For My Church Folk
It’s amazing how entire societies can practice selective amnesia. How African people, of all people, could have bought into the idea that because gay people are getting married, youngsters my age are fornicating like steroid-amped bunnies and there are natural disasters such as hurricanes and tsunamis, that means that Jesus Christ is coming tomorrow boggles me.
Are You Forgetting Where We Were Decades Ago?
Are you forgetting that until quite recently we weren’t even thought of or treated as whole human beings? Are you forgetting that almost the entire continent of Africa was under colonialism and that African civil rights were nothing more than an illusion of the occasional schizophrenic. Are you forgetting that colonialism, slavery and all forms of oppression against the African brought with them:
1) Murder
2) Mutilation
3) Rape
4) Assault
5) Intense labour without any possibility of pay
So ladies and gentlemen how does that compare with the reality of today? We are among the first lots of Africans within the Western empire who are not enslaved by some European barbarian. I am assuming you are not reading this from a concentration camp or a dungeon. If you are, contact me, I would love to interview you about your experiences.
What About Before That?
Let’s see!The last couple of centuries have been nothing but a moral purists dream haven’t they? What with:
a) World War 2
b) The first Nuclear weapon being dropped
c) World War 1
d) The Scramble for Africa
e) The misuse of religion to enslave millions of people worldwide
f) The occupation and colonization of almost every nation on Earth.
g) The turf and property ways that tribal societies in Africa used to have with each other e.g. the Maasai vs the Kikuyu
h) The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade etc etc etc
Compare that to the prospect of living next to a couple that call themselves “Stacy and Mary” as opposed to “Mark and Mary”? Do they even compare?
Yes, Mr. Young Stud (real name;) ) may distribute his semen up and down the globe, but can you compare it to the millions of African women who were held down and raped while their village is being pillaged and robbed by occupying forces?
So What’s Your Point?
My point is quite simple. You have to keep your life in perspective. Yes, we do exist in the age of neocolonialism and yes the chains of oppression and the yoke of selfishness and greed is far from removed.
However
A lot of people died and made sacrifices so you could sit in a cyber-cafe or sit in a fully furnished home and read this.
This is one of the first generations EVER in the history of the Western empire to have middle and upper classes.
We have been blessed due to great people like Aime, Fannon, Lumumba, Mandela, X, Biko, Kimathi,Mboya, Nyerere and Nkrumah to be able to eat on the same tables as the Westerners who once oppressed us and that is no light blessing.
So please put your life in perspective and be thankful for all the blessings that your forefathers and your divine Father has blessed you with. Quit fixating on whether or not the rapture is erupting tomorrow and instead focus on being a creature that lives by the only two commandments that matter:
1) Love God
2) Love your fellow man as you love yourself, not forgetting that what you do to the least of your brethren has direct impact on point number 1.
Do the above two things as they were originally intended and you don’t even need to worry about whether or not the world is ending tomorrow: you’re ready!
If this post caused a little stirring in your soul, feel free to subscribe to the blog via email or RSS to get regular inspiration.
Be blessed and bless others,
Mwangi
Tags: African society, armageddon, Book of Revelation, rapture, the end of the world, Western imperialism
Oi! What happened to the podcast intro? I’m already addicted to those 🙂 being the ever grateful one, I still think it’s nice to be reminded of the importance of seeing things from a “cup-is-half-full” perspective. YOU be blessed!
@gal africana: Tomorrow will be my 100th post, so the day after that, I will do my first ever, 100% audio post..just for you 😉 . Thanks for the blessings! I hope I manage to get a few more people to buy into the cup is half full perspective; we are a tiny club, but surprisingly positive and optimistic about it 😀
Here! Here! Am glad you are writing about this! I have never understood, and perhaps someone will explain, why religious people(not ALL) condemn gays,lesbians,bisexuals + transsexuals? Are they not people like they are? Are they not your neighbors? Doesn’t the bible says something like not judging others?
I strongly believe that one day (and not too far off) we will be looking at this discrimination in the same way we look at race discrimination.It is hurtful and just not right.
Looking forward to your 100th post!
@seinlife: My hunch is that it was a brilliant political mind that brought up the gay issue and colored it as a gay vs Christian issue to distract from whatever the real issue was at the time.
If you are a true believer and you want to prove you are better than anyone…overwhelm them with your capacity to love them and treat them with the love and compassion that Christ would treat everyone with.
Thank you, I am pretty excited about it too.
As far as we can tell, every great organization must have a head (CEO, etc).
If you believe in the Bible, then you will understand that
(i)The world we see is a comples organization and therefore has a CEO who is a prince, aka the Prince of the air, aka the shining one. His pastimes include encouraging his employees (who are willing) to engage in various after work activities ( e.g. slavery, murder, rape, etc)
(ii) That there is a King over all, who gives the prince in (i) the power that he wields over the mortals.
(iii) That there will be an event known as the rapture. When? No one knows. Is it controlled by the number of gays/fornicators/murderers on the earth? NO. Are there signs to alert those interested whether it is about to occur? Yes. What are these? Search by yourself, but as the author has said, it does it really matter.
On hating gays or judging others
A true christian CANNOT hate anyone (gay or slave trader or genocide causers) BUT has a responsibility to (lovingly-not push) inform gentlemen that engage in some activities, that there is another way, if they so choose. Now, informing people of the existence of other ways is no different that me telling you that “Hey, i notice you drive a Hummer that does 11 miles/gallon. If you try a Prius, you can really save on Gas. Is that judging in a bad way? If so, then we should sue all people who market or advertise stuff to us, NOt so?
@ a-lover-of-gays: One of the most interesting names I have read so far. After reading this and reading the post you sent me I think I can pretty much conclude that I am indeed in the presence of a philosopher.
I definitely agree with your P.O.V. on the matter….what baffles me is when people talk about wanting to kill people they hate in defense of a religion that is centred on love.
The bottom line is that being gay is not a choice! So if you look past that then you will realize that hummer-prius analogy does not hold water.It’s not an option, you are born thus. Just by presenting them with another option you are judging them because you are essentially saying your way in not the ‘right’, ‘best’, ‘better’ way – mine is (coz really you pick the prius over the hummer coz it is better, better mileage et al, right) How would you feel if a gay person suggested you be gay?
I think we should be tolerant to all and each other. If anything our sexual orientations should be our own business but if they happen to suffice then we should respect each others preferences.
@SeinLife
(i)I began by saying “if you believe in the bible”.
(ii)I also said “A true christian CANNOT hate anyone”
(iii)I also said “informing people of the existence of other ways”
By (i), it means the bible says being gay is a “wrong path”. Perhaps there is another book out there (lest call it Gible) that says “being gay is cool”. If you do not believe the Bible but believe the Gigle, i have no quarrel with you. I will not think you are stupid or less of a person than i am. ALso, you should not really worry about what the Bible says, if you believe the Gible is true.
By (ii) if you met a Christian who hates you because you are gay (or black or a woman or a kikuyu or disabled or dump or a muslim, etc), that person’s Christianity is suspect, and indeed he does not live according to his Master’s commands. The person may be disgusted by “gayness” ( they same way you may be disgusted with his “hetero..ness” ) BUT he has no right to hate or discriminate against you.
By (iii),it is obvious that peddling one’s way of life should not be confused with looking down upon others. Let us suppose we all had a medical condition and i happen to find a cure, would you wish that i kept silent or informed you, and you decided whether you cared for the solution or not.
I will say this gently: you owe your very existence to your parents NOT BEING GAY. Should that not in itself tell you that if the whole world were gay the world would come to an end?
@mwangi great post.
I once sat through a sermon on the evil of adornment in women and how that would send women to hell and they should be shunned and chased away from church as they are bringing the end of the world… you catch my drift.
Finally I walked out in disgust. Why would someone sit and write a sermon this trivial?
All sorts of people usually end up on the pulpit. Sadly a majority of them have less than noble intentions towards mankind and salvation of souls. The greatest commandment that was given to Christians is to love one another. In the history of the world they have not loved each other or even themselves as required.
The threshold of tolerance is very low in the Church just as it is everywhere else.
@prou: Glad you enjoyed it. It’s as though some preachers have already decided on which group of people in society they want to hate on and so they simply chose bibilical scriptures to justify it and create an entire sermon series. Case in point: The Dutch Reformed Church with the teaching that Africans were the cursed sons of Noah and so were destined to be hewers of wood and drawers of water…….some people just don’t take their faith seriously enough me thinks.
and btw, what is with sexual sin being considered much worse than war or politicians proliferating poverty? Now that I think about it, why are, especially African preachers so quick to condemn the fornicating youths but never point a finger at the corrupt politicians in their congregations………hmmm that just occured to me.
@ seinlife I’m with you on the “gayness is not a choice”…I really cant believe that gay people decide to be gay especially given how much adversity most of them have to go through before they realize their true sexuality. Some of the stories one hears are just downright heartbreaking. I cant imagine what it’s like to be denied the right to be…to the extent that gay people are in some societies. I definitely don’t think it’s a choice. I do, however, appreciate that some of those who think that it’s a choice, can be tolerant of something they quite clearly are against.
@a-lover-of-gays – thanks for the further clarification, i however still do not agree with your view points, perhaps coz i don’t believe in this bible that says that being gay is the ‘wrong path’ BUT do not fret – as much as i enjoy different view point we will probably butt heads until the cows come home:-) soo even though i disagree – i totally respect your opinions and at this point would say we agree to disagree, qui?
Let me tell you something….
being gay is a tendency, people are born with it…just like they are born with a tendency to steal sugar as kids. The fact that its a tendency one is born with doesnt make it right, or even pitiable. These tendencies are in all of us because of sin, and the fact that you have a certain tendency doesnt make you any more peculiar.
As a kid, when we stole sugar, we were beaten till that crap got out of us, did we ever go around complaining…ohhh why are you punishing me for being who i am, a thief…i was born with this tendency..bla bla blah..
Gay people have just been allowed to take their tendency too far. It wasnt beaten out of them while they were kids and now, society has to pay the price of showing them pity and protecting their rights and a whole lot of bull….
This is just a warning to parents, format the metal while its still hot.
@ everyone: Woah, ladies and gentlemen I do believe we are getting sidetracked and losing the point of the post. The point of the post wasn’t to discuss the virtues/vices, nature/nurture debate of homosexuality or the theology behind fornication, it was to remind us that in this day and age we are pretty blessed and we shouldn’t have such a dark, the-world-is-ending-NOW outlook because of the proliferation of homosexuality and fornication all over the world.
The point of the post was to be grateful to be alive now….the rest is for another place and time.
According to the Bible the proliferation of immorality ie fornication and homosexuality does herald the end of days. It may be decades or a century away. So if you are looking at the Bible and the many verses in the New Testament we are indeed in the end times. If you are looking at the Mayan calendar we are 4 years away from the end or at least upheaval, if you are looking at science we are going to be here until the earth cant sustain us or an asteroid/comet finally hits us.
We are among the first lots of Africans within the Western empire who are not enslaved by some European barbarian.
My friend our enslavement is alive and well, it has just risen to another frightening level. We have been enslaved mentally and financially. Black people think anything from the white man is correct and divine, we think white is right above all else. Colonisation and Globalization have kept us down. The Euro centric view of Christianity has crushed local belief systems and African spiritual ways of self expression. We have been conditioned to the point where we cant rule or feed ourselves without the help of the white man. Our own people have become economic refugees working low level jobs in White people’s countries so as to make a basic living, modern day serfs which is just one step above slavery.
And you still think slavery is over? The plantation is global my friend….
@Acolyte: No doubt neocolonialism and mental slavery are alive and well today…no doubt. However, my point is, that in terms of the two things that the White colonialists were always after when they showed up in Africa – money and power – we have made great strides. It may not be moral, or even just, but I don’t think you can deny that now a lot more Africans are eating at the table of the Emperor as opposed to licking his boot and fighting his battles.
Plus, can you really compare the levels of immorality (think of yours and my day to day existence) compared to the shafting you and I would have gotten if we were born in Kenya in 1926?
Interesting debate(s):Just to reiterate what Acolyte said, Jesus spoke of signs of the end of the age and even went ahead to tell Christians to be alert, to watch.I guess what we have to do then is not criticize people for remaining alert but for not extending the hope(and love) they have , that should in all honestly supercede any fear’s they have.
A bit of a tangent to the whole world ending thing :on evil, its the same in 1926 and 2008 as it will be in 2090, if we’re still around;). You’ve spoken of the preacher who doesn’t speak up against corrupt politicians but is pretty heavy handed when admonishing gays or whoever. Thats not right obviously, but then again , an interesting thing about Christianity is that sin is sin, it cant be categorized. The slave owner , the fornicator, the embezzler , liar ,’Stacy and Mary’ are no different. I’m all for counting blessings, being grateful for where we’ve come from and above all loving God and man, but how can we laud the Mandela’s of this world but then vilify those who stand for morality, especially if as Christians all these things carry the same moral weight?
hmm, hope that makes sense
@mamashady: It does…I guess after being in the West for a long time and hearing so many “feel good” and prosperity preachers out here, I began to see the brimstone and damnation preachers and Christianity of home in a much worse light. But you are right though, a Christian man cannot be judged for standing up against things that are condemned in the bible.
That having been said, I still don’t think the proliferation of the sexual morality debate in the Western world is a sign of impending Apocalypse when weighed against the “are Africans human or the next thing up from animals” debate of preceding decades.
hmm,no.No its not the only basis that people should use to construct their arguments.Then again maybe its just the way humanity is, we latch onto various debates over the centuries and sometimes forget others, though ALL these issues remain.
@mwangi
I support Acolyte. Modern slavery is worse now than before:
(0) Believe me my friend, the devil is wiser than men.He knows how to adapt and package his wares to be acceptable and appealing.
(i ) Modern slavery is hidden, so you are taken in unawares. For example, the local market is at the US embassy in Gigiri. You walk in there “willingly”. You imagine that you are being offered an opportunity (a Green Card say) ), only to discover that you have inherited the wind and dropped many many levels below in your lifestyle. It does not matter that a few of us sit at the “emperor’s” table.
(ib)And have you considered, that in the old days, your grand parents lived to 80s, yet now, even with the miracles of science, your peers are lucky to live to 50s (do not tell me that crap about HIV/AIDS being responsible, etc). Just consider that. Also, wisdom will tell you that science is very very expensive, and only the owners and those with money (in the west) gain from it. But lo, we have abandoned our proven old “primitive” ways (foods, etc) and embraced science.Even know, we happily sing “GM food will solve Africa’s food problems”, refusing to realise that GM seeds are patented and is like a water tap that the owner can turn off and on as he wishes.
(ii) It affects more people than it did in the older days. And just as it was in the old days, it is being carried out as a collaboration between the local chiefs (who now economically push their people/other tribes) and the white man in the west
(iii)Consider the AA in the USA. At first glance, you would think, they are free., but you only need to look underneath and realise that the said freedom is deceptive and is no freedom at all.
(v) In fact, according to the bible, during the times of the beast (also known as the brave new world), there will be “slaves”
That “compared to the shafting you and I would have gotten if we were born in Kenya in 1926?”
-i do not understand what that means, but i know the Bible says sin increases as time goes on
-the sure signs of the end are specified in the Bible, and while these ( homo/forn) may be included, these are not necessarily the sure sign of the end
@mamashady: huh? The last response was semi-cryptic?!
@toiyoi: By “the shafting we would have gotten in 1926,”, I mean in comparison to the treatment we would have received as African people if we still lived in the colonial times.
As I said in the post, I am fully aware that we exist in the age of neocolonialism and the methods used to control us in this day and age are more subtle (some not so…but I digress) and psychological, HOWEVER…..as far as I can tell this idea that, “the world is coming to an end because the morality of the world is getting worse,” seems a little off when you pause to consider that indeed we may not have absolute choice and indeed a lot of our brethren-in fact most-in Africa are still under brutal control of some sort, but because of the fights of many great Africans there are a lot more of us with a lot more freedom and choice. And a lot of us are living in homes now as opposed to gulags.
There is a lot that is much worse now about the world than before…global warming, human trafficking, the drug trade, hip hop’s violent culture etc etc etc however very rarely do we pause to thank God for what we have been blessed with. Instead we spend a little too much sign sighing and proclaiming the world is ending because Ellen and Portia de Rossi are engaged.
A little incoherent and meandering, but I save all my coherence for the posts, the comments are for free flowing discussion.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
pole. I meant that if people are talking about the end times then they shouldn’t use sexual immorality as they’re only argument. I was also saying that maybe its just human nature to talk about some things and not others as well. better?
@mamashady: Much :). Maybe you’re right, maybe talking about sex is just something that goes deep.
Signs
We should not distort the scriptures. I do nto support gay lifestyle and other sins the post mentions, but just because there is an increase of gayness does not automatically mean the end is nigh. To know why the end is nigh (for indeed it is), just look at that said signs.
If anything, you should be more concerned by increase of claims of Christs (eg this one http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/06/sect.leader.arrest/index.html), than gay marriage. Secondly, dO not be like the world who think there are levels of sin. Hating the people from the other tribe is as much a sin as being gay. Lying (white or not) is no different than being gay. Do not let the deception trap you, so that you live in false security, thinking the gay are the sinners while your deslike of other people is OK.
A good place to start looking for signs is Matt 24:32-34
32 “Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near. 33 In the same way, when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation[j] will not pass from the scene until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.
So, what are those things? Just read back in Matt 24: 1-45
Now, i must say, if you as a believer who is living after the Spirit each day, you need not worry about the signs. In fact, while the other people will be taken by surprise in that day, you won’t, for your are not in the “darknes”.
Generally, though, these are the generally agreed upon “things” that must occur:
(i)The rebirth of Isarael as a nation
(ii)wars and rumours of wars
(iii) earthquakes and other natural disasters, famines, dieseases
(iv) Rebuilding of the temple
(v)increased knowledge
(vi) increased sin and self love
(vii) many people claiming they are christ
If you need more, let me know and i will give you a comprehensive list with relevant scriptures. Hope this puts to rest the gay angle to the end of the world.
I couldn’t have put it better myself, in fact I wish that could have been the ending of my post 😉