SKhanmi:


I was born into religion,While I strived to be the best,I also ,asked ,observed & drew conclusions. It didn't take me long before I reached the conclusion that most religions lost their true purpose long ago. Again I had questions/experiences that couldn't be satisfactorily explained or even outrightly forbidden by the church/islam. Most people at this point,would compromise. The few ones start seeking. I found out that religion is just another well of knowledge, there are others that existed even before xtianity/islam. And the irony is.....we get called fools,mad men, eccentric,demonic agents, by the so called religious adherents for daring to seek. I am the type that would like to hear Gods side of the story & then the devil's so that I can make my own informed decision. That's why we have reasoning faculties .How many Xtians/muslims are that open minded? We have been told it's so therefore it must be so. They never bother with "what if ". There's no ultimate truth anywhere.

I got my questions answered satisfactorily elsewhere & I'm the better for it. I follow nobody,but seek my own path. If religion is your forte,i personally implore you to stick with it. I still believe in God. Only it's not attached to religions.

As per tithing....it was created to mainly help the priests since they would not be able to cultivate food &perform other economic activities that would help them gain a livelihood while ministering to the people all day right? Then the excess goes back to help the poor among them. Kindly Note that. I have no problem with that. Its actually sensible.

Now if you have been in a position that monitors revenue, you would have noticed that it comes to the stage whereby the original target revenue is not only reached,it's exceeded. The cups start running over continuously.

Let's go back to modern religion now. Church grows from humble beginnings to mega proportions. In a sane society, the surplus would go back to those who contributed it in the first place.(Imagine an organized tax paying country). But no,not only are the priests now over comfortable,they turn it into a business. That's my grouse. What does the members that contributed & society gain back? Standard of living increases? Their children able to attend ivy league schools? Less crimes? Is suffering the divine mandate of the members? What would Jesus have done with 5trillon dollars when he only needed 200k? I'll stop here.

I also pay tithe....by always giving out a percentage of my profits to those that really need it.....struggling people,roadside beggars...anybody that I deem worthy of needing money. Would you be surprised I've never been broke no matter how worse things are for me while I practiced giving? Yes I made it a case study. Tried church tithing, non-church tithing & also not giving at ALL. I know which works for me. Find & stick to what works for you.

Finally no true adherent of any religion/belief calls others of opposite views names & regards them as lost or doomed,they reason civilly together even if it's a Satanist. Then if they do get to convince each other or not,they learn to see from each others point of view & part in a friendly manner. Simple. You can then continue praying/wishing for them,not condemn. That is a true adherent.

I can see where you are coming from. First of all, by the bible standard according to Psalms 14:1, you are not a fool, even though you may not believe in Jesus yet. But God made it clear in that Psalms 14:1 that anyone who says "there is no God", such a person is a fool. He didn't say anyone who doesn't practice christianity is a fool. So by that standard, you are not a fool, because at least you believe there is a God who created the universe.

Secondly, I was also in your shoes about 16 - 20years ago as a very young person who was searching for answers about life and God, and like i told you earlier, i left my parents religion after i found Christ. What I didn't explain fully to you is the fact that my parents weren't necessarily 'pagans' or maybe muslims, they both believed there is a God, and they both went to church sometimes, but they saw christianity as a religion. They practiced 'christian religion' and did things which they themselves did not even understand why they did them. They couldn't provide answers to some very important genuine questions about God and life that I had. In a nutshell, they practiced what they did not understand and not what Jesus said - that made their 'church-going' or 'christianity' a mere religion.

Now, i can imagine you wondering 'what is this guy talking about religion & christianity'? I need to make it clear to you - GENUINE CHRISTIANITY IS NOT A RELIGION.

Christianity can be practiced as a religion (and most so-called christians practice it as a religion), and that is why you look at the society today and you see there are millions of 'so-called' christians in Nigeria today, but corruption is increasing by the day. There are millions of 'so-called' christians, but fornication & adultery is on the increase even in churches. you keep hearing about 'so-called' christians who stole money or a choir-master who impregnated a chorister that he is not married to, etc. etc. Are these the lifestyle that Jesus modelled before us according to the bible? No! So what is the problem, and why is it that you look at most 'so-called' christians and you can't see any major difference between their lives and the lives of the sinners in society who don't go to church? The answer lies in that word called RELIGION!

Religion has never saved any man, it doesn't save any man, and IT WILL NEVER SAVE ANY MAN! If religion could save man, then there would have been no need for Jesus to come to earth in form of man and die on the cross as a sacrifice for the redemption of man. The Jews already had a religion they practiced before Jesus came in the flesh.....they practiced judaism which is based on the laws & traditions that God gave to Moses for Israel to adhere to. But even God himself knew that those laws and religion could not save any man, and that is why Jesus ultimately had to come and live a life without sin so that he could pay for our sins.

Jesus knew religion could not save any man, and that is why He boldly made a statement to say "I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. NO MAN CAN COME TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME". Jesus DID NOT come to introduce another religion(which we now call christianity), He came to make THE WAY for man to be saved through faith in his death and resurrection.

In case you are confused by which 'religion' is the right one as there seems to be many religions on earth today, the answer is this; NO RELIGION CAN SAVE MAN. If your faith is not in Jesus Christ, you cannot be saved, it doesn't matter if you go to church every day of the week.

When you genuinely come to Christ and repent of your sins, God gives you the Holy Spirit who EMPOWERS you to live a holy life. The only reason I can genuinely serve God and not live a hypocritical christian life is because I depend on the Holy Spirit living in me to overcome temptation. I don't have the power to overcome temptations by myself, but the Holy Spirit empowers me to do so. This is why you can keep $100billion cash in front of me and walk away, and you will come back in 10years time and that money will still be there complete, and if i ever get so hungry and desperately need money, i would call you to get your permission to take only the exact amount you permit me to take out of it.

No religion empowers its followers to live above sin. All religions only create rules and regulations that followers need to obey, but they never empower the followers to obey the rules. Jesus is the only one who loved us enough to die for our sins, and also send us the Holy Spirit to empower us to live above sin when we repent and come to Christ.

If as you said, you don't subscribe to any 'religion', and you only relate to God in your own way by yourself, then explain to me.....how do you then deal with the issue of sin? Or are you one of those perfect human beings who have never done anything wrong or committed a single sin since they were born? If you have committed at least one sin since the day you were born, then according to God's standard, you deserve to die and perish in hell. This is why the bible says in Romans, that 'all have sinned and come short of the glory of God'. In another place in Romans, it says 'The soul that has sinneth shall die'. In another place, it says '...for the wages of sin is Death'.

So, my friend, you may now see that no man is safe before God's judgement if they have sinned, and that is why God who is so loving and does not wish for any man to perish decided to send Jesus to come and take our punishment for our sins on the cross when he was crucified, and if any man believes in Christ, he will be saved, not by his own righteousness or good works, but by the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST WHICH WE RECEIVE AS A FREE GIFT THE DAY WE DECIDE TO ACCEPT JESUS INTO OUR HEARTS AS OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR.

I try to do good works as a christian, but that is not what saves me. It is my faith in the death and resurrection of Christ for my sins that saves me, and any good work you see me do as a christian is just a fruit of my salvation I received as a free gift from Christ.

This is the mystery of genuine christianity, that man, no matter how dirty and sinful his past has been, can now be accepted before a holy God through the gift of Righteousness in Christ which comes by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus. It sounds too simple to be true, but that is how simple God has made it so that no man will have an excuse on why they will end up in hell. If any man goes to hell again, it's no longer because God is not merciful, but because they have simply rejected God's provision for salvation which is found only in Christ Jesus.


Lastly, as for tithe, I need to let you know that what you think you are doing by giving a percentage of your earnings to the poor, that is not TITHING. You are merely giving alms or doing charity work/giving. Tithe is not a charity giving. Tithing is the equivalent of TAXATION for God's kingdom on earth. In any kingdom or country, taxation is not voluntary, it is set by the government as a certain percentage of the citizens' earnings. In God's kingdom, that percentage is 10%. That is why God commanded for tithing to be done, but did not command how much we should give for normal freewill offerings just as the government of any country does not force people on how much they should donate to charity. Even if all the needs in the church are met, that does not give a reason to pause collection of tithes. God did not make tithing conditional. Even if you don't pay tithes, you may still prosper financially, but you have not obeyed God...and Jesus said "what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul"?

Heartbender:
Bros, who's your crack dealer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biPDp8pGqGg

spirul77:
the only thing Ayam not understanding is why akpororo a secular comedian performing in a religious setting.i remember even Benson Idahosa university didn't hire his service on the ground that he is secular, a line has to be drawn.

Please can anyone give an Idea of the school fees of Benson Idahosa University for Nursing Science? I will appreciate a swift response.
Just a rough. Any student of BIU can respond likewise. Thanks

Okay.

---

Over the course of ten hours, Kanye West re-ignited his feud with Drake by consistently tweeting about threats, conspiracy theories and family feuds. Everyone is aware that Kanye West and Drake are trending. The gist of this rant is that Kanye West expects an apology from Drake. According to him, he is being falsely accused of telling Pusha T about Drake’s son. As expected, people have opinions about this feud.

Read more: https://kaynuli.com/the-best-reactions-to-kanye-wests-twitter-drama/