Pastor, Don't Teach Me Nonsense: Against Theological Violence-Final

I have been posting a series on what I termed theological violence. You can read the past posts on LinkedIn. While theology has been my entry into writing about why we need to challenge thought and action, I believe it extends beyond the church into other areas of life. As a critical pedagogist said, “The function of the curriculum is to structure our consciousness to perpetuate certain behaviors and attitudes.” Our role as teacher and a society is to question this curriculum, its content and its teachers

I frequently followed my dad around, both before and after Nigeria happened to him. For the doctor's visit, I had to ask all the questions about the next date of appointment, medication, and alternatives for brands of prescriptions. I develop the art of questioning and curiosity quite early. So, when you tell me to not ask questions, I become suspicious of you.

As I see all the things people say and do in the name of God, I have wondered why God can't speak up and issue a disclaimer about these people. However, I have learned that God practices silence; anyone who remained silent for 400 years between Malachi and Matthew might remain silent until the end of time. To my dismay, this practice of silence has led me to stop questioning why my sister-mum passed away in 2021.

I don’t know everything, but here is the conclusion I came to for myself at this season of my life: anything beyond birth, death, burial, resurrection, and second coming is a human invention and addition. Paul said, "If anyone brings to you another gospel aside from what we teach you, let him be cursed."

Time constraints prevent me from continuing this series, despite my compulsion to do so. This trend in Nigeria, in which church-like cults cloak themselves as prayer groups or other kinds of evangelism, is disheartening. This is disturbing, like most organized religions, because they deny you agency and the right to self-advocacy.

At my presentation at one of the LSA-sponsored panels at the 2022 African Studies Association in Philadelphia, I said that we need to pay attention to the margins of Pentecostalism and all religious expression. Although Odumeje was my entry point to examine how some of the hegemonic practices of megachurches and pastoral patriarchs are mirrored and sometimes distorted to create a mutation of what we see in miniature ways, I think there is more to explore in this regard.

Furthermore, please stop blaming victims of theological violence like Ejiro. None of us is as immune as we think. In the past, I have regurgitated some of the violence I am hearing, such as “Read your Bible, know God for yourself, stop jumping up and down, and the likes. But the same text cautions: "He who thinks he stands should be careful lest he fall."

Like Paul, I commit us all to the one that is able to keep us from falling.

To the only wise God!