It is our daily bread down here in Africa, our alpha and omega. It is the public refrain of everyone, from half baked Christians to butt kissing politicians and money seeking pastors; it is the biggest myth in the history of mankind.
I refer of course, to the sentence “you need the grace of God to succeed”. I often complain about our overreliance on religious intervention in our lives, something we do to the detriment of hard work and logical reasoning. But quite often one can look the other way because it is a matter of subjective choice, based on what one believes or does not believe. What cannot happen is for someone to state it as a matter of objective fact.
That is the cardinal sin committed by pastors of this era, and which has been compounded by one Rev Dr Boadi Nyamekeye, according to this piece on myjoyonline.
Here’s what he said, quoted verbatim “No matter what or who you are, if you don’t glide on the wings of God, you will fail. In our socio-economic turbulence you need the grace of God to succeed”
Firstly I get why pastors say that, after all you need to keep your congregation hooked so they keep coming back for more. Though in the past people were lured based on a better life in the aftermath of this earthly existence (the basis of Karl Marx’s ‘opium of the masses’ hypothesis); the shift in recent times is to promise success here on earth, and that simply cannot happen because all evidence points to the contrary.
If this pastor’s position was true, all the rich or relatively successful people would be Christians, and all the poor in society would be those who does not follow the tenets of the religion.
The situation on the ground is far from that, and indeed for centuries sociologists and anthropologists have found that it’s often the poor, downtrodden and exploited in society who seek religion as a refuge.
Besides one does not need decades old scientific data to spot the flaw in this thesis. The world is full of successful people of all colours, religious and non religious alike. In fact, most of the western world have moved to a more secular existence, with religion used as a public facade but rarely practiced seriously; yet most of these countries are ten times more successful than Ghana, ‘the most religious nation in the world’.
Pastors of this day are extremely successful, I’ll give them that; but often most of their flock are just ordinary people scraping the very bottom of the barrel to maintain a bearable existence, and even then they pour most of their meagre earnings into the church for the success this myth promises them.
If ‘gliding on the wings of God’ is the way to success, then Ghanaians must not be very good Christians. Because we go to church, pray often, pay offertories and tithes a hell of a lot more than most people, but nothing seems to change much in our existence.
Either God is not a very good listener, or that premise of him being the only way to success is bullshit.
Besides if we are to believe what the pastor said, and bear in mind he’s talking about the Christian God; then followers of other gods must not be very successful. Because God said he is the one and only God, and there shall be no other gods apart from him; that’s like the very first commandment.
So logically, Muslims, Hindus, people of any other religion, really, must be very unsuccessful. I can tell you right now, if we had a fiftieth of the wealth of the United Arab Emirates or Qatar, we would be so happy we might just jump into the Atlantic in ecstasy.
I resent the fact that filthy rich people would stand in their lofty pulpits and plant such nonsense in the people’s head, nonsense that people clearly take too literally and thus base all their hopes on.
For some reason despite eternal disappointments, people keep going back for more.
After every major speech, the President of the United States adds the perfunctory “God bless you, and God bless the United States of America”. It’s a nice touch that even though unnecessary serves as a bridge to the people; because no matter how secular the world gets religion is a very crucial part of human society.
But if you think because of that Barack Obama is sitting in his office waiting for God to come give him manna then you’ve got another thing coming.
There are many ways to success, most of which does not involve God. The words of the Rev Dr Boakye, and that of many pastors of today, is just one of the many myths upon which Christianity is built.
prophets of illusion and fairytales.i wonder why a loving god will rob the brain of his children with a story book called the bible.
You’re a fairytale yourself,i always laught at people like you big men and women of this earth such as Abraham lincolm, Freud Marc Chagall, Pierre Mendes-France,Claude Levi Strauss, Blaise Pascal,Walter Scott believed in the bible and you a poor nothing, somebody who have done nothing extraodinary in this life is calling it a fairy tale,are you more intelligent than them,are you even important?what have you done for this humanity?those men are great they have contributed a lot to this world and they believed in God,Jesus,the holy spirit,the bible;So stop your noise you’re a fairytale yourself a vey sad one.
Thou shall not judge and yet look at how bad you are talking down on a brother for having his own opinion.
Here we go with another ignorance . Now tell me which among the people you mentioned is richer than Richard Branson who is an atheist and if you say because some people you claim to be smart believe in God or something that means he really exists then the Zeus god or Hera god must also exist because Socrate swore on them several times, implying he believed in them. A buch of nonsense you just wrote! Which of your people listed is smarter than Socrate?
Do you majority of the world intelligent people do not believe in God or are likely not to believe in God as research has shown? Just google that and come back here again.
Wat ve u always done to humanity apart from writing all this rubbish here? Can’t a person express his/her own again? Total n#nsense
prophets of illusion and fairytales.i wonder why a loving god will rob the brain of his children with a story book called the bible.
You’re a fairytale yourself,i always laught at people like you big men and women of this earth such as Abraham lincolm, Freud Marc Chagall, Pierre Mendes-France,Claude Levi Strauss, Blaise Pascal,Walter Scott believed in the bible and you a poor nothing, somebody who have done nothing extraodinary in this life is calling it a fairy tale,are you more intelligent than them,are you even important?what have you done for this humanity?those men are great they have contributed a lot to this world and they believed in God,Jesus,the holy spirit,the bible;So stop your noise you’re a fairytale yourself a vey sad one.
Thou shall not judge and yet look at how bad you are talking down on a brother for having his own opinion.
Here we go with another ignorance . Now tell me which among the people you mentioned is richer than Richard Branson who is an atheist and if you say because some people you claim to be smart believe in God or something that means he really exists then the Zeus god or Hera god must also exist because Socrate swore on them several times, implying he believed in them. A buch of nonsense you just wrote! Which of your people listed is smarter than Socrate?
Do you majority of the world intelligent people do not believe in God or are likely not to believe in God as research has shown? Just google that and come back here again.
Wat ve u always done to humanity apart from writing all this rubbish here? Can’t a person express his/her own again? Total n#nsense
Christianity itself is the biggest myth so what do you expect from the leaders? Pure nonsense they talk all the time. They should tell us why most of the successful in the world are not christians, in fact they don’t give a shyt about religion
Christianity itself is the biggest myth so what do you expect from the leaders? Pure nonsense they talk all the time. They should tell us why most of the successful in the world are not christians, in fact they don’t give a shyt about religion
As I always say- I would rather be a Christian if to discover later it was all a myth than be an aethist and realise too late that God does exist. I believe firmly that I do need the grace of God to succeed. As to what others need to each his own.
You need ”connections” in other words you need the right people to succeed in this world. Bill Gates or Steve Jobs (pioneers of aviation) didn’t depend on a kind of fantasy called ”grace” to succeed but they relied on technology, highly-connected people and financing for success. I wonder why so many non-christians are high achievers.
I don’t care to know why many non-believers are high achievers and I don’t care if they did not depend on grace to succee. It is my choice to depend on grace, using whatever I have been blessed with including the connections and so called right people you talk about in addition to my strengths and skills to create success which isn’t a measure of only money in my definition. As I said to each his own. Cheers
Believing in something does not necessary make it true so you can believe in all you want such as this absurdity, it does not make it true. I believe I have won the lotto, does that make it true?
Also if you realize later that there is no God, you would have wasted a hell of your time and instead of reasoning, you would have followed dogmatic teachings devoid of evaluation. Did I say if you realize? In fact there is no God or his blessings so stop wasting your time. You can believe there is one but that does not make it true or real as I have said
My dear do you and let me do me. I will not at argue about whether it is true or not. And trust me, neither would I have wasted my time, because I do reason based on what I believe and I have also taken advantage of every good opportunity that comes my way. And I am happy and so are you with your beliefs and unbeliefs. I am not going to force you to follow mine. Cheers
As I always say- I would rather be a Christian if to discover later it was all a myth than be an aethist and realise too late that God does exist. I believe firmly that I do need the grace of God to succeed. As to what others need to each his own.
You need ”connections” in other words you need the right people to succeed in this world. Bill Gates or Steve Jobs (pioneers of aviation) didn’t depend on a kind of fantasy called ”grace” to succeed but they relied on technology, highly-connected people and financing for success. I wonder why so many non-christians are high achievers.
I don’t care to know why many non-believers are high achievers and I don’t care if they did not depend on grace to succee. It is my choice to depend on grace, using whatever I have been blessed with including the connections and so called right people you talk about in addition to my strengths and skills to create success which isn’t a measure of only money in my definition. As I said to each his own. Cheers
Believing in something does not necessary make it true so you can believe in all you want such as this absurdity, it does not make it true. I believe I have won the lotto, does that make it true?
Also if you realize later that there is no God, you would have wasted a hell of your time and instead of reasoning, you would have followed dogmatic teachings devoid of evaluation. Did I say if you realize? In fact there is no God or his blessings so stop wasting your time. You can believe there is one but that does not make it true or real as I have said
My dear do you and let me do me. I will not at argue about whether it is true or not. And trust me, neither would I have wasted my time, because I do reason based on what I believe and I have also taken advantage of every good opportunity that comes my way. And I am happy and so are you with your beliefs and unbeliefs. I am not going to force you to follow mine. Cheers
Someway somehow u need the grace of God to succeed,whether u like or not. God gives his Grace to all whether ur a believer or not. That’s just God
Someway somehow u need the grace of God to succeed,whether u like or not. God gives his Grace to all whether ur a believer or not. That’s just God
If you think you don’t need the help of God to succeed then you’re a big idiot there is nothing you can’t do in this world without God grace and this is not only in christians belief but in all the others beliefs too.Even in Europe very serious business men use spirituality to succeed more,if you think it’s just a matter of connections or intelligence then you’re very stupid,and as a journalist haahahaha i don’t concidere as one because your articles are so clueless and you implie too much your point of views that is not done.You have no proof that the christians belief is a myth and you have the courage to talk like this.Louis Pasteur,Edison,Einstein all these brillant scientifics where all fervent believers in spit of the fact they no so much about science are you more important than them,are as intelligent as they were?nooooooooo and yet they believed in God and in the bible.So when you talk about christianity little journalist be humble because you’re nothing compare to the people who believe in Jesus.
Who told you the people you listed were believers of the Christian faith? Do your research well because it’s widely known that einstein and edison were atheists. Besides what’s the difference between a believer and a non-believer? Can you also provide us with the list of european business men who dabble in christianity or spirituality to increase the value of their businesses? Can you also vividly explain why most staunch believers like Ghanaians and Africans at large are so poor? They must be doing something wrong!
This is the deep ignorance and that makes me ask, how come it is mostly the ignorant people who fall for this and believe in God? Einstein did not believe in your sort of God, he was a deist not a theist like your confused self. So get your shyt right. Einstein believed in the God of order, God of Spinoza, God as force that created or held the laws of physics in place. He did not believe in a personal God, a God that answered prayers of blessed people with grace or any of the nonsense you believe. Certainly not a God that has heaven and hell too. Where do you get your education from? From Kaneshie market or the public toilet I believe
If you think you don’t need the help of God to succeed then you’re a big idiot there is nothing you can’t do in this world without God grace and this is not only in christians belief but in all the others beliefs too.Even in Europe very serious business men use spirituality to succeed more,if you think it’s just a matter of connections or intelligence then you’re very stupid,and as a journalist haahahaha i don’t concidere as one because your articles are so clueless and you implie too much your point of views that is not done.You have no proof that the christians belief is a myth and you have the courage to talk like this.Louis Pasteur,Edison,Einstein all these brillant scientifics where all fervent believers in spit of the fact they no so much about science are you more important than them,are as intelligent as they were?nooooooooo and yet they believed in God and in the bible.So when you talk about christianity little journalist be humble because you’re nothing compare to the people who believe in Jesus.
Who told you the people you listed were believers of the Christian faith? Do your research well because it’s widely known that einstein and edison were atheists. Besides what’s the difference between a believer and a non-believer? Can you also provide us with the list of european business men who dabble in christianity or spirituality to increase the value of their businesses? Can you also vividly explain why most staunch believers like Ghanaians and Africans at large are so poor? They must be doing something wrong!
This is the deep ignorance and that makes me ask, how come it is mostly the ignorant people who fall for this and believe in God? Einstein did not believe in your sort of God, he was a deist not a theist like your confused self. So get your shyt right. Einstein believed in the God of order, God of Spinoza, God as force that created or held the laws of physics in place. He did not believe in a personal God, a God that answered prayers of blessed people with grace or any of the nonsense you believe. Certainly not a God that has heaven and hell too. Where do you get your education from? From Kaneshie market or the public toilet I believe
JESUS IS THE ANSWER , REPENT NOW, SALVATION IS TODAY. WE WILL CELEBRATE OUR GOD NO MATTER THE DEMONIC OPPOSITION FROM THE CHILDREN OF DARKNESS, WE KNOW WHO IS RULING THE CHILDREN OF DARKNESS (SATAN). JESUS IS THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE.
JESUS IS THE ANSWER , REPENT NOW, SALVATION IS TODAY. WE WILL CELEBRATE OUR GOD NO MATTER THE DEMONIC OPPOSITION FROM THE CHILDREN OF DARKNESS, WE KNOW WHO IS RULING THE CHILDREN OF DARKNESS (SATAN). JESUS IS THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE.