An Investigation Into the Effectiveness of Faith in the Life of a Christian in Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of faith in the life of a Christian, to aid the completion of the study, the following specific objectives were formulated:
- To investigate the effectiveness of faith in the life of a Christian
- To investigate the effect of faith in living a successful Christian life
- To evaluate the role of pastors in growing the faith of Christians
- To ascertain if there is a relationship between personal believes and Christian faith
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
The New Testament authors emphasize unremittingly that the key to genuine human flourishing is faith in Jesus Christ as the revealed and revealing Word of God, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). In the Gospels Jesus speaks and acts with a hitherto unknown authority that confounds his enemies but induces many others to seek him out and put him at the center of their lives. The latter he praises for their faith; the former he reproaches in the strongest terms, threatening that on the day of reckoning they will fare even worse than the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. Similarly, in his Epistles St. Paul insists that it is faith in Jesus Christ, rather than observance of the moral, judicial, and ritual precepts of the Mosaic Law, that effects our liberation from the slavery of sin and the dawn of a new life as the adopted sons and daughters of our Father God. And even though Paul cautions that faith in Christ is worthless without the filial love of God and concomitant fraternal love of neighbor that Christ has made possible for us, it is clear that faith is prior to charity at least insofar as it gives us our initial cognitive and affective access to the object of our supernatural love.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to examine the effectiveness of faith in the life of a Christian in Nigeria.
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment, the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
INTRODUCTION
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was on an investigation into the effectiveness of faith in the life of a Christian in Nigeria.
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of effectiveness of Christian in Nigeria.
Summary
The According to Pastor Wiggles forth, we can be hooked on fear. What then? Only fear can get us off the hook. It is the only know antidote to the cobra’s bite of obsessive alarm. Jesus said, “Fear not! Only believer!” (Luke 8:30). Why “only because when that curse threatens us. It is also a case of great fear, little faith, which leaves us in fearful danger. Fear and worry are killers. Some fear is good, and some is bad. We get that in the bible. The book of reverbs speaks of it as a virtue fourteen times.” The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom….Is a fourteen of life ….. Is riches honor life,” and so on (Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 14:27, 22:4). Yet, and 1 John 4:18 says, “Fear has torment. He who fears is not made perfect ion love”
If you read Exodus 20:20, you will both aspects, “do not be afraid, God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning. Actually, the Authorized Version uses the one word “fear” to translated no less than 25 different Hebrew verbs and noun in the Old Testament. How can “fear” be both good and bad? The answer depends on what or who we fear. To fear God is a wholesome attitude. When you fear the devil, it is a sign that you don’t fear God there is no faith. The essence of fear is to be faced by something greater than ourselves, some greater person or being or intelligence or power. Whatever it is that we see as the greatest thing is where our fear lies. If we see God as the greater we shall fear God more than the devil or men. If we fear the devil most, then we think of him as being greater than god.
The fear of the Lord is good the Lord is great, great in significance, great in wisdom, great in power. To feat God has a salutary effect upon our live. It is a healthy fear, producing good. We shall not put foot wrong when we walk before the Lord. If we know he holds us in his hands, we shall “hate evil,” As Proverbs 8:13 Says. Fearing God makes us godly. We have a healthy respect for God because of His overwhelming power but also for his unmovable will- nothing Charge his purposes. He is great enough to crush us but great enough to show us mercy. The fear of the Lord is the only good fear. Other fears are bad – worry, anxiety, dread. That is a terrible state of mind, but there is an answer to fear God, trust him.
Conclusion
The It is not size of your faith but size of the God you believe in that determine the size of the results. Too many have too small a God a gentle Jesus meek and mild God or a harmless old granddad God or a pleasant morning English church God who slips out at sunrise to watch a cricket on the village green or a false god. Million knows that faith in Christ revolutionized them and set them about the business of telling everybody about. Him and also trying to make this world a better place. It would be tedious even to list the gods the horrors their followers committed to please them Christians were roasted alive on grid-irons to please the Roman deities. We all believe and belief is potent force. The God of Mathew Mark, Luke, John and Paul is the God revealed in Jesus Christ whop laid down his life us all retook it, rising from the grave.
Recommendations
The researcher therefore recommends that Christians should spend more times in studying the word so as to grow their faith which is the bedrock of Christian growth.
Reference
- Balge, Richard D. Acts. The People’s Bible. 2 ed. Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 2001 “Preaching Repentance and Remission of Sins –With Application to Personal Witnessing.” Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly 75:2 (April 1978), 98-109.
- Becker, Siegbert W. The Foolishness of God: The Place of Reason in the Theology of Martin Luther. Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1982.
- Behe, Michael J. Darwin’s Black Box. New York: Touchstone, 1998.
- Bergemann, Mark. “Can Evolutionists Be Neutral?” LSI Journal (April–June 2010), http://www.lutheranscience.org/2010-EvolutionistNeutral.html (accessed January 19, 2012). Bergman, Jerry. “Cultlike Characteristics of Atheism,” Persuaded by the Evidence: True Stories of Faith, Science, & the Power of a Creator. Ed. Doug Sharp and Jerry Bergman, 39-50.
- Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2008. Borgwardt, Michael J. “The Apostle Paul As Apologist.” Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary On-line Essay File (November 16, 1993), http://www.wlsessays.net/node/209 (accessed January 19, 2012).
