Please note that I do not intend to be blasphemous in any form. I will like all the religion fundamentalists that will be reading this to please be aware that I am purely writing this from victim/witness point of view.
I do not have anything against road/ bus preaching, I just wonder the sense in the lack of better strategy by the " I have called you to spread salvation" righteous preachers.The common scenerio on the road is to see preachers shouting at the top of their lungs in ever noisy and disorderly places. Then, you wonder who exactly they are reaching out to. You wonder the impact of such effort. In my former house, there was this preacher that would be out before 5am every morning waking the whole community up with the ceaseless donging of his bell that was often louder than his voice. What sense does this make?
This brings me to the bus scenes; everybody that enters a bus has got one thing or the other in mind as the journey proceeds either to rest a while before getting to your destination or to read something while in transit or better still to think. You will be rudely jolt out of whatever mood has carried you afar by the sudden singing, clapping or the call "to praise the lord somebody" of the ready to preach evangelist. For a journey of up to one hour or more than one hour, you are stuck with this preacher that will demand you respond to his/her prayers or that you sing along with him/her. Failure to do so, will get you labeled as anti-christ!
Then the preaching proper; time to face your sin of using make-up as a woman or wearing trousers or fixing artificial hair/nails which will make you doom enough to make hell. You are simply a daughter of Jazebel and unless you change your ways, you are going to hell. For a young man using stud or plaiting your hair, hell awaits you... If you happen to have any make-up on on when the preacher starts hammering away, blocking your ear with the unceasing noise, and gazes from the other bus righteous will make you feel so uncomfortable and tensed. Who cares, just change your ways! "Your churches that encourage these acts will not save you unless you repent" this is often added.
Well, it seems there is no salvation apart from this preacher's salvation as God has handed it to him/her. I wonder how some of these preachers have lost touch with the salvation reality. How I pray for their souls to be saved. How I wish they will adopt a better strategy of evangelising. A 2-page tracts will do the job of "soul saving". Just hand it to the people and shut up! Let that guide there path if they choose to follow your salvation...
21 comments:
Very well said. In my opinion public preaching should be banned. Let the fundamentalists ask for my head if they wish.
And it's funny you know how all these road7bus preachers only ever preach about sin and hell fire.
will you believe me if I tell you that they have taken over my route here in london??
Mostly nigerians...they go around yelling at the top of their voices, something in me since to make them zero in on me...sister, God came for you...usually I take out my ipod and ask what he said then openly increase the volume and put the ear phones back on....
I feel you there. I started a post on this a while ago but never finished it. Frankly, I dont believe people should be preaching in buses at all. I'm a Christian, all well and good, but I know how I would feel if some preacher from another religion started lecturing me in what was supposed to be a neutral environment.
Preaching in buses is equivalent to trying to force something down someone's throat, because they can't go anywhere. They have to listen to you. It's not fair, and it's distracting, and we Nigerians seem to have an absolute fear to correct anyone who claims to be a man of God.
In my staff bus to work, one of the passengers formed this habit of starting praise/worship at 6 am, when people are trying to get a few more z's before they get to the office. And when we refuse to join him, he starts the guilt tripping and says we're insulting God. Shio?
I think the trend should be banned.
I very much agree with anyone who says these people should be banned.
Much as we advocate religious tolerance, we should also respect other people's right to peace! Time was when I used to take buses a lot, and it was very hard not to show my disgust. Added to this, the fact that they never seem to make any sense at all!
But do i blame them? I think they get their courage from the Churches who put their speakers out on the roof and then decide to have night vigil every night, disturbing the peace of the whole neighborhood!
Someone needs to notify the ministry of environment. Or do these things not qualify as noise pollution?
lol. @
You will be rudely jolt out of whatever mood has carried you afar by the sudden singing, clapping or the call "to praise the lord somebody" of the ready to preach evangelist.
Tell me about it. I can't stand those people and i don't care if i am being blasphemous!
Amen, amen and finally amen to all the above!
Blasphemy is an overused and mis-understood word.
These preachers are menaces. They are no better than the average drunken rambler with a can of cider on the bus.
Would you convert to a religion that had people shouting hell fire and condemnation on public transport??? HELL NO!
(P.S. Recently started reading your blog, very enjoyable!)
if u a christian can be this pissed....imagine my sorrow as a muslim.
i honestly don't think banning them is an option.it sets a precedence that govts like ours can begin to use to curtail other freedoms.i think proper orientation on the ineffectiveness of "some" of the strategies should be emphasised by their churches and by ppl like u.
lollllllll mummy don-scofield, i go report u to ma pastor o :)
it is well
Hmmm...i'm a christian but really some of these people make me want to cover my face in shame!
I guess there's a place to draw the line and not just be in people's faces! I used to hate it when i took buses to work, i would want to collect my thoughts but someone would be making accusatory statements in the name of preaching!
God have mercy!
Have a nice week my sister
I don't think it should be allowed for people to shout and make noise on Nigerian buses in the name of preaching the message of salvation. People get saved when they look at the testimony of a life changed by God, not by these transport means.
At my uni..when i was a young one! :) this old lady and her "partner" i don't know if they were husband and wife..but they had loudspeakers and a megaphone preaching along pavements!!!
I don't think it did much good because no one was listening...thats london for you.
Temite enters....
LMAO. I was so guilty of this. I dont think this is right at all. The problem with banning them is that the government would then be using her powers where it does not have jurisdiction. A bus is a private entity, therefore, the owner of the bus should be the one to ban or otherwise and if he knows this person is disturbing his customers and might lose money, they would put a stop to it. Maybe you should start a business where you can advertise that no one would yell and scream at you. Let the MARKET forces decide. XOXO Standy.
Couldn't have been better said. I'm totally annoyed with people like that.
There was once a fellow who stood in the middle of my street shouting to no one in particular. Funny enough, there was another dude behind him echoing his very statement. No one was absolutely listening! What a waste of God's resources!
Well, let them label me anything they want: I totally do not collect tracts from these people when they preach in buses. (One, I won't read them, so someone else would be better off with them. Two, the annoyance I feel towards them would have already made me biased towards their sulphur and brimstone messages.)
Thank God for BRT sha; it's boldly printed, "NO HAWKING. NO PREACHING."
the sad thing is that their intentions might be good, but their methods r always just off..
i hear where you all are coming from - for I have personally encountered some of these ministers on buses while traveling in East. Personally, they do not bother me - but that is just me....I could see how it could bother others - both Christian and non-Christian. However, to ban them, like STAN said, is not an option. I am quite elated that these pastors are exercising their freedom of speech and others should feel free to do so as well. Hawkers are able to flood buses with their wares, beggars are able to make their pleas in and around buses. If other religions would like to proselytize on these buses, by all means. If would like to see these preachers go away from these buses, then possibly you could boycott the use of these buses or bring it up with the driver or management. I am sure if you and a group of people on the bus feel uncomfortable on the bus and threaten to walk away from the bus (your money as well), the bus driver would most likely chose the paying customer over the pastor.....just my personal opinion though.
I thought it was only me that sees things things. Thanks for all your comments
Nneoma: the danger is you wont know who will preach until you are on your way perhaps 15mins or 20 into your journey. I am not advocating for them to be banned but to use better strategy or try not to attack pple or scream unnessarily...
In Nigeria for example, if you try to tell them to keep it down or you have a different opinion to the preacher be ready for insults and all from the people that feel you hate God!....
Standtall, you have said it all.
In this country, people make too much noise in the name of religion. They wake you up in the morning with bells, claps, sound systems...
I think it is high time the govt, does something about it.
Personally I just tell them to stop shouting in my face & i am already saved.
i agree....totally
Great post. I totally agree with you. I've never been exposed to the bus preachers but I remember a week I stayed in Onitsha, it was literally impossible to sleep all friday night. They were having some kind of crusade with extremely loud speakers, basically screaming/chanting/shouting - ALL NIGHT. What is up with that? Everyone has a right to excercise their beliefs but the forcing down the throat thing is just a huge turn off.. I also think these preachers are somewhat spreading ignorance when judging people based on their looks. I can't count how many times my husband was labeled as an evil witchcraft because he had cornrows, cursed out loud on the street. People should be judged on their way of life rather than their style of dress/make up etc.
Like you, I don’t have anything against evangelists and preachers but I think it’d be much better if they could reduce the screams and yells. Being in a Lagos bus and in traffic is bad enough. These evangelists usually make it worse. Yes, simply distributing tracts in a bus is not a bad idea at all. Worst of all is those ones that now ask for money (not offering now. I mean money toi transport them) after preaching. Haba. What do they expect our Moslem and pagan brothers to think of our churches? Has the church become a house of beggars? Nice point, S.T
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