Tolerance I - We often judge
Wasssup Wassup people !!!
Its good to be blogging once again, thinking about what to write and how to keep you all entertained. Before I start today's post I would like to plead with you all to keep the word strong, to pass the message and to be involved, so the blog can make reasonable progress. I was going through my stats of the blog and the number of subscribers has increased but we still need more numbers, its super easy just put in your E-mail address in the pop-up tab that appears on the blog page.
Today I sit in front of the laptop so eager to write this, as a writer there are times when you just have the motivation to write something down and today I want to really address the issues surrounding religion and tolerance, but I'll try to keep it as short as possible. This is personally a touchy subject especially in Africa, which is a continent that is so deeply rooted in religion, that one would think tolerance, acceptance and unity would be the general way of life, but such is not the case for most Africans. The topic of this post is actually the reality of the matter, we are humans and more than often we will judge people for doing things differently, we judge people for committing "sin" while committing our own sin.
Many may disagree with this post but this is my ideology at this point in life, you are free to disagree and have a totally different perspective. Firstly, I believe some (not all) ideas of religion in Africa are followed about blindly or wrongly, often we forget basic logic and common sense, but I digress. I really want this post to focus on tolerance in religion as I said before but I want to try it in two parts, one of which will cover the LGBTQ community as well.
I want to start this off with a little story, So yesterday a beautiful Sunday afternoon I was in a trotro (public bus) heading towards American house on my way to visit my friend and along the way I noticed a lot of young men and women dressed very casually talking and laughing, they honestly looked like they were enjoying themselves and my first thought was "oh they probably had a party here" (was I wrong). We moved a little forward and the bus driver intentionally slowed down and we saw were they were actually coming from, a church by the corner of the road and immediately people stated murmuring in the bus, I smiled and shock my head, this was a very familiar and "normal" reaction. Then I noticed a young man with a beautiful hair of dreadlocks, dressed in a very crisp traditional outfit holding a bottle of water and going back into the church, I wasn't the only one who noticed him, immediately they started murmuring again in Twi (which I do not know how to speak, but I understand certain phrases), but the words DREADLOCKS kept coming up at a point a lady even said RASTA and made a funny noise at the back of her throat and I looked back and just laughed, a question immediately came to my mind, WHO ARE WE TO DECIDE WHO COMES TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD?
I wont come here and pretend that there are somethings I'm not biased about or sometimes I don't often have double standards but this is a very serious and well discussed topic. Growing up African or in most households we grew up with very Conservative parents and along the line we pick up their beliefs and practices without even knowing, so I wouldn't blame anybody for disagreeing with me. But you can not tell me that "it is ungodly", are you the angel of clothing and attendance? I don't even want to get my shovel and start digging into the Bible to show you passages that say do not judge and love your neighbors (being evrybodyyyyyy, even your enemies) and all of that. I believe the House of God should be open to everybody to come as they are with their hearts, their burdens and their joys. Church Aunties will make a young lady wearing a dress an inch or two above her knee feel like a prostitute or a husband snatcher. Why is she wearing a short dress in the first place? I DON'T KNOW, all I know is I came to worship my God, maybe you should #FaceYourFront.
Don't act like the length of someone dress or the makeup they wear determines their place in Gods heart, Lets think about this critically guys. We often chase people away from God with our own standards on Christianity and Appearance, each church/denomination with their own ideologies and I respect that but let people be able to approach the alter of God without getting strange faces and whispers. I remember an acquaintance complaining bitterly to me about how a lady embarrassed her because she wore a tight skirt to a Christian non-denominational fellowship and the woman caused a scene and even said "do you want disturb the boys and go to hell?" she said to me "Fae is this how Jesus would treat me?" on the brink of tears. Agree with me or not but a sad reality is that most people will boast about their self-righteousness but nurse the biggest faults and will openly judge you for having piercings and having dreadlocks.
He who you think is below you because he has dreadlocks may have just helped pay someones school fees or just gave someone money to feed her children, but oh ye righteous brethren won't even let them through your gate. Nobody is perfect, we all have a fault, a part of our lives that isn't the best and sometimes we just want to be within the embracing arms of the Lord, but giving someone strange looks because she isn't married with children or he has tattoos doesn't make them inferior in the eyes of God, please learn to accept and tolerate people in and outside the house of the Lord, you are not perfect and so are they. Lets not chase away potential souls of the Lord away because they do not fit the imagine of a " good Christian".
UPDATE-
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