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CHRISTIANITY IS A WAY OF LIFE

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Sir,

How, exactly, do we claim to be a Christian country? By the time we reach majority we should know the Bible like the back of our hand and be in a position to practice what is written in it. Christianity should be a way of life in practice.


In the same way that a woman marries a man and submits to his rules and laws that govern the home, only then can the marriage subsist and last. The man is in a position to take care of the woman in all aspects of life. Equally, God wants Christians to submit to his commandments (obedience and respect), thereby establishing love between him and us and, thereafter, all other benefits will flow into our lives; peace, stability, joy, and prosperity.


Even an ordinary man on the street will not take care of you if you do not submit to his rules (respect) and love him. There can be no love outside obedience and respect.


The very essence of love is rules, obedience and respect. Psalms 2:10-12: Now listen to this warning, you kings; learn this lesson, you rulers of the world; (11) Serve the Lord with fear; (12) Tremble and bow down to him; or else his anger will quickly be aroused, and you will suddenly die. Happy are all those who go to him for protection Psalms 4:4,5: Tremble with fear and stop sinning; think deeply about this, when you lie in silence on your beds. (5) Offer the right sacrifices to the Lord, and put your trust in him.


God is love. God’s love is wrapped up in his commandments. His commandments will give us the order of living and stability. There can never be order or love where there are no rules, obedience or respect; in the absence of order, you have chaos! Swazi law and custom is unique and dynamic to a point that it cannot be documented or codified.


It changes or varies from one community to another. Just think about this. We are living in a survival-of-the-fittest mode, back to the bush or Stone Age era. Our colonial masters gave us a bit of order.


Their absence in our midst is so loud. Is the quality of life we have today superior to the one we had during their era? Think of the times when we had the white folks in our midst in our companies, churches, government, communities etc. I wish they could come back to govern Africa. Hate me if you like, but I mean it.

What major improvements have we made in their absence or since their departure?  We have depleted our resources and had civil war after civil war.
I watched a show on Swazi TV, about Oprah Winfrey. She visited one of the First World Countries, I think it was Denmark, and this is what I noted:


The government takes care of children financially from the age of pre-school up to university.
Most jobs have, on average, the same pay e.g. Teacher, Engineer, Doctor, Accountant. Jobs with high salaries are very few, and once in that bracket you are taxed severely.


People are encouraged to train in any field of their choice and are given jobs by the government when they finish training. The government is responsible for the accommodation of citizens. Once employed, the government allocates you a house. The show took us into the apartments. Very exquisite.


People there hardly get married, as in the white wedding ceremonies, because once you move in with someone of the opposite sex, after three months the government considers the two a married couple. So, marriage is as easy as that. There is no room for people to abuse one another (I am not suggesting that this marriage is biblical, but merely making an observation of minimising or restraining individuals from abusing each other).
Lastly - and shockingly - they revealed to Oprah that their churches are empty throughout the year because they are a happy people. No one is without food, shelter, clothing and so forth. They indicated that they are shocked that there are people in some parts of the world who go to sleep on hungry stomachs and have no jobs or shelter. They go to church for celebrations like Christmas.


Our country has many churches because we sin more and have many curses and family problems (dysfunctional families) and diseases. Not only do we have many churches but they are always full. We are practicing our Christianity wrongly (the methodology and motives) or not practicing it at all through ignorance. The church ‘industry’ is therefore booming.


Their government has  put in place structures and systems that take care of everyone in every aspect of their life - preschool, school, university, employment, hospitals, accommodation, unemployment benefits and strong rules governing social interaction to minimise abuse eg; marriage laws. In our country, the systems work partially - life is a constant struggle for about 75 per cent of the population in all aspects of their life.


I have deliberately concentrated on the reading of the Bible in whole and avoided mentioning the different churches and religions to circumvent sparking debates. The Bible is a common factor for most Christian Churches. Never mind its interpretation, reading it in its entirety would be a good start.

DD Dlamini,
Matsapha

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