Direct access to God

While Mr. Lenrod Nzulu Baraka in his thought provoking article titled: “Christian Supernaturalism Versus African Obeah” (Barbados Today, October 28) brought into focus the fascinating subject of comparative religions, I take issue with his statement that miracles recorded in the Bible such as the transformation of Moses’ shepherd’s staff into a snake, Elijah’s translation into Heaven via a whirlwind and Elisha’s resurrection of a boy, are “outrageous features of [the Christian faith-based] tradition”.

Miracles like the afore mentioned are “easy pickings” for God, the eternal Creator of the universe who supernaturally spoke all things (from the smallest particles to the biggest galaxies) into existence out of absolutely nothing (Ps.33:6-9; Heb.11:3).

The only alternative to the supernatural origin of the universe and life is atheistic naturalism, as the late Nobel prize winning evolutionary biologist Dr. George Wald once said: “When it comes to the origin of life there are only two possibilities: creation or spontaneous generation. There is no third way.”

However, atheistic naturalism is the real elephant in the room with truly insurmountable outrageous features such as the unscientific, faith-based philosophy that nothing, in true David Copperfield style, can “presto” give rise to something (i.e., the universe) and that given enough time nonliving chemicals can spring to life and fish can be transformed via evolution into people.

On the other hand, supernaturalism, which demands a cause of the universe, has a solid underlying scientific base. Since the universe had a beginning, it had a cause (as science demands) and since the cause is always greater than the effect, the cause of our natural law functioning universe, would have to be uncaused/eternal/supernatural. Therefore, since the universe itself originated supernaturally by God’s power, He can certainly supernaturally intervene into it according to His sovereign will. That’s not a problem at all.

When it comes to a comparison of the Judea-Christian faith and other religions, in this case indigenous/traditional African religions, the comparisons are many times intriguing and serve to corroborate rather than undermine the biblical worldview of man’s origins, purpose and destiny.

For example, while many archeologists, who adhere to an evolutionary worldview of origins, posit that animism via polytheism and pantheism eventually evolved over time into monotheism, the Bible on the other hand, supported by archeological findings declares that it was an original universal monotheism which over time devolved into animism, polytheism, and pantheism (Rom.1:18-25).

Consequently, indigenous African religions (like indigenous religions of other cultures) confess belief in the one supreme, eternal Creator God while still holding to a belief in lesser “deities” and ancestral spirits as a means of seeking guidance through life or sometimes communicating with the supreme being who is often viewed as distant and withdrawn.

The remoteness of God, as stated by many indigenous African religions, is due to a very serious offence committed against God by the first woman which introduced toil, sickness, and death to mankind.

This sounds very much like the account of the fall of man recorded in Genesis chapter 3, but it is what we would expect if the events in Genesis are historical and as such would have been recounted in one way or the other by people groups worldwide who are all descended from the first man and woman.

The Bible states that because of man’s offence (sin) against God there is need for forgiveness and reconciliation by means of blood atonement, the sacrificial death of an innocent victim to atone for the sins of the guilty party (Lev.17:11; Heb.9:19-22).  This concept is also very much a part of indigenous African religions.

As anthropologist Dominique Zahan observed “African spiritual life is so impregnated with the idea of immolation [to offer in sacrifice; especially to kill as a sacrificial victim] that it is practically impossible to find a people on that continent whose religious practices do not include the slaughter of the most diverse victims.”

Zahan further observed the irreplaceable position of sacrifice in African traditional religion when he said, “It can even be said that sacrifice is the keystone of the African Traditional Religion. It constitutes the supreme prayer, that which could not be renounced without seriously compromising the relationship between man and the Invisible.

“Among the Dagara of Northern Ghana, one cannot talk of a sacrifice without the flowing blood of a chicken. For them, sacrifice is described as a ritual act of repairing the damage caused by sin to the relationship between a believer and the supernatural beings”.

The good news proclaimed in the Bible is that God is really not distant (Acts 17: 26-28) and in fact has Himself (out of his great love for us) showed up on earth as the great victim-man to pay the ultimate penalty for our offenses by His own sacrificial death on the cross thereby fulfilling what every bona fide animal sacrifice prefigured from the primeval days of Abel.

As a result, we now have direct access to God without the need for intermediaries be they humans (living or dead) or supposed other lesser “deities”, which really don’t exist (Gal.4:8) since there is only one God, the Supreme Being (1 Cor.8:6).
– Roger Marshall