THE TRUE RELIGION IN NIGERIA
In the most preponderant estimation, there are about 4200 religions in the world. I doubt if this count includes the faith and creed of 80% of Nigerians. Out of all, Islam and Christianity have registered their domination. However, the question of which of these is the most prominent and dominant in Nigeria has been a subject of an unending debate. Meanwhile, the hard truth is that the majority of Nigerian population belongs to neither of both religions. Only few Nigerians practice in truth ideal Islam or Christianity.
In the most obvious terms, an average Nigerian may be a doctrinal zealot, a prayer warrior or evangelization enthusiast. He may pledge fanatical defence of his faith at the last drop of his blood. Phew! He has no genuine spirit of a Muslim or Christian. Whoever thinks of four out of five Nigerians, that all their strive in the church or fraternity with the Christian brotherhood is for the love of God, heaven or spiritual salvation is living in a fool's paradise. If you see them doing same in the mosque or among the brotherhood of the Muslims and consider it a faithful service to Islam, I urge you to wake up to the contemporary reality.
This is not to say that there are no God conscious Nigerians who are faithfully devoted to religion and living according to its enviable rules and ethics. I have seen and lived among a number of them. However, the integrity test on our larger population shows us as religious people without God consciousness. The ideals of most Nigerians collide headlong with that enshrined in either of the faiths they proclaim. The belief and demeanor are far from that of Jesus or Muhammad who are the mentors and leaders of these two heavenly religions. Beyond ignorance, the creed and life concept of both men were similar and the same.
Jesus was referenced as saying: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes (Matt 6:25);…But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own (Matt 6:33-34)
Muhammad was quoted: Whoever wakes up with good health, security of his family and a provision sufficient for the day is as if he were to possess the world (At-Tirmidhi); Richness is not abundance of wealth but self-contentment (Bukhari and Muslim)
In a sharp deviation, the religion of Nigerian populace is MONEY. This is the truest religion across the 36states and the federal capital territory of our country. This religion is not typically professed by anyone of us in actual sense. Nevertheless, it is the most powerful movement in Nigeria and indeed in the whole world. In its shrine tied the wordly power, connection and fame that many of us desperately long for! Unlike Christianity or Islam, its ethics are greediness, formlessness and callousness. A thousand Nigeria is reverting from both religions that they apparently claim on daily basis. They are being worn or persuaded into this newest religion albeit unconsciously. It is the faith that has brought us into this current state of crises, pains and lamentations.
You may be keen to know that this is the religion that actually divides us. Islam or Christianity does not divide us in civil service, politics and business. What does is the sharing formular for earned allowance, national resources and the so-called 'juicy' ministries or political offices. It is the reason why a particular Nigeria may be unsuitable to hold a public position in Nigeria even if professionally or diligently qualified! In more common cases, that is related to his initiation into the religion of money than his tribe or professed faith.
This religion places politics above either Islam or Christianity (to what extent would the faith be the fate of the imams and pastors in the frontiers of the mainstream political pull-push would be an issue of critical assessment with time). It is the creed that makes this nation regarded as a secular state even with the unending proliferation of mosques and churches. This philosophy has been reiterated over and over again in the most recent times by the apex body of one of our professed religions. What can be more a conundrum?
This is a nation where prayers are said in either religious manners during official meetings in the presidential villa, government houses and public institutions. This is a country with a national mosque and Christian Centre, both located at the central capital. The logic of such proposition later became a fallacy when the leadership of the same religion had at a time offered a personal jet in the service of the true religion of money. Nigerians' religiousity is a sacrifice for money. A handful of us attend regular devotion in the mosque or church. Those who do so merely participate in body and flesh, not often with the spirit or in compliance with the rules.
How many of us do not lie on phone? How many are faithful to their spouses? How many do not cheat in the examination or take bribe? How many of us are fair and objective in our comments? How many do not make false witnesses or testimony upon swearing with the Qur'an or Bible? How many of us can diverge rendering 'help or support' from being accomplices in crime? Is a student lending a microsheet to his friend in an examination hall a helper or a criminal? What of the one who impersonated for another? What of the judge who rules in favour of the criminal? How many us do not venerate old thieves and hail them back home into leadership seats?
Money is the ideology of those who agitate for the presidency of a man who is practically a failure and charismatically unfit to govern. It is the fellowship of those who mobilize for calumny and resignation against a leader who is apparently performing and sincere even if they were attending same church or mosque. It is the true religion of the one who claims Islam and sent by a leader who claims Christianity but diverted the money and shared it among his brothers with no reference to their faith or tribe.
Its doctrine makes a Muslim man a sworn critic of another even when his assertions are false and destructive because he desperately wants power. It is a religion whose scriptures is more sacred than Qur'an or Bible. Salvation in this religion is at the instant of belonging to the caucus of the billion donors. The leaders of this religion must be in the rank of jet owners. This religion places all men under the same brotherhood that are equally greedy, corrupt and irresponsible. It is the faith with a strongest brotherhood among Nigerians regardless of Islam, Christianity or tribe.
This brotherhood in their various positions of leadership have the same wicked policies to the workforce. They are blind to the plights of retirees who are supposed to be pensioners. They also pay half or no salary to those currently in service. Which heavenly religion permits these? Islam or Christianity? No! Only the religion of money has texts that build in a man such an effrontery to publicize the commissioning of his own new house while his subjects are dying of hunger. It is the one that justifies stocking naira notes in billions in an overhead or underground tanks instead for water or soil wastes respectively.
The spirit of this religion blinds the sight on the forehead to the foresight on the life eventuality. A man worshipping at this temple sees money as the need for all needs. He fails to realize that fire from an Air conditioning system can burn a man, his house and his entire possession in few minutes. Have we not seen how money took a sick man to one of the best hospitals in London but was brought back home dead? We remember with a sad memory a serving senator who died in an autocrash. Was he able to predict his own end from the automation and expert devices in the best of the car money can give anyone? How better can life tutor us on its transient and worthless value?
In the biblical terminology, both the Jesus and Muhammad encountered the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Do we remember their qualities and who they were? The spate and style of stealing in our country (which has been craftily termed money laundering) is a significant proof that Nigerians are more of sadducees even when they use the cross or rosary as pendants. They do not believe in resurrection or life after death. They live to die permanently and live no more saying: There is no another life except this present one. We shall never be resurrected (Q6:29). What a loss!
Do not blame unGodly act of any Nigerian on Islam or Christianity, blame it on the god they truly worship. The crises of social insecurity as well as corruption in government, occupational and worship centres are all eggs from the same hatchery. It is an indicator of gully erosion of our true religious values. No nation was ever destroyed in the past except after abusing the teachings of their religion. A call to clamp down on religious teachings and practice is a jungle attempt to triumph the freewills and Godlessness over the noble path that exalts hardworking and contentment as the legitimate road to richness. Religions command tolerance, forbearance, kindness, honesty, selflessness, justice as well as love for neighbour and country. More specifically, among the qualities that unite Muhammad and Jesus as brothers of a similar creed and lifestyles are simplicity, ascetism and contentment.
If a Nigerian claims to be a Muslim or Christian, adherence to their religious texts must not be an option. Religion is not a curse to Africa as upheld in some quarters. It is a perfect decent order. What are rather the threats are the religious practices in our midst that are alien to the scriptures of the acclaimed religions. Sanitation of religious sector is more important than the sanitation of the military in the fight against insurgency. It should be seen as the foremost strategy in the fight against corruption. No corruption is primarily worse than spiritual corruption. Its success would be a significant stride in the 'change' effort.
Nigeria's problem is caused by those who pay lipservice to divine commandments. They are those who profess Islam but do not live like Muhammad and those Christians who do not live like Jesus. Has the acronym of this country not been Naturally Integrated Giant Explorations and Reserves In Africa, there could have been no standing nation called Nigeria in our age of money maniacs.
By Uncleyat
In the most preponderant estimation, there are about 4200 religions in the world. I doubt if this count includes the faith and creed of 80% of Nigerians. Out of all, Islam and Christianity have registered their domination. However, the question of which of these is the most prominent and dominant in Nigeria has been a subject of an unending debate. Meanwhile, the hard truth is that the majority of Nigerian population belongs to neither of both religions. Only few Nigerians practice in truth ideal Islam or Christianity.
In the most obvious terms, an average Nigerian may be a doctrinal zealot, a prayer warrior or evangelization enthusiast. He may pledge fanatical defence of his faith at the last drop of his blood. Phew! He has no genuine spirit of a Muslim or Christian. Whoever thinks of four out of five Nigerians, that all their strive in the church or fraternity with the Christian brotherhood is for the love of God, heaven or spiritual salvation is living in a fool's paradise. If you see them doing same in the mosque or among the brotherhood of the Muslims and consider it a faithful service to Islam, I urge you to wake up to the contemporary reality.
This is not to say that there are no God conscious Nigerians who are faithfully devoted to religion and living according to its enviable rules and ethics. I have seen and lived among a number of them. However, the integrity test on our larger population shows us as religious people without God consciousness. The ideals of most Nigerians collide headlong with that enshrined in either of the faiths they proclaim. The belief and demeanor are far from that of Jesus or Muhammad who are the mentors and leaders of these two heavenly religions. Beyond ignorance, the creed and life concept of both men were similar and the same.
Jesus was referenced as saying: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes (Matt 6:25);…But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own (Matt 6:33-34)
Muhammad was quoted: Whoever wakes up with good health, security of his family and a provision sufficient for the day is as if he were to possess the world (At-Tirmidhi); Richness is not abundance of wealth but self-contentment (Bukhari and Muslim)
In a sharp deviation, the religion of Nigerian populace is MONEY. This is the truest religion across the 36states and the federal capital territory of our country. This religion is not typically professed by anyone of us in actual sense. Nevertheless, it is the most powerful movement in Nigeria and indeed in the whole world. In its shrine tied the wordly power, connection and fame that many of us desperately long for! Unlike Christianity or Islam, its ethics are greediness, formlessness and callousness. A thousand Nigeria is reverting from both religions that they apparently claim on daily basis. They are being worn or persuaded into this newest religion albeit unconsciously. It is the faith that has brought us into this current state of crises, pains and lamentations.
You may be keen to know that this is the religion that actually divides us. Islam or Christianity does not divide us in civil service, politics and business. What does is the sharing formular for earned allowance, national resources and the so-called 'juicy' ministries or political offices. It is the reason why a particular Nigeria may be unsuitable to hold a public position in Nigeria even if professionally or diligently qualified! In more common cases, that is related to his initiation into the religion of money than his tribe or professed faith.
This religion places politics above either Islam or Christianity (to what extent would the faith be the fate of the imams and pastors in the frontiers of the mainstream political pull-push would be an issue of critical assessment with time). It is the creed that makes this nation regarded as a secular state even with the unending proliferation of mosques and churches. This philosophy has been reiterated over and over again in the most recent times by the apex body of one of our professed religions. What can be more a conundrum?
This is a nation where prayers are said in either religious manners during official meetings in the presidential villa, government houses and public institutions. This is a country with a national mosque and Christian Centre, both located at the central capital. The logic of such proposition later became a fallacy when the leadership of the same religion had at a time offered a personal jet in the service of the true religion of money. Nigerians' religiousity is a sacrifice for money. A handful of us attend regular devotion in the mosque or church. Those who do so merely participate in body and flesh, not often with the spirit or in compliance with the rules.
How many of us do not lie on phone? How many are faithful to their spouses? How many do not cheat in the examination or take bribe? How many of us are fair and objective in our comments? How many do not make false witnesses or testimony upon swearing with the Qur'an or Bible? How many of us can diverge rendering 'help or support' from being accomplices in crime? Is a student lending a microsheet to his friend in an examination hall a helper or a criminal? What of the one who impersonated for another? What of the judge who rules in favour of the criminal? How many us do not venerate old thieves and hail them back home into leadership seats?
Money is the ideology of those who agitate for the presidency of a man who is practically a failure and charismatically unfit to govern. It is the fellowship of those who mobilize for calumny and resignation against a leader who is apparently performing and sincere even if they were attending same church or mosque. It is the true religion of the one who claims Islam and sent by a leader who claims Christianity but diverted the money and shared it among his brothers with no reference to their faith or tribe.
Its doctrine makes a Muslim man a sworn critic of another even when his assertions are false and destructive because he desperately wants power. It is a religion whose scriptures is more sacred than Qur'an or Bible. Salvation in this religion is at the instant of belonging to the caucus of the billion donors. The leaders of this religion must be in the rank of jet owners. This religion places all men under the same brotherhood that are equally greedy, corrupt and irresponsible. It is the faith with a strongest brotherhood among Nigerians regardless of Islam, Christianity or tribe.
This brotherhood in their various positions of leadership have the same wicked policies to the workforce. They are blind to the plights of retirees who are supposed to be pensioners. They also pay half or no salary to those currently in service. Which heavenly religion permits these? Islam or Christianity? No! Only the religion of money has texts that build in a man such an effrontery to publicize the commissioning of his own new house while his subjects are dying of hunger. It is the one that justifies stocking naira notes in billions in an overhead or underground tanks instead for water or soil wastes respectively.
The spirit of this religion blinds the sight on the forehead to the foresight on the life eventuality. A man worshipping at this temple sees money as the need for all needs. He fails to realize that fire from an Air conditioning system can burn a man, his house and his entire possession in few minutes. Have we not seen how money took a sick man to one of the best hospitals in London but was brought back home dead? We remember with a sad memory a serving senator who died in an autocrash. Was he able to predict his own end from the automation and expert devices in the best of the car money can give anyone? How better can life tutor us on its transient and worthless value?
In the biblical terminology, both the Jesus and Muhammad encountered the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Do we remember their qualities and who they were? The spate and style of stealing in our country (which has been craftily termed money laundering) is a significant proof that Nigerians are more of sadducees even when they use the cross or rosary as pendants. They do not believe in resurrection or life after death. They live to die permanently and live no more saying: There is no another life except this present one. We shall never be resurrected (Q6:29). What a loss!
Do not blame unGodly act of any Nigerian on Islam or Christianity, blame it on the god they truly worship. The crises of social insecurity as well as corruption in government, occupational and worship centres are all eggs from the same hatchery. It is an indicator of gully erosion of our true religious values. No nation was ever destroyed in the past except after abusing the teachings of their religion. A call to clamp down on religious teachings and practice is a jungle attempt to triumph the freewills and Godlessness over the noble path that exalts hardworking and contentment as the legitimate road to richness. Religions command tolerance, forbearance, kindness, honesty, selflessness, justice as well as love for neighbour and country. More specifically, among the qualities that unite Muhammad and Jesus as brothers of a similar creed and lifestyles are simplicity, ascetism and contentment.
If a Nigerian claims to be a Muslim or Christian, adherence to their religious texts must not be an option. Religion is not a curse to Africa as upheld in some quarters. It is a perfect decent order. What are rather the threats are the religious practices in our midst that are alien to the scriptures of the acclaimed religions. Sanitation of religious sector is more important than the sanitation of the military in the fight against insurgency. It should be seen as the foremost strategy in the fight against corruption. No corruption is primarily worse than spiritual corruption. Its success would be a significant stride in the 'change' effort.
Nigeria's problem is caused by those who pay lipservice to divine commandments. They are those who profess Islam but do not live like Muhammad and those Christians who do not live like Jesus. Has the acronym of this country not been Naturally Integrated Giant Explorations and Reserves In Africa, there could have been no standing nation called Nigeria in our age of money maniacs.
By Uncleyat
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