As a research student and a
follower of Jesus Christ, I have come to a conclusion that today’s preachers of
Christianity and many of their followers or so called Christians have modified
the gospel of Jesus to suit their own intentions and desires.
Why would a follower of Jesus be
praying to stay longer on earth instead of making haste to be with his master,
Jesus, in heaven? Why would a follower be praying and fasting just to own
massive assets or acquire stupendous wealth when neither Jesus nor any of his
disciples owned any known mansion or big businesses?
Jesus even advised a wealthy man
to sell off his assets, distribute the proceeds to the needy and follow him. Was
it not only the daily bread that Jesus taught us to pray for? Why are we using
other biblical quotations to justify our greed or prayers for empowerment to
acquire more than what he recommended in Our Lord’s prayer which is “give us
our daily bread”?
Many of my readers would refer me
to the wealth of Abraham, David, Solomon and others in the Bible as if they are
followers of Abraham, David etc. Anyone is free to say that he or she is an
Abrahamian not a Christian. Christian means “Christ-like” or the “follower of
Christ”. Let us not mix it up. If you want to commingle the lives of Christ and
the practices of his ancestors then you are not a Christian. You’re like those
other people who have successfully mixed up the old traditional Israeli
practices with Christianity which is often referred to as Judeo-Christianity.
A Christian is someone who lives
like Jesus Christ and his apostles not someone who does or owns what Jesus and
his disciples rejected. Are you really a Christian? Don’t ask me the same
question because I know that I’m not a perfect Christian. Life as a perfect Christian
conflicts with Nnewi traditional belief system in many but not in all areas
hence my need to supplement.
I use my head. I always fill in
the gaps with my people’s ancestral religious precepts. For instance, Jesus
didn’t marry nor specify marriage rites, funeral procedures or specifically
give solutions to a lot of Igbo man’s life challenges. He was neither a trader
nor a businessman. He was not us. If he
were, we wouldn’t have killed him. It is also hard to convince an Igbo that the
murder committed by Jesus’ brother is on our head. There is a saying that “onye
meta owelu isi ya buru.”
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