The Church and clergy should know their place

IT HAS become common to hear secular people define and demarcate the role of the churches as if the churches as a whole are one more government entity with a role in government goals and propaganda.

It should be known that the churches are not one and the same thing, and never will be and that the Church is a heavenly entity meant to inform the Earth about the will of God.

Expectedly then, the directives and theologies of the churches are sourced from the spiritual and invisible world and physically made visible as religion, liturgies and theologies by human beings for the benefit and the emancipation of those human beings.

In other words, human definitions about God have human limits but the divine elements in them have the nature of what is beyond natural and by which modern science is a nonsensical myth. air enough, but now, concerning issues like gender-based violence (GBV) and vaccinations, the churches have no part in performing pedagogy on those things because, remember, South Africa is proudly and rightfully, secular and free.

In that regard, when these initiatives give birth to abnormalities, the role of the Church cannot be to change the nappies of human metabolism because the Church can only intervene where a theological foundation has been laid or where a theological outcome is possible.

The clergy and religious leaders must avoid trying to play nice to both God and human beings in the same way. The governing authorities of today do not recognise God as real and worthy to be listened to because GBV is not different from war, authoritarianism and corruption. If churches keep on reflecting secular government themes in their liturgies and activities, they will end up as sanctifiers of what is against the will of God.

In particular, GBV, like fornication and divorce, is a product of the human desire to self-define.

Elite priests and pastors aligned to government and the like by the media make things difficult for practical witnesses of faith when they compromise the reality of their claims of belief in order to please a secular world whose desires are against those of God.

If the role of the churches, even as a hypothetical Christian majority, is not needed or good enough for everyday strategies for nationbuilding, health policy, law-making, and patriotic confession, then it cannot be useful for 16 days alone.