BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
to life reminding his hearers that human beings are created in the image
of God and no one has permission to take one’s life. He cites the story
Cain and Abel. He reminds that human beings are each ones’ keeper.
For the nation to receive blessings of plenty he gives certain conditions
as:
a. People must till the land and exploit natural resources...people must
work hard
b. Everyone in the nation should be given the opportunity to promote
their own well-being. As the universal Declaration of Human Rights
says, a human being has the right to work under favourable condi-
tions with equal pay for equal work
c. When God created Adam and Eve he said to them, ‘Be fruitful and
multiply, till the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the
fish of the sea and over the air and over every living thing that
moves on the earth’ Genesis 1:28. Here humanity has the warranty
to exploit natural resources responsibly. However he has no war-
ranty to exploit his fellow human beings for his own benefit.
d. A nation cannot be said to be enjoying the blessings of plenty if
wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people. The Old Testa-
ment prophets condemned vehemently the property grabbers of
their day e.g. Micah 2:1-4.
For a nation to enjoy the blessing of plenty there should be:
- Justice which involves the establishment of equal rights for all
- Unity which removes all barriers to a true spirit of harambee. Such
unity must have the basis of love and truth - Peace which creates the right conditions for enabling man to make
full use of his talents - Liberty which grants a person their basic human rights to enable
them to render true service to God and other people.^51
These themes run through the sermons that the Archbishop has been
preaching. The sermons demonstrate how he rightly interpreted the
Bible and expounded it. Before making the application he always ex-
plained the meaning of the words and the terminologies which his con-
gregation could not understand. He then shows the history of the pas-
sage and its context. He then appealed to his hearers.
(^51) Gitari, In Season and Out of Season, p 21,22.