Africa to many is a
dumping ground for unwanted products from the Developed countries. Dumps from
hazardous materials to religion, to politics, to even our way of dressing and
defining ourselves have brain washed and blinded us that sometimes it is
very difficulty to know our real selves. Sadly enough, these dumps we
accept them unquestioningly and made them parts of our lives. Since the
1970s,
Africa especially
Nigeria
in particular has witnessed an alarming increase of fundamental religious
groups that are increasingly growing in this belief market. They reject
anything cultural as evil and idol worshiping. For instance the killing
of animals during ceremonies is seen as an act of paganism. I remembered two
years ago when my mom died, her charismatic group gave us set of dos and Don’ts
during the funeral, one of them was that there should be no killing of animals
and no local dance groups such as the Abarogwu and abachaekurunwa
dance during the burial ceremony. According to them, all theses acts represent
the worship of paganism. My eldest sister and brother went along with these
fanatics, and the younger ones declared third world war in the family. To them
it was ok to play
MichaelJackson and Hip Hop music but it
would be a sin to play our local music. However, we won, but guess what,
the same group that asked us not to kill any animal was the same group
that fined us because the fried chicken and all the goat meat and cows given to
them was not enough. to feed them. Do you get the contradiction and
hypocrisy there?
Since the creation of the
world, people from different race and cultures have embraced a variety of
religions. These belief systems are divided into different groups, the
Abrahamic religions which include Christians, Jews and Muslims, the
eastern religions which consist of Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism. In
addition, there are what anthropologists call the primal religions. These
belief systems are linked to old
Africa, the Native Americans,
Shamanism in
Asia and the Eskimo and Aborigines of Australia.
What unites these diverse belief systems are their lack of scriptures as the
Abrahamics and the eastern religions. Regardless of their diversity and
polarization, there is a common thread to all these belief systems. Each of
them, despite of their numerous competing sects and denominations, truly belief
Truth lies in these elements., goodness, truth, honesty, humility, good neighborliness,
hard work and love.
Pentecostalism is a part of
what we generally lump together as Christian communities. The American
Encyclopedia of Religions tells us that there are over four hundred major
categories of religious bodies that claim Christianity as their home. However,
globally one could count up to 28,000 Christian groups around the planet. What
makes it alarming is the insistence of the Pentecostal, particularly in
Africa,
that their brand of Christianity if such a metaphor as allowable is the best of
the bestests and they jealously monopolize the Truth called Christianity as
preached by
Christ and implemented by his disciples.
In order to join the ongoing
conversation I write this piece for discussion and debate. .Although I am a
Catholic who subscribes to the Catholic tradition, I believe the claim of the
born-again Christians deserve serious scrutiny and analysis.
Pentecostalism
is the fastest growing Christian movements in the developing areas of the
world. Its claim to fame is in its gospels and styles that the scripture is
promoted in our world with problems and challenges.
This seem
to be the case facing many Christians especially the Pentecostal churches
who see God everywhere and their advocacy for the gospel of prosperity have
made them the bane or the boon of different Christians. In this piece I will
try as much as I can to explore this phenomenon and attempt to unravel some of
the observations I made over the years. My first attempt is to set the record
straight that God is omnipresent, that He is here, and that He is there.
Everywhere you go, anywhere you look, God is there, and He is always watching,
guiding and leading all his children through all fears and burdens”
The idea of
Pentecostalism is from Pentecost, a major event in the early life of
Christianity. Etymologically, the word penti means 50. The name Pentecost was
known to the ancient Jews before the rise of Christianity under
Jesus.
It is reported to be a ceremony of the Jews, the fifth of the fiftieth day of
the Jewish tradition of Pentecost It was on the feast of Pentecost that
the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles, granted themthe gift of
bravery to go into the world announcing the good news without fears. It was
also the occasion in which they spoke in tongues as narrated in the Acts of the
Apostles. Hence the origin of the Pentecostalism in Christendom is now globally
celebrated by Christians everywhere. .By their actions, many Pentecostals
believe more in the person and the power of the Holy Spirit than the Father and
the Son. Although many of the converts don’t know this part of the truth of
Pentecostalism, the fact remains there is a history to the name and some groups
out of the twenty-eight denominations and sects in Christianity today have
defined themselves by this name.
One of the
characteristics of the Pentecostal believers is the euphoria of the miracles of
the early churches. This is to say, they still pay close attention to the fact
that “they can work miracles here and there”. Another characteristic is the
issue of the 2nd baptism or being Born-again. Because of this
mentality they clam to be the few saved, every other person is living in sin.
In this
brief piece I intend to deconstruct their clam of monopoly of salvation. What
is salvation? Is the act of God the father through his son
Jesus Christ
in the spirit offered to the whole created world through human kind whom God
has granted a favor of working with him in perfecting the imperfect universe.
The salvation of God is not limited to human beings; it stretches even to
animals and to nature. Therefore, salvation is limitless.
Christ
having saved us while we were still sinners proves that salvation is limitless.
He did not just save the Jews; he saved the whole human family.
To prove
this, he started his work not in
Jerusalem, not in
Judea,
but in
Galilee, a land of the gentiles. He chose his disciples
not among the zealots, not among the priests, not among those that claimed
righteous, but the ordinary people who went about their daily lives. He chose
the ignorant, the innocent, and the wise by selecting
Peter,
John and
Mathew the tax
collector. The ignorance in
Peter, the innocence in
John,
and the wisdom and the sinfulness in
Matthew the tax
collector, together they set the stage for the purpose and meaning of
conversion.
Peter, the ignorant, was one of the
disciples
Christ built His church on earth. He gave them simple
instructions to go into the world and make disciples of their own, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Sprit. Jesus did not leave his
disciples as finished products, they were not saints, but men battling, because
salvation is continuous, is on going, is a goal only to be enriched and
realized in the presence of God alone.
The number
of people that get this salvation is limitless. The Gospel says whoever
believed, shall be saved. The children of God battle everyday against sin and
concupiscence. The desire to sin is in humans. Therefore, it is wrong
religiously speaking for any one to claim perfection over sin and the desire to
sin while this person is still in the world of sin as most Pentecostals
believe.
Salvation
is only perfect when we see God face to face because the scripture says that
“what we will be we do not know as yet, all we know is that we will be like
him, for we shall see him face to face”. (1
John 3:2)
Salvation
in the mind of
Christ is universal. He commissioned his folks to go
into the world, if it was only for a single race, then he wouldn’t have sent
them out of
Israel.
Paul
testified that he was called to be the disciples of the gentiles,
Peter
to the Corneous’ family.
Peter during
Cornelius
conversation observed that in God there is no partiality, anywhere anyone ever
does his will is acceptable to him. So salvation is not limited.
If
salvation is limited to one religion, what about the other religious believers
that do the will of God? What does it mean to be a born again? In
John
chapter 3 verses 1, we read about a certain Pharisee who came to
Jesus
at night and asked what he could do to be saved. Jesus replied him, saying; “I
say to you unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” Nicodemus
replied to him by asking, “How can a man be born again when he is old, can he
enter a second time in his mother’s womb and be born again”? To this query,
Jesus
responded “Unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot see God”
In the
Christian perspective, salvation in the light of Christ is baptism, (this is
not so, Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior, and all will
be well with you) the recognition of our sins and the request to Jesus to clean
our sins and all unrighteousness is the new birth experience the critical
factor in real life. Therefore, it has to be practical. When this man visited
Christ,
to ask what he could do to inherit the
kingdom of
God.
Christ told him to go and keep the
law. What law, asked the man.
Jesus gave him the
five horizontal laws or what we call the natural laws. “You shall not kill,
shall not steal, shall not commit adultery, you shall not bear false witness,
honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (
Matthew
-19). The man said all these I have been doing in my life.
Christ
loved him and said, one thing remained, sell all that you have to the poor,
come and follow me. If you want to enter into perfection, make clear the
importance of this, he further told his disciples, whoever does not abandon
himself and follow me is not worthy of me”.
The
significance of these teachings on salvation means unconditionally attaching
one’s self to
Christ in everything. Stated differently, it means
submerging oneself into
Christ without reservation. Salvation is
unreservedly pouring one’s self into
Christ. That means insuring one’s
mortal life into the immortality of
Christ. That is washing a sinful
self with the sinless blood of
Christ. That is salvation. It is with
this idea of salvation that
Christ had in mind when he said “whosoever
does the will inherit the
kingdom of
God”
How then
can the human with the experience of sin and the concupiscence perpetuate in
the perfect sinless person of
Christ while still living in the sinful
world? The answer is, “My Grace is enough for you”
Then, we
may ask the question, what is
Grace?
Grace
is the life and the love of the triune God that comes to us; both personally
and communally as a sheer gift, gratuitously free, unmerited, and
unconditionally given. It is the gift of God’s life in us that enable us to
participate in the life of the triune God? It is the fact of our being
justified; it is the fact of our being deified. It is the true meaning of
Emmanuel,
God is with us and when it is turned around, and it means we are with
God. For without the help of God we cannot achieve anything, that is why,
Christ says, “Without me you can do nothing” All because
God is gracious, his generosity is infinite. That is why the mortal human with
all the characteristics of humanity, with all the characteristics of
Adam
is vulnerable to sin. And the seriousness of sin can parasitically hinge on us
favoring the divinity of God without loosing any aspect of his human nature.
Now the
question is, is this Grace, this justification, and this deification limited to
a sect of Christians, is it limited to Christians alone and the Jews alone, is
it limited to the documented religions like Christianity, Islamism, Hinduism.
Is it limited only to the baptized? What did
Christ mean when he
said “unless you are baptized by water and the spirit, or by selling all that
you have and follow him? What of those who due to no fault of theirs do not
believe in
Christ? How about the little infants who die before they
could be baptized? It is obvious that salvation and the grace of God like the
wind blowing from east to west, north to south round the planet without
restriction. So it is the love of God manifested in the person of
Christ
and perpetuated by the work of the spirit. Therefore, this love of God, the salvation,
this
Grace are not limited to the human, it stretches
into the whole world. For God in
Christ has perfected the imperfect
universe and has trusted this act of perfection to be continued by human. And
the human race continues in this work of perfection and not only by praying thy
kingdom come, but also by participating in building this
kingdom
of
God here on earth. And all who are
participating in building it are not only doing the work of God, but by grace
are incorporated into the children of God.
They could
be called pagans, or gentiles, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Pentecostals, or
Hindus for each of them in their own way are linked to God. And God in his
partiality and Slavic activities is all ready with them even in their non
religiosity. No religion has the monopoly of God. And no religion can
either quantify the grace of God or privatize them to itself alone.
If this
happens to any religion it is indeed mediocrity and a sign of the lack of the
knowledge of God. For God is limitless.
Again, it
is good to understand that there are many churches and God does not have any
favorite church that gives its membership bragging rights among humanity.. For
many will come from east and west and occupy the seat with
Abraham.
Make no mistake about it, salvation is universal.
I have no
intention to discuss grace and good just want to discuss that salvation is
particular and universal. From the foregoing discourse it is categorically
clear that modern Christians are caught in a theological tug of war between
those who confess their monopoly of the right cause of action to God through
Pentecostalism and those who they believe travel on alternative lanes. My
central argument is that there is no monopoly for any sect of Christians in the
desperate race to Heaven.
Regardless
of how one feels about the topic, the fact remains that it is one of the
sensitive issues that divide Christian denominations in modern age.
The myopic
view of salvation and the power of immediate miracles are bones of contention
that split us apart. Yet, while asserting this point, I should hasten to add
here that despite the gap separating the believers in the Pentecostal churches
and the traditional mainline churches, there are many points of convergence
between these two distinct and separate oases of faith in this world of growing
secularism. As one priest maintained, “what stands today as of two thousand
years ago is the word of God to his people”. And that is doing right before
God, don’t steal, or kill, or lie. Live the active life of faith and everything
worth while would be given to you by the Almighty. Let them who have ears hear.
The number of people that get this salvation is limitless. The Gospel says whoever believed, shall be saved. The children of God battle everyday against sin and concupiscence. The desire to sin is in humans. Therefore, it is wrong religiously speaking for any one to claim perfection over sin and the desire to sin while this person is still in the world of sin as most Pentecostals believe.
The Bible says a lot of things...
regarding belief...like
Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you..Acts 1:8. What does the power do?
Power over sin...power to obey and power to do the works of God...that is why we all (not just pentecostals) need the power in the Holy Spirit.
And these signs shall follow those who believe (Mark 16:15-18) If he says signs shall follow those who believe, I believe and I pray and ask for those signs...I do not doubt and write long articles to be commended by moslems, hindi, atheist and agnostics...I read the Bible and endeavour to obey same.
like... sin shall no longer have dominion over you...like I give to you a new heart...anyone who is in Christ Jesus is a new creature, old things have passed away, behold all things are become new...
...like what has light to do with darkness...all relevant to this discourse...
that is why God trains His servants then sets them in His church to teach and edify the willing attendants as laid down in Ephesians 4:11...
essays are good, but I will be more interested in what Jesus tells you Himself.
search and you will find, he says.
Kindly spare us the stress of having to go through old arguments. The author has stated correctly the clear position of the bible on salvation and what is/are required.
Please stop twisting things around here and taking us back to inferences and manipulations ( I guess that is the trick of Pentecostal pastors these days)
I wrote an article with a similar theme and you came with these old arguments. Please check your bible SALVATION is not about POWER or what to do with power.
There are clear biblical pronouncements on salvation. We don’t have to go through your round about which is filled with thorns when the road is very clear.
Just open your mind and you will understand the simple message from the author.
Taslim
As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves.
Mohandas Gandhi
"They reject anything cultural as evil and idol worshiping. For instance the killing of animals during ceremonies is seen as an act of paganism. I remembered two years ago when my mom died, her charismatic group gave us set of dos and Don’ts during the funeral, one of them was that there should be no killing of animals and no local dance groups such as the Abarogwu and abachaekurunwa dance during the burial ceremony. According to them, all theses acts represent the worship of paganism. My eldest sister and brother went along with these fanatics, and the younger ones declared third world war in the family. To them it was ok to play Michael Jackson and Hip Hop music but it would be a sin to play our local music. However, we won, but guess what, the same group that asked us not to kill any animal was the same group that fined us because the fried chicken and all the goat meat and cows given to them was not enough. to feed them. Do you get the contradiction and hypocrisy there?"
First of all faaaaaantastic piece of writing!!!!! just to support a section of what you wrote(above). The same pentecostal church are the same people that praise and worship God in the same style of African Traditional Religion (ATR). They clap continuously, speak in Tongues. dance and gyrate their body until they get to a realm that they supposedly are in touch with God! Not to say its a bad thing to do but they don't realize this, and when they are confronted with this they are perplex.. They in fact, have burrowed the most from ATR. (and also some Catholics)what they consider paganism. This way of worship can be seen in some Yoruba cultures and mostly west African cultures.
I limited my comments to the quote below...did you ever get it????
The children of God battle everyday against sin and concupiscence. The desire to sin is in humans.
I was not writing for the other approvers of comments and articles...I thought that intellectual discourse would not only welcome pentecostal bashing-but would welcome anything said in its defence...Since the source of our Christian faith is the Bible alone (not the koran) I wonder....
Tanibaba...if you notice, I no longer reply to all...I just do not have the time...If you want for everyone to clap for you, do not write on NVS.
I quoted a section of her article and limited my comment to that section...I wonder if you have comprehension of the section and how the Power of the Holy Spirit helps you stay away from sin...I was addressing professing christians, not moslems or those not sure where they stand. Question is, why does a moslem comment on articles on the Christian faith while leaving alone those of his Islamic faith...do you not think you can educate us more on the B.U.K. Dress article?
This will be my final comment to you. You limit yourself in so many ways and so find it difficult to learn.
Firstly by asking a muslim not to comment on bible related/christian issues is not only un-academic, but also goes to confirm what the author wrote about the attitude of some christian which leads them to claim sole custody of God.
As for the bible portions you quoted SHOW ME WHERE IT IS SPECIFICALLY STATED THAT YOU WILL NOT SIN AGAIN ONCE YOU BECOME BORN AGAIN OR THAT YOU WILL NOT SIN AGAIN WHEN YOU RECEIVE THE HOLY GHOST.
Bishop that is your interpretation. The bible is in enligh language so dont bring this your twisting and confusion here. Sometimes you appear to be insulting our intelligence.
If you are bothered about my knowledge of the bible you can do either of two things. Enrich your knowledge of the Quran or go and commit suicide.
I thought you can be redeemed but you appear to be a lost case. Has it ever occurred to you that once the nature of any human being is sinless, then that being is no more human. For as long as you are a human being no power can make you conquer sin. Only God is above sin(check the Lord's Prayer)
This piece brings one to ask whether people actually learn anything in this village. The trend has been for people to defend their position even when such has been exposed of its emptiness.
In this write-up, I see a new shift in the author's thinking which is hardly christ-like. If the author approves of sacrificing animals and dancing to voodoo music in a burial ceremony, wherein lies her catholicness?
Her attempt to malign christians of the pentecostal persuasion for not embracing this native culture is utterly absurd. Her bible clearly condemns this as idol worship.One could bear with her though, for the rise of pentecostalism is surely the death of catholicism.
We are now witnessing a show of shame as the respondents make a claim to serving the same god. But there must only be one truth or not at all. The first church is the catholic which branched off into the many pentecostal churches we have today. If as it is well known that the catholic church had committed attrocities far numerous to mention, what do you expect of its offspring? As the christians say, no bad tree brings forth a good fruit.
The author by maintaining this position is hopefully going through a rebirth. She has now seen the crass stupidity of throwing away your culture and religion in preference for foreign ones. Our romance with these foreign religion have been our greatest undoing. It is like an adult who has been sidelined by paralysis for several years learning how to walk again. We must be educated, bear new names, avoid certain people and food to fit into the new religion. No wonder they talk of "born again"
Those who think the bible is the ultimate book that has answers for all problems have never told us how millions of illiterate Africans would cope. Some would say ah the bible is now in hausa, yoruba and Ibo but how can these translations be authentic when it has been proven beyond doubt that the original bible in Greek could not be successfully translated into English?
Hopefully, the new awareness among Africans nay Nigerians would also touch on this religious topic. Some how, we may realize that these "religious" people, wart and all, are wolves in sheep clothing. They are simply preying on gullible and impoverished people. How else do you explain a situation where a pastor was said to have purchased N66 million shares from a bank?
There has to be an end to religious deceit. Every year the pope goes around the world praying for peace. But what you get is war, war and war all over. It appears his language is coded to mean war.
This will be my final comment to you. You limit yourself in so many ways and so find it difficult to learn.
Firstly by asking a muslim not to comment on bible related/christian issues is not only un-academic, but also goes to confirm what the author wrote about the attitude of some christian which leads them to claim sole custody of God.
As for the bible portions you quoted SHOW ME WHERE IT IS SPECIFICALLY STATED THAT YOU WILL NOT SIN AGAIN ONCE YOU BECOME BORN AGAIN OR THAT YOU WILL NOT SIN AGAIN WHEN YOU RECEIVE THE HOLY GHOST.
Bishop that is your interpretation. The bible is in enligh language so dont bring this your twisting and confusion here. Sometimes you appear to be insulting our intelligence.
If you are bothered about my knowledge of the bible you can do either of two things. Enrich your knowledge of the Quran or go and commit suicide.
I thought you can be redeemed but you appear to be a lost case. Has it ever occurred to you that once the nature of any human being is sinless, then that being is no more human. For as long as you are a human being no power can make you conquer sin. Only God is above sin(check the Lord's Prayer)
taslim
I have far more worthy use of ma time....
By the way, I have read your koran and the hadith...from cover to cover, I do not seek opportunities to show it off...unlike some Christian 'unbelievers' who love to belong...
keep prattling your 'knowledge' of the bible and being a christian 'wanabe' as much as you please...and call it intellectualism...you cannot understand me if I explained what I meant...if my name were not referenced, I would normally ignore certain threads, just like I would give a wide berth to certain shouting matches.
=tanibaba>As for the bible portions you quoted SHOW ME WHERE IT IS SPECIFICALLY STATED THAT YOU WILL NOT SIN AGAIN ONCE YOU BECOME BORN AGAIN OR THAT YOU WILL NOT SIN AGAIN WHEN YOU RECEIVE THE HOLY GHOST.
Authors 
Posted by Robot| 21.04.2008 00:31