Sequel
to my a previous post titled My Most Ludicrous Posts on Facebook 1, the writer has
created this piece to point out religious deceits, and the acts of some social
media users that have vowed to wear Christianity a dirty garb.
Verily, I've seen ludicrous post on social media.
However, when I find a more thoughtless, parochial, and chauvinistic post, I'd change
the rankings, but for now, this remains top on the list of dumb posts.
"Any girl or woman who dresses on trousers
is invariably erecting her eternal home in hell".
The
most disheartening fact of this post is that it emanated from a lawyer, trained
in one of the finest schools in Nigeria. Well, like the renowned columnist Obi
Nwakanma wrote about Femi Fani Kayode,"Take a scallywag to Cambridge, he
merely becomes a Cambridge scallywag". So, I'd say,
‘take
a moron to University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he merely becomes a UNN moron'
For someone whose love for stylish women is
well known to me, I was numb struck as I read the post. It is hard
to picture what he was thinking when he typed that post on his facebook
timeline. For once I thought his facebook account had been hacked and that the
post was meant to discredit or portray him in an phallocentric light. When I
made friendly attempts to persuade him to remove that post and commented on
same, a throng of his fellow sexist hypocrites swarmed at me in attack.
During law school, this man confessed his strong
love for a lady and even plotted steps to get his "dream girl"; one
whose dress code was predominantly sexy denim trousers, except when going for
lectures and church outings. Thus, I ask, is it that this man liked this lady
despite his conviction that she was hell bound owing to her trouser
affiliations? Or is that he was yet to read to that point in the bible when he
felt so much love for her?
To
consider the abject thoughtlessness in that post, we must ask certain questions
and strive to provide answers.
Firstly,
what happens then to Military and Para-military women, whose job inevitably
compels them to wear trousers?
For
me the argument as to a lady being clad in a man's outfit or vice versa is firmly
strung to societal relativism and cultural orientations. Cultures like the
Scotts, Orients and most traditional rulers in Africa take to the use of “skirts”
and wrappers as their main regalia. Also, due to its formal and 'always on the
move' nature, societies like the US and the entire Western world have evolved to
a point where the use of trousers by women is almost inevitable, especially since
the Second World War when women were no longer seen as 'wives' and 'mothers'
alone. Rather, they were assimilated into the active work force, to work in
factories, industries, banks and construction sites. At that point, it became
practically impossible to work without the most convenient work gear- trousers
and boots. With the spread of trains and coaches, women had little or no choice
but to get into sporty trousers to enable them jump alongside the men, and to avoid
the likelihood of a Victorian age skirt getting stuck in the rails.
Perhaps,
one might also be moved to opine that skirts, wrappers and gowns are feminine
outfits, but what about the Pope and priests in the Catholic faiths and religious
temples across the world?
The
Pope and all other adjunct offices of the papacy go completely clad in cassocks
(gown like attires). Would it then be right to chirp that they too are
"erecting permanent homes in hell", or are they exempted from the
theme of this odious post?
In
Muslim societies, turbans or head ties are prominent accessories to men's fashion.
Its thus coincides with women's dress code in Southern, West and Eastern
Nigeria. With the only difference being size, type of fabric as well as style.
That said, one needs no breathalyzer to smell how offensive such a comment is
to reasonable people.
Chauvinism
is something that should never be campaigned for, displayed or even worse,
posted on Social media. It must be left in the solitary confines on the
chauvinist's heart because the slightest droplet of it could be frowned at as
much as genocides! No doubt, bottling up certain opinions could prove very
tasking, but like hygiene, compliance with the law, cooking, exercising,
reading, and many other activities of life, we MUST strive to do the needful
because the benefit far outweighs the difficulty.
The
use of the holy bible to rationalize every form of warped and malnourished
ideas must be stopped because besides the misleading effect they have, such
ideas and beliefs never stand to the challenge of the simple reasoning. Quoting
the bible does not change an unintelligible idea into a smart one. Neither
should it be a reason to shut the reasoning faculty like it too is on ASUU
strike.
Like my most delectable
Ms Vivian Obiejogo once said, " To
whom brain is given, sense is expected".
Nigerians,
Christianity and facebook!
It
is common today to see posts like "God
bless my life this week", "I cover my journey IJN","Lord,
give me more anointing today"...and all such Bollocks!
Firstly,
I must start by stating that GOD IS NOT ON FACEBOOK or TWITTER! He does not
ping or take to social networking like some posts would ordinarily suggest.
You
want divine protection, direction, guidance, favour and blessings, and you feel
an urge to pray to God for it. You want extra anointing from God, why not take
a little time to say a prayer in your heart or kneel in the confines of your
room or better still, wait till its Sunday( for some who see church like Uncle
Frank Olize’s NTA Newsline show) to say those prayers.
See what The Holy Bible
says in Mathew 6:5-6 that “And when you pray, you must not be like the
hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street
corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have
received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the
door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in
secret will reward you.
Why
take to facebook and twitter, BBM etc to make a prayer to Almighty ? Could it
be that you expect people to know you pray? Or you just want your viewers/friends
to endorse your prayers by commenting with a huge "Amen"?I saw a post
like this once. I speedily punched "Amen" on my keyboards, and proceeded
ask him if he was happy now or wanted anything more!
Common! A prayer, which
is akin to asking God for something is a private and sacred exercise which
should not be desecrated, joked with or compromised for no reason whatsoever. None
at all!
Imagine
a situation where your child wants money from you, he goes out with a loud
speaker to the balcony of your house or even on facebook to say " Daddy, please
I need money for my school fees", in spite of the fact that you both live in the same house
or he simply would have called to ask for it. Any sane parent would rebuke such
act. For me, I'd doubt the sanity of such a child. Mind you, this example is
even way too insufficient and subtle when compared, because facebook surely
covers a wider spectrum of audience.
Such
posts are nothing but flamboyant displays of hypocrisy and self deceit.
Permit
me to sound judgmental at this point, the fact of my discovery that most people
I know on facebook and twitter (for those I know personally) who put up such
posts are anything but enviable Christians. They pass for the lip service,
'Lord Lord' kind of Christians whom upon deeper investigation are strapped with
all sort of worldliness. They fall short of the kind of Christianity that would
make you run a background 'holiness check' on yourself.
As
a near religious skeptic, or better put, one who applies God's given wisdom to
religious postulations, I've taken time to come up with a study which reveals that the bulk of Christian youths whose life
REALLY radiate uprightness, fairness, calmness, piety, humility, and so many
rare Godly attributes do not labour to convince you of their religiosity, hence
they never try to come up with such mundane posts on social media. They
sparsely ever howl about or make verbal allusions to their relationship with
God, apparently because they understand the sanctimonious and private nature of
it. Rather, its commonplace amongst those whose lifestyle gives one cause to
doubt his understanding of the bible.
Finally,
let's consider this simple poser.
If those
guilty of such posts truly believe in the efficacy and genuineness of those
super bowl type prayers and that it is really possible to access God via
facebook or twitter, why don't they ask God for forgiveness from a grave sin on
facebook. Say for instance" please God forgive me for committing adultery
today" or "May God forgive me for embezzling public funds, stealing
my neighbour's goat, raping, fornicating, lying, cheating" etc.
How about, "God
please heal me of this Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, or "Please God help me stop
these lustful imaginations and addictiveness to pornography" etc?
Nobody ever comes up
with such prayer on facebook. Is it that they don't appear in prayers?
Certainly not! Instead, they quietly lock their doors and windows, kneel down
and make such supplications.
If
you could quietly make those demands and requests from your almighty father in
private, why then would you decide to come to the market square to ask him for
protection if not for hypocrisy?!
Onyeka
Ehiwuogwu ZEUS, for ZEUS TELESCOPE;
www.zeustelescope.blogspot.com
Twitter:@zeuskachi