"What does it mean when Christians say that certain matters are spiritually discerned? In my thinking, the spirit does not have a brain and all matters of comprehension and exposition must of necessity be accessed via the brain. Also, "understanding" is a mental function. How then does one spiritually discern a matter and why do some people like to insist that only the "spiritual mind" can understand some doctrinal issues? Can somebody please explain this to me?" Rolu Adebola, 27th November 2011.
"If Jesus were alive today, he'd be more comfortable among beer drinkers than with religious pple. In his days, he was more comfortable among wine drinkers than with religious ppl. I've found beer drinkers to be far more reliable than religious pple. And what "unbelievers" will do for u for free, the church won't & will still charge you." Rolu Adebola, 26th November 2011.
Dear Rolu, I don’t know anyone who can explain it without as much as preaching as Bayo Gbadehan did above. And, for me, that is where the problem is. The writers of the Bible loaded the book with so many caveats that, even crooks, can find good use for it. Nothing in the Bible, and therefore in Christianity, is logical. To be a Christian, you have to be gullible and unthinking. It is only in Christianity that 'spirits' have 'minds'; 'understands', and those other crabs. In these last ten years, I noticed that, except in Africa, people are realigning with rationality and critical thinking rather than with spirituality. For me the result is that developments, even on spiritual things, have tilted to the rational side than to the spiritual side. I remember that Nigerian pastors celebrated, some years back, the fact that only 10% of Africans were Christians early in the 20th Century and by the 21st Century, only 10% are non-Christians. I shudder to think about this, as it shows how lost to reality these people are. For me, only 10% are still Christians, the rest are simply church-goers and bench-warmers and pretenders. They are the crooks that are giving the religion a bad name today. To the issue you raised, I think it is fraud to have a set of values that stop people from reasoning. Religion is aimed at doing just that: stop people from thinking so that they will be amenable to socio-economic and political control of the ruling class. If you trace the history of the world religions, they all aligned with the courts. From the Dark Ages till now, religions and the courts, do not be deceived by the separation of both during the Enlightenment, work in the services of each other. The church asks us to be obedient to the leaders, who are milking us dry, and that our rewards are in heaven where no 'roaches' and termites will touch them. Paradoxically, the court and the church laid up treasures for themselves here on earth. So, by asking us to allow the spirit to 'think' for us; by asking us to 'be spirit-filled' and 'spirit-led'; the church/holy books, are making us amenable to state control; preparing us for the kill! The sheer number of congregants in churches and mosques today shows how readily Nigerians are in obeying pastors and imams than even the state. And the schools, by this I mean any educational system, is aimed at achieving a balance between 'what is Caesar’s' and 'what is God's' in you. The less rational we are, the more we pander to the churches and mosques and the state suffers. So, the aim of the educational system is to work out a harmonious balance. The more rational you are, the further you go away from the churches and mosques. To rein you in; religions label you as 'unbeliever', 'omo-esu', etc. and through blackmail, the churches and mosques plants, right in your house/heart, a monster that keep dangling before you a 'paradise' that you will miss, if you continue being rational, which they termed 'in your evil ways'. My father and wife have kept faith in ensuring that they call my attention to how much the 'devil' has achieved in steering me away from 'God'. Your monster may be your father, son, daughter, or wife. The greatest of the monster, I tell you, is not your father, wife, son, daughter or the society, but the uncritical surrender of your will to self-reflect (introspection). Look at it this way, Bayo and one or two other friends of yours have asked you to 'give' yourself to God for direction. But the embodiment(s) of God that you readily see around are the Bible/Quran and the Pastors/Imams. As a Classicist, you know that 'Jerry Boy' Oyakhilome and 'wordsmith' Okotie are clowns that bamboozle people with Latin words, some of which are not just tangentially different from what they had in mind, but also carry different meanings from the pastors' intention; and you wonder if this is 'God' playing the fool with you. Same as me when, as a lecturer in RUN, I saw Kenny Martins everyday in company of Pastor Adeboye at the same time the EFCC/Federal Government declared him wanted for financial impropriety. Just as many of us felt repulsed at Rev. King burning congregants and T.B. Joshua sexing up miracles, etc. etc. in the name of Jesus Christ; so I felt repulsed at the church (Pastor Adeboye) palling with Kenny Martins, Cecilia Ibru and Erastus Akingbola. You see through all these and many more and declared them, at first, in your heart, as emptiness with no compare. If you say it out (if you decided to be yourself), someone turns up the corner and tell (challenge, preach, etc.) you that you are wrong and that (at the very height of it all), you should make Jesus/God/Allah/heaven your focus. If you surrender your will and see it through their lens, then you trade your earlier bad name-tag for a new one - a born again! If you refuse to surrender your will, then you should go for anointing, deliverance, etc. As I am writing this piece, temperature on the street is -1 and I have revved up my room temperature to +20; this is my reality, which no pastor or imam and no monster can change. Rolu; that is my reality and religion!
Oyeniyi, Bukola Adeyemi, 28th November 2011
COMMENT
I can understand how you feel, Mr. Yemi, but I must tell you that you cannot kick out the God Factor from our existence. You see, a lot of beasts have hijacked the temple, still I make bold to say that there are still those who constitute a "remnant". They are just not so obvious because like "the 7000 in Elijah's day who had not yet bowed to Baal or kissed him", they seem so anonymous to the point of even being invisible or, worse, non-existent. I used to think like you too, but I know better now. It's easy to forget and overlook, but there is a judgment. And it will INESCAPABLY come! Right in our lifetimes and not in some big blue yonder, in the great by-and-by. Although that also has it's own thing to do with too. As for Nigeria, Nigerians and the Nigerian situation, consider the fact that all Nigerians have been brought up, time immemorial, in a culture of hypocrisy and so the "Pastors" know just what to tell these gullible people ion order to get the worst or best out of them for their own greedy gains. But hear the words of Thomas Jefferson: "Disobedience to Tyranny is Obedience to God!" You cannot deny that what we have here in Nigeria today is nothing but first class tyranny. And this is what I mean about people misinterpreting the Bible deliberately for selfish ends: Yes, the Bible talks about Government being God's idea, and rightly so. And the Government exists solely not to take care of the p[eople but to lay a proper foundation whereby the people can now take care of themselves as MATRURE, RESPONSIBLE and FREE people, anywhere in the world, should be able to do. Now this is the important issue: when government stops doing what it was supposed to originally do and neglects its' "raison d'etre", then it becomes the GOD-GIVEN right of the people who know their rights and their God to stand up and abolish and overthrow that government for it has become an oppressive tool not just of human oppressors but ultimately of the devil himself. If you argue with me about this, then just take a critical hard look at Nigeria, Nigerians nad the Nigerian situation. And by the way, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and even those who influenced them from years earlier such as John Locke and Thomas Hobbes were ALL TRUE Christian believers. The truth is that, simply, in Nigeria, we practice AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY which is nothing, for the most part, but a form of STYLIZED WITCHCRAFT. Take a hint, friends, most Nigerians, especially Christians, are bewitched by the razzmatazz of their Churches and Pastors and all the attendant hoopla. I rest my case, friends.
Oluseyi Imah, 28th November 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment