Heliesha: first of all how old ar you? @ o.p wait u said all through am still about to make sense of it

Omexonomy: Op you don come again wentin you chop wey dey make you run ur mouth anyhow.

Chaleeee: There is a lot of mis-interpretation in the yoruba bible. This can be attributed to the translator, late bishop Ajayi Crowther. Permit me to state that Crowther was kidnapped nd sold into slavery at a tender age of 14 and it can be assumed that his knowledge of yoruba language is limited. Or how do you explain Crowther interpreting "satan" as "esu"? Why didn't he interprete "manna" as "garri"?
In the academia, a previous work is open to upgrade and there are many intepretations of the english bible. Why hasn't any yoruba scholar offered a new interpretation of the bible in yoruba?

Back to the matter, intsilling fear in their congregation is the stock in trade of many Yoruba pastors. They are the most superstitous folks on earth.

ypeace: Its a pity the damage has already been done. Sincerely, i was shocked when i learnt about the true nature of esu and co. An average religious yoruba man is not likely to accept an explanation and may never follow you to read from ese Ifa to support your claim because these lies has been repeated from generation to generation to the point that it is the truth to many. It is just too sad.

Beretta92: Esu means devil in yoruba xtianity. Satani is used for satan.I guess Ajayi Crowther wanted different yoruba variants for both names,hence the use of esu.I wonder why he didnt think of defili or something like that.The damage has been done already;xtians believe the ancient deities were/are all demons.Hence,they'll forever justify the wrong translation.

FOLYKAZE:

@ bold. which one is Yoruba christianity again?

On other part of your post, in as much this error, lies and misconception exist in bible and it been used for preaching in church.....it mean bible is not holy book, christianity is a fraud and christians are brainwashed puppets

aManFromMars:

Na wa ok no be u tok Yoruba Christians?

aManFromMars:

Na wa ok no be u tok Yoruba Christians?

FOLYKAZE:

Christians who are yoruba....

My OP got nothing to do with Igbo or Hausa christians.

macof: The thing that hurts be most about Yoruba Christians is the way they call Orisha Eshu Satan. In Yoruba belief, Eshu is the most loyal servant to Olodumare, Eshu never does anything contrary to wat Olodumare has sent him, not one more not one less.

The satan of the Bible is rebellious against Yahweh, he is tagged as the bringer of evil(tho Yahweh is the actual bringer of evil, satan is just a figure head).

Ajayi was kidnapped by fulani at 12 yrs old thereabouts and sold to the Portuguese, he became a Christian came back to Yorubaland and began evangelizing.

He was the first person to use Yoruba alphabets and translated the English Bible to Yoruba.

This was a mistake, because that Bible as brought nothing but disregard and disrepute for Yoruba belief.

Imagine the old hag calling Eshu- satan, why didn't he call Orunmila or Obatala- Jesus? It was a deliberate attempt to paint the Yoruba religion as evil, because Eshu amongst the strongest, most honored Orisha.

He used Jesu as a Yoruba word for Jesus, he used Emi mimo as a Yoruba word for holy spirit but when it came to the evil characters of the Bible he used original Yoruba words like Eshu for satan, Aje for witch and many more

He could have used Irunmole for Holy spirit, but NO!
He could have used Satani for satan, but No!
He could have used Ajogun for demons and witches, but No

He deliberately planned on using Yoruba words for the evil characters and form his own for the good characters, implying that Yoruba had nothing good.

I wonder what made him use olorun as God, he should have formed a new word like he did with Jesus and Holy spirit.

Any intelligent person would realize Ajayi's fraud/mistake.

Aje which ajayi used as witches is not a witch but an Orisha, the Orisha of wealth and trade.

Iya leye or Iya Agbaye could be the original Yoruba word for witch but not in an all evil manner.

Awon Iya Agbaye means the old mothers of life

They are neutral so they punish when they are offended, they hardly forgive but they bless when you do them good, they guide you from the Ajogun when you are respectful to them.

They are mostly old looking and live very long

Chaleeee: There is a lot of mis-interpretation in the yoruba bible. This can be attributed to the translator, late bishop Ajayi Crowther. Permit me to state that Crowther was kidnapped nd sold into slavery at a tender age of 14 and it can be assumed that his knowledge of yoruba language is limited. Or how do you explain Crowther interpreting "satan" as "esu"? Why didn't he interprete "manna" as "garri"?
In the academia, a previous work is open to upgrade and there are many intepretations of the english bible. Why hasn't any yoruba scholar offered a new interpretation of the bible in yoruba?

Back to the matter, intsilling fear in their congregation is the stock in trade of many Yoruba pastors. They are the most superstitous folks on earth.

Ayomivic:

which part of yoruba land you came from. Sorry for you. May be you are an ajebutter because what you and op said here about Esu and Aje was wrong. Let me ask you these questions. Can you tell me the source of yoruba power,the magics and incantations?

Do yot know why they hail Esu as Onile orita, obelekun sunkun, Elekun sunkun Laroye suneje?

who did yoruba attributes evil to? Was it not Esu? How is it different to Chrstian Satan?

Aje (witch) and Aje (what trade will brings) are thesame word but different pronounciation and different meaning.

Ayomivic:

which part of yoruba land you came from. Sorry for you. May be you are an ajebutter because what you and op said here about Esu and Aje was wrong.

Ayomivic:

Let me ask you these questions. Can you tell me the source of yoruba power,the magics and incantations?

Ayomivic:

Do yot know why they hail Esu as Onile orita, obelekun sunkun, Elekun sunkun Laroye suneje?

Ayomivic:

who did yoruba attributes evil to? Was it not Esu? How is it different to Chrstian Satan?

Ayomivic:

Aje (witch) and Aje (what trade will brings) are thesame word but different pronounciation and different meaning.

Ayomivic:
let hear your own interpretation of satan in yoruba if Ajayi Crowder was wrong.

Talk to those who speak or claim Yoruba (as an ethnicity) and they will quickly tell you that “God” in their language is expressed by the following words:

Olorun
Oluwa
Eledumare
Olodumare

They will also tell you that “devil” in their language is Esu. These words, when broken down, are a far cry from the Christian God/Devil as we will explore later.

However, we must label the source of this confusion to none other than the Missionary Samuel Ajayi Crowther http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Ajayi_Crowther and his Christian father, John C. Raban. Crowther was the victim of Muslim slave raiders who, under pressure from European slave raiders, sold his family into the slave trade. This would have a definitive effect on Crowther and his appreciation of Christianity in relations to African spirituality. He obviously favored Christianity since he mislabeled Esu as the Devil and God as Olorun, Oluwa, Eledumare, and Olodumare. For a better explanation of how Crowther took Revenge upon the Africans he came to evangelize read the following http://saharareporters.com/article/esu-revenge-bishop-ajayi-crowther.

·The word Olorun, while presented as the Christian God is merely a description of the Christian God in the Yoruba language. When broken down, the word is Olo-Orun – Olo means “owner” while Orun means “sky”. This means that upon hearing the descriptions of the faux monotheist Christian God from missionaries, the Yoruba speakers came up with this description.

·The word Oluwa is also used by many Yoruba speakers to mean God. However, when broken down it is Olu-Owa/Wa” – Olu meaning “crown/apex/zenith” and Wa meaning “come”.

·The word Eledumare is used by many Yoruba to mean the Christian God, but if we break down this word “Ele-Du–Mare”, we get Ele which means “piece patched upon”; Du means “to make”; and Mare means “the act of making with infinite possibilities”. This does not mean the Christian God and is another African description of the monotheist Christian God that missionaries described to Africans.

·The word Olodumare is also used by many to also mean the Christian God but once broken down the word does not mean God in the Christian sense. Olo means “owner”, Du means “to make” and Mare means “the act of making with infinite possibilities”.

·The word Esu is used in the Yoruba language to mean “devil”. However, Esu as a divinity cannot mean devil because “In Yoruba philosophy, Esu emerges as a divine trickster, a disguise- artist, a mischief-maker, a challenger of orthodoxy, a shape-shifter, and an enforcer deity. Esu is the keeper of the divine ase with which Olodumare created the universe; a neutral force who controls both the benevolent and the malevolent supernatural powers; he is the guardian of Orunmila’s oracular utterances” (Professor Funso Aiyejina in his work Esu Elegbara: A Source of an Alter/Native Theory of African Literature and Criticism). As the reader should start to see, these words are not indicative of a natural belief in a supreme deity. They are descriptions from a Yoruba language perspective in which the Christian God is being described.

FOLYKAZE:

source

hunter2,1:

If i may ask, if orun in olorun means sky, then what does the orun in orunmila mean?

hunter2,1:

If i may ask, if orun in olorun means sky, then what does the orun in orunmila mean?

macof:
Some say Orunmila means "my sky is open wide" but I think the name is too ancient to have a direct translation as that

FOLYKAZE:

what is your concept of sky?

macof:
Sky-the open plain above the surface of the earth

it was a strong believe back then that heaven was in the sky- not until recently that it proves to be some kind of alternate universe