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A popular proverb in Akwa Ibom that comes to mind says that none who
refuses to lend his knife for a tabooed meat, would offer to use his
teeth. How true this is? Following WW I some British intellectuals
saw what happened when humans allow hate and violence to overcome
them. For the first time in human history the destructive power of
war fueled by technology inflicted a carnage that was unknown before
then. British intellectuals saw the senseless killing and brutality
as something that must be tackled. Human progress seen through the
lens of science and the scientific enterprise was no longer what it
was made up to be. If humanity was to be rescued, the intellectual
class believed, it must be through the voice of reason emanating
from the pens of the intellectual class and so was born the
Bloomsbury group led by the writer Virginia Woolfe. Like the
Bloombury group, our people believed that conviction should be based
on what endures not on what is popular. The irony of the saying by
our forebears lies in the fact that the individual who would not
offer his knife is willing to offer the teeth. It is a fact that in
our world people may sometimes appear to stand firm and show
conviction when it is convenient, but once the glare of the light is
gone, such individuals are willing to offer their teeth and to
waffle. Those who would not offer their knife, it is assumed, dare
not offer their own teeth.
We live at a time when it seems like nothing matters and humans are
no longer guided by the convictions that served the previous
generations. We live at a time when it seems like anything goes and
the end justifies the means. Yet, people talk a lot about religion
and faith while demonstrating little of the tenets of such
convictions. The Scottish philosopher and clergyman, Thomas Carlyle
once wrote that conviction is worthless unless converted into
conduct. Our postmodern period encourages the questioning of beliefs
while allowing each individual to frame his or her own spirituality.
The result is that our conviction about the world, our belief about
such world and our place in it becomes confusing. In the process,
life and relationships are seen as getting all we can instead of
giving and serving. It becomes difficult to stand up for something
under this understanding and easy to fall for anything. We become
drifters and follow whatever teaching comes as the flavor of the
month. All around the world, this inability to hold on to something
and to be anchored in what gives life meaning is wrecking havoc in
many lives and families.
Several years ago a preacher, The Rev. Jim Jones, who failed to
qualify for ordination in the Methodist Church in the United States
started his own “Non Denominational Church” called The Peoples
Temple. He gathered several hundred men, women and children and
preached the last days' gospel. He even convinced his followers that
the last days were coming upon them and took them to Guyana in South
America where he convinced these people to drink poison and die.
Another preacher, Applegate, also convinced his followers to drink
poison so they could get their spirit out of this body he called a
container. Several died. David Koresh another prophet in the United
States told his followers that he was God and so had a right to all
females. In a stand off with the Texas police several of his
followers died in a fire. What do all these people have in common?
When you do not stand for something someone once said, you fall for
anything. In our homeland many are told to abandon their own
children because they are witches as a result, so many innocent
children are abandoned and many killed because of some toxic faith.
These are people who would not give their knives to be used for a
tabooed meat, but they are offering their own teeth. What faith
tradition have you offered yourself to? Do you check your God-given
intelligence at the door and abandon your responsibilities so you
could belong? If your faith is not teaching you about love but about
whom to fear, then be reminded today that those who refuse to lend
their knives should not lend their teeth.
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