By Dr Charles Leyman Kachitsa
A nation at war with itself is one of the unthinkable thing to happen, yet it does time and again. Some nations by conduct, turn their powerful ammunition facing in with full knowledge though one could argue that others do that subconsciously. A nation at war with itself is a dangerous place to be.
A nation full of corruption in its provisions of services to the citizens. Especially basic services, life sustaining services where to gain such requires bribery and or underhand additional payments above the stated fees, is a very good example of a nation at war with itself. True productivity based on national values in people ensures national economic progress that is solid.
General common sense entails that national values must be seen in all what is in the nation. The laws in the nation must capture the cultural values that are inherent in it. This is the most logical way than the other way round. Those nations who have realised the importance of following this logic, have gone on to thrive and dominate others in the world.
The quotes this week are a continuation extraction from a book that revisits the roots of religious movement in what would have been the unreached world explaining what a turn around it brought. Just like any other world systems where ordinary people are involved, selfish interests find their way in what would otherwise be a noble practice. I am sure that the few selected quotations listed below from this book will enlighten you to one or two life lessons. Read and enjoy:
DECOLONIZING MISSION by Harvey C. Kwiyani
“However, Christian missionaries were a special breed of heroic persons bringing Christ to foreign lands. Right from the 1400s, the lands claimed by the Europeans were to be civilized. That civilization was, and still is, defined in European and Western terms means that to be civilized was then, in the European mind, to be Europeanized. To paraphrase Brian Stanley, missionary beliefs were derived primarily from the Bible: non-Christians required conversion for salvation, their religious systems constituted little more than ‘pagan idolatry’; Western civilization was both superior to and had a capacity for improving others; and the commitment to the monogenist interpretations of human origins………”
“If, therefore, a just man is perhaps serving as a soldier under a godless human king, he can correctly fight at his command so as to preserve the order of civil peace. This is certain when what is commanded is not against commandment of God, or when it is not certain whether it is or is not. In the latter case, the injustice in commanding perhaps makes the king guilty, but his order in obeying proves the soldier innocent. How much more is he who wages war at God’s command completely innocent in the conduct of wars! For no one who serves him can can fail to know that he cannot anything unjustly.”
“Before the missionaries were sent from Antioch to begin to evangelize the nations in Asia Minor, even before the persecution that scattered the Christians from Jerusalem, the witness of Christ was already happening in the empire’s cities and beyond. The empire is responsible for the decades of peace and quiet – Pax Romana – and the extensive travel system of roads and ships that would be helpful for the missionaries as they went to evangelize the empire. The Galileans needed to work with the diaspora Jews – most of them were economic migrants – if they were to manage the task of making the nations disciples of Christ.”
“The Negro race, one could say, is exactly the opposite of American; they are full of affect and passion, very lively, talkative and vain. They acquire culture, but only a culture of slaves; that is they allow themselves to be trained. They have many incentives, are also sensitive, afraid of beatings, and also do many things out of honor.”
