God & Church Part 2

From the contrasting responses I received on my previous post on God & church between my Nigerian and non-Nigerian readers, I thought it befitting to write a part 2 to further clarify my words. When I said Nigeria is one of the most religious countries, I didn’t mean that to be positive, infact quite the contrary. To me, there is a grand canyon between religiosity and relationship with God. The latter, I posit, is much purer and just plain better.

My good friend, Dr Kingsley Udoh, a Nigerian doctor who resides in Seattle immediately responded to that post with this:

 “Yes, Nigeria is deeply religious, but that "religiousity" is flawed in many ways. Like you rightly said, a lot of it is driven by the dysfunctional laws, infrastructure, etc and also by need. The reason I said it is flawed is because if Nigerians were really deeply religious we would definitely have a better country if that religion was not just cloaked by going to church or the mosque, but if it translated to actions”. 

Kingsley, I’m picking up what you’re putting down.

Christina Amanpour (the venerable, candid CNN reporter) did a recent interview with a young woman who was raped by an ISIS member, reportedly an American. Before he’d rape her, he said his prayers. After the rape, he took a bath, and then continued in his devoted lifestyle of prayer. To me this is one of the ultimate delusions in life- to profess a name that has zero direct implication on your life and personal choices. Indeed a perverted way of life and this man will reap the rewards of a foolish man.

After Jesus ascended into Heaven, the disciples were called ‘Christians’ because this was the only logical name to call people who exemplified the teachings of Christ. They took on his persona and practiced life like he did. His philosophy is one of intense, and many times offensive way of love. ‘Christians’ demean his name and personality when they indulge in certain behaviors, some for which Nigerians are notorious. What distinguishes the ISIS man who rapes and prays immediately before and after from one who says they love God and act in hate or dishonor towards man? Infact there’s a common understanding that if you speak and act contradictorily, you only deceive yourself.

This same delusion permeates many Nigerians who call themselves Christians. Just one example- adultery is disturbingly normative practice here as married men and women chase more robust younger people to satisfy them. They tell me 98% of married men I see walking around have extramarital affairs. I so desperately want to believe this percentage is inverted, but stories upon stories underscore this absurdity. Same men who profess Christ will leave the church building and within a split second, lustfully eye another woman, practically undressing her in his mind. What rubbish! The worst part of all this is that there are no societal repercussions for such behavior. On the contrary people BOAST of such actions and the bigger of a man you are, the more likely it is that you’ll engage in this ostentatious display of manhood. Like my good friend, The Larry said- 'churches talk about God and grace and salvation.. people need to know truth about sex, money, business'. I would add that the character of a person is reflective of their core beliefs and values. A bad tree cannot yield good fruit. It is like a white washed tomb- strong stench on the inside, yet ostentatious display of religiosity on the outside. Someone PLEASE talk about how adultery, cursing your neighbor, shouting at people, abusing children and widows, insulting the passerby, promiscuity, insatiable desire for sex and instant gratification is un-Christ like. Talk about not living on the defensive (avoiding doing bad things), but proactively taking on the nature of Christ and that changing every way we think and act.

To pray, rape and then pray again is to ride on campaign promises of development, only to step into office and siphon the money. It is to tighten your fist when someone around you is in need, to beat a child mercilessly for the sake of saving face and reputation.I pray for the day when church goers (myself including) stop gossiping, are kind, give freely to all in need, wound a friend's ego by speaking truth rather than betraying or back stabbing. I pray that day is near. I pray it has come, because it must for the stakes in high in these days.

My thoughts on this page do not encapsulate the entirety of observations on the churches I see here and their ways of things. Maybe I’ll talk next on the content of messages/sermons in churches for that topic has a life of its own. I must also add that I’m forever grateful for the leadership I was privileged to be under in my church in the US, both in Waco TX and Seattle WA, and also for my home church here in Nigeria, Salvation Gospel Mision (SGM) Int'n. 

And now for lightness. The video below is one of a children's program at church. I am unbiased when I say the best dancer there is my baby cousin, the one in front right. That girl can move. For you Americans who like to learn new dance moves- here ya go, and most especially- good luck!