MY QUESTIONS………. OF DREAMS, THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS…. AND RELIGION

I am writing this article in an attempt to let off some steam and put some of my thoughts into words. I happen to have a belief that your dreams become your thoughts and ultimately, your thoughts become your actions. I have however had reason to question this belief many times. A famous person that lived a long time ago once said some men are born great while some others have greatness thrust upon them. Being the questioner that I am, I have begun to ask questions. Questions like who or what determines who gets born great and who gets to have greatness thrust upon them? Is it really fair? Why would anyone want to do that? What justification(s) can there be for such a decision? Why will someone or something choose to have greatness thrust upon a particular person, have another person born great and have these two people live and function in the same society? What reasons are there for this segregation or marginalization (if u like) to exist? Too many unanswered questions.

Being a Christian, I have been taught in Sunday school since I started going to church as a little kid, that God is the arbiter of all things; that God is the creator of heaven and earth and he decides what happens to whom and when. This seems like a good way to explain the questions above but in reality, it doesn’t really answer them. I was listening to a philosopher’s opinion on this issue and he was saying that this kind of “God is all in all” statement shuts down your reasoning and effectively renders the part of your brain that asks questions useless! While the Christian part of me wanted to cut off the man’s head for uttering such a ridiculously blasphemous statement, the other part of me that reasons and asks questions immediately started to reason it out. What if it is indeed true that this whole thing is one big lie? What if it is just a big scheme by one mischievous fellow to send the whole world on a wild goose chase? What if there is someone somewhere laughing his heart out at all this religious craze that engulfing the world? I then started reasoning again; could it be possible that the two major religions in the world were introduced by the same person for his personal amusement? Is it possible that one day when we all die, we will then get to meet this person who will them let us know that all the rights that we so religiously performed; all the church we went to pray and all the offerings, tithes etc that we paid were all part of one huge joke?  Even worse, could it be that this whole idea was a bet between two friends? Could it be that these had a bet to determine who could send the world on the more ridiculous wild goose chase? Could it be that we are just pawns in this game of religious fanaticism?

When you then put into consideration a country like Nigeria for instance; People go to church just because their pastors tell them to come. People have no personal opinions on issues as they are content to believe whatever their pastors tell them. People cannot reason out decisions made by the pastors as they now see their pastors as greater than God himself. How does one explain the case of a very big “Man of God” who slapped a young girl in the full glare of everyone just because the girl claimed to be a “witch for Jesus”? How do you explain it when a church asks its low income earning members to contribute money to build a university and at the end of the day, even the guy that contributed to the building of that university cannot afford to send his child to the school because the he can’t afford the tuition and other fees? Yet he still contributes more towards the development of the school when asked. How do you explain a Bishop in an orthodox church that goes into the vestry to drink alcohol when he is supposed to be observing lent? How do you rationalize the fact that a pastor goes about with bodyguards and armed policemen all in the name of security? Who wants to kill him? Why? How do you explain a situation where a pastor lives like a drug lord at the expense of his congregation? How can a pastor spend his church’s money lavishly and with reckless abandon when there are people in his own congregation who cannot afford two meals a day? How does a pastor think to build or buy mansions and choice estate all over the world when there are members of his own church whose permanent abode is under the third mainland bridge? What does God have to say to all these? Surely he can’t be pleased? Something has to be wrong somewhere. How come the ordinary churchgoer does not stop to think about all these things? Has he been brainwashed beyond reason? Why would supposed “Men of God” do this? Instead of deciding with their head, people prefer to leave decisions to pastors and “Men of God”. Why would this God not intervene? Could it be because there is really no God; that just those two guys laughing their asses out is what there is?

Is it possible that our beliefs don’t follow norms and generally accepted morality rules? Who decides who gets to be a pastor? Is there a divine sign; like doves descending on the man in the presence of everyone and a voice declaring that they are really reverends ordained and sent by God himself. The Bible as we know it; could it be a lie? Is it possible that someone or a group of people just put this thing together to mislead people? We have heard many stories about how the bible came into being; could these stories be true? How do we determine what is true and what is not? These are all questions begging for answers in my head. After all has been said and done though, I have tried to challenge us to think through every decision we make in life. I also think its okay to dream and aspire after all, who’s to say u will live long or you won’t? If you think you will live long and you don’t, you have lost nothing but the disaster will be when you think you will not live long (and so u refuse to hope, dream and aspire) and you actually do. I also believe religion is a personal matter. Nobody should tell you what to think. If you feel like believing that there is God, you should. If you don’t feel like it, don’t. But I just sound this note of warning every time I think about these things, that note of warning is that in the final analysis, every man will be responsible for his decisions as well as his indecisions; first in this life, then in the life hereafter if there is one. But I will end with a quote I heard from friend of mine; I WOULD RATHER LIVE MY LIFE AS IF THERE IS A GOD AND DIE TO FIND OUT THERE ISN’T THAN LIVE MY LIFE AS IF THERE ISN’T AND DIE TO FIND OUT THERE IS.