I read the proposed bill sponsored by Rep Gyang Dung (PDP-Plateau) and eight others seeking to alter sections 6, 84, 185, 240, 246, 247, 288, 289, 292 and 318 of the principal Act, in order to established an Ecclesiastical court that will abjudicate on issues that bothers on "Christian law".

I shook my head while reading the news because I found it laughable that our legislators will abandon important subjects that bothers on the economy, education, political and environmental sectors, but instead they sat down to discuss an irrelevant bill that is needless, useless and has no single impact on the lives of the average Nigeria citizen.

Do we even need a "Christian court"? For what purpose? Is there any central Christian law in the first instance? Is this a ploy to expedite the passage of the Sharia Court of Appeal bill that is before the House? What exactly is the motive of the promoters and the House? All these questions popped out of my recession-hit head while I was reading the report. These I shall try my best to address in this piece.



1. Do Christians Need Ecclesiastical Court?
If we take a look at the Bible carefully in the book of I Corinthians 6:1-10, Apostle Paul warned believers never to take their brothers to law court(irrespective of nomenclature) to settle religious disputes.The Lord Jesus Christ in his teaching laid out how disputes should be settled among believers of the Christian faith in Matthew 18:15-17, a procedure that is very simple and direct.

According to Christ, if a brother offends another, the offended brother should approach the one that offended him to settle the disputes as brothers (Matthew 18:15), if he refuses to listen, the offended brother should approach leadership of the Church to intervene (Matthew 18:16), and if he refuses to listen to the Church leadership for peaceful resolution, the brother that was offended should let go for God to take control (Matthew 18:17). As simple as that.

In the book of 1 Corinthians 16, Apostle Paul was direct in condemnation of the Corinthian church after he heard that they were suing each other to court. He admonished them to withdraw the cases against brethren that were pending before the court, but instead admonished them to settle among themselves or by involving the elders.

In Christian religion, the Chief Justice is God Almighty, He, through the Holy Spirit directs brethren and elders in handling disputes within the body of Christ. He doesn't give such power to any institution outside the Christian faith, and does not in anyway delegate his power to any secular judicial officer. The so called Ecclesiastical Court is an aberration in Christianity, and is not needed nor wanted in the body of Christ.


2. Is There Any Central Christian Law In The First Instance?
Let us for once consider this question, is there a central Christian law? From all practice, the Christian religion has NO LAW, the Bible however states precepts and commandments that should be obeyed by practicing Christians but they are never considered a law. Unlike precepts and commandments that doesn't prescribe earthly punishment for defaulters, a law prescribe punishment for defaulters.

For instance, the Christian doctrine is against idolatry, but any Christian that engages in the act will not be punished by anybody according to any law. He may be disciplined by his local church in order to restore him to the faith but if he choose to continue, his case will be handed to God while the brethren pray for him to repent.

Besides, even the Christian commandment and precepts has over the years been subjected to different interpretation depending on various assemblies and congregations. Some sect don't believe in the Holy Trinity, while others does; some set see tithing as fraud, some see it as command; to some sect, the Catholics and all those that use images to aid worship are idolaters and not Christians. To some, divorce is a NO, while some others not only see divorce as Biblical but welcomes remarriage. Some believe in Christmas and Easter, while others see it as fraudulent practice of pagans. Need I say more? .

What is central in Christianity is that God will be the judge on the last day, HE will judge all men, Christians and non Christians according to their works, and the Saints will judge the Angels.


3. Status of Christian Association of Nigeria In The Christiandom:
Make no mistake, CAN is not a central body of Christians in Nigeria, neither does it posses a central authority. CAN is only an association of those Christian religious leaders that are part of the association. CAN is not an authority in Christiandom in Nigeria, they are not the Holy Spirit, they CANNOT prescribe any Christian law. In fact, not all churches are part of CAN as an association, not all Christians recognises CAN. To be explicit, Christianity can never be regulated by any government, body, association or group or any person/persons, and should never be. Matters that are Christian in nature must be addressed according to the Christian precept (NOT LAWS), those that are civil in nature could be taken to the civil courts, while those that are criminal in nature be subjected according to the relevant laws in Nigeria.

4. A Ploy To Expedite The Passage Of The Sharia Court Of Appeal Bill?
We may recall that there is a bill before the House of Representative that was sponsored by Honourable Abdulahi Salame representing Gwadabawa/Illela federal constituency, Sokoto State, which seeks to altar Sections 262 and 277 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, in order to increase the jurisdiction of the Sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory and Sharia Court of Appeal of a State by including Criminal Matters and Hudud and Qisas and for "other related Matters”. This pro-sharia bill was condemned by patriotic Nigerians of diverse faith and creed.

With the coming of the proposed Christian court bill, and if passed, it is safe that it would easily be argued by proponent of the Islamic bill that it is also justifiable for the Islamic bill to be passed by the parliament. Is that the original idea behind this so-called Christian court bill?

Without prejudice to any faith, Nigeria as a country should/must have no business with religious laws. We are secular, and should be. Our customary laws is enough to take care of matters relating to customs and traditions, while civil and criminal laws takes care of civil and criminal matters respectively. Religion is voluntary of those that practice it, the so-called Sharia laws that exist at present across states are competing with sections of our constitution, we wouldn't want more complications through Sharia or Ecclesiastical Court of Appeal at the federal level. If this bill was proposed to appease Christians so as to allow easy passge of Rep Abdulahi Salama Sharia bill, then it is dead on arrival. Nigerians must act and resist both confusionist bills.

I condemned the Sharia bill, I still strongly condemn this proposed Ecclesiastical court bill because the bill serves the interest of nobody except those few members of the elite that will be appointed to chair or be part of such court. It should be emphasised that Christianity is not in competition with Islam or any religion, neither is Christianity the opposite of Islam.

I enjoin members of the National Assembly to look at laws that will positively affect the lives of Nigerians irrespective of religious creed, gender, status or tribe instead of wasting taxpayers monies by sitting in their chambers to discuss irrelevant and confusionist bills like the Sharia and Ecclesiastical courts bills. If our "Honourables" are bored, they should go on indefinite recess and spare the citizens of more troubles. Enough is Enough for the Wise.





May God Bless Us All And Bless Nigeria

Shared on my Palmchat Network

hmm this one strong o

I'm in One hundred percent agreement with everything you've said.They think the opposition to Sharia law comes from Christians so they're trying to use this as leverage to soften the impact of their plan to make Sharia federal law. St.u.p.id people.
What this country needs is for the government to be neutral on religious issues and let private individuals decide what suits them best.
APC just keeps on failing the test of intelligent governance

You know, it is a common thing with the Nigerian Politicians, when they lack important things to delibrate upon to transform the Nation and its people, they divert attentions to useless un-ethical topics. Those in the Senate and house of Rep believe they have nothing to loose after all their allowances and salaries are always ready unlike that of a hard working civil servant who'll spend months without salary.

With the coming of the proposed Christian court bill, and if passed,
it is safe that it would easily be argued by proponent of the Islamic bill that it is also justifiable for the Islamic bill to be passed by the parliament.
Is that the original idea behind this so-called Christian court bill?




Yes i know so.

I think you are right.

Onechancearmy:
One hundred percent agreement. They think the opposition to Sharia law comes from Christians so they're trying to use this to as leverage to soften the impact of their plan to make Sharia federal law. St.u.p.id people.
What this country needs is for the government to be neutral on religious issues and let private individuals decide what suits them best.
APC just keeps on failing the test of intelligent governance.

Exactly! Religion should be separated from State. The country has no business with religious laws, considering that we are not a monoreligious people. As a Christian, I am fully aware that authority in Christiandom is ONLY from God through the Holy Spirit. We don't need government, scholars, pastors or jurists to assume the role- in fact, they can't. Government should face other non-religious aspect of our lives.

As for Islamic Courts, they can keep it at their states level if they wish, we don't need a replica at the federal level.

Pylony:
You know, it is a common thing with the Nigerian Politicians, when they lack important things to delibrate upon to transform the Nation and its people, they divert attentions to useless un-ethical topics. Those in the Senate and house of Rep believe they have nothing to loose after all their allowances and salaries are always ready unlike that of a hard working civil servant who'll spend months without salary.

Why are we always having these set of ppl ruling us?

...hmmm...While this sounds like good news in the sense that this balances the religious lacuna created by the Sharia courts...... However, in my opinion; haven't we had enough damage of religiosity already? We are talking about the scrapping of religion affiliated Courts in its entirety since we all Nigerians don't practice one religion and here we are attempting to bring on a long forgotten part of our religious history where we had Cardinals and in today's parlance, pastors as judges. The intention of this bill goes to the root of our intolerance with each other as Nigerians. If only we know what practical Christianity is? Anyway, before I sound Anti- Christian, I support this bill as it is one that would balance the lacuna created by the Sharia court of Appeal, however when looked upon meticulously, if it's intent is not one that attempts for the unification of Faith in Christ as the Bible predicts in the end time, then it's simply a spitting contest for Religious intolerance and an attempt to match Foolishness with Foolishness.

Penaldo:
Why are we always having these set of ppl ruling us?

Giving out a Little stomach infrastructure to the masses get them flocking around a potential corrupt person.

ritababe:
I think you are right.

Think? LOL... Make up your mind

TonyeBarcanista:
I read the proposed bill sponsored by Rep Gyang Dung (PDP-Plateau) and eight others seeking to alter sections 6, 84, 185, 240, 246, 247, 288, 289, 292 and 318 of the principal Act, in order to established an Ecclesiastical court that will abjudicate on issues that bothers on "Christian law".

I shook my head while reading the news because I found it laughable that our legislators will abandon important subjects that bothers on the economy, education, political and environmental sectors, but instead they sat down to discuss an irrelevant bill that is needless, useless and has no single impact on the lives of the average Nigeria citizen.

Do we even need a "Christian court"? For what purpose? Is there any central Christian law in the first instance? Is this a ploy to expedite the passage of the Sharia Court of Appeal bill that is before the House? What exactly is the motive of the promoters and the House? All these questions popped out of my recession-hit head while I was reading the report. These I shall try my best to address in this piece.



1. Do Christians Need Ecclesiastical Court?
If we take a look at the Bible carefully in the book of I Corinthians 6:1-10, Apostle Paul warned believers never to take their brothers to law court(irrespective of nomenclature) to settle religious disputes.The Lord Jesus Christ in his teaching laid out how disputes should be settled among believers of the Christian faith in Matthew 18:15-17, a procedure that is very simple and direct.

According to Christ, if a brother offends another, the offended brother should approach the one that offended him to settle the disputes as brothers (Matthew 18:15), if he refuses to listen, the offended brother should approach leadership of the Church to intervene (Matthew 18:16), and if he refuses to listen to the Church leadership for peaceful resolution, the brother that was offended should let go for God to take control (Matthew 18:17). As simple as that.

In the book of 1 Corinthians 16, Apostle Paul was direct in condemnation of the Corinthian church after he heard that they were suing each other to court. He admonished them to withdraw the cases against brethren that were pending before the court, but instead admonished them to settle among themselves or by involving the elders.

In Christian religion, the Chief Justice is God Almighty, He, through the Holy Spirit directs brethren and elders in handling disputes within the body of Christ. He doesn't give such power to any institution outside the Christian faith, and does not in anyway delegate his power to any secular judicial officer. The so called Ecclesiastical Court is an aberration in Christianity, and is not needed nor wanted in the body of Christ.


2. Is There Any Central Christian Law In The First Instance?
Let us for once consider this question, is there a central Christian law? From all practice, the Christian religion has NO LAW, the Bible however states precepts and commandments that should be obeyed by practicing Christians but they are never considered a law. Unlike precepts and commandments that doesn't prescribe earthly punishment for defaulters, a law prescribe punishment for defaulters.

For instance, the Christian doctrine is against idolatry, but any Christian that engages in the act will not be punished by anybody according to any law. He may be disciplined by his local church in order to restore him to the faith but if he choose to continue, his case will be handed to God while the brethren pray for him to repent.

Besides, even the Christian commandment and precepts has over the years been subjected to different interpretation depending on various assemblies and congregations. Some sect don't believe in the Holy Trinity, while others does; some set see tithing as fraud, some see it as command; to some sect, the Catholics and all those that use images to aid worship are idolaters and not Christians. To some, divorce is a NO, while some others not only see divorce as Biblical but welcomes remarriage. Some believe in Christmas and Easter, while others see it as fraudulent practice of pagans. Need I say more? .

What is central in Christianity is that God will be the judge on the last day, HE will judge all men, Christians and non Christians according to their works, and the Saints will judge the Angels.


3. Status of Christian Association of Nigeria In The Christiandom:
Make no mistake, CAN is not a central body of Christians in Nigeria, neither does it posses a central authority. CAN is only an association of those Christian religious leaders that are part of the association. CAN is not an authority in Christiandom in Nigeria, they are not the Holy Spirit, they CANNOT prescribe any Christian law. In fact, not all churches are part of CAN as an association, not all Christians recognises CAN. To be explicit, Christianity can never be regulated by any government, body, association or group or any person/persons, and should never be. Matters that are Christian in nature must be addressed according to the Christian precept (NOT LAWS), those that are civil in nature could be taken to the civil courts, while those that are criminal in nature be subjected according to the relevant laws in Nigeria.

4. A Ploy To Expedite The Passage Of The Sharia Court Of Appeal Bill?
We may recall that there is a bill before the House of Representative that was sponsored by Honourable Abdulahi Salame representing Gwadabawa/Illela federal constituency, Sokoto State, which seeks to altar Sections 262 and 277 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, in order to increase the jurisdiction of the Sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory and Sharia Court of Appeal of a State by including Criminal Matters and Hudud and Qisas and for "other related Matters”. This pro-sharia bill was condemned by patriotic Nigerians of diverse faith and creed.

With the coming of the proposed Christian court bill, and if passed, it is safe that it would easily be argued by proponent of the Islamic bill that it is also justifiable for the Islamic bill to be passed by the parliament. Is that the original idea behind this so-called Christian court bill?

Without prejudice to any faith, Nigeria as a country should/must have no business with religious laws. We are secular, and should be. Our customary laws is enough to take care of matters relating to customs and traditions, while civil and criminal laws takes care of civil and criminal matters respectively. Religion is voluntary of those that practice it, the so-called Sharia laws that exist at present across states are competing with sections of our constitution, we wouldn't want more complications through Sharia or Ecclesiastical Court of Appeal at the federal level. If this bill was proposed to appease Christians so as to allow easy passge of Rep Abdulahi Salama Sharia bill, then it is dead on arrival. Nigerians must act and resist both confusionist bills.

I condemned the Sharia bill, I still strongly condemn this proposed Ecclesiastical court bill because the bill serves the interest of nobody except those few members of the elite that will be appointed to chair or be part of such court. It should be emphasised that Christianity is not in competition with Islam or any religion, neither is Christianity the opposite of Islam.

I enjoin members of the National Assembly to look at laws that will positively affect the lives of Nigerians irrespective of religious creed, gender, status or tribe instead of wasting taxpayers monies by sitting in their chambers to discuss irrelevant and confusionist bills like the Sharia and Ecclesiastical courts bills. If our "Honourables" are bored, they should go on indefinite recess and spare the citizens of more troubles. Enough is Enough for the Wise.





May God Bless Us All And Bless Nigeria

Shared on my Palmchat Network

Oracle himself

sarrki:
...hmmm...While this sounds like good news in the sense that this balances the religious lacuna created by the Sharia courts...... However, in my opinion; haven't we had enough damage of religiosity already? We are talking about the scrapping of religion affiliated Courts in its entirety since we all Nigerians don't practice one religion and here we are attempting to bring on a long forgotten part of our religious history where we had Cardinals and in today's parlance, pastors as judges. The intention of this bill goes to the root of our intolerance with each other as Nigerians. If only we know what practical Christianity is? Anyway, before I sound Anti- Christian, I support this bill as it is one that would balance the lacuna created by the Sharia court of Appeal, however when looked upon meticulously, if it's intent is not one that attempts for the unification of Faith in Christ as the Bible predicts in the end time, then it's simply a spitting contest for Religious intolerance and an attempt to match Foolishness with Foolishness.

Your account has been hacked.


How come you type very well on religious issues but make blunders defending buhari?

Mujaheeeden:
Your account has been hacked.


How come you type very well on religious issues but make blunders defending buhari?

Lol

sarrki:
...hmmm...While this sounds like good news in the sense that this balances the religious lacuna created by the Sharia courts......

When you say balance, what do you mean? Is Christianity meant to checkmate Islam?

However, in my opinion; haven't we had enough damage of religiosity already? We are talking about the scrapping of religion affiliated Courts in its entirety since we all Nigerians don't practice one religion and here we are attempting to bring on a long forgotten part of our religious history where we had Cardinals and in today's parlance, pastors as judges.

In Christianity, Bishops and Deacons don't judge, they only settle disputes. There is no law for them to judge, they have no such power or authority. The Only Authority is the Holy Spirit.

Please, don't mix Christian religion with Hebrew practice pre-Jesus era where there were laws according to Moses. Christianity has NO law, but commandments and precepts. Only God has the power to punish or reward those that disobeys or harkens to them respectively.

The intention of this bill goes to the root of our intolerance with each other as Nigerians. If only we know what practical Christianity is?

Absolutely correct, but the intention could also be to expedite the Sharia court bill.

Anyway, before I sound Anti- Christian, I support this bill as it is one that would balance the lacuna created by the Sharia court of Appeal, however when looked upon meticulously, if it's intent is not one that attempts for the unification of Faith in Christ as the Bible predicts in the end time, then it's simply a spitting contest for Religious intolerance and an attempt to match Foolishness with Foolishness.

Christianity does not exist to serve as checks on Islam or any other religion Sir! Christianity is a way of life, but those that adhere will be rewarded in the last day.

The so-called unification of faith is a fraud, Christianity does not go into alliance with anybody, it is neither owned by any man nor defined by any man. Every human, both small and great have the grace to be in the Christiandom according to the doctrines of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit inspired apostles.

Any man or woman that seeks to "unify" Christianity with another religion is a fraudster.

Pylony:
You know, it is a common thing with the Nigerian Politicians, when they lack important things to delibrate upon to transform the Nation and its people, they divert attentions to useless un-ethical topics. Those in the Senate and house of Rep believe they have nothing to loose after all their allowances and salaries are always ready unlike that of a hard working civil servant who'll spend months without salary.

Yep but important things to deliberate is staing them fools in the face since kingdom come. Since democracy came have we revisited our health bills? Have we done something on education? What of security bill? What of the constitutional court bill? There are too many bills that those @£&#hole could discuss. How does a religious bill help rhe masses? When u hear things like this it makes u wish u had a gun.

sarrki:


Oracle himself

Awọn Petirioti

limeta:
With the coming of the proposed Christian court bill, and if passed,
it is safe that it would easily be argued by proponent of the Islamic bill that it is also justifiable for the Islamic bill to be passed by the parliament.
Is that the original idea behind this so-called Christian court bill?




Yes i know so.

Check d proponents of that Christian Bill they are mostly all Muslims. Then ask urself why would a muslim be looking to establish a Christian bill?

TonyeBarcanista:
Exactly! Religion should be separated from State. The country has no business with religious laws, considering that we are not a monoreligious people. As a Christian, I am fully aware that authority in Christiandom is ONLY from God through the Holy Spirit. We don't need government, scholars, pastors or jurists to assume the role- in fact, they can't. Government should face other non-religious aspect of our lives.

As for Islamic Courts, they can keep it at their states level if they wish, we don't need a replica at the federal level.

Religion will only be separated from the state when our pastors stop allowing politicians to make speech on their pulpit and when we Christians stop our foolishness of supporting political candidates in elections on the basis that the candidate is a christian above competency and character.

I love Pastor Adefarasin of aso rock, during his program last weekend[The Experience], Osinbajo, VP was there with his wife for the program, osinbajo did not climb the stage to even say a word of prayer despite the fact that the vp is a Pastor. If all our Pastors start doing this and stop coming out publicly to support politicians for elections, then yes we are on track.

That sharia bill will surely be passed with the christian bill now in progress, we have ourselves to blame bruv, am waiting for the likes of father kukah, Ayo and co to come and speak on the christian bill o. However am with you against the bill, na trouble we dey find.

drnoel:


Yep but important things to deliberate is staing them fools in the face since kingdom come. Since democracy came have we revisited our health bills? Have we done something on education? What of security bill? What of the constitutional court bill? There are too many bills that those @£&#hole could discuss. How does a religious bill help rhe masses? When u hear things like this it makes u wish u had a gun.

It is even sad that the PIB bill that has been in the NASS since 2008 (almost a decade) is yet to be passed, yet, our lawmakers are talking about religious courts.

TonyeBarcanista:

Awọn Petirioti ara

ara ke?

Goke7:


Religion will only be separated from the state when our pastors stop allowing politicians to make speech on their pulpit and when we Christians stop our foolishness of supporting political candidates in elections on the basis that the candidate is a christian above competency and character.

I love Pastor Adefarasin of aso rock, during his program last weekend[The Experience], Osinbajo, VP was there with his wife for the program, osinbajo did not climb the stage to even say a word of prayer despite the fact that the vp is a Pastor. If all our Pastors start doing this and stop coming out publicly to support politicians for elections, then yes we are on track.

That sharia bill will surely be passed with the christian bill now in progress, we have ourselves to blame bruv, am waiting for the likes of father kukah, Ayo and co to come and speak on the christian bill o. However am with you against the bill, na trouble we dey find.

You are absolutely correct but the Pastors does not define Christianity. Most of them are misbehaving seriously and embarrassing the faith, but we can't because of them accept their misbehaviour as legitimate, thereby, losing out in the Christian race.

On what Pastor Adefarasin did, it is a welcome development, if others fail to follow, that is their business. But we must resist both Ecclesiastical and Sharia courts.

I prefer Moses law

drnoel:


Check d proponents of that Christian Bill they are mostly all Muslims. Then ask urself why would a muslim be looking to establish a Christian bill?

Fear islam.

sarrki:



ara ke?

Sorry na mistake o.... ima binu

Bolustic:
Our ruling class know what an average Nigerian can be baited with, if it's not religion, it's ethnic sentiments. Little wonder no one, except Tonye, has deemed it fit to raise an awareness on the ludicrousness of the bill.

Who will be the judges of the proposed courts, is it the so much politicized and corruption embroiled CAN clerics or scholars?

I wish we could resist this law as we did to the proposed data hike.

Of course we shall resist it. Those politicians wearing robes and calling themselves CAN cannot judge ANY Christian. That is the job of God! Those people sef...

Naija politicians knows how to deceive Nigerians so unfortunate

But they shouldn't be allowed to deceive us after deceiving our fathers

asuustrike2009:
Naija politicians knows how to deceive Nigerians so unfortunate

TonyeBarcanista:
You are absolutely correct but the Pastors does not define Christianity. Most of them are misbehaving seriously and embarrassing the faith, but we can't because of them accept their misbehaviour as legitimate, thereby, losing out in the Christian race.

On what Pastor Adefarasin did, it is a welcome development, if others fail to follow, that is their business. But we must resist both Ecclesiastical and Sharia courts.

oga, I will be the most surprised if that christian bill is not passed, its a bait and it has divided Christians already, have you heard CAN and PFN come out to speak against this bill? even on nairaland, we Christians are already divided, its a bait that has exposed Christians on nairaland [especially ffk followers] those who fuel religious hatred and bigotry against muslims as some of them surprisingly are kicking against the bill like you. The Muslims got us here, only God can fight our battle now. Even if the Christians in the legislature shout the bill down, the muslims will make sure it sail thru and remember dem get the number o!