By Tai Olaniyi
Humanity is today at the crossroads, tranquility and peace seem daily eluding humanity just as doubt and hopelessness are more the portion than the age long dictum in the “Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man”.
What next would happen to still sustain the hope of humankind in the one and ever living God, the Creator of every living being, everywhere, is now daily pictured on who and what are the chosen people in chosen nation(s) of God.
The nation(s) and peoples especially in the Middle East have rightly or wrongly too, appropriated and / or misappropriated the Creator who created His creation and diverse creatures sort of, to only their enclaves.
In time immemorial, primordial tradition, myths and history, the Divine messengers, prophets and their messages are captured in holy scriptures, religious and esoteric rituals to the extent of discriminatory practices enshrined in superiority and inferiority complexes attendant to their beliefs, believers and / or none believers now world over.
The Hebrews, Jews, Arabs, Christians and Muslims and their racial posterity after them in geographic space and time, their tripartite history of heritage and lands occupation and dispossession include the crisis therefore and therein which are now topical issues for humankind as to who God is, and / or is not.
Humanity’s hope in God now seems to diminish rather than being renewed in the authenticity of God of all nations against that of the claim of His undiluted favor to one nation at the expense of others as a whole.
The messages of faith, mercy, benevolence and love of God as enshrined in religious faith, belief system, conviction and propagation including evangelism are today spiced with raging attributes of fundamentalism and terrorism.
The Middle East which once had the glowing records of bringing global humanity to the appreciation and realization of the God of peace, love and mercy for humankind are for now the melting pot and watershed of man’s inhumanity to fellowmen.
Over what is the reason for the grievous miseries and agonies being wrested daily, the bombardments and application of lethal weapons of mass destruction in Gaza, Israel and Palestine including the ripple effects of such on the entire world rulership?
Who then is God, where is He and which people or nation(s) are His favorite(s)? In the same token why did God create His creation and diverse creatures including you and I.
Psalms 24:1-2 New International Version (NIV):
“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.”
Does this affirmation apply to you and I, all of us wherever we are and / or trace our origin and genealogy to be?
If God owns the earth and everything therein, why then should man possess and or dispossess fellowmen of what should go round for everyone to enjoy? With the unending mere earthly acquisitions , the unethical and immoral practices by world political, economic and religious rulers mostly not leaders including all of us, and the acquisition of deadly weapons that daily destroy fellowmen, what guarantees one’s passage to the heavenly realms, the abode of God in the afterlife?
In our numerous wrong doings to fellowmen at whatever level of position or the none of it being held in any part of the world, what makes one a candidate of heaven wherever it is when one’s life is somehow stained by the blood of adversaries including numerous innocent ones no matter how we justify such brutish behavior?
According to a Muslim mystic, “In holy and pure heart the true mosque is built and not the ones built of stones”.
If this being the case,who then are the God chosen people and which land and nation is that of God when war efforts, wars and their skirmishes are more pronounced than peace being sermonized and seems glaringly not attainable? Think about it.
To whom, where, when, and with what and how do you open your heart to the one and only God, the Creator of every living being, everywhere?
I am inclined to suggest that you and I, all of us together daily open our heart, mind and soul to the administration and invocation of the Psalmist.
David says, “Open up, you ancient gates, and the King of glory will come in” (Psalm 24:7). Ancient gates in this regard mean doors that have been shut for years, things you’ve been shut out of by lack, depression, low self-esteem, or mediocrity. Think about it.
“He who is of God”according to a Sufi mystic, of God pursue and further to this he opines, “check in your own heart and you will find your God revealed”.
On this note I humbly submit in conclusion that may the one and only living God bring back humanity to the realization of the Greater Light, Life, Love and the way to Peace Profound for humanity.
