A world without god..
Yesterday I was chatting to a mate from the delta. He mentioned in passing that he didn't believe in god. I was immediately enchanted - one of the very few atheists in the country it seems, with Tai Solarin long since gone. I asked him what made him become atheist. He replied that he used to be evangelical, but then he realised that it wasn't helping him in his life. He began to see the works of science and the power of human reason as the best route to solving the problems of life. I wondered: if this chap can make the route out of the forces of unreason, how come most others fall into its snares and stay trapped staring at shadows deep within Plato's cave...
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24 comments:
"I wondered: if this chap can make the route out of the forces of unreason, how come most others fall into its snares and stay trapped staring at shadows deep within Plato's cave..."
HAHAHAHAHAH and I refuse to fall into this so obvious trap set by Jeremy!
@EVERYBODY:PRETEND YOU DID NOT SEE THAT AND LETS MOVE ON FOR THE SAKE OF PEACE! NEXT POST PLEASE!
heheheheheh, sha, I know some people will still be tempted to fight back...let me sit and enjoy the show.
Hi Jeremy,
This one is really going to stir the pot! I forecast 30 replies.
Where I work,everybody I know believes in God but me. I do share the same value system though. Also I believe in fate, it's not that much different, is it? Can't wait to read the comments on Monday!
Have a nice week end.
Take care
Sandrine
There is this very popular quote attributed to Tai Solarin. I can not vouch for it's authenticity but it goes thus.
"Thank God, I don't believe in God"
I think there are cultural issues / learned habits involved, in spite of any concious rationalisation. Wait till your friend gets into a really scary situation and then you hear him/her cry, "Jesus!" :-)
Lol, im with you Kiibaati...but then again, I bet you he'll have a reasonable explaination for it!
I live in a live and let live world, be aethiest,voodoo or hoodoo but dont talk bad about my Jesus to me or I will bring it to you. Im the opposite of Sandrine, everyone were I dwell dont believe in God but there all good people doe, howeva im viewed as the
resident crazy :)
And yes Jeremy I see what ur doin here, there has been too much peace on ur blog, ur becoming a stirer!Just for entertainment!Lol!
I am struggling not to fight back as Waffarian suggested. Must not write another..
Fuck it! At the point in my life, I was just like ur Delta mate. I even coined up my whole views of life.
But two things have made me reassess that stand and come up with the point of view I had:
1. There are so many experiences that I am not capable of explaining; surviving in Nigeria is one thing. There is no point re-inventing the wheel especially when the ideas I generate have little experiences to back them up (at least in comparison to the ones push forward by my christian religion).
2. Read Ben Carson "Take the Risk". There was statement he said in that book where he stated that "it takes more faith to believe in the absence of God that in the existence of none".
Dude think about it; there has to be an intelligent designer behind the things we see. The order of things, e.g. being excited by a woman, DNA similarities in animals, is too striking not to hint u that there must be someone out there, the intelligent designer, who has a basic format which he works with when dishing out human beings.
Take it or leave it, God is real.
what about death? Where is it? A world without death?
"...Opium...Instead of death there was light. Oh bliss!...He's gone! said someone over him...Death has gone, he told himself. It's gone. He took some air, stopped halfway through a deep breath, stretched out, and died"
"Religion is the opiate of the masses" I think Karl Marx said that..... how true it is!
believing in a higher power ( God) and organized religion are two different things.
Churches are money making organizations that have very little to do with living Gods word.
Personally, I can't stand the charismatic churches... and a lot of the other ones as well..... greedy fake prophets disguised as pastors... thats what the masses follow, not Gods word!
Subscribing...
Ehn, but which one concern Jesus?
There might be mystery, science might be insufficient AND Christianity could still be a pack of lies.
Which it is.
I first became born again about 25 years ago when my cousin came home from school and told me about the SU people who had come calling at her school (QC) and warned them that they were all destined for hell unless they repented of their boy chasing, earring wearing ways. It struck such fear into my young heart,I promptly fell on my knees and prayed desperately for forgiveness of sins known and unknown. Weeks, then months passed,I was assured that the world wasn't about to end in a hurry, and i forgot my fears and fell back to my old ways.
Then came secondary school and you were the devil's handmaiden if you weren't born again. So once again, i confessed my sins and tried to live a holy life. No use. I loved boys, LOVED to cuss and had absolutely no intention of waiting till i got married before losing my virginity. So out the door and on to university. More of the same. Sometimes I prayed, sometimes I didn't and I got into arguments about whether or not wearing pants, getting angry and braiding my hair were sins that would land me in hell (i refused to examine fornication though...)
And so it was until a few years ago when I realised that no matter how far i tried to run, there was this 'something', i don't know what, that kept drawing me back to God. I read up on a lot of other belief systems, and it always came back to my bible. I don't know why, but nothing else gave me hope and comfort like the Word.
A defining moment was the day of my sister's traditional wedding. Things had been going smoothly until storm clouds started gathering and it started drizzling. The 'alaga', reverend Ajala, looked up casually and said a prayer I will never forget. She said something about understanding that the rain was God's servant sent to do good, but that those of us gathered were also his servants honoring him and one servant had to make way for the other. Five minutes later, and I tell no lie, the sky started clearing and I remember I ran into my room and I started screaming and praising God as I watched the sky clear up. It rained everywhere but on our street. Later that night, the storm was so fierce, the canopies were ripped apart. Some time later, I told God that I really did want to serve him and more importantly, i wanted to EXPERIENCE him. Thus began a relationship not based on fear or ignorance but based on knowledge and understanding. I still run every now and then, but as always, i go back. I know how I feel when I'm in fellowship with him, and I also know how i feel when i've deliberately disobeyed his word. There's an emptiness i cannot describe.
God is real. I know that a lot of us christians the world over have been such terrible witnesses but I always say, if you want to know him, honestly and truly, just ask him to reveal himself to you. He always does.
Check this out.
http://www.badthinking.com/index.php/2008/09/10/another-faith-healer-exploiting-liberia
I have a question.
Is it really appropriate to say "... if this chap can make the route out of the forces of unreason, how come most others fall into its snares and stay trapped staring at shadows deep within Plato's cave..."
I'm assuming you meant no offence, but merely wanted to stir debate.
But saying such a thing, could be construed as you looking down on those who choose to believe in God or some other spiritual belief system. That is no more acceptable than those who do believe in God thinking that somehow they are better than non-believers, because they are outwardly pious and follow what is written down in some religious texts.
I don't believe it is your intention to offend anyone Jeremy, from my readings of your blog you are a bit too wise and nice for that.
As for believing in God or not, each to their own and there should be no forcible coercion to get someone to submit to your own beliefs, that way we can all coexist, in this increasingly cramped and inhospitable world.
Why is God a "he"?
To be honest, I take the practical approach- I am quite happy to wait until I keel over and die THEN I will know for sure if God exists. Till then, I am just happy living my life believing that God does exists , thanking him for the good in my life and seeking his help in times of trouble. Where there is good, there is bad, right? So, if hell also exist, I don't fancy a room there!!
I don't much care for all other organized doctrines Man has created to surround God with, and the bible is certainly not the template for how I live life.
Till death, I am happy working, partying, learning, being good to others, swearing, travelling, and having as much sex as possible.
kody, well said. Let's live and let live as the end will determine who got it right and who got it wrong. Life and death is real- these 2, the only factual truths we humans can swear by. Everything else is brokered by chance encounters, rebellion, disappointments, faith, religion, beliefs, background, brainwashing etc and in the end, we will realise how meaningless life and this post is. Ciao whilst i enjoy liberalism. To be free is to be liberated. I refuse to live life in a contrived fashion.
See Jonathan Miller's A Brief History of Disbelief, a three hour, three part series. Links below are 10 minute YouTube segments (6 segments per part x 3 parts = 18 in total).
Part 1
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
Part 2
2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6
Part 3
3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6
The full videos of a history of disbelief can be found here http://documentary-log.com/?id=69
I think the fact that anyone disbelieves in the idea of God is not the same as believing that the idea isn’t true. Mere disbelief in the truth of that proposition is not equivalent to the belief that the proposition is false i.e. that the opposite is true. I do not believe that by the claim naijablog makes, that he is suggesting that the claim about God is false, or is this what you are saying Jeremy? I need some more information please.
Please stop misquoting Marx when he says "religion is the opiate of the masses". Religion is not the problem rather a form of consolation and support to people in near impossible circumstances (as described by Jeremy). We need to abolish these blocks before we can hope for a political revolution and rationalism in Nigeria.
You are all lab rats for
jeremy's next project.
@Patrice and Kayode Muyibi:
Thanks guys! Finally managed to see them all. I fell asleep many times cos I tried to watch them at nights...but his voice is so soothing...
Anyway, it was very interesting...and I too wait for a world when religion would no longer be a discussion as one of the philosophers in the last part said. A "post" theist society....
...and I wish you all good luck in your paths.
@ Jeremy
- there are more of us than you think, you can't know if you don't ask though.
THE FOOL SAYS IN HIS HEART THERE IS NO GOD
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