Who is God in the context of political power and social well-being?
I confront this question not as a theologian, scholar, politician or lawyer but as a Kenyan born in a poor middle-class family in a tiny village called Kakrao in Suna, Migori.
My initial interaction with Christianity was first through the Sunday school classes, where we sat on the papyrus mat, as the teacher narrated to us biblical stories. I was to later encounter the power of faith more profoundly through the midnight prayers of my mother shortly after my father’s demise.
The central theme of the summons of my childhood and teenage years was “love your neighbour as you love yourself”. It was a brand of faith that was premised on the greatest good, for the greatest number of people.
It’s the type of faith that opened my parents’ hearts to open an orphanage home for children who had encountered the misfortune of losing their parents at a time when HIV-Aids was the single biggest existential threat on our side of the world. As I grew older, my inquisitive mind pushed me to attempt to appreciate God from a more logical and intellectual standpoint.
I must hasten to admit that I was struck by contradictions but certain things became more clear. One is that God is more than just the God of guilt, of prohibition, of dogmas and punishment.
After a sustained effort to scour through the main religious books, I got to the understanding that God is certainly more than John Calvin’s chilling conclusion that God loved Jacob but hated Essau. As a Christian, my appreciation of God is that of mercy, grace, redemption and to make sense it must encompass love. If a preaching is not centred around love, then it’s a moment for antennas to go up.
In the background of Shakahola tragedy, a man purporting to be a minister of gospel but preaching despondency is certainly not a minister of Christ. I am making that statement with abundance of caution lest I am assailed with ‘’ Thou shall not touch the anointed’’. But the enduring question about the Good News International fellow is “where is his Christian optimism?”
The good book in Matthew 7:16-17 tells us that we will know those who claim to be of the Lord by their fruits. 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
My bible tells me that God loved the world so much that he created man in his own image and likeness to rule over it and to enjoy it. The other pressing question is, what is the role of the state in this?
Whereas the Constitution provides that there shall be no state religion, it must be understood that the government is our own creation through the social contract to promote our general welfare, including keeping us safe from predators in the name of God.
That includes deliberately engaging in a programme of social uplift that does not leave a huge swathe of the populace anxious and without a sense of direction that leaves them easy prey to predators of whichever shade or colour.
It is indeed an indictment of the mindset of tenderprenuership and influence peddling that rests on the premise that if the rich, the fortunate, the politically connected have access to government opportunities, then personal charity will induce them to take care of the rest of us.
For those who died and were buried without the law enforcement agencies knowledge, we owe it to them that we stamp out religious outfits that operate with neither a soul nor conscience.
In a country where 80 per cent are said to be Christians, have we been consumed by the sin of negativity so much so that like the Israelites in their sojourn to the Promised Land we are willing to believe in anything?
Faith, we must all remember, is not a call to escape the world but to embrace it, to maintain God’s order and to let His love reign supreme. This is attainable if we embrace a life of love, other pressures of life notwithstanding.
For us Christians who are keen to maintain our Christianity, let's meditate on words in Matthews 24:4-5 “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many’’
Governance and policy expert. [email protected]
