Uncle: But our Ome N'ala Igbo (Igbo Traditional Religion) is very similar to Judaism, the religion of the Jews. So, in some ways, IGBO must be related to the Jews.
Papa: Listen, you don't just wake up and claim you are a Jew. It's either you were born by a Jewish woman or that you have gone through the rituals of conversion. You have to prove it.
Uncle: But, I thought Igbo are one of the lost tribes of Israel?
Papa: If by any chance IGBO is the lost tribe of Israel, then we must reject Christianity like our Jewish brothers.
Papa: Listen, you don't just wake up and claim you are a Jew. It's either you were born by a Jewish woman or that you have gone through the rituals of conversion. You have to prove it.
Uncle: But, I thought Igbo are one of the lost tribes of Israel?
Papa: If by any chance IGBO is the lost tribe of Israel, then we must reject Christianity like our Jewish brothers.
Son: Devil is a liar; Jesus said in John 3:36; “… whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them”.
Papa: Did I say you should reject Jesus?
Son: But rejecting Christianity is rejecting Jesus.
Papa: Really? Did Jesus practice Christianity or asked anybody to do so?
Son: ………………………long silence
Uncle: Jesus was born a Jew and practised Judaism. In Matt 5:17, Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfil”. Judaism is the adherence to the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms as contained in the Jewish Bible known as TaNaKh.
Papa: If Jesus practised Judaism; why then did those who claim to be following His teachings introduce new religion – Christianity.
Uncle: Christianity is the Europeans’ imitation of Judaism and Islam is that of the Arabs. The three are Abrahamic religions.
Papa: Why then do they always fight with each other if they are one and the same religion?
Uncle: They have similarities but not the same. Jewish Tanakh (Old Testament) contains 24 books. In Christianity, Catholic Bible holds 73 books while Protestants have 66 books. Islam is a variety of TaNaKh and the New Testament.
Papa: Why should they differ if the writers were inspired by the Holy Spirit as they said?
Uncle: It’s because the Romans remodelled Judaism after their sun god, which they later rebranded Christianity. However, King James authorised a new Bible that excluded a group of 14 books from the Catholic Bible when he broke ranks with the Romans. Nonetheless, both of them still have Sunday as a day of worship; which was the day the Romans worshipped their sun god.
Papa: So, these people that attend Church on Sundays are indirectly worshipping the Romans’ sun god?
Uncle: Exactly
PAPA: Really?
Uncle: Not only that, the Romans tried to indoctrinate the Jews by force during their reign and occupation of Jerusalem. You know, when you change a people’s way of life (religion) they will never be the same again. They will lose everything that binds them together and ‘the centre will not hold’ anymore. – Chinua Achebe
PAPA: Really?
Uncle: Not only that, the Romans tried to indoctrinate the Jews by force during their reign and occupation of Jerusalem. You know, when you change a people’s way of life (religion) they will never be the same again. They will lose everything that binds them together and ‘the centre will not hold’ anymore. – Chinua Achebe
Papa: Reminiscent of what the British did to Africans. But did the Jews succumb?
Uncle: Never! They rejected Christianity in its entirety even in the face of subdual. in fact, they rather are dead than worship other gods, which GOD warned them against.
Papa: Really! These Jews were strong-willed.
Papa: Really! These Jews were strong-willed.
Uncle: Why won't they? According to their Bible, they were present at Mount Sinai when Moses received the Laws (10 commandments) from GOD. So why should they relinquish the Laws of GOD for the doctrine of men?
Papa: What do you actually mean by the doctrine of men and the Laws of God?
Uncle: For instance, GOD commanded the Jews; ‘do not have another god beside me’. Instead, the Romans told them to accept that Jesus is God, the son of God and the Messiah. And that Mary the mother of Jesus is the mother of God.
Papa: So, the Jews don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah?
Uncle: No. They are still expecting their own Messiah.
Papa: They strongly believed in their GOD, unlike Africans who yielded to the missionaries.
Papa: What do you actually mean by the doctrine of men and the Laws of God?
Uncle: For instance, GOD commanded the Jews; ‘do not have another god beside me’. Instead, the Romans told them to accept that Jesus is God, the son of God and the Messiah. And that Mary the mother of Jesus is the mother of God.
Papa: So, the Jews don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah?
Uncle: No. They are still expecting their own Messiah.
Papa: They strongly believed in their GOD, unlike Africans who yielded to the missionaries.
Uncle: I said GOD spoke to them directly; did your African gods speak with you at any point?
Papa: I thought we belong to the same religion?
UNCLE: Which of them?
Papa: Ome N'ala Igbo (Igbo Traditional Religion)
Uncle: I will belong when it is reformed
Papa: Ome N'ala Igbo (Igbo Traditional Religion)
Uncle: I will belong when it is reformed
Papa: Well, let’s talk again next week, you know today is our market day and I have to go to the market square because OKAFO, OKONKWO and OKEKE will be there by now.
Uncle: And you are the missing OKORIE.
Papa: Thou SAYEST!!!
To be continued…