Wednesday 6 April 2022

WHERE CAN ONE FIND TRUE CHRISTIANS?

Anayo Nwosu
Anayo Nwosu
 
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.”
 
Curiously, in selling their own version of Christianity, Europeans tried to fill the the gaps but they have not done a perfect job. For instance, I wonder why an orthodox priest wouldn’t dress like the Ajofia Nnewi masquerade or like a typical native doctor during religious meetings, service or Mass as against the Judaism-European fashioned apparels. 

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