Godliness Isn’t For Christians Alone

I think why the world has been the catastrophic way it is, is because many people are bereft of fresh and positive ideas. They do not believe in themselves. They are looking up to Eldorado, from where they think help would come from. But people like Gautama Buddha, who was said to have been on the earth 500years before the biblical Jesus Christ, knew about these persons and, he had to say: No one saves us, but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.

Many people today are not called 'godly persons', because of the religion they belong to or their belief-systems that are not even against humanity. The other day, a quite neophyte in the things of the spirit called me an 'ungodly' fellow, because of his perception that I was not of the Christian folk. He lengthened his untamed anger, adding that I should 'repent' from what he called 'my occultic ways'. This happened on Facebook!

Hear him: “@Odimegwu Onwumere, because of the fraternity or cult you belong to, you hate the Christian religion and anything godly, but I'll advice you to mind the way you abuse the pastors! Who gave you that statistics? Repent now and ask for God's forgiveness, because I have followed up most of your posts, where you spoke against God. Be careful! because you are nothing but a dust.”

And what was my 'sin'? It was simple because I asked the following questions: “Has anybody also noticed that majority of the rape cases being perpetrated in Nigeria today that Christian pastors are taking the lead? Most of the raped girls were below 12 and, their tormentors 35yrs old up? And these heinous acts were done in the Church? 'Praise thy Lord!'”

I later asked the spiritual tyro to define what he meant by being 'ungodly'. Read me: “My Brother Gospelpedro Ozioma, I only asked a question, before you expose your immodest and uncouth approach to handling issues meant for the mature ones, for people to chuckle at you. By the way, what do you understand as one being or not "Godly"? Is this godliness 'identified with a sect' or is it a 'consciousness' expected among individuals?”

He replied, but not with the answer expected of my question. Hear him again: “I am against evil done by any one, but coming up with a fake unproved statistics is bad, and ending the post with 'praise the Lord' is a ridiculing God. Thank you”.

Like Buddha would say, man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise. I told my abuser that, it is news to me that the presupposition has statistics. I only asked questions. And if he was not wrongly tempered, he would have asked me to know why I asked. So, saying 'Praise thy Lord' is now an insult.

I told him not to make me to believe that he was learning quick temper and animosity in the Solomon's Cathedral. The problem with the world today is that the minds of many have been poisoned to the extent that anything contrary to what they were spoon-fed with at infancy is apostasy against whatever thing they think they believe in today.

In my observation of this world, I have come to realize that ordinarily problems that could be solved must be solved at the proper time, whether there is something we relied on to solve the problems or not. Some would say, especially the so-called Christians that, it is Jehovah that gives children to couples. But I've always been bemused why even atheists have children, whereas some that called themselves pastors and bishops are still grousing with the issue of child bearing for many years. Some of them even end up on the earth without the fruit of the womb!

'Godliness' should stop being associated with a particular sect. Buddha would say that “purity or impurity depends on oneself, No one can purify another.” I was reading one of Gandhi's statements and discovered this: “If I were asked to define the Hindu creed, I should simply say: Search after truth through non-violent means. A man may not believe in God and still call himself a Hindu. Hinduism is a relentless pursuit after truth... Hinduism is the religion of truth. Truth is God. Denial of God we have known. Denial of truth we have not known.”

How many people today are searching for the truth except religion? We must know that there is no godliness as passion. Ungodliness could be associated with ignorance, being what many that go to church are suffering from today, bragging that anyone who is not associated with church is ungodly and must be told same in the face. Greed is one glaring evil that is ravaging the so-called Christians today, because of the indoctrinated appetite to defend their Christianity with envy, malice and most times, with total ignorance, as handed offer to them for years by the Kingdoms and Emperors of the ancient Rome.

Godliness can never be solely hijacked by the church for ages, whereas in Buddha's correspondence: “When you dig a well, there's no sign of water until you reach it, only rocks and dirt to move out of the way. You have removed enough; soon the pure water will flow.” It is essential to remind all that as human beings, we do not need the favour of anybody to smile, be happy and in peace. They are our sole obligations to do these things.

I say this because, Mahatma Gandhi in the following statement said: “Yes, I am! I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew.” He was happy with that, as a Free Thinker! I was reading Alan Wilson Watts's “The Essential Alan Watts” and, the writer made a succinct statement that many of our people have been spoon-fed not to believe the potentialities they are made of.

Here goes Watts's story: “Jesus Christ knew he was God. So wake up and find out eventually who you really are. In our culture, of course, they'll say you're crazy and you're blasphemous, and they'll either put you in jail or in a nut house (which is pretty much the same thing). However if you wake up in India and tell your friends and relations, 'My goodness, I've just discovered that I'm God,' they'll laugh and say, 'Oh, congratulations, at last you found out.”

Odimegwu Onwumere, a Poet/Writer, writes from Rivers State.

Tel: +2348032552855
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www.odimegwuonwumere.wordpress.com