ANATHEMA!!
WARNING: anyone with a particularly sensitive nature should avoid reading this post. I realize that by merely reporting this story, I am participating in a great sin and for that I do earnestly repent, am heartily sorry for this my misdoing and humbly and abjectly beg mercy. But unfortunately, I am obliged to relate that Eliud Wabukala, the Anglican Archbishop of Kenya, recently…shudder…blasphemed against the Millennium Development Goals[peace and blessings be upon them]:
The Archbishop of Kenya has criticized idolatry of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) saying faith in Christ, not works performed in his name, is the path of salvation.
The 22 February 2012 letter written by Archbishop Eliud Wabukala on behalf of the Gafcon primates chastised Christians who in the pursuit of social and economic change, lost sight of the centrality of the cross and the primacy of repentance and amendment of life. “While it is obvious that such good things as feeding the hungry, fighting disease, improving education and national prosperity are to be desired by all, by themselves any human dream can become a substitute gospel which renders repentance and the cross of Christ irrelevant,” he said.
In his Lenten letter, Archbishop Wabukala wrote in Kenya the church seeks to “equip God’s people to transform society with the gospel.” Such a transformation is far “more lasting” than the work of governments or NGOs because the Gospel “addresses our deepest need, that of a restored relationship with the God.”
When believers stop placing their full trust in God, they become “vulnerable to taking short cuts that lead us away from the truth of the gospel. Some church leaders seem to think that the transformation of society will simply come through commitment” to the MDGs.
“While it is obvious that such good things as feeding the hungry, fighting disease, improving education and national prosperity are to be desired by all, by themselves any human dream can become a substitute gospel which renders repentance and the cross of Christ irrelevant,” Archbishop Wabukla said.
Archbishop Wabukala also questioned the philosophical rationale for the Western aid industry. The MDGs “have grown out of a secularised Western culture which is pushing Christianity to the margins and uses the language of human rights and equality to promote irresponsibility in social life and diminish personal responsibility.”
Sarcasm off.
DAY-um!!
To put this in a Midwestern context, let’s say that a tornado has just blown through your town. Your dwelling escaped destruction but you have a family member/friend whose family survived unhurt but who lost everything.
You and your church or your social circle get together to determine how you’re going to help out your family member/friend. Do you (1) decide what it is that you think your family member/friend needs and then provide it for him whether he actually needs it or not or (2) ask your family member/friend how you can best help his family and then do whatever it is that your family member/friend needs done?
Racism may be too harsh a word to use here. But I really think that there is an element of infantilization at work in the Western “charitable” community especially as far as the various African nations are concerned.
Do the Africans want the Millennium Development Goals[peace and blessings be upon them]? Or do they want the opportunity to make their own way in the world and solve their own problems in their own way?
The key word there, of course, is “opportunity.”
The United States of America was founded on the idea that there are no guarantees in this life. As Mr. Jeffersonphrased it, God promises us life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not the achievement of it.
So one assumes that your average African wants more than anything else to have the chance to pursue happiness, whatever he perceives happiness to be. But if he never achieves what he perceives to be happiness, at least he can die happy knowing that he gave it his best shot.
Which, at the end of the day, is all anyone can ask for in this life.
The Archbishop of Kenya has criticized idolatry of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) saying faith in Christ, not works performed in his name, is the path of salvation.
The 22 February 2012 letter written by Archbishop Eliud Wabukala on behalf of the Gafcon primates chastised Christians who in the pursuit of social and economic change, lost sight of the centrality of the cross and the primacy of repentance and amendment of life. “While it is obvious that such good things as feeding the hungry, fighting disease, improving education and national prosperity are to be desired by all, by themselves any human dream can become a substitute gospel which renders repentance and the cross of Christ irrelevant,” he said.
In his Lenten letter, Archbishop Wabukala wrote in Kenya the church seeks to “equip God’s people to transform society with the gospel.” Such a transformation is far “more lasting” than the work of governments or NGOs because the Gospel “addresses our deepest need, that of a restored relationship with the God.”
When believers stop placing their full trust in God, they become “vulnerable to taking short cuts that lead us away from the truth of the gospel. Some church leaders seem to think that the transformation of society will simply come through commitment” to the MDGs.
“While it is obvious that such good things as feeding the hungry, fighting disease, improving education and national prosperity are to be desired by all, by themselves any human dream can become a substitute gospel which renders repentance and the cross of Christ irrelevant,” Archbishop Wabukla said.
Archbishop Wabukala also questioned the philosophical rationale for the Western aid industry. The MDGs “have grown out of a secularised Western culture which is pushing Christianity to the margins and uses the language of human rights and equality to promote irresponsibility in social life and diminish personal responsibility.”
Sarcasm off.
DAY-um!!
To put this in a Midwestern context, let’s say that a tornado has just blown through your town. Your dwelling escaped destruction but you have a family member/friend whose family survived unhurt but who lost everything.
You and your church or your social circle get together to determine how you’re going to help out your family member/friend. Do you (1) decide what it is that you think your family member/friend needs and then provide it for him whether he actually needs it or not or (2) ask your family member/friend how you can best help his family and then do whatever it is that your family member/friend needs done?
Racism may be too harsh a word to use here. But I really think that there is an element of infantilization at work in the Western “charitable” community especially as far as the various African nations are concerned.
Do the Africans want the Millennium Development Goals[peace and blessings be upon them]? Or do they want the opportunity to make their own way in the world and solve their own problems in their own way?
The key word there, of course, is “opportunity.”
The United States of America was founded on the idea that there are no guarantees in this life. As Mr. Jeffersonphrased it, God promises us life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not the achievement of it.
So one assumes that your average African wants more than anything else to have the chance to pursue happiness, whatever he perceives happiness to be. But if he never achieves what he perceives to be happiness, at least he can die happy knowing that he gave it his best shot.
Which, at the end of the day, is all anyone can ask for in this life.
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