Last week was quite interesting on Nigeria's social media space. It started with a video of Pastor Adeboye telling his followers not to marry a woman that can neither cook nor pray for one straight hour. The question that has been on my mind is: does that mean God is deaf? What parent makes their child beg (for one hour) for something they know the child needs? The truth is that prayers, besides making the believer to feel good about themselves, are an absolute waste of time. They do not grow the economy or an amputated limb. Youth unemployment is at an all time high despite our regular night vigils, prayers and supplications - it is evident that a God who is interested in human welfare does not exist. If He did, malaria and cancers will not kill millions of children whilst He preoccupies Himself with consensual sex between homosexual couples.
In our country, pastors are marriage counsellors, psychotherapists, psychiatrists and financial advisers all at once even though they are not appropriately trained for these roles. They tell women to go back to their violent husbands because, according to them, divorce is a sin against God. Many a woman has lost her life because of this advice. People like Adeboye are so influential anything they say is taken as the literal truth. Sadly, his comments portray a man who is out of touch with the realities of modern family life. More and more women are now in employment and some of them are the main providers for their families. Marriage is now regarded as a partnership rather than as a master-servant relationship. Some of the most celebrated chefs in western cultures are men - what is wrong with teaching our boys and young men to cook for themselves? Adeboye has similarly instructed his female followers not to marry men without jobs. But what happens when a man loses his job - should his wife divorce him?
I feel sorry for the people who think God speaks through this man or through any man at all.
If you want incontrovertible evidence that religion cannot reform the world, then consider the degree of theft and corruption in Nigeria. These problems have become endemic even though practically every Nigerian is a practising Muslim or Christian.
Nigerian pastors have acquired a taste for private jets - ostensibly to reach the parts of the world that need the gospel of Jesus, except that they avoid such places as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq. Charity begins at home - it is senseless to run off to put out the fire in your neighbour's house when your own house is up in flames.
Nigerians and their country are in dire need of salvation from endemic corruption. It is evident that religion cannot tranform our nation because as our religious devotions have increased, so have our corrupt ways.
Pastor Adeboye and his other pastopreneur friends need to sell off their jets, repent of their lies, stop robbing their church members through emotional blackmail, and give back what they have stolen. Their message has failed.
Adeboye's gaffes were followed by the news that the Nigerian government is going to subsidise pilgrimage to Mecca by granting Muslims concessionary exchange rate.
That is almost N8 billion for an exercise that does not benefit our economy. Many businesses are failing, parents are struggling to send their children to school, our hospitals are poorly resourced but that is how our government chooses to spend N8 billion. And believers wonder why we cannot stop talking about religion. There would be no use to criticise religion if it is removed from public space and kept as a private matter. It is wrong for the government to use tax payer's money to subsidise religious rituals.
The week ended with the RCCG convention where Adeboye makes his usual wild claims but says nothing of consequence about our nation. Our Vice President and a professor of law, Yemi Osibanjo, who also happens to be a pastor in the Redeemed Church watched on as Adeboye went to town with his preposterous claims. For a man who claims to have resurrected dead people, cured all kinds of diseases and driven a car without feel, you would think Adeboye would have told Vice President Osibanjo by now where to locate the abducted Chibok girls, right? But no, another RCCG convention has ended and not a word about their whereabout. When Adeboye claims that his car drives without fuel or that he has resurrected dead people and there's a medical doctor, engineer, architect, research fellow, PhD holder or a professor in the congregation who believes this fantasy then I feel grief and have great concern for the education system that has nurtured such people.
Religion has caused more harm than it has done good to African societies. Without a doubt, Adeboye and his fellow pastopreneurs have been responsible for the corruption in the way a generation of Nigerians think. But judging by the reactions to his sermon on social media, I think it is safe to say that the scales are starting to fall off the eyes of believers. I believe that pastor Adeboye will think twice now before re-telling his favourite story of how his car drives without fuel. I am thankful for the Internet and how it has placed knowledge at the fingertips (literally) of ordinary people. I pay tribute to fellow secularists for their unrelenting effort to liberate the minds of our people from the shackles of religion. Despite my grief, I feel hopeful about the future.
Ijabla is a medical doctor. He writes from the UK and can be contacted at: ijabijay@me.com Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Nigerianeye, is it every article you get that must be published? Did you guys go through this article? If you did and went ahead to publish it, you have totally lost it...
ReplyDeleteMumu writer. Who offended you, men of God or God Himself? Go to CNN and make more noise so that people can know u exist.
ReplyDeleteGreat article.
ReplyDeleteYes religion has failed mankind.
Insane writer and insane publisher
ReplyDeleteInsane writer and insane publisher
ReplyDelete'Daddy' is acting God. Let the gullible ones keep following and worshiping mere mortals. While these so called men of God and their families keep enjoying heaven on earth their sheepish followers wallow in abject poverty and at the same time give the little they have to the men of God in the name of tithe and other contribution to God. Pure stealing in the name of God. Ci kena!
ReplyDeleteReligion helps guide man on the path of moral existence but it has become a great tool in the hands of some to subjugate others willy-nilly!!!
ReplyDeleteDr. Ijabla, you have expressed your own opinion as allowed by section 38 of our very dear constitution. Pastor Adeboye, is a reknowned academician, who has served God as General Overseer, for over 20 years and never recorded any scandal, what so ever, let alone being villified , for his sermons and advice to his congregation.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible, you did not grasp the full context of his advice on matrimony that men should not marry women who can't cook and women should marry men who don't have jobs.
You live in the UK, where gender roles have become so mixed up, which is why their divorce rates are so high. In the western society, anything goes.
However, this is Nigeria , where gender roles are still strictly observed between spouses in many households , despite the influences of westernization and urbanization through the traditional and social media.
Would you like your son(s) to marry a woman who can't cook? This is not to say that male children should not know one or two things about cooking or doing house chores. In the same vein, would like your daughter(s) to marry a jobless man? You know that is not reasonable. This is not to say that a woman should walk out of her marriage because her husband has lost his job.
Pastor Adeboye, was advising would-be couples to take pre-marital caution before going into a life-long matrimonial contract. Is that a crime?
All the things you said about Nigerian clergy men, especially the christian ones, are true, but you should not blame pastor Adeboye for not criticizing the government and pinpointing the location of the Chibok girls. He preaches holiness and prosperity, to the best of his ability. He does not engage in adversary or watchdog evangelism like the famous John the baptist of the bible.
Dear, Dr. Ijabla, your vexations about Nigerian pastors are justified, but please take easy on Adeboye, he has come a long way and he has done his best.
... Come a long way as in what? The sripure says that on that day a lot will say Lord I cast out demons in your name ... Mumu on the day of judgement you will be Adeboye's lawyer who will tell God that he had come along way therefore God must allow him into heaven kwo! Fool continue following worshipping man.
DeleteDr. Ijabla, you have expressed your own opinion as allowed by section 38 of our very dear constitution. Pastor Adeboye, is a reknowned academician, who has served God as General Overseer, for over 20 years and never recorded any scandal, what so ever, let alone being villified , for his sermons and advice to his congregation.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible, you did not grasp the full context of his advice on matrimony that men should not marry women who can't cook and women should marry men who don't have jobs.
You live in the UK, where gender roles have become so mixed up, which is why their divorce rates are so high. In the western society, anything goes.
However, this is Nigeria , where gender roles are still strictly observed between spouses in many households , despite the influences of westernization and urbanization through the traditional and social media.
Would you like your son(s) to marry a woman who can't cook? This is not to say that male children should not know one or two things about cooking or doing house chores. In the same vein, would like your daughter(s) to marry a jobless man? You know that is not reasonable. This is not to say that a woman should walk out of her marriage because her husband has lost his job.
Pastor Adeboye, was advising would-be couples to take pre-marital caution before going into a life-long matrimonial contract. Is that a crime?
All the things you said about Nigerian clergy men, especially the christian ones, are true, but you should not blame pastor Adeboye for not criticizing the government and pinpointing the location of the Chibok girls. He preaches holiness and prosperity, to the best of his ability. He does not engage in adversary or watchdog evangelism like the famous John the baptist of the bible.
Dear, Dr. Ijabla, your vexations about Nigerian pastors are justified, but please take easy on Adeboye, he has come a long way and he has done his best.
on that day we shall know those who took us through the wrong path.. both persons have a point depending on how we individual see it...
ReplyDeleteThe Lost Ways Review
ReplyDeleteUrban survival or street survival methods are different from techniques used in the wilderness because of the lack of food and water. If urban survival strategies are required it means something disastrous has happened causing a breakdown of the government and law enforcement in that area.
http://thevogenesisprogramreview.com/