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Author: Professor Johnson Odesola
Posted to the web: 10/15/2010 3:45:49 PM

THINKING THROUGH THE REALITY OF MORAL ISSUES IN OUR GENERATION

As I was writing my lectures Manual for one of the Christian Colleges UK, a while ago in one of the night random thoughts was just running through my mind on crucial social concern or moral issue currently being experience in Africa as the case in developing countries: includes gender inequality, HIV/AIDS, Abortion, Homosexual, Divorce, drug abuse, oppression, poverty, limited access to health, sanitation, education facilities, food security etc. It is evident that the developing countries have serious social concerns in comparison to the developed world and the question in the developing countries is how to include these concerns within every sector of our life including religion and worship centres. However, regrettably churches and leading Christian statesmen are avoiding facing the issue but reduces their activities and operation to worship centres and their personal empire. Then it occurs to me that you and I can think through them and stirred others to start thinking about those issues possibly we can together create something like a thesis for resolution.

My sincere concern in this writing is the main ethical issue, particularly with those of us who profess to be Christian and that we are obliged to face and resolve in the light of one faith. Many Christian have assimilated the anti-intellectual moods of todayâ's world. They do not want to be told to use their minds, and they say. Some even declare it is ‘unscriptural’ to do so. In response I draw your attention to Paul injunction not to be conformed to the world but instead to “be transformed” by the renewing of our mind with a view to discerning Godâ's pleasing and perfect will.      

 

For instance it bordered me about when the church the salt of the earth in our continent will wake up to be what the Lord commissioned them to be. When you find out that in our continent where it is noised to be the present centre of revival is a place that is deficient in many basic things, just imagine the lack of infrastructures that has affected the manufacturing and production of goods and services especially in the third world. The export sector is dominated by the export of crude oil, Cocoa, coffee, tobacco, tea which have the disadvantage of not bringing in enough revenue. The same is true for gold, diamond, which are exported to Switzerland, Belgium, Britain and Dubai before Africans go there to buy the wedding rings and bracelets to sell. The necessary infrastructures and technologies needed are often completely absent. There are no gold and diamond cutting firms in Africa because the infrastructures do not exist. As a result the millions of jobs that gold and diamond cutting create are found in Israel, Belgium, Britain, US even though they do not mine these minerals. In Nigeria, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Chad all major oil producing countries, it is sad to note that lack of infrastructure has hampered expansion in the oil sector, leading to shortages of petroleum products, higher prices and queue forming seen in Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Liberia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Malawi, Zambia. There are few petrochemical industries in the continent due to lack of infrastructures. As a result most oil exports are in the crude form which brings in limited revenues.The telecommunication including ICT sector is still struggling to catch up with the rest of the world. Internet connection is absent in the rural parts of the continent and connection is very slow in cities where internet is available. In many areas there are no fixed telephone lines and mobile telephone infrastructure is still at the infancy stage. Absence of telecommunication infrastructure is part of the reason why cost of running business is expensive in the continent compared to other regions. Schools, hospitals, banking and security operations are hampered by the absence of these vital infrastructures. The agricultural sector is no exception. Farmers have no access to credits, improved seeds, tractors, irrigation facilities, fertilizers and silos and other storage facilities, and receive no support from government. Farming in Africa is dominated by the use of cutlasses/machetes, hoes and other rudimentary equipments. Despite the presence of major rivers and lakes lack of irrigation infrastructure has deadly hampered the agriculture sector. Farmers still rely on nature for rain in order to plant and farming is still at the subsistence level. As a result the average farmer can only produce to feed himself with little or nothing to sell. The result is the food shortage, high cost of food, hunger and the extreme poverty seen in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Niger and Mali, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Somalia. In most countries there are no proper housing infrastructures such as water, electricity and waste management not even in the capital cities. A visit to any village or town gives the same picture of poor and substandard housing and poor quality of public services and mortgage is a dream. They face constant barrage of water and energy disruptions with high utility bills as these sectors struggle to cope due to lack of infrastructure. The dwindling housing stock has forced people to live in slumps and engage in occupy-build-service instead of build-service-occupy. This explains why most residential areas lack running water, schools, electricity, clinics, toilets, playgrounds, car parks and access roads as there are no central planning authority to enforce building and zoning rules.The education sector, the foundation of the continents development effort has its share of the infrastructure problems. The institutions lack modern facilities such as state of the art libraries, laboratory simulation facilities, studios, computers, books, staff bungalows, classrooms, students’ accommodation and electricity. In most institutions it is still chalk, paper, and blackboard and there are no internet connections. The infrastructure problem has affected the quality and delivery of education in the continent. Of about 9,760 Accredited Universities in the World that were ranked, only University of Cape Town and University of Witwatersrand managed to place 179 and 319 positions respectively in the top 500. (Source: topuniversities.com/2008). Without the infrastructures the institutions are unable to produce the high quality of architects, engineers, planners, bankers, lawyers, doctors, teachers, nurses, technicians that the third world desperately need in this increasingly scientific and technological age. This explains why in most countries, major architectural and engineering works are undertaken by foreigners and foreign companies from USA, Japan, China and Europe. The Universities lack well trained lecturers and some of them are amateur in the use of computers, internet and podcasting all powerful tools essential to delivering quality education. In most universities students and lecturers have very limited access to electricity which limits their ability to conduct any meaningful academic work.Whereas students in advanced countries get their hands on books immediately they are released those in third world have to wait several years to get the same books due to poor funding. Very few of our universities can boast of a million volumes of books in their libraries. Even the few books that exist are so old that information contained in them are valueless. This explains why there are no breakthroughs in our universities. Our research institutions have achieved very little because they are underfunded and lack the supporting accoutrements to carry out any meaningful research. Increasing access to water, sanitation, roads, electricity, railways, trams, inland water transport system, airports, harbours, telecommunication, canals, and providing improved seeds, credits, subsidies and irrigation infrastructures are essential to Africa's economic and social development, for without them it will be impossible to reduce poverty and improve both urban and rural lives. It is costly but the price is worth paying.

 

I cannot imagine a right minded Christian to fold arm and feel unconcerned as salt and light of the World.  Most of the questions raised here are large ones and of a complex character. Certainly many of them do not permit of a simple, cut- and -dried answer from the Christian point of view, as we have done here, nor is it possible to deal with them adequately or satisfactorily within a short compass. The subject has been tackled the way we deemed best. It may not be a perfect work. The views expressed are results of pastoral experience and counselling in different continents, reading, researching, interview and interaction with people in different countries, culture and setting especially across sex, the older and the younger generation of our time. It is an attempt to answer the questions of moral issues, which is a reality of our time in a fair and honest manner with deep understanding of the various dynamic involved and to show that Christians especially those in leadership, Priest, Clergy, Pastors, Government officials, Editors, Farmers, Educates, Specialists, Expertrates, Senators and other progressively minded people should be prepare to come to grips with these difficult issues of our time. Every group and strata of people have something worthwhile to articulate about the issues at hand. Feel free to disagree with some of the issues raised so that we can both think through them for a better community and good life. Most of the issues goes beyond, one particular race or one particular denomination or organization. Many of the concern are not about personal ministry or personal kingdom or empire as we repeatedly have in these days, not about your personal revelations, sentiments or prejudices but about larger Godâ's Kingdom.

Let us together think through the moral questions of our generation.

 

Johnson Odesola (PhD) is a Regional Coordinator in the Redeemed Christian Church of God and a Professor of Divinity with Trinity International  Institute of Advance Studies UK/US. He is presently a missionary in Southern Africa based in Zambia