₦airaland Forum

Everyday247:
The dude's lowkey trying to gently force intelligent design into science through the back door.

What do you even know about intelligent design other the misconstrue version used by religious people to miseducate people like you who don't bother to investigate things themselves?

Unlike others ,I don't accept there's a separate designer existing somewhere in an invisible plane.

For me, the designer is in the designed object. It's inseparable from it. Science calls it the force of nature, certain religion have personified it as God. They are both saying the same thing but expressing it differently.

plaetton:
Lol.
Imagine the false twist to the Wright Brothers story.
In fact the story of the Wright Brothers vindicates my position.
The Wright Brothers did not attach feathers to their backs to defying conventional understanding of physics.
Rather, they scientifically ( yes, scientifically) demonstrated in the most practical way how the laws of aerodynamics acts upon objects in the air.

You still don't get it . As at the time the Wright brothers we're perfecting their craft it was regarded as not science, not scientific , by those within the scientific community. Go back to read history and come back and tell what I just said isn't true.

You don't take your time to read before replying.

Everyday247:
What did the wright brothers use to disprove science?
Is it not science?

Do you think science is like religion were a prophets hear prophecies from infallible deities?

Science relies on repetition also known as peer to peer review to confirm something.

Only faculty scientific experiments give you faulty answers.

A few years ago, scientists updated the age of the universe from 7 billion to 13.8 billion after observations were made with the then new James Webb telescope. Was science wrong about the universe or was it flawed observations caused by the weaker Hubble telescope?

So apart from science, what else can use to disprove science?

You didn't get it. They used science to dispute science, but from the way you sounded , it's certain if you lived during their time you would have also joined other scientist to mock their first attempt to fly as foolish and impossible since their invention was going to run contrary to established scientific fact as at that period.

You looking for excuse and just want to argue that only trained scientist can debate and question scientific theories while the others wait to be spoon-fed.

I'm sure you think you know more than top scientist from different parts of the world who have consistently adviced people consulting with medical personnel to always ask question about the kind of treatment they are getting so they know better. Have they said if one isn't a scientist one can't question a medical doctor who's trained scientist?

Answer me, Mr "you can only question science with science."

plaetton:
I agree to some extent.

But Intelligent Design is not a scientific alternative to TOE. It is not based on any testable science.
Is is just wishful thinking by people who cannot accept the absence of a Creator or designer in the scientific Theory Of Evolution.

I disagree with this. Intelligent design isn't wishful thinking as you think. The way I see it, it's an explanation put forward by those who can't provide rational explanation for how nearly everything in the universe seem to be working in perfect order. They know it by intuition but can't explain it rationally.

What intelligent designer's are saying is that random chance couldn't have been the cause. Maybe something, another form of energy yet unseen working at the background to set the blueprint for how everything should evolve in perfect order. This unknown something, energy, shouldn't be mistaken for an invisible deity in an invisible plane needing our worship.

The ancients ,who founded some of the world's major religion , made use of stories to encode or hide certain truth about our world These truths were perceived intuitively during their time.

Some of the truth they discovered still find relevance till this day. But when you focus on my stories or whether religious god's exist , you also miss it just like nowadays religious people.

For instance, modern science says everything contains energy while the ancients personified it by saying God is in all things. Energy is not created nor destroyed. God is also not created nor destroyed.

So, the same truth as before but expressed differently by both religion and science.

plaetton:
Let me say this for better understanding.

For my friend DeepSight to question or proclaim the inexplicable instincts, he first has obligation to take a deep dive into the subject of protein synthesis, understand it, and then be able to say that the body of accumulated knowledge in protein synthesis and its fundamental link to natural selection and evolution is wrong and incomplete.
You question science with science.

The bolded is incorrect. It's similar to the usual excuse used by incompetent teachers to dissuade their students from questioning them about a topic they can't explain very well. Religious people also use the same tactics when they say one must have the holy spirit to understand biblical text


There's no where it's stated in the sciences that " You question science with science. You just invented that yourself.

What it takes to question science is an inquiry mind and the ability to ask the right question concerning any scientific theory that one find inconsistent with the evidences that support it.

The Wright brothers were ordinary bicycle repairers who aren't supposed to question science according you, but through their project to invent something new, they question the prevailing scientific theory of their time which stated that nothing heavier than air can float in the sky ,and the result was the airplane.

Well, you already answered the op without realising it. You can't explain it and so waiting for other scientist who know better to come up with an answer so you can re-echo it.

Everyday247:
Check his posts, it was as if he was implying that some biological phenomena couldn't be explained by TOE, and was hinting at intelligent design.

No. He only highlighted certain inexplicable phenomenon in nature and seeks to know the answer .

You think he's hinting at intelligent design because his argument seems similar to those of religious people who completely reject TOE.

plaetton:
It's like deja vu all over again.

I think you missed the part in a previous post where I said that TOE is not a complete package. It has never been. Most scientific Theories do not come as a complete package. What it does is set a starting point of our enquiries and understanding.

The truth remains that majority of people who say they reject TOE have either zero or very limited knowledge of its mechanics.
Funny,I confess that as a science student, as was once in that category. I rejected because I didn't want to accept it, not because I had scientifically valid counter Theory.

But DeepSight hasn't rejected TOE completely and so ,why but him in the same category of those majority whom you say has?

Top scientist right from the very beginning till this very moment have been questioning certain parts of the theory not because they reject it but because they want to improve on it, yet you want to suggest it's only those with zero knowledge that challenges it. That's not true.

The thing is that,you are too quick to assume that anyone who challenges some aspect of TOE is a religious person who has already rejected it. A lot of atheist think that way and I call it knee- jerk rejection.

plaetton:
Atheism is not a philosophical proposition.

Secondly, to say that not all atheists SUBSCRIBE to TOE is laughable.
A scientific theory does not offer a SUBSCRIPTION service. It is not a membership service.

By the way, which scientific theories do you currently SUBSCRIBE to ?
The Gravitational Theory, The Germ Theory, The Atomic theory?
Do you think it's a pick and choose subscription service?
It is not.
These are deep and complex scientific ideas that the far majority of human population are hardly aware and have zero or very limited understanding.
Failing to understand something, a scientific theory, does not weaken the veracity of the theory itself.

Honestly, it's like you don't take your time to read before replying.

Reread what you responded to and ask yourself if they align with what you just said now.

First of all, I never said," not all atheist subscribe to TOE.

Secondly, no where did I suggest atheism is a philosophical preposition. I said without theism there won't be atheism. If people don't talk of God, there won't be those to oppose the idea.

Finally, scientific theories isn't for picking and choosing, It should be questioned. That's what I said. Any science that cannot be questioned is not science but dogma.

Everyday247:
This doesn't invalidate what i was saying.

I was pointing out that TOE and BBT are not necessarily atheistic theories, because it looked like he was making the assumption that they were linked with atheism.

I never implied the bolded.

I think it's you that's assuming that, maybe from past experience with religious people who have tried to discredit TOE or dismiss it in place of creation science ideas

He's not doing that here or linking it with atheism, but asking for explanation for some parts of it which he refer to has inexplicable.

Everyday247:
Well first of all atheism is older than both the theory of evolution and the big bang theory. Which means that evolution and the big bang are scientific facts and no atheistic philosophies.

Secondly, not all atheists subscribe to evolution and the big bang theory.

Also, what are these problems?

Atheism older than theory of evolution and the big bang?

No, that can't be true. Atheism is old as theism. They both feed from each other. One cannot exist without the other. Without theism, you won't know what it means to be an atheist and vice versa.

The talk that atheism is the default position is usually made by dogmatic atheist to postulate others from joining them.

plaetton:
Of course there are sticky issues and questions about the complexity of evolution.
The very fact that we have these nagging questions does not in any way contradict the core theory. Rather is only encourages us to continue to seek scientifically rational answers.

Theory of evolution is not a complete A to Z package, because it is not dogma .
In fact, similar theories such as the the Atomic theory, Gravitational theory and Germ Theory are scientifically accepted ideas for which ongoing work continues.
Science is a series of Questions, with one answer always leading to new questions.
Everyday, new scientific advances continue to peer in and answer nagging questions of yesteryears.

Like I said earlier, if you have a scientifically rational explanation for these nagging questions, we are open to hearing it.

What we will not accept is the God of the Gaps answers.

It's running away from the question asking a questioner to answer a question directed at you about something you claim to understand better. If he knew the answers himself ,he wouldn't ask it in the first place

if I say ,owls only fly at night ,but another challenges this statement by mentioning the few ones seen flying during the day, and ask me why, it's my responsibilty to provide the answer or don't say anything if I can't .

You ,just like me ,are subscribed to TOE. The theory has its limitations.

And if the op is drawing attention to it, It's better you acknowledge that, and respond appropriately and not arrogantly dismissing him with God of the gaps accusation . I'm not a religious person myself but I find his question very valid. Any science that cannot be questioned is dogma, and anyone can question science.

I will end with this. If the TOE has some gaps in it, then it only means one thing, it's half truth and not the complete truth about how life has evolved from the very beginning.

We may have all of the answers later from rational science but also possible we may never know it all.

OLAADEGBU:
Listen to the voice of reason from the fathers of science.

Did you know that the popularity of atheism is a modern phenomenon?

The Father of Science, Sir Isaac Newton said, “Atheism is so senseless.” Albert Einstein distanced himself from it, by saying, “In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what really makes me angry is that they quote me for the support of such views.”

The Bible gives it just 11 words. It says, “The fool has said in his heart, There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1). Then it repeats those exact words in Psalm 52:1, no doubt to make sure we get the message. Atheism is foolishness—because it believes the scientific impossibility that nothing created everything. It is an intellectual embarrassment.

Ray Comfort.

Source

You have deflected to the father of science , Isaac Newton, who was human and not infallible.

Religious beliefs and science don't mix.

Whatever Newton said in the past concerning Atheist or non believers was his personal opinion influenced by his religious conviction as at that time, and not science. Science is neutral or agnostic.

The man wasn't perfect and nobody is . So stop quoting him in order to win a debate through deceptive argument


FYI , I'm no atheist. I only join the conversation because don't I see any sense in you suggesting that if a person doesn't believe in a god or fear an imaginary hell there's no point in making any effort in moderating their behaviour to live responsibly. What sort of talk is that? There are millions of people in the world who are currently living an honest live without a fear of hell or god.


According to you, Christians are afraid of judgement and because of that can easily do the right thing. But no enough evidence you're actually living your live that way.

You preach love but are quick to hate those who don't share in your believe . why?

Donald Trump a Christian whom you support is a Christian who likes to grab hem by the psy.

Majority of the Yahoo boys , hookup girls and theiving politicians plundering our common wealth in this country are members of your various churches where they pay offering and tithes regularly from the proceeds of what they do.

Most of you are currently supporting structural violence by the Israelis in Gaza which has led to the death and displacement of thousands of defenseless Palestinians ,but won't pick up arms to fight Boko Haram killing Christians in the Northern part of Nigeria.

If it's difficult for you lots to practice what you preach what's the point of asking others who live wisely without fear of eternal judgement
to join you?

OLAADEGBU:
William Lane Craig has chosen to go on his own lane, that means he has derailed. You can keep him as we have many scientists that are true Christians who trust on the infallible word of God.

William Lane fell into the moral pitfall of thinking that since God doesn't exist one is free to live life irresponsibly, and that's because he grew up amongs religious people like yourself who made him reason that way.

What this means is that, if for any reason you abandon your religion in the future, you"re also likely to follow the lane, he followed, and who knows, yours might even be worse since you're very certain that without the threat of hell or God, it's impossible to be morally upright.

OLAADEGBU:
If everyone around you deem it fit to steal, lie and cheat would you be compelled to do the same in order for you to live in harmony?

What you brought in is an hypothethical situation which is not possible in real life.

Real life has both good and bad people to relate with or harmonize with.

OLAADEGBU:
What’s the point of modifying your behaviour in order to stay within acceptable ranges if you truly believe the is no God to judge you when you die?

The point is to live in harmony with others around me. I don't need to believe in God to know my actions have consequences which I have to bear my self.

OLAADEGBU:
A true Christian would neither despise anyone nor support abortion, for instance.

It then means you're not a true Christian since you're in the habit of despising irreligious people on this board.

Synonyms for despise include the following, hate , mock , ridicule abhor, all of which you have done against non believers

EnlightenedUFO:
If you point a finger at me and call me names instead of actually asking yourself this question, that is a problem.

Because I'm amazed why so many Christians are just blatantly ignoring the genocide in Gaza. Are we in a mass hysteria and hypnosis?

Religious bias as well as the influence of western media, that often decontextualize the Israeli' s structural violence as self defence, is the reason they ignore it.

JessicaRabbit:
Witch-hunting and desperate scandal-phishing aside, I've grown jaded and gradually lost interest in the forum already, so I wouldn't give all the credit to triplechoice for my absence. This forum just hasn't been for me lately. Maybe it's Nairaland and the banal, mundane subject matter that people discuss here on a daily basis, or maybe I've just evolved beyond the back and forth business, especially with people who are seemingly too ignorant and primitive to even keep up in the first place. I do come back from time to time but it's mostly to sit back and read. Contrary to popular opinion, I don't always enjoy bickering and arguing endlessly. It's just something I'm forced or compelled to do whenever I come across flagrantly dishonest arguments or when I witness pompous and insufferable mediocrities who decide for some reason to pontificate on topics well beyond their intellectual pay grade. On a normal day, I'd prefer a simple, harmonious conversation where we can exchange knowledge and have a point of agreement or convergence. It's very hard though because most people here simply have no patience or respect for logic or intellectual debate. They just say stuff and pretend it's true without carrying out their due diligence and whenever I read stuff like that, it always grinds my gears. It's just how I was programmed. And that's why, as much as I've grown weary of debate, I often find myself sucked back in because I have to call out the lies and gibberish being peddled. I guess you could say I have a chip on my shoulder or something. Generally though, I've grown bored of this website. Triplechoice's tiresome prevarications just gave me more of a reason to abandon it completely. I'm not sure yet if I'm back for good, although to be frank, I'm probably not. It just bothered me that AlbertNewton was looking for a debate, piggybacking off the AI argument, and then when I reached out, he ghosted. It made me wonder why he never responded. I'm not forcing him to have the debate, but if he would have just declined, maybe I wouldn't even feel the need to say anything at all. Given the circumstances, I had to assume that he must have disengaged because of the whole AI nonsense, and that's what prompted my latest reply.

And as for triplechoice, I had to cease correspondence with him because it was becoming clear to me that he was on a mission to tarnish my character and destroy my name, even after I already admitted to using AI in previous posts, and in spite of my insistence that I never used it with TheDevilsBride. I detected his pretentiousness when I observed that he couldn't legitimately substantiate his AI accusations regarding TheDevilsBride and had to resort to guilt-by-association tactics, relying on the history of my other monikers to make his point. That's when I understood that he was just thirsty for drama, drunk and intoxicated by his own self-importance and the attention his manufactured controversy was generating. So I had to cut him off, and then block his account.

At any rate, thanks for responding to the post, even though it wasn't directly aimed towards you. As I have previously emphasized, your theological proclivities do not concern me. I don't have a problem with your belief in god/s. I'm very happy to mind my business and let every believer and non-believer go on his own merry way. If you will recall, the very first time I engaged you was when I read a comment that seemingly represented atheism. I had to comment and set the record straight and we've been on a back and forth ever since. We don't have to agree on matters concerning the existence of god/s. Reading your latest submission, I'm glad that you can at least acknowledge that I'm not in the wrong if I choose to reference journals, articles, studies, excerpts of studies, and other research materials in a debate. Obviously it would be weird if you disagreed about that since you have done the same yourself. But I'm afraid you still haven't given me a good reason why you draw the line at AI assistance, but give the green light to using dictionaries and spell checkers, research databases, and any other tool that can provide information, or even enhance how we express ourselves. Can you walk me through that logic? I know you already alluded to academic institutions rejecting AI articles, but that's because they are centered around the construction and contribution of original research and individual competency. But we're not writing dissertations here. Nobody is going to come and award us with a degree for the amateur skirmishes we engage in here on an outdated internet forum like Nairaland. Ultimately the conversations we have here are trivial. We're fighting facts with facts. Evidence with evidence. And even AI can't guarantee you correct facts and evidence. Infact, anyone who relies 100% on AI for a discussion would be a mental vegetable because AI says a bunch of nonsense that can be checked and debunked. The goal here is to force others to examine opposing views and angles. Whether this is achieved through normal conversation, traditional research, AI assistance, or even divine inspiration is monumentally irrelevant to the subject matter.

Sorry about the long riposte anyway, I simply can't help myself sometimes. My thoughts are often so scattered and jumbled up and they tend to cascade into verbose walls of texts when I write, and that's why it takes me a lot of effort to sit and draft responses. I can't guarantee you consistent engagement in any debate right now because of real life obligations and the fact that this forum does little to hold my interest or attention these days, but I'll try to engage the best that I can when I'm free. That's all.

Please take responsibility for your own actions and stop mentioning me to moan like a child whose favourite toy has been taken away.

Do your thing and just ignore me. Thank you

I have already responded to this forgiving and forgetting business in another thread. I'm going to repeat the same here.

Contrary to what most people think, forgiving and forgetting is not a religious thing meant only for religious people to practice. The practice , that's, if one truly wants to forgive, has salutory effect on the mind.

Forgiving without forgetting is pointless. Its incomplete forgiveness.

If one cannot forget, one shouldn't forgive Don't just bother . It won't lead to any arrest if one cannot forgive as well as forget.

Forgetting is misinterpreted by so many people to mean blotting out the memory of the past hurt completely from the brain. Forgetting doesn't mean that .

The reason for the misunderstanding is that most people grew up not learning from those around them what it means to truly forgive, and now as adults they don't know that true forgiveness goes with forgetting, that's; not making any conscious effort to remember what has been forgiving.

After forgiveness, the memory of the offence will not disappear from the mind. .It will always be there and will pop up from time to time to the fore of one's consciousness so you remember it.

But whenever that happens, for the sake of one's mental health, please don't dwell on it or give it much attention to the extent one's feel again the negative emotions attached to the past hurt.

Repeatedly shifting one's attention to something positive whenever the memory of the past comes to mind will send signal to the subconscious mind, one wants to forget it .And the subconscious is sure to obey the signal by doing everything within its powers to make us forget so will one is no longer bothered by it and trapped emotionally to the past .

Where a person's attention is, is where they are. The good thing is that we all have the power to decide where we want to place our attention every moment of our lives, unfortunately, most people don't know this simple truth that's not really simple and because of this suffer mental stress that comes from their mind still jumping to past hurt and pain.

DrAda:
Yes. I forget not because I wish to but because I honestly never remember any of the fine details after a few days. For the broad strokes, a few months.

However, what I never forget is how the person made me feel. That lingers and in most cases permanently changes my attitude and behaviour towards the said person.

Think of it like touching fire for the first time, then realizing that it is hot and never repeating same again.

But humans are not fire that burn always.

People can offend you for a number of reasons, misinformation , mental health challenges , transfer aggression etc.

If the offender who offended you is mentally challenged and you didn't know at the time of the offence, would you still begrudge them when you later get to know the condition influenced their behaviour towards you?

Kalulu44:
Good explanation, and what of when he said he was been paid #30 for fetching water and #80 for cleaning gutters. He didn't mentioned the years this happened. But you and I know even as at 2010 which was 15yrs ago when he was 10, no where in Nigeria not even in rural areas will anyone accept #80 for cleaning a gutter. And what can #80 get you in 2010?
Try explaining this too

It's obvious the 80 and 30 is an exaggeration to draw attention to his humble beginning and also to show the difference between then and now.

Most people who came from very poor background and later became very wealthy are known to make such statements. He is not the first to talk like and won't be the last Dangote, though didn't come from poor family, often like to announce how he started is business empire with just 500k his uncle gifted him. Jonathan , your former president, said he had no shoes.

Others have said,
" I did this and did that. Was paid 50 naira for doing this until God heard my prayers" We have all heard that before.

Anybody who was paid 80 for cleaning gutter anywhere in Nigeria should be over 40 years or very close to that. But Osimen is obviously not up to that age.

So it's was exaggeration.

Kalulu44:
Me think Osimhen should slow down his talks in this interviews before he stylishly and unknowningly exposed his age cheat, that's all I have to say

What he said during the interview is not enough to conclude he cheated.

These days, unlike in the past, most children in Nigeria finish secondary school around the age of 14 or even 13. The last UTME exams confirmed this. We had 15 years old who sat for the exam.

A lot of parents usually don't wait for their children to attain the mandatory age of 6 before enrolling them in primary school. And by primary 5 or even 4 , they make sure they do everything possible to enrol them for common entrance exams into Junior secondary school.

At the secondary level, they also repeat the same thing so that instead of 6 years in the secondary level, JSS and SSS, the child spend only 4 or 5 .

The reason why Nigerian parents do this these days is to beat the huge cost of sending their children to school. Education is very expensive in Nigeria at the moment and since Osimen parents were poor, they probably employed the strategy to see him through both primary and secondary school.

Nobody should judge yet until they know when he started primary school . Was it 4 ,5 or 6. ?. We don't know

This is a very good topic I would like to comment on even though I wasn't invited by the op.


There's a good reason it's good to forgive and forget. The former without the latter is useless and not good for one's mental health.

To forget doesn't necessarily mean erasing the memory of past hurt from the mind completely. Trying to will that to happen will only make one remember it the more.

The memory will always be there, but don't dwell on it or give it any thought each time it comes to mind . It's fruitless and pointless doing so. Let it slip immediately when it comes to mind ,and shift attention to something positive . That's how to forget. A synonym for the word, forget, is "let it slip".Just Forget it, let it slip from your mind.


However, most people find it very difficult to let it slip and they suffer for it ,unable to see the problem it is causing in their lives

I'm also guilty of not forgetting at certain times, everyone is, but because I know the consequences of not forgetting after forgiving, I usually task myself to make sure I forget after forgiving the person who offended me.

If one keep reliving past offence in the mind, one hasn't moved ahead but still trapped in the past . This negative mental habit of continually remembering past mistakes or offence of others is why most people who engage in it find it almost impossible to heal from the past. Forgiving but not forgetting results in bitterness of the heart .


When one forgive another person, but keep replaying in the mind the events surrounding the offence, one imprisoned oneself emotionally, making it difficult to act freely in the presence of the offender when next one has to interact with them .

The offender is sure to notice a change in one's behaviour , which they will misinterpret as evidence that the offence hasn't been completely forgiven, and they are sure to feel very bad especially if they sincerely apologized and showed they where genuinely remorseful for what they did.

We all can remember that individual in our lives who claimed to have forgiving us of something we did to them, but will keep reminding us of it each time we meet with them ,and at the end of it all announce to our hearing, "Well I have forgiven you even though I felt greatly offended by what you did".

Honestly this is not true forgiveness. Continually reminding another of how they offended you in the past because you cannot take your mind away from it whenever you see them is claiming moral superiority over them.

You are making them still feel guilty about what they have apologized for and probably forgotten themselves. They are bad for offending you while you a good person for forgiving. That's it.

The worst ones are those who will not say it in your presence but will like to announce to either your friends or even perfect strangers that, "See that person that just left my office, he's my uncle o, but this was what he did to me in the past because he thought I won't amount to anything in life but look at me today. I'm very wealthy now and he's always coming to me for one help or the other since I have forgiven him. I just gave him a check of 500k to help pay house rent"

Yes , this person has forgiven his uncle, but struggles to forget. That's incomplete forgiveness. I know of two persons who does this all the time and strangely enough they both have the same heath issues.

Studies have confirmed that bitterness which results from dwelling on past hurts, not forgetting, results in long term health problems. BP, increase stress, high heart rate, depression, chronic pain etc

So yea it's good to forgive but not good enough not to forget.

VBCampaign:
What You Should Know of the Israel/Iran War

By: Deji Yesufu

Our generation takes a lot of things for granted and one of those things is the subject of war and peace. Any careful study of history will reveal that one common factor among nations is the subject of war. Long before the coming of Western liberal thoughts, that promote freedom and democracy, and the idea that sovereign boundaries of nations should not be exceeded, the one common factor in the relationship of man with man is that there is always one strong man somewhere who is convinced he can overrun the rest of his neighbours, subjugate them, and bring all people under his rule. It is because nations fear the rise of this strong man that we have things like international relations and diplomacy. When these fail, the next thing that we will have in our hands is war – and the conflict that we see between Russia and Ukraine is an example.

What has occasioned this article is the recent rise in hostilities between Israel and Iran. What is going on between these two countries is a lot more than hostilities: these two sovereign nations are at war. Israel targeted Iranian nuclear facilities a few days ago and did not only destroy them, they also killed top leading Iranian nuclear scientists. In the last count, Israel has killed seven of their thirteen leading scientists and they have also taken out a couple of their military commanders. In response, Tehran, the capital of Iran, yesterday, sent hundreds of missiles into Israel. Israel has a dome system that it uses to shield itself against missile attacks. However, a few of these missiles leak through this dome defense and reach Israeli settlements – destroying homes and killing people there. Why is Israel attacking Iran?

The animosity between the two countries is historic. It dates back to the writing and theology of the Quran – the Muslims’ divine revelation. The Quran regards the Jews as enemies of civilization and that there will be no peace in our world until all Jews are annihilated. When the Quran was written, Jews had been dispersed from their land of origin – which the British named Palestine in the 18th century. After the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, one of God’s judgements on the Jews was that they were going to be dispersed from their land of origin. In AD70, the Romans moved into Judea and while trying to quell an insurrection, they levelled Jerusalem, slaughtered thousands of Jews, and sent them all into exile. So, by the time the Quran was written, the Jews were everywhere in the Middle East and Europe. Now, though they had no land of their own, they possessed a unique culture that was influenced by the Bible, the Old Testament, that made them stand out anywhere they found themselves. This is besides the fact that the Jews are so uniquely gifted by God that they excel in anything they lay their hands to do.

Now, even though they had been dispersed from their land, they could read from the Old Testament and see that God often shows mercy to them and restores them to their land. So, in the 19th century, a movement called Zionism began to rise in Europe, where the idea of Jews returning to their fatherland was championed. At this time, Palestine was not occupied by anyone – except for a few Arabs. With time, the Jews began to return to their homeland. But there was a greater exodus to Palestine following the genocide against the Jews by Hitler’s Nazi regime. In 1948, the United Nations recognized Israel as a sovereign nation, and the Jews felt they now had their own country. Except that now they must deal with their Arab neighbors – who are mostly Muslims. While the Jews had overcome one problem, returning home they encountered another. The story of the Jews since 1948 up till date is how they must survive in a Muslim-dominated region, whose scripture teaches that Jews must be annihilated.

The conflict we are witnessing between Israel and Iran has also been elicited by October 7. This was when Hamas, a confirmed terrorist group, moved into Israel and killed 1,400 Israelis. Israel discovered that Iran was behind these terrorist attacks, and they have since launched attacks on not only Hamas strongholds in Gaza but also Hezbollah, which is another terrorist group in Lebanon. Israel succeeded in destroying all the men at the helm of affairs in Hezbollah and the group is non-functional today. Now, if Israel has succeeded so far, what are the issues on the ground?

At the heart of Israel’s challenge is Islam. Islam has two big problems: there are Muslims who have been exposed to Western civilization and who can see that there is a deep conflict between Islamic ideals and Western values. They understand that they can’t function in the modern world, while at the same time holding to age-old Islamic fundamentalist beliefs. Some of these Muslims include Muslims in nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE countries. What such Muslims do, therefore, is that they try to enjoy the benefits of two worlds. They live within a Western world; enjoy western scientific developments; adopt western values – like education and monogamy; etc. At the same time, they keep some Muslim values. These Muslims are the ones that some of us have come to call “peaceful” Muslims.

The second problem is that there are Muslim groups that do not have the patience that these peaceful Muslims have. They have read the Quran; they have followed Muslim histories and have reached that comfortable position that the true Muslim is the one who will establish the kingdom of God on earth with the power of the sword. They will have an Islamic society now or they will die trying to establish one. Some of these groups are Boko Haram, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, and a host of others around the world. The world has succeeded in labelling these groups terrorist groups; although even that label is being contested by many groups and faulty ideologies.

One such faulty ideology is the rise of the Left in the West. What is very clear is that Western civilization is founded on a Christian worldview. What informs the laws of many nations are the pronouncements of God in the Judeo-Christian scriptures, the Bible. The Ten Commandments and the laws that God gave Moses to establish a civil society for Israel are still many of the laws that are in our constitutions today. This is why when the British established the nation called Nigeria, they simply transposed many of these Judeo-Christian values into our laws. On the other hand, for three hundred years there has been a rise in Western societies of a Leftist worldview that espouses ideas that are against the biblical worldview. This is what has led to the homosexual revolution of the West. These people are enemies of Christians. When you discover that Islam has historically never been a friend of Christianity, you understand why many Muslims are finding comradeship with the left. It is these leftists that are joining Muslims around the world to scream “death to Israel”. Is there a way forward?

I will end the way I began this article: all of us have taken the peace that we enjoy in our world for granted. Lasting peace is the result of conquering. Even after nations have conquered others, laws and justice must still form the undergirding principle of a society – or else the society will return to war. Functional societies are led by strong men and proven institutions. Strong men are established via military prowess. Military actions in our days have gone beyond field battles – most of the terrorists Israel took out in their recent campaigns were killed remotely. Modern warfare is waged with a sound mind. It means that the countries with the best and most modern military armaments are the ones that will win a military conflict. I predict that Israel will defeat Tehran and that the murderous regime in that country that has been ruining that land since the 1970s will be replaced. Terrorist Islam will be defeated in our world. But that will not be the end.

Every one of us has to realize that the future of our world is education. We must begin to learn and gain understanding of issues. Islam must jettison its antediluvian ideology that believes that might is right. In our world today, it is the people who can champion the best ideas and show that those ideas are workable, that will gain the upper hand. Islam is coming of off age, and those who have refused to learn, are learning their lessons the hard way. Those who love peace should pray for America and Israel that God will grant them the ability to neutralize all forces of evil in our day and time and grant peace to our world. The alternative is militant Islam; or, China’s socialist regime; or, Russia’s fascist dictatorship; or, North Korea’s atheism. The choice is ours to make. As for me and my household – we choose life: we choose the Judeo-Christian worldview that has given our time workable societies and modern technological advancements.

Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached at naijareformed@gmail.com.

I enjoy reading you each time you post something on this board, but didn't like this after reading. This, sorry to say, contains too many falsehood and reflects your religious bias as a Christian. You failed to do a "careful study of history " before producing this.


Those of us who insist on looking at it objectively know that what's written in the Quran about the Jewish people is not the root cause of the conflict in the middle East. It's far from it. It's a false narrative you are trying to spread here and it can only wipe up religious sentiments amomgs peace loving Muslims and Christians.

A thorough research of authentic history documents will reveal to you the actual cause of the conflict.

If it were true what you claimed, other Muslim countries, especially the ones bordering the land of Israel would be actively involved in the fight long before now for the same reason.



And contrary to what your article is suggesting, not every Iranian is supporting the fight. Even though they subscribe to the same Quran, most are against the fighting.

It's the oppressive Islamic regime made up of religious fundamentalist that forcefully took over power in Iran in the past that's spearheading the fight and ensuring all of the Iranian people are forced into it.


Please, the crisis is not between Muslims and Christians but between two mad regimes( in Israel and Iran) with no regard for the human lives they continue to destroy everyday.

domesifa:
The Church pews which were once filled with worshippers who gathered to celebrate God Almighty for their wins in life while brokering spiritual insurance for future wins, are now left unoccupied.

Believers in Nigeria are forced by economic circumstances to silently wonder if God really loves them. Because let's face it, worship when times are tough is the hardest thing to do.

Many Christians, like the biblical widow of Zarephath are pinching on their dwindling resources and subtracting the expense of going to church from their depleting store.

The silent thought which they are afraid to voice out is: "Shebi God don see as things be Na. It's not anyone's fault."

Like the Bible predicted in Mathew 24, the love of many is beginning to wax cold...🥹🥹🥹

Many had long turned away.

In fact, if you approach anyone today to request for financial help to attend church, the most likely retort you're going to get is an INTERCONTINENTAL BOMBASTIC SIDE EYE...🙄🙄🙄😏😏😏😏

The scary news is that it is going to get worse.

In fact, many Churches will close down.

It's a sad time to exist as a Nigerian Churchgoer.

I believe you're imagining things.

Church attendance is increasing everywhere in the country due to the current economic situation, and that's because Christians see the church has the only place where they can find miraculous help for their problems.

The only time church attendance will start to decrease in this country is only after a great majority of the populace has had access to good quality education and the standard of living much more better than it's now.

Before then, which I think is very very far from now,, nothing will ever change, This is not an exaggeration. In fact, it may get worse because poverty and poor education makes most people susceptible to superstitious beliefs.

Lucifyre:
"...because i do not want to bring curses upon them..."

This is the problem with religious and superstitious people, you would not do it beacuse it's the right thing to do but the fear of punishment or the promise of a reward. Half baked morality.

But still,her decision not to marry a Yahoo boy is commendable . Don't you think so?

folake4u:
I am not the cause of your problem, so knock yourself out.

You are responsible for your own reaction and feelings.

purples25:
My post didn’t cover all reasons and was directed at men whereas women are involved - its good that you pointed that out.

Personally I don’t feel that my opinions on men are wrong though. You are right about the women and the variety of reasons, but I’m also not wrong.

I know. But women are also guilty of the same thing you accused men of.

folake4u:
A man literally said same thing on this thread before my comment and you nor write epistle for him head.

Abeg comot. Osiso at this instant!

So because a man said so it's okay for you to regurgitate like s zombie without thinking?

iLoveYouToo:
Why not postpone it?

The situation overwhelmed WAEC .

On that day,the English language paper kept getting leaked by insiders working in collaboration with examination racketeers each time it was reprinted.

So even if they postpone it they same thing is likely to happen again.

The one the students sat for in the night was leaked too. Most of them already had the questions together with the answers in their phones while waiting for the exams to commence

And they didn't get it for free. They paid for it.