"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." - Mahatma Gandhi
Hello there. You! Yes, you. I see you reading, from posts to posts. I see you, because everyday Blogger tells me you are around. I sometimes wonder what you think about all these many things I write. I am thankful you take your time to read them all. I hope you are well :-) Life has been happening for me. In a good way. Thank God. What a roller-coaster year! I can't wait for December or my last post of the year, whichever comes first. Maybe, just maybe I'll be able to capture what this year has been for me, in mere words. Maybe not. I wish I was anonymous though. Anyway, moving on.
I saw the above picture on Twitter. I was moved beyond words. I mean, this is another level of generousity. It got me thinking though. Is this man a christian? I don't know, and I didn't bother to find out. If he is, perfect! If he is not, shame on the rest of us, who call ourselves Christians. Sometime ago, I talked about wanting to blog on how unlike Christ Christians are. I was worried about stepping on toes. I may have changed my mind. Being the true daughter of my father and seeing the above picture, I threw caution to the wind and decided to say what I really feel. Okay, fine...I won't say ALL of what I am really thinking, just some. I'll try to be as politically correct as I can.
If the man in the above picture is not a Christian, then WHERE ARE THE CHRISTIANS OF THIS WORLD? Oh, yeah I know where they are. They are busy amassing wealth, and more wealth and more wealth. I feel many of us have forgotten the real essence Christianity: to be Christlike; to love our neighbors like ourselves. But many people can't even love their own families unfailingly, how much more a random stranger on the street. How much money is too much money? When will it be okay for you to stop FOR A MILLISECOND and realize their are starving people in the everywhere. When will you stop and just hand over a little something to that homeless beggar you walk pass every morning? When will that private, luxurious jet be unnecessary? You know, how about I just use these millions of dollars to send the some children to school. I mean, they want to go to school, they can't afford it. Seeing as I won't be laid to rest six feet under the ground with my diamond Rolex watch. Plus my coffin will probably be too small to accommodate a whole aircraft. How about I invest some of these money in the lives of the younger generation?
The world we are in now, it's hard to explain to people that you are fine affording the basics of life without looking mediocre. I am not saying to not aspire to great things, we all should. But we also should understand those caliber of people who really do not want very much. See, Christ called us to show the world children of who we are. We certainly can not do that by being selfish people who don't give a damn if people in a different part of the country are being senselessly murdered, day in day out. "It's kuku in the North. Let them be killing themselves." If you speak in ALL the tongues in this life, SPEAK all the words in the bible from Genesis to Revelation off the top of your head, and you have no love, you are wasting you time hunnay. Love is certainly not selfish. Love is amazingly kind, pfft Love ain't greedy too, you know. Now, forget that myth that you have to be like the man above to change the world. You don't have to change the 'world'. You are not Jesus. From the moment I realized I CAN NOT change the world, I have had more peace with myself. Say that with me, I.CAN.NOT.CHANGE.THE.WORLD. You can do so much more though. Just look around you. Volunteer because you want to, not because it will boost your Resume. I see you. LOL. Seriously though, start from loving your family, your friends. True, genuine love, not all that hypocritical nonsense. Oh, that little cousin who is bad at maths, help them. Don't delight in their failure. Those cancer survivors that need wigs, can you make one? Get on it, send to them. Just do something.
It's so bad that even INSIDE the church, Christians are...funny. For lack of a better word. I hate to talk about this, but I was in a church recently. I didn't know anybody there, heck I hardly know anyone in this whole city. People would excitedly and enthusiastically hug or shout greetings across to their 'friends' and would legit look past me with a straight face. LIKE for real. Not even a hello, not even a fake smile, you know the type Americans love to give. How can you be so nice, warm and loving to the person sitting RIGHT NEXT to me, but be so cold and stiff to me? HUH? Fellow African folks like me, people of my ETHNIC GROUP. Man, so much for being a christian. If I walked right into a club, I am sure that I would at least get all the guys grinning at me and winking at me, and all that stuff. But inside the house of God...a different story. The incident(s)--it wasn't just one Sunday-- made me think back to my childhood church, and wonder if at any point in my own life, I had been guilty of that too. Honestly, I don't know. But a church should be a community where the Love of God thrives. Christians should that same love carry around with them at all times.
That's all folks...for now.
I had a good last weekend. Two different friends came to my city. It was so good to have a real conversation, not over the phone, not over Skype. I know I say I come alive in my own space and all that, but man sometimes I just miss my friends and our gossips and all that. Hahaha. So I am posting pictures of food for you to drool over. I love taking pictures of food. Everybody in my house knows, and they allow me to take pictures of their food before they dive in. Till I come your way, next time (which may be a really long time, again :-(. Life guys, life is happening), remember to share as much love as you can.
Love,
I
This is my girl!
ReplyDeleteWith your advent in Washington DC for graduate studies, I was initially “scared” a bit that my daughter might soon begin to imbibe the “double speak” culture of those people in the corridors of power and the foreign diplomats. As it is now though, I don’t have to worry.
I’ll like to comment on the Nigerian “new generation” Christian leaders. Having been privileged to experience the good, old Christianity of yester-years, the primary school I attended for the laying of my educational foundation was set up by the Apostolic Church. It had every modern amenity anyone could think of even by today’s standards. And it was free!
The orthodox churches, on their own, were not rich enough to provide free education. Rather, they had to tax and levy their congregations mercilessly. They were the true adherents of Apostle James and his preaching of faith backed with works. It was through the free education that many non-believers were converted to Christianity.
Check the dossiers of all the Nigerian “new generation” pastors and you will discover that all of them were born poor. Without the free mission schools, almost all those pastors would have been stark illiterates today due to their poor family backgrounds. For example, Pastor Tunde Bakare was born into a very poor Muslim family. He was so poor that he did not have access to or ever used a cutlery set to eat in his life until he visited the home of his then future wife. Don’t even talk about the terrible poverty-stricken backgrounds of Pastor Adeboye and some other famous Nigerian pastors.
Now, with the exception of Bakare and a few others, many of the other pastors have set up schools. But the irony here is that their schools are so elitist and outrageously expensive that even poor members of their congregations cannot afford to place kids in them. These are churches that are so stinking-rich that they lodge millions of cash into their banks’ accounts on weekly basis. The huge monthly interest accruing from those large deposits alone are enough to provide scholarships to poor students, set up hospitals and orphanages. But what do the churches do? They acquire private jets, mansions, exotic cars and other items of luxuries for their pastors.
As for individual Christians, I am sure there are some very good Christians out there. But they are very few in number. The fact of the matter is that the practice of genuine Christianity is very tough. It goes beyond mere theory and silly posturing. Many of those individuals who parade themselves as “born-again” Christians are so evil, mischievous and unprincipled that even Lucifer and his legions of monsters must constantly be blushing with envy. This therefore explains their sheer inability to demonstrate love and affections even while in a “house of God”.
And with such individuals largely constituting the congregation of a church…tell me, what else would you expect from such a church? Gossips, segregations into various camps, mutual suspicions, arguments, fights and other negative engagements.
Thank you for your long comment, you particularly shed a lot more light on the issue. Not that I am surprised by your strong feeling about it anyway. LOL.
DeleteThank you for reading!