Peace and Development require Just Worship by Prof. Sabitu Olagoke
- By solomon2day
- On 06/06/2022
- In Special Report
Bad manners corrupt the moral essence of religion and disrupt the expected perfect God/man relation.
This is the message in the Holy Bible, 1 Corinthians 13: 13, that religion as faith would only be functional and beneficial as a constructive environment for peaceful co-existence.
''3 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.''
For this to happen, individual adherents must offer just worship based on their belief in their creator the almighty God.
However, all scriptures submit that there can be no development in an environment of chaos, hence love becomes basic and sacrosanct to any religious practice to have an impact on the people and the society.
In the book of Isaiah 59: 1-4, the readiness of God to accept our offer, provide for us, and protect us from all forms of evil is established as a divine design.
However, divine intervention will never be realized in an environment of iniquities.
''1 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.''
The Holy Quran equally corroborates and establishes the importance of love in the life cycle of every person-platonic or otherwise.
The Holy Quran 30: 21 with the essence of marriage, family cohesion, and a happy home formation as case studies states, ''And among His signs is that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquility with them. And He has put LOVE and MERCY between your hearts: verily in that are signs for those who reflect.''
It is very unfortunate that Nigeria is currently experiencing a gun and sword state of insecurity, where religion is playing a catalyst role to fule the chaos rather than dampening the state of commotion. This is because individual adherents live by hearsay and less of being scripture compliant. Quackery in the houses of God, therefore, offers a satanic state of profanity. This is why the home, society, and the nation are now difficult to be controlled through the moral lessons of the scripture.
For the world to know peace, and Nigeria to enjoy peaceful co-existence, individual worship must understand the admonitions and guide in the scripture of choice and apply the same to suit real-life situations without going out of bounds of the dictates of God. After all, no religion teaches evil.
Peace Development Prof. Sabitu Olagoke