this before mehn.

I said he can know anything he wants to know, but that does not mean he choose to know everything there is to know....understand the idea. Anybody that can see where bokoharam or do a surveilance on them will know when they want to hit a village. What i mean is that, can God know what i will do on the 15th of march 2035, YES. But does he pry into it and know what i will do...now that is different issue entirely....That a Man can beat a whole village does not mean he will beat the whole village, that a telecom company can track everyone using their sim does not mean they actually track everyone that uses their sim.

joseph1013:

That he is powerful and does not come in to help those children in South Sudan is grave enough, now you add to it that he can even make those children suffer like they are doing in that war-torn region simply because of what their parents had done? Makes me puke! Makes me sick to the stomach!!

How do you know he knows all things but chooses not to know some things? That's a new one. Never heard that interpretation before. You mean he knows Boko Haram will hit a defenceless village in Yobe State and he decides not to know? I've not heard this before mehn.

If a class teacher told his students that you will fail if you don't read and probably end up as poor, the student refused to read and then the teacher passed all of them. How will the student know the wages of laziness is failure.
God said if you seek out your own ways it will lead to disaster, he said man will dominate man to his own injury. Then when we seek out our own ways and oppresss ourselves and we now expect God to come to our rescue at every corner. How will we know that he was actually right in the first place. He would automatically become a lier.

He has said he has the powers to resurrect and that he would restore all things to be a paradise in which all wicked men all those who ruin the earth will be destroyed. You dont want him to kill people who are wicked but you are talking about boko haram and starving kids. When he said he would destroy such men in the Bible, you said he is vengeful. So what do you want him to do to bokoharam, to just switch them from bad people to good people.
The fate of bokoharam and such-like ones is eternal death and for those innocent kids, there is a chance to live again under perfect conditions.

joseph1013:
[b]Which is exactly my point. There is a term in Aramaic used to refer to God in the New Testament. It's the Word "Abba". It means DEAR FATHER. It is a most dear word that encapsulates the selflessness with which a Jewish father is supposed to relate with his son. You should read up about the obligations of a Jewish father to his children and juxtapose it with what you have written here.

What you have written there can NEVER be called a loving relationship. It is a tit for tat in which one party makes all the rules. Do this for me, I will do this for you. If you dont do this for me, I will starve you, torture you, kill you and even your generations unborn will suffer because of it. How exactly is that a loving relationship? It betrays God as a vengeful, wicked, immoral, vindictive, acrimonious psychopath who does with us what he wants depending on which side of the bed he wakes up with.

That he is powerful and does not come in to help those children in South Sudan is grave enough, now you add to it that he can even make those children suffer like they are doing in that war-torn region simply because of what their parents had done? Makes me puke! Makes me sick to the stomach!![/b]



How do you know he knows all things but chooses not to know some things? That's a new one. Never heard that interpretation before. You mean he knows Boko Haram will hit a defenceless village in Yobe State and he decides not to know? I've not heard this before mehn.

God is the one teaching us to benefit ourselves, those things we asked us to do are really things that would benefit us, that would make this earth a loving place for all humans.

The loving 'abba' is not obligated to keep providing for a rebellious child, it is not a case of tit for tat, it is a case of fact and how to handle matters. A good employer is not obligated to keep paying the salary of a lazy and destructive worker, a teacher is not obligated to pass a student that refuses to answer correctly, a country is expected to deny a murderous citizen some rights even to kill such fellow, a woman is not obligated to still keep living with an adulterous and violent man. We call it Justice.

God created man and all things for a purpose, so if man then decides to be disruptive, destructive and set his own rules which are inimical to all that God has created, He is not obligated to keep such men living. You don't expect God not to take action regardless of what man decides to do to himself and others.

Keepshining:
Here in Poland,we don't kill snake,instead we rear it.BRUTALITY TOWARDS ANIMAL MUST STOP.

Here in Africa we don't rear snakes, they come from the swamps, rivers and forests into our house, eat our eggs, chickens, livestock and sometimes our kids and when we catch them, we do the same. We roast and eat them. Brutality ko, affinity ni.

Irunmole:
I shudder at the thought of me trying to reason with and educate someone with such immature and underdeveloped mind like yourself,. Yes, there are laws protecting wildlife in Nigeria. The problem with the country and its citizens is that the enforcement of such laws, like most laws in the country is next to nothing and is exactly why there's pervasive wanton lawlessness everywhere. Please educate yourself, and learn more about issues before jumping headlong into drawing conclusions. I would gladly protect and redirect such harmless and magnificent creature elsewhere where it poses no harm to man where it can live and breathe the same air in peace, just like you, a one-grain brain ignorant buffoon . By the way, I live in a country and society where nature and wildlife are admired and valued for their beauty, and the enrichment of the lives of the people and society as a whole.

Oga do tell us what country is that where wildlife is not hunted at all. We have been hunting animals in our forests for millenniums and it has sustained our communities for ages. The people you are praising and think they are better than us are the ones that hunted these animals to extinction.
Their kings organize hunting expedition with sophisticated weapons and kill thousands of wildlife at a go just for sport and thrill, just for show. Our own kings and hunters never did that. After they have killed off most of their own wildlife, they came to Africa and did the same. Do you think it was my grandfather with his dane gun that killed all good game in our forest. No, in the days before my grandfather the colonial lords have done justice to them.
Now they come and tell us to build sanctuaries, the whole dam.n continent was a sanctuary before they came. People still hunt wildlife in Us and canada, UK has little animal of note for any to hunt, even foxes are rare.

Right now the big European fish companies are draining the oceans of all wildlife/fishes, after they have finished the whole lot, they would then come to my village and ask me not to catch fish in our small river. If you want to really want to preserve wildlife don't build any house, let us not expand our cities, let us keep cramming ourselves in what we have now, because it is actually the loss of habitat that depletes our wildlife more than hunting. And for those who keeps talking about evolution, this is survival of the fittest, why do something contrary to our 'animal' nature.

Dapo just wants to be accepted, from the days of OAU when he used to sleep in lecture rooms all over campus. He is still seeking acceptance and peace. As per the scriptures quoted it would only jolt those who does not know the scriptures.

joseph1013:
[b]

Let's treat what you brought up before veering off. The analogies you have used do not fit what you brought up.

You said the reason God could do what he did to them is because they had a contract. Do you have a contract with your farm? What did you promise to offer your farm if it complies? Hey, the reason you have a farm is not because you love the farm. You have the farm because you love yourself.

You said we do not see as barbaric when animals do what animals do best. Of course! There is no agreement between any two animals on what to do with each other.

Let's not do apples to oranges comparison here. If you have a contractual agreement with your son to help him if he does good and to starve, kill and torture him if he does bad, you are a bad father. There are no two ways to spin this.

If the Almighty who is all-knowing does not know that these people will go against the said contract when he had it, then how is he the Almighty?

A simple example will do: If you have the ability to know tomorrow and you have a son whom as a result of your ability know that he is going to steal things from a neighbor, and yet go ahead to say you will starve and kill him WHEN he does, what kind of father are you?

If God knows the Israelites will do bad things and he is powerful enough to stop them from doing it, yet does nothing, and still goes ahead to punish them , how loving is that?

It's high time we used simple logic we use with fellow humans on God.[/b]

Now what is the reason for which God created man. The Bible said the soul that sins it will die. God told Adam if you cease to obey me, you will die. So God created man for a purpose and when he no longer fits that purpose or fulfill the purpose, he is not fit to live. Just like the farmer and farm analogy. The Bible used similar analogy

(Jeremiah 18:1-12) 18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah: 2 “Rise up and go down to the house of the potter, and there I will cause you to hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the house of the potter, and he was working on the potter’s wheels. 4 But the vessel that the potter was making with the clay was spoiled in his hand. So the potter reworked it into another vessel, just as he saw fit. 5 Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying: 6 “‘Can I not do to you just as this potter did, O house of Israel?’ declares Jehovah. ‘Look! As the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 Whenever I may speak about uprooting and pulling down and destroying a nation or a kingdom, 8 and that nation abandons its wickedness that I spoke against, I will also change my mind concerning the calamity that I intended to bring against it. 9 But whenever I speak about building up and planting a nation or a kingdom, 10 and it does what is bad in my eyes and does not obey my voice, I will change my mind concerning the good that I intended to do for it.’ 11 “Now say, please, to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ‘This is what Jehovah says: “Here I am preparing a calamity and devising a scheme against you. Turn back, please, from your bad ways, and reform your ways and your practices.”’” 12 But they said: “It is hopeless! For we will walk after our own thoughts, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his wicked heart.”

Despite repeated warnings and pleadings, the nation of Israel refused to yield and they kept killing the prophets sent to them. God allowed hundreds of years before he actually punished the nation of Israel severely for their actions. They cannot expect to have Gods favour and help and then choose to ignore him as their God and King. Even a human father would not continue to indulge a disobedient child without meting out appropriate punishment.

Then also about his all-knowing abilities, there is no doubt that God can know whatever he chooses to know. But do you know if he chooses to know all things. With my radio i can tune into many stations and listen to varieties of broadcasts, but having a radio does not mean i do that. Personally its been years i tuned on the radio in the house.
Specific statements in the Bible indicates that God does not use that his fore-knowing power always or that he likely rarely uses it to give humans the freedom of choice.

I remember when the Oni's sister died around 2002, the opa ashe was brought to honor her. The man wanted to stand on the podium with the opa ashe while the burial talk was going on. We had to tell him to go and sit and hold the staff there.

joseph1013:
Okay. Let me get this straight. If I have a contractual agreement with you and you failed in your obligations, I have the right to starve you, to withhold rain from you, to kill your children, to even plan your death?

You defend such barbaric human rights violation because it was done by God?

if i planted a farm, i have the right to cut its seed and use it the way i deem fit, if i rear some chickens or livestock i can use it to feed or cloth myself. I can even go into the forest and hunt a big game probably a female deer and leave its offspring to starve, but i would not see myself as barbaric (though it is barbaric to vegans and other people who are advocating for total and full animal rights).

When an animal is ravaging our crops or killing people to feed itself such animals are killed, we never see it as barbaric. So if a Supreme being, who claims to be our creator also decides to kill us because of going against his rules, it would be hard to see it as barbaric

joseph1013:
Okay. Let me get this straight. If I have a contractual agreement with you and you failed in your obligations, I have the right to starve you, to withhold rain from you, to kill your children, to even plan your death?

That should be justified with God? And you use love and that God in the same sentence?

Cmon bro. Could it be true that a bad man will do bad things, good man will do good things but it only takes religion for a good man to do bad things and not feel remorse?

You defend such barbaric human rights violation because it was done by God?

The constitution gives judges the powers to sentence people to death, these death are carried out by beheading, hanging, electrocution, poisoning etc. Then we have executioners that carries out these sentences. We have never thought of them as barbaric, we would say they were upholding the law.

At the birth of the Nation of Israel, God told the israelites that he wants to make them a special property of his out of all the nations not because the Israelites were particularly righteous but because he has sworn an oath to their righteous father Abraham. Then he said he was driving the canaanites out of the land because of their debased practices and wanton wickedness. So the Israelites took possession of the land of the canaanites. But God told them that if they are to also practice wickedness like the canaanites, if they are to leave his commandments, then he would scourge them and treat them the same way he treated the canaanites. At mount Sinai, Moses reeled out blessings and maledictions, cause and effect, carrot and stick, if you obey you prosper if you disobey you suffer. The Israelites accepted and so entered into a special covenant with God.

So God as a Judge based on previous agreements with the Israelites, which they agreed to, carried out the sentence using different means.

joseph1013:
[b]Is there any Christian in the House? I was discussing with someone today about suffering and why God (if he exists) allows it. He gave me alot of answers and one of them struck me. He said God does what he likes and no one should question him.

I showed him this and asked him if this was right

Amos 4:6-13New International Version (NIV)

6 “I gave you empty stomachs in every city
and lack of bread in every town,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the Lord.

7 “I also withheld rain from you
when the harvest was still three months away.
I sent rain on one town,
but withheld it from another.
One field had rain;
another had none and dried up.

8 People staggered from town to town for water
but did not get enough to drink,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the Lord.

9 “Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards,
destroying them with blight and mildew.
Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the Lord.

10 “I sent plagues among you
as I did to Egypt.
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with your captured horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the Lord.

11 “I overthrew some of you
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the Lord.

12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
and because I will do this to you, Israel,
prepare to meet your God.”

You know, this accurately depicts a wicked, psychopathic and vengeful personality. If a human does this, the world would be in uproar with condemnation. But a God can be said to have done it and believers will say he is free to do what he wants. Why should that be?

For those who says that God has changed. That the New Testament God is different from the Old Testament God, here is the problem:

Do you excuse a man who has caused untold hardship on people just because of an appearance of goodness? Do you erase the faults of a person who feels no remorse for doing horrendous deeds in the past simply because he is said to have done a few miracles today?

You decide![/b]

You may need to check the contractual agreement between the israelites and God that was brokered by Moses.