Maravi

Fight and conquer evil

Fight and conquer evil
By The Post
Mon 14 June 2010, 04:00 CAT

WE are not in any way trying to compete with our religious teachers over the use of the Bible. We simply can’t ignore the wisdom contained in this book. One doesn’t need to be religious to appreciate these good teachings and try to make them part of one’s life.

And in another way, we are simply trying to compliment the work being done by our religious leaders. Today we are carrying a story in our news pages about the advice given to our political leaders and to the Zambian people in general by Bishop Derek Kamukwamba of the Anglican Diocese of Central Zambia.

Bishop Kamukwamba points out that the political atmosphere in the country is that of intolerance, and correction and criticism is in most cases seen as an attack on the leadership. He advises political players in Zambia to change their attitude and stop politics of manipulation and start practicing politics of mutual understanding and respect for one another. Bishop Kamukwamba advises: “To whichever party we belong, let us remember that we all belong to the same and only one household, Zambia.

We are Zambians first and foremost; there is no one more Zambian than the other. Zambia is Zambia for all Zambians regardless of one’s political or religious affiliation. Let us correct and appreciate one another and those at the receiving end, let us be open to corrections, criticism, and also appreciate those correcting or criticising.”

This is valuable advice. And there is a lot of this type of advice coming from our religious leaders. But the question is: are our politicians listening to what these servants of Christ are saying?

There’s a lot of wisdom in the teachings of these men. And we are very lucky as a nation that we have very brilliant and progressive clergymen. But their advice seems to be falling on deaf ears.

And of late we have been quoting a lot from the book of Proverbs, which is a collection of moral and religious teachings in the form of sayings and proverbs. Much of it has to do with practical, everyday concerns. It begins with the reminder that “To have knowledge, one must have the reverence of the Lord,” and then goes on to deal with matters not only of religious morality, but also of common sense and good manners. Its many short sayings reveal the insight of ancient Israelite teachers about what a wise person will do in certain situations. Some of these concern family relations, others, political and business dealings.

Some deal with matters of etiquette in social relations, and the others with the need for self-control. Much is said about such qualities as humility, patience, respect for the poor, and loyalty to friends. And this book starts in Proverbs 1:2-6 by saying: “Here are proverbs that will help you recognise wisdom and good advice, and understand sayings with deep meaning.

They can teach you how to live intelligently and how to be honest, just and fair. They can make an inexperienced person clever and teach young men how to be resourceful. These proverbs can even add to the knowledge of wise men and give guidance to the educated, so that they can understand the hidden meanings to proverbs and the problems that wise men raise.”

Clearly, new ideas and approaches are needed to move our people from where they are today. There’s need to start building a new awareness because the challenges and problems we are today facing require principles more than ever. They require a lot more awareness, and that awareness will be built by adding together the awareness of what is happening and the awareness of what is going to happen.
It has to be built by adding together more than just one thought and the best of ethical and humane ideas of more than one religion, of all authentic religions, the sum total of the preaching of many political thinkers and of many religions.

But ideas, political or otherwise, are worthless if they are not inspired by noble, selfless sentiments. Likewise, noble sentiments are worthless if they are not based on correct, fair ideas.

There’s need for our politicians, especially those in government, to listen carefully to what our religious leaders are saying and heed their advice, remembering what we were told in Proverbs 1:30-33: “You have never wanted my advice or paid any attention when I corrected you.

So then, you will get what you deserve, and your own actions will make you sick. Inexperienced people die because they reject wisdom. Stupid people are destroyed by their own lack of concern. But whoever listens to me will have security. He will be safe, with no reason to be afraid.”

To be criticised, to be corrected is not to be hated. But our leaders today think one should only speak in agreement with them, a critic has no place in their scheme of things. But this is understandable as we are told in Proverbs 9:7-9: “If you correct a conceited man, you will only be insulted.

If you reprimand an evil man, you will only get hurt. Never correct a conceited man; he will hate you for it. But if you correct a wise man, he will respect you. Anything you say to a wise man will make him wiser. Whatever you tell a righteous man will add to his knowledge.”

So much valuable advice has been given to those running our government but they have not bothered to listen and let alone heed the advice. Instead, they have launched an attack to discredit those who have attempted to advise them. The leadership of the Catholic Church is today under serious attack as a result of this.

Truly, “sensible people accept good advice. People who talk foolishly will come to ruin” (Proverbs 9:8). But what they are forgetting is that “someone who holds back the truth causes trouble, but one who openly criticises works for peace” (Proverbs 10:10).

And “anyone who loves knowledge wants to be told when he is wrong. It is stupid to hate being corrected” (Proverbs 12:1). And this is much more so because “stupid people will always think they are right. Wise people listen to advice” (Proverbs 12:15). And the problem is that “conceited” people do not like to be corrected; they never ask for advice from those who are wiser” (Proverbs 15:12).

It is said that “stupid people are happy with their foolishness, but the wise will do what is right. Get all the advice you can, and you will succeed; without it you will fail” (Proverbs 15:21-22).

We are further told: “if you pay attention when you are corrected, you are wise. If you refuse to learn, you are hurting yourself. If you accept correction, you will become wiser” (Proverbs 15:31-32).

But probably our preachers are wasting their time trying to advise people who are beyond advice. We say this because although it is said that “wisdom is a foundation of life to the wise, …trying to educate stupid people is a waste of time” (Proverbs 16:22). All that “evil people look for are ways to harm others; even their ways burn with evil”.

Clearly, there’s a lot that we can learn from the Bible and from our religious leaders about how best to conduct the affairs of our country. All that we require is willingness to do good. If one’s mind is bent on doing wrong, no amount of wise moral advice will change that. That’s why while trying to promote virtue, we have to fight vice because it will not go away on its own.

Evil has to be conquered for it to disappear. For this reason we urge all Zambians of goodwill to pay a lot of attention to what is being said by our religious leaders and, like Christ, devote their time and energy to fighting injustice, to fighting evil because it won’t go away on its own – it has to be fought and conquered.

Labels: DEREK KAMUKWAMBA, POLITICAL VIOLENCE

posted by MrK @ 12:15 PM