Editor,

RE: "Stop protecting priests whose hands are dripping with blood” (The New Times, June 2).

People have committed crimes but the Church hasn’t. Probably we have a wrong definition of the latter. The Church is Christ himself (the body of Christ) and not denominations.

The relationship between the two, though, is that from the denominations some people are in that body. Like the principle of magnetism where a magnet attracts and holds magnetic materials that come into contact with it, the body of Christ, by spirit, will attract and hold any person that underwent a spiritual rebirth, because then both Christ (the eternal life giving spirit) and the person’s spirit are intrinsically and seamlessly the spirit of God.

Let me show you an extreme scenario: it is possible to have an entire Christian denomination that may have none of its members belonging to the body of Christ (Church) as we find in Matthew 7:21—"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven”.

The will of God is not to murder, kill neighbours, children, mothers etc. Those who do such things obviously are led astray and therefore do not belong to Him, His body either.

Even Jesus Christ Himself, before His crucifixion, had huge multitudes behind him but they are the same people who turned and voted for his execution leaving just a handful faithful.

So we may be having a wrong notion of the Church. It is always much less than it appears. Therefore, denominations can answer for the wrongs committed to Rwandans but the Church of Christ cannot, and it is even difficult to identify it, because it is the individuals within and without the denominations, but united to Christ.

I am afraid I haven’t done justice to the important subject. It is a broad topic that cannot be exhausted in a single paragraph. I have just given one scenario but there are some overlaps.

Please read the "Undeserved Treasure” (not yet out) for an in depth discussion on this subject. To conclude: Christianity is not a foreign religion.

Donart

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You say that Christianity is not a foreign religion? Seriously? I did not know that Jesus was Rwandan. Maybe we were told a lie, and he was not born in Bethlehem but in Rwamagana.

It is interesting that when some religious people visit a shrine to the Virgin Mary, it is good; but when Honorable Rebecca Kadaga (Ugandan Speaker of Parliament) visits a shrine to her ancestors, she is a devil worshiper. This would imply that the ancestors themselves are devils, and ultimately Kadaga herself is a devil.

When we pray for intersession from St. John (read "dead” John) it is OK. But when we ask the ancestors for help, it is evil and satanic.

When will this stop? Should we also stop speaking our languages and adopt English? Please notice that the war of words does not even involve any westerner. God save Africa. We are really in bad shape.

Rashid Swaleh