Wednesday, December 6, 2023
  • About Us
  • ImagiNATION
  • Rate Card
  • Contact Us
The Nation Online
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Life & Style
    • Every Woman
      • Soul
      • Family
    • Religion
    • Feature
  • Society
  • Columns
  • Sports
  • Enation
  • Mother’s Fun Run
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Life & Style
    • Every Woman
      • Soul
      • Family
    • Religion
    • Feature
  • Society
  • Columns
  • Sports
  • Enation
  • Mother’s Fun Run
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
Home Life & Style Religion Religion News

Selective use of the Bible?

by Edwin Nyirongo
05/02/2017
in Religion News
4 min read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppShare on LinkedinLinkedinShare via Email

 

The Bible has nowadays become so vulnerable that everyone interprets it their own way. This has been complicated by the fact that pastors have flourished in the country, with some of them not having theological background.

The scenario has resulted in some of the pastors finding refuge in preaching anywhere, including commuter buses. These self-anointed pastors would invade the buses and then start preaching whenever they are about to start off. Desperate people would listen and, after sometime, it is time for offering. They get that money, drop off the bus and catch another bus back to the bus terminal.

Fr. Saindi: Every Bible text must be understood in its context

Such pastors instil fear in the unsuspecting travellers, either that they have to pray to safely reach their destinations, or they need Jesus in their daily lives. With road accidents occurring almost every day, who would want to be a victim?

And before preaching, they read a few verses from the Bible and literally translate them. One wonders whether they know the verses themselves.

But it is easy to understand these things, especially when the preacher had no training in what he is doing. He just woke up one day and became a pastor. After all, what matters most is not the word of God, but the offering.

Then there are others who preach in hospitals. One day, it took a courageous health personnel at Nkhata Bay District Hospital to chase them. According to the officer, there were some patients whose conditions did not want noise.

And these pastors do not understand what noise is. According to them, word from the Bible is an exception. It is not part of noise. And that is what you expect from who become pastors overnight.

Homosexuality is another issue that has caused a lot of divisions and understanding among the people of the collar. This division is mainly based on the understanding of the Bible.

There are passages where homosexuality is regarded as abomination (or sin?). These are the creation as narrated in Genesis 1-3; the Sodom narrative in Genesis 19: 1-26; Judges 19; Leviticus 18: 22, Leviticus 20: 13; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 and 1 Timothy 1:10.

Some pastors in the Northern Region of Malawi took government to court for issuing a moratorium on homosexuals They insisted that those doing the act should be punished (forget about Jesus’ insistence on love and forgiveness).

Late last year, the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) and the Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) organised a march against homosexuality and abortion.

“We note with grave concern that the institution of marriage between a man and a woman is under direct attack by those pushing for the legislation of homosexuality practices and unions,” said a joint statement by ECM and EAM issued on December 6 2016,

If the Bible is used that way, what about Deuteronomy 22: 22, which says that punishment for adultery is stoning both the man and the woman to death? Who has been stoned to death for committing adultery?

Deuteronomy 23: 19, says it is wrong to lend money at interest. I thought banks and other lending institutions are doing the same? Why are churches and pastors silent on this? In fact, some clergy and churches get loans from lending institutions and pay back with interest against the Bible’s directive.

In 1 Corinthians 14: 34-35 and 1 Timothy 2: 11-12, women are forbidden to speak in the congregation. But now, women speak freely and some are even ordained as priests so that when they speak, men are generally quiet. Is this not working against the Bible? Should we say priests or churches are right to ignore what the Bible says on this issue?

Former moderator Livingstonia CCAP Synod Reverend Maxwell Mezuwa Banda argues that the Bible has always recognised women and their roles.

“In Romans 16: 3, Priscilla was recognised. Again, the first people to know the resurrection of Jesus were women.

“We should also know that Jesus had women disciples and on the well, he met and talked with a woman. All this shows that women were recognised from the beginning,” said Banda, adding that not allowing women to speak in the congregation was a Jewish culture, not a religious one.

The former moderator said Jesus was in many times in conflict with the Pharisees and Sadducees because of the way the law (Bible) was interpreted.

He said: “For example, they brought someone whom they claimed was caught committing adultery and that the law allowed them to stone her to death. But Jesus said the one who had not sinned should cast the first stone.” They all disappeared because of the way they interpreted the Bible.

On homosexuals, Banda said stoning them to death is not the solution, but showing them love. He disagreed with pastors who went to court to demand that government should remove the moratorium on homosexuals and continue punishing them.

“You should know that the attitudes of the Pharisees and those who interpreted the law [Bible] that time are still among people today. We need to preach love, not make people suffer,” he said.

ECM secretary general Father Henry Saindi warned against using the Bible literally and anyhow.

“The books in the Bible were authored by different writers who had their own literary genre. Some use songs while others use poetry.” Said Fr Saindi.

He added: “Again, there is need to understand the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament. While the Jews in the Old Testament did not promote the active participation of women in society, Jesus in the New Testament does exactly the opposite. So every Bible text must be understood in its own context, culture and tradition of the author as well as the language used.”

He, however, defended the march against homosexuals and abortion, saying it was organised to celebrate the value of life and family. n

 

Previous Post

Dalitso Ndaferankhande: Founder of Mizuyathu Foundation

Next Post

Flames face Madagascar in Chan

Related Posts

Religion News

NGO reach out to needy kids on Ramadhan

May 1, 2022
Religion News

MYFUNDACTION EMBARKS ON QUR’AN DISTRIBUTION PROGRAMS ACROSS MALAWI

January 7, 2022
Religion News

MyFundAction cheers and feeds thousands in the final days of Ramadhan

May 16, 2021
Next Post
Still hopeful: The Flames need to win the return leg at Kamuzu Stadium

Flames face Madagascar in Chan

Opinions and Columns

My Turn

Register charities, causes

December 6, 2023
People’s Tribunal

We haven’t learnt lesson on holding protests

December 3, 2023
Big Man Wamkulu

He named our kid after girlfriend

December 3, 2023
Musings on Corruption

Beware of social norms, pluralistic ignorance

December 3, 2023

Trending Stories

  • FIriday was a night of nightmares at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe during the premiere of Is the President Dead? 
Technical glitches, indications of ill preparedness came one after the other during the screening of the movie leaving patrons wondering why the premi-ere was slated for the night. 
As one was taking a seat in the  auditorium, one was  greeted by a screen looking rather too small. The name big screen did not befit this particular ‘screen’.  
The movie was scheduled to start at 6pm, but it started at 8pm. Patrons then stopped grumbling, but their joy was short-lived as at 20 minutes before 9pm the movie went mute and a few minutes later the whole screen went black.  
The patrons protested in unison with a loud ‘aaah!’ By 8.43 pm, the screen came back to life only for it to go black again for five minutes. 
At this moment the MC, Joab Chakhaza came on stage with an apology while the technical team addressed the problem. He called on stage the lead actor Edin Chonde to engage patrons as they waited for screening to resume.  
Chonde shared a brief history of the movie industry in the country.
 His narration started from the time of  To Ndirande Mountain With Love, a movie that was shot when Blantyre’s Ndirande Mountain had trees. 
Chonde talked about other local movie producers such as Charles Shemu Joya and Joyce Mhango Chavula.  
He then started explaining what the movie they were premiering was all about. In his words, Is the President Dead? relates to relatable issues in the coun-try, especially events that happened towards the end of president Bingu wa Mutharika’s reign.  
Chonde was, however, quick to dissociate the movie from the true story of the late president saying: “There could be some similarities here and there, but this is purely a work of fiction.” 
The patrons started booing him as they felt that he was pre-emptying the movie’s storyline. 
Then it was clear that there was a serious technical problem so much that there was high possibility of the movie not being screened. 
The audience got tired of Chonde’s talk and shouted at him to leave the stage. He  obliged and the DJ played some music to fill the gap. 
At 9.06pm, the screen came back to life but the movie did not start from where it stopped. It was also obvious that the movie was played  from an editing programme Adobe Premiere.  
The movie producer Isaac Misoya told The Nation that the copy  had been corrupted; hence,  audio was mute.
“Now, on Adobe Premiere, there were jump cut transitions which presented black screens as the clips were transitioning from one clip to another,” he said. 
There were too many technical glitches and the patrons’ patience ran thin. 
The challenges continued until 11pm when the movie premiere ended unceremoniously as there were no credits at the end of the film.  
Misoya, jumped on stage to apologise to patrons, but he was met with hostility.  
However, he acknowledged that they had worked under pressure because they had set the deadlines of their project too tight.  
He said: “We couldn’t cancel the premiere because the dates were already set. The product which we have shown is not what we arranged to show.”
 Looking through the movie, one can tell that the movie has a good storyline and the project was well planned save for the last part.  
On Saturday, the movie producers released a statement apologising to patrons and promised them  another premiere using the same tickets.
On its part, Film Association of Malawi also released a statement advising the producers to postpone the Blantyre premiere which was scheduled for yes-terday, until all the challenges are sorted.
Patrons left the venue before the movie ended

    Chaos at ‘Is the President Dead’ movie premiere

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Eagles suspect match-fixing

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Mist over airtel top 8 fixture

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Panic as Kuhes hikes fees to K1m

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Chakwera mulls over Zamba chop calls

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Loading
  • Values
  • Our Philosophy
  • Editorial policy
  • Advertising Policy
  • Code of Conduct
  • Plagiarism disclaimer
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use

© 2023 Nation Publications Limited. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Life & Style
    • Every Woman
      • Soul
      • Family
    • Religion
    • Feature
  • Society
  • Columns
  • Sports
  • Enation
  • Mother’s Fun Run

© 2020 Nation Publications Limited. All Rights Reserved.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.