Once it happened that a Brother (preacher) was preaching about Jonah.
“Jonah is a man who disobeyed God. The Lord asked him to go to Nineveh but Jonah fled to Tarshish away from the presence of God. The Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, so the ship was likely to be broken. So the shipmaster and others, to find out who had caused the evil, decided to put lots. The lot fell upon Jonah. Jonah knew that he disobeyed God and accepted to be cast into the sea. And when it was done the sea had calmed. The Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah and he was in the belly of fish for three days and three nights. Jonah prayed unto God to free him out of the belly of the fish. The Lord heard his prayers and freed him and he went to Nineveh to do the job given by the Lord”
There was a scientist amidst the spectators and he sent a paper with something written on it.
The paper was given to the Brother. He read it out loud.
“ A fish can never swallow a man alive and if it had he wouldn’t remain alive for three days
What you said may be a fable…. I want you to substantiate what you said other wise accept it is wrong”
The Brother simply said, “I believe this coz it’s written in the Bible. And if the Bible had said, the fish was in the belly of a man for three days and it came out alive I would still believe it.
The sky and the earth may change but the Word of God (Bible) will never change”
And this is what religion should give each one. FAITH undaunted and it leads to confidence, zeal, assertiveness……. FAITH is that great power which will build up nations……FAITH, FAITH and FAITH……..
7 comments:
Hi
quite interesting to see a write-up on faith in here. Apparently a lot of conviction too;
What is the basis of Faith ?
Well if you observe there can be a billion christians/hindus/muslims/druz/coptics who can be religious but what can you make of their faith (Let God be the righteous Judge me if I am judgemental here);
Is the foudation of faith religion ?
What makes the preacher to stick to his guns?
what is the basis of his affirmation? is it religion or God and his words? or is it Jonahs faith (or the lack of it) or the wonder that God wrought after Jonah preached in Nineveh?
what has religion got to do with ones relationship with GOD?
Just curious to know if God and Religion go hand in hand?
Cheers
Lion Of Judah
Let me put it in this way
What is the use of religion if it doesn’t gift Faith?
Religion is a practical way of believing, adoring, thanking……. God
God has lot to do with Man-His loving creation. He made man in his own image and likeliness
God is very fond of Man and made him the most attractive among all His creations
God Visits Man and He loves him.
I believe that Bible is the Word of and God
And so does the preacher
Believing after seeing may not be Faith
Blind Belief is Faith
Let me call upon the Lord for my Defense
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1)
The Bible also says “ If ye had Faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you” (Luke 17:6)
Why don’t you Oh LION OF JUDAH try it out with not a mustard seed Faith but a positron of Faith?
Hope my next post would give u some more tips!! Ha ha
"What is the use of religion if it doesn’t gift Faith?"
LOJ : Well religion IMHO robs one of faith. Religion is nothing but a nauseating power-struggle. Well if the crusades and jehad are anything to go by then I am sure you will SEE why I hold this view. Religion is an organized crime that has been legitimized
"Religion is a practical way of believing, adoring, thanking……. God"
LOJ : Thats but a subterfuge.On the contrary it incites and decieves human race.Besides I would believe thats the work of the Holy Ghost and not religion ;-)
"God is very fond of Man and made him the most attractive among all His creations."
LOJ : Now this calls for a extensively intensive theological debate. This statement almost borders a blasphemy....I believe WOMEN are most attractive among all his creations...sigh.....LOL ;-)
"God Visits Man and He loves him."
LOJ : This is my CREED too.
"I believe that Bible is the Word of and God.And so does the preacher"
LOJ : Precisely and pray what role has religion got to play here. Scriptures are the basis of faith and not religion.
"Believing after seeing may not be Faith.Blind Belief is Faith"
LOJ : Blindness I am sure has a very different connotation. Blind from a flesh point of view and not from a spiritual point of view.
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1)
LOJ : Apparently there is more to what meets the eyes in the above scripture. Apostle Paul obviouisly means things not seen from fleshly eyes.
"Why don’t you Oh LION OF JUDAH try it out with not a mustard seed Faith but a positron of Faith?"
LOJ : Well Miss.Sophia can u pray for me to be blessed with a such immesurable FAITH...
Also, I found the word "defense" in your response too strong. I believe I was not on the offensive in the first place for you to defend yourself. I was Just Curious.
Here is some cereberal erotica...
What word do you think best describes your relationship with GOD
1. RELIGIOUS ZEAL
2. SPIRITUAL ZEAL
And think about it the WORD never makes use of the word religion or its derivatives. But you can see the word spirit and its derivatives God-knows-how-many-times.
Cheers,
Lion Of Judah.
First of all Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in a mixed company.
All doctrines are right in their own respective spheres but if they encroach upon the province of other doctrines and try to refute their views, they are wrong. A man who holds the view of the cumulative character of truth never says that a particular view is right or that a particular view is wrong.
Just type the word “religion” and right click on it for its synonyms ………….Religion is that vessel which carries the water of faith, love, understanding, tolerance, obedience etc……to the masses
What else can I say……I don’t know……..without a vessel its not possible to carry water .......in the same ways religion carries the message of faith, love, ......
Hi there LOJ, we meet again ! OK, accepted all your arguments on faith and religion. There're just two things I wanna tell you -
1) Religion is a power struggle, it is devised by man and though Sophia has veru well put it through the meaning of religion found in the dictionary - I do think that it no longer holds true. My response to you LOJ is - If we who are quiet sensible and have come this far asking the right questions will now start asking the wrong questions - that is - 'WHY' does religion so concieted as it is still does exist? (Summarising all your questions - it leads to just this one!) - I suppose if you will think about 'HOW' you will get your answer and you will know that wisdom lies in continuing in your faith and leaving the world to God - believe me - He'll take care of it.
2) I personally do not like the people who do quiet a few things in the name of the Holy Ghost! I found your reference to the Holy Ghost as 'dangerous' for you. Whatever you might speak against God the father and son are forgiven but against the Holy Ghost is not. The ones who do stuff and claim it to be done by the Holy Ghost - I reserve my comments - all I do know is each will have to answer - we are no one to judge - Do be careful when you either write or talk of the Holy Ghost ... There are certain things which cannot be explained - If we had an explanation for everything - wouldn't all of us be Gods ???
Nice to see you are Back ! :-) So, what happened to you so long ??? Busy suing some one? ;-)
Hello Sophia ,
I did not quite understand this:
"First of all Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in a mixed company."
Wallah Habeebi Trov,
"If we who are quiet sensible and have come this far asking the right questions will now start asking the wrong questions - that is - 'WHY' does religion so concieted as it is still does exist?"
LOJ : Well trov, as much as I would hate to agree (love to admit this though ;-) ) must confess that I have no answer for this but am sure this is no boon to mankind. Also a stand that I take is our belief in scriptures WILL NOT make us religious. That primordial instinct I would call FAITH/BELIEF/CONVICTION.
"I suppose if you will think about 'HOW' you will get your answer and you will know that wisdom lies in continuing in your faith and leaving the world to God - believe me - He'll take care of it."
LOJ: The "HOW" to me is a great comedy of errors;
To have an instituition to govern ones relationship with God to me is a monumental disaster. I believe the scriptures give us enough direction. As we may observe from the life of Jesus himself; He was anything but religious, he simply refused to agree with the religeous (saducees and pharisees) of his time. Instead, he strove to teach people the simple truth of having a living relationship with God (Although "The Kingdom Of Heaven Is In You" sound very HINDU ! ! ! ). He was a blasphamer of all blasphamer of his time, he dared to call God his father.. Faith has a new dimension, courtsey Jesus also observe the CONVICTION in whatever he had to say.
Let me explain the concept as I see and understand it.
IMHO, when an idealogy becomes instituitionalized it becomes politics.Religion is political system and GOD is made the focal point of this system. Just about any good and harm done in the name of religion is attributed to God. Now that to me is quite honestly is much more dangerous than my reference to "Holy Ghost". I also painfully note that the lines between faith and religion are massively blurred that they are used almost interchangably.
"I personally do not like the people who do quiet a few things in the name of the Holy Ghost!"
LOJ: Hey, but what if I am a jew-eyed dluish boctor ;-)bear with me if my sense of humor sucks ! !
BTW, do my comments have any strains of acerbity; I mean I just wanted a healthy discussion on the merger of faith and religion. If my comments did have acerbic strains - APOLOGIES....
Yallah Bye
Salah-edin (AKA LOJ)
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