PRIGGISH ACTS OF BENIGHTEDNESS….- ONYEJI DOMINIC

Every religion in this world can rise to its peak and attain greatness in socio-moral development when majority of its believers are thoroughly made to understand basic principles of high moral living. Religion is meant to serve as formal gathering for building or development of good morals, and Christianity in particular ought to be educative. Indoctrination is good. But one is not expected to immerse oneself into it and besides, Christ’s teachings and Bible at large focus most on inculcation. Christianity is expected to serve as machinery for both skill and high moral enhancement. Religious activities will amount to nothing if they fail to inculcate good morals that can enable man become skilful, cultured and cultivated in real life. Every preaching or sermon ought to be well tailored to make man see need to lead a high moral life on earth. Bible revealed to us that Jesus was a great Teacher and perfect Master (Rabi) during his earthly ministry. He taught men in parables in order to make them wise. So, each of his true followers (good Christians) ought to be skilful and sociable, living a high moral life on this earth.

Christians are meant to know their onions and they equally need to appreciate basic principles of life especially those that pertain to perfection and correction. Problem in Christendom these days are due to the fact that most Christians do not know what perfection is. Moral principles of perfection are not familiar to most people who call themselves Christians. Mediocrities have become too many among preachers these days and congregation is no longer fed with sound Gospel. World is now filled with indoctrinated fools who we see everywhere as zealots, bigots and prigs.

One stupid thing about benighted Christians is that they are always eager to correct everybody. Their sheepish mentality and shallow mindedness tend to give them impression that everybody is in the wrong. Thorough investigation has revealed to us that many pastors and preachers lack sound knowledge of what they preach. You can hardly hear the so-call men of God telling congregation that correction is not meant for adults. Never! They do not understand life to that point, and if you look at it rationally, you will see it as what actually makes them to become bigots and prigs.

There is virtually no man of God who can stand on pulpit and tell congregation that adults are not meant to be corrected. You can advise an adult. But you dear not tell him that he is wrong. Even your most candid advice should not be made in a forceful manner. You can take a horse to river. But you do not force it to drink from it.

Perfection is both golden and formal. One among its great rules states that it is very wrong for you to ask sensible adult to remove hand from fire. Every wise person knows that experience is a great teacher, and rod of correction is meant for children alone. A lecturer will be labeled as downright mediocrity if he or she enters a lecture room and writer “CORRECTION” on lecture board. If he does that, it will be counted against him as gross misconduct and he shall definitely loose his job for it.

Every sensible adult is mature enough to correct himself. Nobody goes to school to learn what he knows. It is what you do not know that you go to learn at school. You do not tell or teach people what they already know. Every reasonable adult knows that fire burns. If he decides to put his hand inside fire, he should have good reason for doing that. So, you should leave him to his fate. His wrongs are none of your silly business. Besides, you do not have any right to correct anybody when you are not officially on duty as a legitimate law enforcement agent. Most things you count as wrongs may be very right and correct because another man’s food is another man’s poison.

Asking man to remove hand from fire is both priggish and silly. You are not meant to play God’s role in man’s life. Best thing is to leave man to his fate. When fire burns his hand, he will learn from experience, the best teacher. You cannot teach man more than experience does. Same thing applies to woman. Golden rule of perfection states that you do not tell a sensible woman to cover her legs in public because you never can tell whether or not her breath comes through her pussy. What if she covers her legs and dies? You think that God will be happy and accept her in heaven for dying in stupor (committing suicide indirectly)? Man! Please, come off it. Let’s try hard to be very positive and sensible in thinking. God is a wise God; he is never a benighted or foolish God.

There were millions in Christendom who attended tertiary institutions and failed to acquire sound education. They passed through school. But their priggish attitudes did not allow school to pass through them. One of them was Ukachi, a graduate of Lagos State University (LASU). She graduated with very poor grades like downright failures and could not fit into any good job because skill was not there for her to be productive in labor market. She was among religious prigs who got themselves immersed into religious activities on campus and allowed the trivialities to choke their academic lives in illusion (make-believe). Her major flaw was misconception. She had very wrong understanding of popular scriptures like, “God works in vineyards of those who work in God’s vineyard.” She believed that success will come as miracle and so, she got herself immersed in religious activities on campus, working in God’s vineyard as faithful and cumbersome student for Christ.

“PRIGGISH ACT OF BENIGHTEDNESS” is a short story and every right is reserved. It is taken from my new manuscript titled, “PURBLIND ONES”. It is serving as chapter 9 in the manuscript.