Do you often sit and reflect on the many religious practices we have in the world? When I do sometimes, I get a headache. My mind finds itself second-guessing the essence of Christendom, You know why? It is because some bigots who share this same religion with me act in a lethal manner and it makes me sick🤢.
One time, I came across a post on social media where a guy was lamenting that his mum was given Sallah meat by their neighbor, she accepted the meat and went into the kitchen to re-fry it with ‘anointing oil’🤨. I was aghast by such a narrative. I dug deeper into the comment section and the majority of the feedback got me worried about we so-called Christians.
Some actually applauded his mum for being kind enough to re-fry, unlike them, they would throw away theirs or feed it to the dogs. Why would you accept the meat when you know you wouldn’t eat it? Or wait a minute, let me cut loose some slack. I know it can be hard to say NO when someone offers you something on the spot, especially given the occasion but rather than throw it away why not give it to someone who has nothing to eat? Most so-called Christians claim they love giving but find it hard to make an effort to give.🤦♂️
Read: Do you Believe in Destiny or Multiple Storylines?
Then I stumbled on an interesting comment where a lady narrated that her mum gave her Sallah meat to throw away but she didn’t, instead she hid the meat inside the freezer, a few days later, she prepared a delicious soup with it and served it to her mum. After her mum finished eating, she then told her where the meat came from. Her mum was devastated😂😂 but there was nothing she could have done, she already ate the meat, neither did she die as a result of it. How hilarious!😂😂
THE SUPERIORITY OF LOVE
If you are familiar with the bible stories, you can recall that in Matthew 22:37-40, When the disciples asked Jesus of the greatest commandment in the law, he replied to them saying that the first is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. The second is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Now here’s the interesting part, in verse 40, Jesus said “And the law and prophets hang on these two commandments”.
Read: Sundays, for Fashion, not Sermon
This means that whatever law was given to Moses hovers around these two. And in my opinion, is greater than whatever your pastor or reverend says also. My reference to the church heads is deliberate because the majority of them stir the foundation for these religious wars. 1 Corinthians 13, 4-5, puts that “love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
How many church leaders can boast of exercising these qualities of love fully? 🤷♂️Among fellow Christians and even towards the ones we tag as ‘non-believers’ (Muslims).
THE SUPERIORITY OF CHURCH DENOMINATIONS
While I reflected on why we fail to love and condone Muslims or other non-Christians in ways that are right as the bible preaches, it dawned on me that the possibility of achieving it is a far cry away. You ask why? It is because we have failed to love ourselves well enough to extend it. Rather than love, we prefer to butt-heads over the superiority of church denominations. As evidently seen, It is a case of “my church is better than yours”. Here’s a subtle peek of what goes on.
GIRL A- Hey😃, my church is having a retreat, I’ll love you to attend.
GIRL B- Nah, I’ll pass, my pastor says it’s not right to worship somewhere else😑. Besides, I don’t understand why the ladies in your church do not cover their hair.🤧
There’s so much conflict surrounding Christianity that unity has become lost in space. While some denominations believe that it is okay for females not to cover their hair while praying, some preach to cover every strand of hair even the ones elapsing the forehead region. Some emphasize the importance of attending church service barefoot while wearing a white garment, some welcome the fancy attires. And it brings one pertinent question to mind; Are Christians reading the same holy book at all?🤷♂️
THE ROOT OF DISUNITY IN CHRISTIANITY
If we want to address the conflict surrounding Christianity, we should start with the numerous translations in the Bible. As much as these translations were made for a better understanding of Christians, the omitted words and new words being added has watered down the genuine message of the Bible. For instance, the discrepancy between King James Version (KJV) and the New international version (NIV). Here’s an example;
Luke 4:4(KJV) says; “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God“
Luke 4:4 (NIV) says; “man shall not live by bread alone”
The other part of the sentence which should be the most important was omitted.
Another example is from the book of Acts;
Act 8:37 (KJV) says “And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Act 8:37 (NIV) was totally omitted from the Bible.
Is there a reason for these omissions? Is it intentional? Or an honest mistake?🤦♂️ These omissions have totally changed the message these individual chapters are trying to pass across and this will create a different perception amongst Christians. One would begin to wonder, which version do we adhere to? 🙅♂️
Read: Was it a Miracle or by Force?
Another root cause of conflict in Christianity is the founding fathers or so-called General Overseers. “My pastor said”…” My reverend said”. If we claim we serve the same God, why does a so-called GO refuse to bless the marriage of a sister in church who’s set to wed a brother from another denomination? Why must the marriage be crowned on the basis of conversion?💁♂️There are tons of distasteful rules and church shocks pertaining to church denominations that make an average Christian feel lost.☹
You might wanna argue that people ought to know God for themselves, while I will agree to an extent, it is also important to note that there is a tendency for the mind to be gullible or better put yielding to those we hold in high esteem. No matter how learned you are, you fall sometimes and it’s the same with Christians. We trust our Pastors enough to walk behind them with our eyes closed. Just like the school system where we trust our lecturers completely to instill knowledge.
UNTIL THEN…
Humanity is by far the greatest religion but I am afraid Christians will never be able to enjoy the benefits so long as there is the barrier of denominations and conflicting tutelage. The Muslims we castigate have unison in their worship, this should tell us something. Until we ditch denominations, until a Christian is able to walk into any church to worship, until we adopt a single bible version…until these can be fixed at least, then we might be able to love ourselves genuinely🤒. It will ignite a chain reaction of love all over the world. That will lead to peace and tolerance amongst everyone irrespective of religion or tribe or race. There would be nothing like, I can’t marry a Muslim or a Sabbath worshipper, or Jehovah’s witnesses, All these rubbish will seize to exist.🤧
Read: Culture Shock! How Incogorous is the Road that Leads Home
CHURCH SHOCK AND MAYBE SOME COMIC RELIEF😏…
Not in a bid to spite any church denomination but this should be fun (maybe😉)…There are doctrines of some churches that are so astonishing to me; I’ll mention just one, there’s a church denomination that the members are not to eat crayfish🤭. I wonder what the poor fish did to them or how their food would taste😔. How about you? What are the doctrines some churches practice that get you shocked?
Tell me about your church too. In my Church the ladies are allowed to pray with their hair uncovered, can you guess what church I attend😆? Also about today’s post, I’ll like to get your opinions in the comment section. What do you suggest is the way forward to achieve unity in Christianity? Leave me a comment, please.👇👇
We Christians need to do better first amongst ourselves then to other religions. Jesus came to this world to show us how to love and we need to continue in that manner
Thank you for this 💥💥
Thank you Chukwuemeka, this was a beautiful read. I am currently doing a project and needed some scarce materials. I was eventually able to get some from the only available retailer, so I lifted my hands and thanked God for the provision. When I brought back the materials to site, dropped them and walked away for a minute. I returned to find a nice looking man had dusted them, climbed on them and began to pray the Muslim evening prayer, on top of my material. One of my boys asked if he should chase him away, and I asked “Why?”.… Read more »
Hmmmmmm now here I am asking myself the same question… “What if I am equally yoked with an unbeliever”. Your POV succeeded in opening my eyes further. And I’m like “My pastor better be ready for a debate the next time we meet😂😂😂”
And to think that while doing the whole editing I considered taking off the subtitle on LOVE; not until Chukwuemeka explained in succinct lines why it had to be included. Glad it resonates with you. Thank you for this 💥💥
Thank God you didn’t remove it.
what if I’m “equally yoked with an unbeliever” a very big question 😁. Thank you for your contribution
I so love your comment, love is a language we should all speak. I’ll also like to contribute my own opinion of the statement “do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers”, that statement isn’t saying we shouldn’t roll with unbelievers. I believe it means we shouldn’t do evil with them or be influenced into doing evil (as unequally can mean unfairly and yoke can be bondage or oppression). My only issue with that statement is that it should be generalised as we are all capable of evil
Hmmmmmm are you sure about this Biodun? I ask because for everytime that verse comes up in a church gathering I happen to be in, the pastors always emphasize on not mingling with unbelievers, be it for a good cause or evil cause, most times using marriage as an example.
Anyway, perception is all that matters here. Thank you for sharing 🙏
I totally agree with you, most pastor have totally succeeded in brainwashing their members, regardless,Christians should always remember the important rule which is LOVE.
Thank you Collins; glad you could take something valid from this. Happy Sunday 💥💥
That’s the most important thing. True and genuine love among everyone . Thank you Collins for your contribution
I legit love this story, the writer left no stone unturned, and that’s impressive. Most of us didn’t have the privilege of choosing a religion because as a child, you’re expected to walk same religious paths your parents did. A good number of people have been spoon fed with evil thoughts since their childhood regarding other religion, and although it may be expected that when you get to a certain age you should be able to make better choices and experience life for yourself, but it’s not always so, because these individuals have lived and adhered to certain principles since… Read more »
Thank you bubu . We we’re taught to hate any religion that’s not Christianity and that’s wrong, we can tolerate them, we can even learn one or two from them. But the most important thing is Love love love
A friend asked me one day, “If you were not born into a Christian home, will you be any different from how you are?” I pondered on the question for a while and I still didn’t know if to respond with a Yes or NO. While it is a good thing that adulthood allows us to make certain choices, some values/lifestyle are hard to let go of. In all, I thank God for the kind of mindset I have, I am a free thinker and so curious by default and it helps me thread certain paths most people frown at.… Read more »
‘Wudhu’ is the cleansing rite Muslims make before saying their prayers. It’s popularly known as Ablution
Ooooooo I never knew it has some other name. Thanks for clarifying.
Do you remember that in the old testament, before the priests walked into the temple, they were said to first cleanse themselves very well and wear very clean and sparkling garments?
Now could that be wudhu?
Thinking out loud
Hmmmmmmm most likely!
Well said my brother. I can remember attending one church on a Sunday with small hair tie. When I entered,they were all looking at me and one woman called me out and gave be a bigger hair tie. She said no hair should be seen on a woman’s head in church. 2) They don’t also dance and play instruments in church. Mehn it was so boring that Sunday. Not to talk of their condemnation on speaking in tongues . I mean how will one freely flow in spirit in such a church. I think the problem with them is that… Read more »
To each his own. 😂😂😂 I found myself laughing so hard at the hair tie part. That must have been very embarrassing. Hmmmmm about the issue of speaking in tongues, on a very good Sunday, we will address it here🤓.
The curious side of me actually wants to know what Church this is. Are there actually churches that don’t dance and sing? Wow! How then do you give proper thanks to God? Well like I said, to each his own. 🚶♀️🚶♀️
Yes there are. I attend one. If you’d like, I’d love to engage you in an interesting and enlightening conversation about your above concerns.
Oh really. I wouldn’t mind you sharing with me at all. We can converse here or if it’s something you feel can be featured on this platform then you should send a mail to mutteringminds@gmail.com . Thank you 🙏
I’d prefer mail please. I’ll send a mail tomorrow.
Alright then. I’ll expect it. Thank you🙏
Hello, I sent the email to you this morning.
Thank you, will reply shortly.🙏
Certain things i agree with, the issue of love. I thought knew people(christians) from social media and some interactions loved to partake in the eating of ram during those holidays. I always saw it as funny especially when they made comments like “Christmas will soon reach o”. It gave this feeling of brotherhood, we may not follow thesame path or believe thesame things but we can coexist. The funny truth is these 2 cultures/religions coexist, as qurans have stories and references of Bible characters we love and celebrate. Which should say a lot. Over the issue of disunity in the… Read more »
Well said Seyi! We perceive things differently but you’ll agree that some perceptions are misconstrued. 😂😂😂 come to think of it, maybe if every Church comes together and hires a PR strategists like brands do, perhaps we’ll fare better. Then on a second thought, Churches can never come together 😓😓.
Anyway Christmas is around the corner o and I will be rewarding only those who gave me Sallah meat o 🏃♀️🏃♀️
😂😂
I remember arguing that muslim meat with someone ehhhn!! If u no wan chop am, don’t waste it… people are hungry in the mo’fvcking streets mehn!!! That said, some doctrines I’ve heard makes me really disbelief alot of things hence making me want to find God for my own self. I’m on the quest to know God for and by myself. Nice Read.
Thank you Stephanie, we would like to know some of those doctrines you heard that shocked you
Yeah way to go. Walk that walk in knowing God for you. Meanwhile,I’m warming up for the next Sallah meat rounds 🏋️♂️🏋️♂️
Well said…nice write up…I wish most Christians would be able to read this… This brought out alot of things happening to the present day church… I also experienced the hair tie stuff,years back,I rushed to church to pray with my aunt on a week day from school,I wasn’t with my hair tie..some old women I met sweeping the church, refused letting me in,I begged and begged,till my aunt was distracted from her prayers and she came out to give me a handkerchief,before they let me me in…it was really embarrassing…😩.. As Christians we need to have the same mind and… Read more »
thank you Paula for reading, I agree with you that Christians should stop being against each other
😂😂😂😂 I don’t care how important that prayer meeting was, knowing me now, I would have walked away on hearing the first NO. Glad you resonate with this write up Paula ❣❣
I thought i was the only one with this thoughts of different church doctorine and fellow Christians not accepting one another. The firm i did my IT in Lagos state made me understand alot about Muslims, Quran and their lifestyle because the company is a owned by a Muslim and majority of the staff there are Muslims. I started asking questions when i noticed that some Muslims do not have this black scar on their foreheads (the black scar is as a result of their head constantly touching the ground while praying), i was told that some of them believe… Read more »
Of a truth, we have alot of unity to learn from our Muslim brothers. Thanks for reading nonye
Hmmmmm you hit a nail right there. What I found out when I was a worker in church was that Pastors are also given targets to meet by their General Overseers or regional heads.
Now here’s what I think causes the conflict within same church denominations. Some Pastors get pressured to meet these targets (offering & membership strength) that they don’t mind flouting some rules to enable them save face at meetings with their heads.
Nice one chuks
First of all, you need to understand the mindset behind most of these differences in translations. They all seem to translate from the original Greek and Hebrew. The truth is English cant fully translate these things properly. There are alot of stuffs that are in the Greek Bible that were not even written in original King James and that’s what most of these other translations try to reveal. And also there were some stuffs in the king James that were added… So … It’s really tricky ..
this is another angle. 👍 thank you davie
Hmmmmmmm I feel you. It’s just like some words in English are non-existent in Igbo language, so there is a possibility to make mistakes during conversion. Thank you for this Davie.
I’ve always said i do not like overly religious people, they appear to me as the worst set of humans
😂😂😂 you sound like me, it’s one of the reasons why I barely have no friend in church.🚶♀️🚶♀️
OMG! God bless you for this piece… I am really lost for words every time, I really wish there can be a group of people that would to go churches especially the small groups that think they are all righteous. There’s this church my parents recently joined and this so called church are always consistently talking about the non-believers, I mean!! 🤦♀️ Is this the only reason why we are in church? In fact they are always JUDGING and it just wants to make me puke sometimes. CHRISTIANS REALLY NEED TO DO BETTER
I agree with you, Christians need to sit up. The sooner we realize that unbelievers are not our problem, the better. It doesn’t make sense to gather to castigate others. Reminds me of a time where I was with a friend in his house and then some of the preachers on duty knocked. He’s a Muslim yet gave the audience but I was embarrassed when the first thing that came out of the preachers mouth as soon as he knew my friend is a Muslim was “Are you ready to be saved”. My friend responded; “Saved from what?” 😂😂😂😂. I… Read more »
Jeez, it’s just as though u read my mind, have been contemplating over this issue for years now, like I don’t get why people pay much attention to to what there pastors tell them than what the Bible says, like why would someone finish preaching to u and wants to invite u to there church? What happened to there’s? Like why would there be discrepancies among churches when it comes to marriage. Like there was this girl I really liked and wanted to date but for the fact I was a Catholic she didn’t want to cause she was a… Read more »
😓😓😓 this made me a little sad. How do we give up love for the sake of a religion that’s failed to exhibit the essence of love?😓😓.
Any discussion that concerns Christianity/religion always piques my interest. Thanks for this and for leaving no stone unturned. This is something that I’d already known for years. Makes me wonder how simple the commandments of God are and how difficult we’re making it for ourselves. Eccl 7:29 says that “And I found that though God has made men upright, each has turned away to follow his own downward road.” The Bible also told us that Christ is not divided, but we have so many churches with different doctrines today which goes against that passage. Chukwuemeka, there’s only one solution to… Read more »
Hi Pelumi, your view is so enlightening. Guess what, I had to read up on the Bereans because of your mention here. Thank you.🙏
You got me right there with the Goya oil ish 😂😂😂.
The truth is the only solution but the bone of contention now is, everyone one has an idea of their own truth. So which way mehn! 🤦♀️
There’s only one truth. We would be judged by the truth at the end of everything. By that time, each person’s version of ‘truth’ will not matter anymore. If this I the case, then a sincere person will search for the truth. It’s in the Bible. If only you’d look deeply. That’s why God said that not everyone should be teachers, their judgement would be great.
Christianity is not as hard as people portray it. I see people living in unnecessary bondage all in the name of being zealously religious, when Christ has already freed them.
Well said Pelumi. 💫💫
Well delivered…. the truth be told some of this doctorine comes from the head pastors nature or nomenclature. What he personally likes and what he doesn’t like just like constitutions of different countries. In all the to me is that the wish of God is for everyone one to become one.
Hmmmm I like your comparison with the constitution. This case can also be likened to a person who sets out to start a business. The rules and regulations binding will definitely reflect the his/her persona. Thank you
In my opinion, Christianity was not meant to be religion in the way it is today let alone having denominations that caused further division. Christ was all about love as he expressed in Galatians 5:14. So living like christ shouldn’t be attached to any religious name but LOVE. that’s the only religion I know.
Very well said!💫💫
This might be totally unrelated but Africans (Nigerians) are the most religious people ever and yet so wicked! Thanks
😂😂😂😂 you are funny.
Wonder write up. Last night, I was telling a friend that in Islam a Yoruba Muslim can marry an Hausa Muslim. Tribe doesn’t matter to them. But in christianity we see same people that attend same church and profess one faith but they won’t allow you marry because he or she is not from your tribe. Christians need to be united
Exactly! Tribe is another major barrier. The moment you think you’ve conquered religion, tribe comes to shove. 🤦♀️
The bible was originally written in Hebrew and the different translations were all originated from that. (I believe) I use TPT, NLT, AMP, AMPC, NKJV, sometimes NIV. From experience different translations meet you, where you are at. When I read different translations I get a different prospective and a deeper understanding on the same topic. The Holy Spirit speaks to me through all of them and I receive revelation. If you read TPT this translation comes from the prospective of Love (read psalms in TPT, powerful scriptures) KJV/NKJV is straight to the point. (No foolishness) AMP/AMPC goes very deep. NLT… Read more »
Thank you so much for the insight Rebecca, I’m definitely taking a cue from this. 😃😃🙏🙏
The greatest religion or no, lemme call it Lifestyle is LOVE FOR HUMANITY. In all my years of serving in the church, seeking God and dealing with people, I can boldly say that love for humanity is all there is to create a healthy society — if not, what else? It’s confusing enough that there are many loopholes in the Bible, stories that don’t add up and yet we have pastors, reverend, clergymen who twist the ‘word of God’ for their own selfish gain. Why the stress to understand simple texts? Just to read Bible and understand, you consult Greek,… Read more »
HUMANITY FIRST!!
@holyspirit 😂😂😂 wait until you meet those Christians who tell you there is no such thing as the Holy Spirit 😂😂😂🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
I’m a Muslim and I find this piece an interesting read. For me it’s actually an eye-opener on our own self, how we see and relate with people we deemed different from us. God bless you
😄😄 God bless you too Ibrahim, I hope we put these into practice.
My problem with churches these days is that most of them are trying to create another commandments outside what the bible gave us with all these do & don’t & its just annoying .
What a beautiful piece.
For me Christianity isn’t a religion as many take it to be, it’s a way of living. For Christ did not come to establish one but to make a clear path of how we should tread courteously to meet the mindset of Gods purpose of the creation.
Thank you and well said Izuchukwu 😄