Religion Vs Godliness; OUR ROLE - ANTHONY IKE OTIKPA

For all intent and purposes, this article should not be misconstrued as a religious write up rather the opposite should be the case.

The title of this article can easily sell it out as an evangelical endeavor but at the end, more light shall be shed on the dangers of religion and its inferiority over godliness.

Religion can be said to be as old as man and right from the fall of Man from his original estate, Man has been on the pursuit to return to that higher state from whence he fell.

It is this pursuit that has triggered in man the quest for religion hereby condemning mankind into this insatiable race. The birth of religion is the beginning of the end for Man.

It is therefore the presence of religion in the psyche of mankind that ushered in the absence of godliness for both cannot co-exist.

In this simple analogy between religious and godly people, the meaning of religion and godliness will be laid bare.

Nigerians as a people seem to be growing religiously but declining in godliness just as Shakespeare said in his book, The Tempest, "Hell is empty, All the devils are here".

Religious people are naturally zombies and that is what religion aims to achieve; make people zombies!

As the great philosopher would say "Religion is the Opium of the people". In other words, religion is the intoxicator of the minds of people. When someone is intoxicated, his mental capacity and capabilities are limited, his thought processes are deranged, and he loses his ability to reason.

How else can one explain it when men slice the throat of another in the name of fighting God's cause or when a group of people condemn others to hell even before the Judgment Day?

Let's be less religious and have more of godliness. We seem to have more religious people in Nigeria than godly people!

Here are the differences; religious people tend to help God while godly people let God help them.

Religious people think prayer changes God and things but godly people know prayer only changes them and they change things. You can't be godly and not help humanity.

To help the world we live in was the reason God created us in the first place. We were not created to go to Heaven. We were created to subdue and cultivate the Earth. When Christ prayed "Let your will be done as it is in Heaven", who do u think will do God's will? And where will it be done? On Earth!!!.

It is God's perfect will for us to help humanity...help the sickly world!....contribute your own quota...start from your own "Jerusalem". Leave the world better than you met it and quit complaining about the government.

Do your part and I will do mine!

Anthony Ike Otikpa, Executive Director, Foundation for Youths in the Diaspora (FYID) writes from Lagos, Nigeria.