The Sunday News
“WHEN I was a child,” Mkhokheli, a fellow congregant in his twenties confided to me the other day, “the pastor terrified me. Watching the man of God standing up there at the pulpit, I believed he knew all the things I had done in the preceding week, knew exactly what I was thinking, knew what I intended to do next, knew . . . eeish, I avoided the man like poison.”
Other than scrap through my O-level Bible Knowledge with a pass, I have no claim to understanding Christianity anymore than you do dear reader. But that does not stop me from having views on the subject. I am sure you too have views. Allow me to state mine first.
One of my favourite Bible quote is ‘‘Come now; let us reason together,” says the Lord. I therefore invite you to reason with me.
I believe my fellow congregant Mkhokheli spoke for most of us when he revealed his past fear of the pastor. To varying degrees, we all are in awe of the men of God. I once had lunch at a restaurant with acquaintances of mine. The group included a friend called Arthur and a pastor.
The two did not know each other.
Arthur has written and presented brilliant economic papers at international gatherings. At the lunch, he regaled us with stories involving beautiful women he met during his travels, told not so clean jokes and generally saw himself as the main attraction at the table. His jaw dropped when he learnt that there was a pastor in our midst.
To try and regain some respect, Arthur told a story in which he quoted a phrase. He paused for effect before announcing that the quote was from the Bible, in the book of Genesis. “Actually,” the pastor said, “the verse is from Revelation.” My friend zipped his mouth and for the rest of the meal looked like a man lost in the wilderness. Yes, the presence of a pastor tends to make most people to be no longer at ease.
The fear of pastors increases when one recalls that it is believed God talks to them directly. Personally, I am uncomfortable with the idea that God talks to some individuals without anyone present to witness the talk. If indeed this is true, how would one handle a lad in the anecdote told by the writer Alasdair Gray?
One afternoon the lad was seen hurrying down High Street in Glasgow, Scotland. “No, I refuse to do it,” he shouted, throwing up both hands. “You will get me into trouble. I will not do it!”
Asked what the problem was, the exasperated lad replied: “God is instructing me to smash all the windows of Catholic bookshops.”
If God indeed speaks to individuals, the right thing to say to the lad would be: “Go ahead young man, obey God.”
However, God has invited us to reason with Him. Surely He would like us to reason with the lad even though the lad claims to be getting instructions from Him. I leave it to you dear reader to think of how you would reason with the lad. Today my focus is on the miracle performing pastor.
I believe this fear of pastors has discouraged us from questioning claims by some pastors that they miraculously heal the sick. But let us reason with this claim. The Bible permits us to do so.
Why don’t miracle performing pastors attend to amputees? An indisputable miracle would be to see an amputated leg or arm growing back. Why don’t miracle pastors visit the many homes of the disabled? These homes are full of well documented case of disabled people. Healing them would shame all those who do not believe in miracles. Until a miracle is performed along the lines suggested above, let us not credit pastors with supernatural powers.
This is not to say God has no role in healing the sick. All knowledge is His. Thus all healing is from Him. God instructed us to use all earthly resources for ourselves. What we should ask from God is the intellect and gift to discover cures.
Perhaps my fellow congregant Mkhokheli went too far by fearing the pastor. He should just stop at respecting him. The pastor has taken time to know the ways of God better than most of us. He therefore has earned our respect. His role is to help us live lives that will hasten God to bless us with knowledge and skills to core ourselves.
What sayeth thou?
