queensmith:

Thats a very very good question, was talking about this yesterday. In one of Karl Marx's books (or the other dude i forget) he talks about how in Africa god was was an overweight woman. When the europeans travelled through africa and noticed this they felt insulted and before you know it god now looks like a french whitehaired man. It's weird. I remember thinking that casting morgan freeman as 'god' in the movie bruce almighty was weird, and it's obvious to me now that that was the whole point.
Why is god envisioned as a european white man instead of a black woman? Since the middle class white man is at the top of the social hierarchical scale it's very possible that the whole idea of god is just an imaginative form of our real lives. An exaggeration of current realities. The book was pretty interesting!

michelin89: I don't believe in opening people's eye to the evil of anything. Religion or the lack of it is a very personal thing. The same way you don't go around questioning people about their sexuality, is the same way we should respect the religious choice of one another.

The desire to uniform people to ourselves is what is generating so much hatred and rivalry in the world today. Should we learn to exploit our differences instead of using them as an excuse to fight each other, this world would be a better place to live.

Differences are not always a minus so much that people can love themselves because of their differences like they can love themselves because of their similarities.

queensmith:

Thats a very very good question, was talking about this yesterday. In one of Karl Marx's books (or the other dude i forget) he talks about how in Africa god was was an overweight woman. When the europeans travelled through africa and noticed this they felt insulted and before you know it god now looks like a french whitehaired man. It's weird. I remember thinking that casting morgan freeman as 'god' in the movie bruce almighty was weird, and it's obvious to me now that that was the whole point.
Why is god envisioned as a european white man instead of a black woman? Since the middle class white man is at the top of the social hierarchical scale it's very possible that the whole idea of god is just an imaginative form of our real lives. An exaggeration of current realities. The book was pretty interesting!

sauer:
Without doubt, the idea of god is an expansion of our immediate inclinations

shymmex:

It was a typo, read the comment I posted to emofine2..

God created 'us' in his image, according to the Bible (I believe you're a christian) - and if that's to be believed, then God has to be feminine.. Since men can only come from women - not the other way round.. I use 'She' or 'It' for God - not 'He' - just like we do for countries, and continents.

Goldieluks:


So what you are saying in a nut shell is that, you don't believe in the existence of God,
because you read a karl Marx book?

sauer: Another confusion from having to take a 2000-year old book seriously. What do you seek to achieve when you say god is a man or a woman, or when you try to stay within the limits logic affords you and claim god has no sex? Being religious and taking the bible seriously is a task no valid logic can justify, yet many a believer persists in these methods.

sauer: Another confusion from having to take a 2000-year old book seriously. What do you seek to achieve when you say god is a man or a woman, or when you try to stay within the limits logic affords you and claim god has no sex? Being religious and taking the bible seriously is a task no valid logic can justify, yet many a believer persists in these methods.

sauer:
Of course, that's not what she's saying! Nevertheless, that's not totally impossible. It's on record that one book can change someone's life. And I'd argue you probably have no idea what good Karl Marx and his books have done to this world

Goldieluks:


So what you are saying in a nut shell is that, you don't believe in the existence of God,
because you read a karl Marx book?

Goldieluks:

You don't have a right to criticize Christianity or the Bible.
stick to your atheist beliefs. No one is going to take that away from you.
But do not condemn someone else's belief, because they believe in God.

queensmith:

I have to admit reading the book absolutely blew my mind! Everything in life is based on the human struggle for hierarchy, and the systems in place have only ever served to benefit the same set of people. No matter how you look at it you always end up worshipping 'the white man' one way or another.

Embracing Christianity is one of them, the book gave me the push. Face it, those of us that are christians can't give any justifiable reason for beleiving in God and Christ. We just do. We can't explain it (i can't obtain it! lol). Alot of us have just been conditioned to think praying to some deity is going to solve all our problems. It's complex and interesting no doubt.

shymmex: I'm a big fan of Karl Marx, but I'll also call myself a pseud-marxist.. Yeah, there are a lot of good stuffs about his philosophies that most people need to emulate - but when it comes to religion, and spirituality, I disagree with him..

I just don't believe an African should embrace Eurocentric (Christianity and Atheism), nor Arabcentric (Islam) belief system.. If we're to dig deep enough, everything they gave back to us - were plagiarized versions of what we already had on our continent - thousands of years before these two races of people became relevant in the world... Europeans (6,000yrs ago) and Arabs (less than 3,000yrs ago).

I'm privileged to have the "Book of the Dead", where most of what is in the Bible and Qu'ran originally came from - and I can gladly say religion is a control mechanism ( or opiate of the masses like Karl Marx put it)...

Atheism is another form of control derived from the ancient Egyptian cosmology concept - that's why atheism, and Abrahamaic religions would always be the same to me.

queensmith:

I have to admit reading the book absolutely blew my mind! Everything in life is based on the human struggle for hierarchy, and the systems in place have only ever served to benefit the same set of people. No matter how you look at it you always end up worshipping 'the white man' one way or another.

Embracing Christianity is one of them, the book gave me the push. Face it, those of us that are christians can't give any justifiable reason for beleiving in God and Christ. We just do. We can't explain it (i can't obtain it! lol). Alot of us have just been conditioned to think praying to some deity is going to solve all our problems. It's complex and interesting no doubt.

queensmith:

I have to admit reading the book absolutely blew my mind! Everything in life is based on the human struggle for hierarchy, and the systems in place have only ever served to benefit the same set of people. No matter how you look at it you always end up worshipping 'the white man' one way or another.

Embracing Christianity is one of them, the book gave me the push. Face it, those of us that are christians can't give any justifiable reason for beleiving in God and Christ. We just do. We can't explain it (i can't obtain it! lol). Alot of us have just been conditioned to think praying to some deity is going to solve all our problems. It's complex and interesting no doubt.

michelin89:
atheism exists in every culture that has elements of spirituality. had we stuck to our traditional religions, do you think we all would be followers?

sauer:
Well, I sure will criticize whatever warrants it; jonathan, the Nigerian government, Nigerian pastors and churches, the bible, etc. They all have one thing in common: they all aren't helping Nigeria!
There is probably nothing wrong in believing in god as christians would have us do. So, one could at least afford them that. However, there is everything wrong and criminal about believing that those who aren't in the same shoes as you will end up in some imaginary "lake of fire".

fellis: I will really love to be friends with an Atheist. Specifically a well-read one but they seem to snob me maybe because they think I am not a rational/intelligent person. Oh well.
There is even this atheist on NL that I have been stalking eyeing for sometime now. .
But I can't marry one.
I can go on a date with, be friends with, have outings with, but no marriage.

shymmex: I'm a big fan of Karl Marx, but I'll also call myself a pseud-marxist.. Yeah, there are a lot of good stuffs about his philosophies that most people need to emulate - but when it comes to religion, and spirituality, I disagree with him..

I just don't believe an African should embrace Eurocentric (Christianity and Atheism), nor Arabcentric (Islam) belief system.. If we're to dig deep enough, everything they gave back to us - were plagiarized versions of what we already had on our continent - thousands of years before these two races of people became relevant in the world... Europeans (6,000yrs ago) and Arabs (less than 3,000yrs ago).

I'm privileged to have the "Book of the Dead", where most of what is in the Bible and Qu'ran originally came from - and I can gladly say religion is a control mechanism ( or opiate of the masses like Karl Marx put it)...

Atheism is another form of control derived from the ancient Egyptian cosmology concept - that's why atheism, and Abrahamaic religions would always be the same to me.

Goldieluks:


If praying does not solve your problems, what does?
It is a two way thing my dear, it is either one believe in God or the devil.
You have to choose one.

michelin89:


Haba madam take am easy! XD

Goldieluks:


If praying does not solve your problems, what does?
It is a two way thing my dear, it is either one believe in God or the devil.
You have to choose one.

sauer:
Good point. This is the chief reason why children simply follow the religions of their parents. It's almost an innate action. It bothers me seriously that these children don't even stop for a minute and examine in detail exactly what is being handed to them. The blindness, the follow-follow, the herd mentality, the conformity; all these just stink. Didn't they ever ask questions in class? Yet, if asked, they'd claim they have arrived at their practices by themselves and needed no prodding from their parents. yeah, right!
I hope your book really isn't the communist manifesto

sauer:
This is absolutely pointless. Atheism derived from ancient Egyptian cosmology concept? WTF? perhaps you could care to explain. The strands of atheism, of a rebellion against any form of established religion (for that's what atheism is) didn't come out until moments before the French revolution.

It remains true that Christianity and Islam are imported religions with absolutely no similarities with then established African religions. These two world religions have their roots in a society's history and should as a result carry no similarity with another society's values and culture.

Area_boy:

lol. stalk me!! hahahaha.

well, If you throw it in their face that you are right and they are wrong (when it is clear you are actually wrong ), they'll blow u off like that.

Keep an open mind for a discussion and voila!!!!

queensmith:

It's very very obvious here on this website, the herd mentality is too much. Nobody seems to want to apply logic to anything (especially if it's to do with religion or tradition) and questioning their beleifs is like you've killed their families!

Even if you are religous you still need to ask questions, you need to consult the bible for yourself and try to understand what the pov of the writer is, whether it applies, whether it's personal. Lets not forget it was human beings like ourselves that wrote the Bible. None of them were perfect.

Area_boy:


Sadly, you have given yourself that option. To create a God, you must have an enemy for him to battle. thats y they go hand in hand.

on the other hand when you dont believe, you don't have a devil to be worried about.
shikena