WHO IS GOD TO YOU?
Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua
When I was studying philosophy, I
read some Western Philosophers who claimed that Africans have no intellectual
capacity to comprehend and understand the concept of the divine transcendence.
Some went further to say that Africans have no souls therefore they may not be
able to understand the value of the human person. What a contradiction to the
faith of Africans who are known to be “God conscious” and deeply religious! Now
I am beginning to wonder if we are not attempting to prove these philosophers
right, given the way and manner life is being wasted in Nigeria today. If we
really have the capacity for God and actually, believe in the God of love,
justice and peace, then we should be able to prove our faith in actions. It is
not enough to go to our various houses of worship to pray whereas our actions
contradict our piety. I do not know if God answers the petition for energy and
wits to kill fellow human beings? I need to be enlightened by those who may let
blood flow like a river in God’s name.
The compass is now turning towards dialogue in Nigeria as one of the
efforts to put an end to violence and terrorism. The question is: “what form of
dialogue are we talking about here”? Is it dialogue of action, dialogue of
religious experience, dialogue of social engagement or dialogue of theological
exchange? Whatever form of dialogue it is that has become a subject of this
clarion call; we need to begin with the clarification of the concept: “GOD”. What does God mean to each
partner in dialogue? Is the God affirmed in Christianity, different from the
God affirmed in Judaism, Islam and Traditional Religions? Is the concept of God
the same for Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals and Pentecostals? Is the
Concept of God the same for all the sects in Islam: the Sunnites, Kharijites
(Ibadiyya), Shites (Isma’iliyya), Sufis, Wahhabiyya, Muslim brotherhood,
Ahmadiyyah etc?
This question is important because in Judaism as recorded in the
Acts of the Apostles, Saul thought that he was doing God’s work by persecuting
and killing Christians until he got the correct concept of God by divine
illumination on his way to Damascus to kill Christians. This divine
illumination converted Saul to become Paul the apostle to the Gentiles (Acts
9). The founder of the Islamic Wahhabi sect, ‘Abd al-Wahhab, introduced the war
cry of the Wahhabis: “Kill and strangle all infidels who give companions to
Allah.” On the day of battle, he gave each soldier a letter addressed to
the Treasurer of Paradise. It was enclosed in a bag which the warrior
suspended from his neck. The soldier believed that by dying in battle he
would go straight to Paradise, without being examined by the angels Munkar and
Nakir. Many Iranian Wahabis still believe in this teaching.[1]
Today, it is presumed that almost all religions believe
in the existence of God who created heaven, earth, human beings and all that
exist. The same God is the God of life and judgment; the same God who created
the heaven for all righteous people to behold his face on the last day.
Sometimes I wonder if some people still believe in heaven or hell! Though the existence
of God is affirmed by many people, the concept and how some people relate to
God is quite different.
The name: “God”
has gone through a lot of evolution.
Since he is a pure spirit, it took ages for the human mind to arrive at the concept of one God as we believe
today. Before the call of Abraham,
the whole world believed in the existence of many gods. In the Bible, the book of Joshua reports
that Yahweh the God of Israel says
this, “In ancient days your ancestors
lived beyond the River such was Terah the father of Abraham and of Nahor and they served other gods”
(Joshua 24,2). The Holy Qur’an testifies to this as follows: “(Also) mention in the book (The
story of) Abraham: He was a man of truth.
A prophet: Behold he said to his father;
“O my father! Why worship that which heareth not and seeth not, and can profit thee nothing” (Suratul Maryam 41- 42).
The
names of God in Hebrew underwent a development from polytheism to monotheism. The name originates from
El, Elohim to Yahweh.
El was known and adored outside Israel. As a common name, it designates the divinity in almost the
whole Semitic world. El qualifies
what God was in Israel. El Elyon
was the God of Melchizedech King
of Salem. This El was treated identically with the God of Abraham (Genesis 14, 20). From El, the
people of Israel arrived at Elohim,
El olam and El Shaddai meaning God almighty (Genesis 17, 1). This was the God revealed to
Abraham. Yahweh is the sacred name
of God that was revealed to Moses in the burning bush: “I AM WHO I AM”. The
people of Israel preferred to call God
Lord, Adonai out of respect for the sacred name Yahweh. [2]
Before
the call of Muhammad, the name of God in Arabic Allah came from the root Al ilah meaning “the God”.
Allah was used to indicate the chief
God of the Kabah before Muhammad’s time.
Allah was also used for the Supreme Being. Other gods were also worshipped by the Arabs. The Qu’ran mentions
three goddesses, Al lat, Al Uzza,
and Al Manat, representing the
sun, the planet Venus and fortune.
According to Goeffrey Parrinder (1957), the Meccans called these goddesses
daughters of Allah. Carleton
S. Coon (1944) is of the view that “the god” was referred to as “il
or illah”: “This was originally a phase of the Moon God, but early in
Arabian history the name became a general term for God, and it was this name
that the Hebrews used prominently in their personal names, such as Israel.
Under Mohammed’s tutelage, the relatively anonymous Ilah became Al-Ilah,
The God, or Allâh, the Supreme Being”.
In Etsako, God is called Osinegba. The root of
this name is Osi meaning the
transcendent being. From a point in
time the African people believed in a Supreme
Being who is a pure spirit. Since they are not able to see him they thought they could reach him through the
created things. Today the traditional
worshippers worship one God except that they call upon Him through the divinities and ancestors. God remain one despite our different concepts and
different names: Yahweh, Deo, Allah, Theos, Abasi, Osinegba, Ubangiji, Chineke, Chukwu, Oghene, Osenobulua,
Osanobua, Tamarau, etc.
But the big question lingers: “Is your concept of God a divine violence or
divine peace”? If God for you is the God of war, I may let you know that my
concept of God is a divine transcendence that is so powerful to the extent that
he does not need a human being to defend him or kill for him through any form
of jihad or crusade. Perhaps we can begin with dialogue of religious
experience, namely the operations and actions of God in the life of each
individual. At the end of the day, we may discover that all the killings that
have been attributed to religion in God’s name have various reasons other than
victory for God. May the God of mercy and compassion guide us to the way of
peace!
Fr. Prof. Cornelius Afebu
Omonokhua is the Director of Mission and Dialogue of the Catholic Secretariat
of Nigeria, Abuja; and Consultor of the Commission for Religious Relations with
Muslims (C.R.R.M), Vatican City (comonokhua@hotmail.com).
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