First I tend an apology to my fellow Christians and Muslim friends who may get offended by this write up.
Christianity and Islam are both considered Abrahamic religions by theologians,historians and archaeologists. Both religions have so much in common yet their practitioners would swear one is better than the other.
The daily lives of the average Nigerians show us struggling to cope with these two religions. There was a time we could eat and live together without irrational fear of the other. Christianity and Islam has made us more wary and suspicious of others.
Both religions stipulate that judgement is for God but this has not deterred Nigerians from judging (I am very much guilty of this too). You see Muslims causing chaos all in the name of Allah and one wonders if Allah is sleeping and cannot fight?
Do we talk about Christians? Men and women who go to church but have the heart to set a fellow human ablaze because of theft. What about those who strip women naked, taking away their dignity?You begin to wonder if these Christians missed the bible verse were Jesus asked "Let him without sin cast the first stone"? Brazenly going against Jesus Christ and most would still have the effrontery to defend their actions.
What about engaging in the sins of sexual immorality, jealousy, cheating, backstabbing, hate, lying, hypocrisy and anger? All which both religions are against. Yet Nigerians hypocritically engage in these sins and still turn to judge others.
Our traditional religions of the past had inadequacies but they catered for the personality of Nigerians. You know in the past when a man has a headache he begins to worry the headache is a punishment for his sins. Which leads to soul searching and confession of past transgressions in a bid to end the headache. When a man commits a grave offence against the community, the community punishes such a person because their religion was that flexible.
Today a Christian Nigerian believes his headache is caused by another man while a Muslim Nigerian might see the headache as a result of un-Islamic activities by others. Both the Christian and Muslim end up fighting this perceived enemy. Pardon my ignorance but doesn't the holy scriptures point to humans' ailment as the handiwork of satan trying to test our faith in God or punishment for a transgression? So why do we hold this belief that our problems are caused by another human? This is a kind of belief for the traditionalists today, don't you think?
It is very much obvious that Nigerians are finding it difficult practising these two religions. Could it be that Christianity and Islam are wrong for Nigerians?
PS: I do believe in Jesus Christ, I am a Christian and respect all religions.
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