A season for change

The idea that an omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient Supreme Being — God — could reduce Himself into a mere mortal human being — Jesus Christ — that walked this earth together with our forefathers more than 2 019 years ago has always proved difficult for most people to process.

Equally, the idea that Jesus Christ (the Son), the Holy Spirit and God (the Father) are the Holy Trinity that makes up one God has continued to elude the most intelligent of the human race.

At best, it is viewed with so much incredulity that it is dismissed as hocus-pocus, pious claptrap, or fairytale baloney.

But this is not about intelligence, but wisdom.

As Bishop Lazi has said before, there is a world of difference between intellectual acuity and wisdom.

Intelligence is just a strand of wisdom.

Intellectual Dead-end

However, for the past 2000 years, supposedly intelligent folk have been trying to debunk and disprove what they thought was a fanciful tale.

Among this posse of non-believers was an American award-winning investigative journalist called Lee Patrick Strobel.

As you might know, journalists are the most abrasive, vile, self-promoting and cocky bastards you can find.

Oops! Excuse my language, but unfortunately this is true.

And Lee Strobel, who worked for the Chicago Tribune, was all this and more, as he was an atheist.

As his wife, Leslie, increasingly fell for Christianity, Strobel sought to exhaustively investigate and gather information that he could present to her as evidence she was falling for a cult.

Initially, he started ferreting for historical information to prove that the story of Jesus Christ was contrived, but to his disappointment, he actually established incontrovertible evidence, even from non-Christian sources, of the historicity of Jesus.

And these included the writings of the Romano-Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, in his work Antiquities of the Jews.

After establishing that Jesus indeed existed, he sought to disabuse the notion that Jesus really rose from the dead.

His hypothesis was rationally simple: either he did not actually die on the cross, or those who claim to have seen a risen Christ were actually delusional.

Strobel’s untiring search for the truth saw him interviewing reputable scientists, historians, clergymen and psychiatrists, but to his chagrin, the more he dug deeper, the more he was confronted with cold hard facts proving that which he wanted to disprove.

Although he was confronted by overwhelming evidence proving his wife’s faith, Strobel couldn’t, wouldn’t and didn’t reconcile himself with the facts.

He simply didn’t want to believe.

Unbeknown to him, in the vain attempt to destroy the foundation of his wife’s faith, he was actually unwittingly building the foundation for his own.

He finally experienced his own Damascene moment; a typical Saul-to-Paul moment; from an atheist to a rabid evangelist. Kikikikiki.

I guess God works in mysterious ways.

The chap is now a pastor and Christian author.

This is why Bishop Lazi would be among those who will be celebrating Christmas this week.

Regeneration

For some of us believers, Christmas is a season for change and regeneration.

It is all about being re-invented as better versions of ourselves.

And this season we really need to flush out the toxicity, hate, slothfulness and polarity that is arresting progress and development that we so desperately need as Zimbabweans.

Currently, we are like the generation described in Genesis 11: 1-9 which cannot “build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we make a name for ourselves” because of too many discordant voices.

If you want to prove that we are so broken and discordant, you have to take a sneak peak on the uncivil conversations and engagements on social media.

You could actually swear that Zimbabweans are the direct descendants of the generation that failed to build the Tower of Babel. Kikikiki.

The trash-talking, the negativity, the hate — its as emotionally draining as it is gross.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed recently made a very interesting observation in his acceptance speech of the Nobel Peace Prize.

“The evangelists of hate and divisions are wrecking havoc in our society using social media . . . They are preaching the gospel of revenge and retribution on the airwaves . . .

“For me, nurturing peace is like planting and growing trees. Just like trees need water and good soil to grow, peace requires unwavering commitment, infinite patience, and goodwill to cultivate and harvest its dividends,” he said.

Reconciliation

However, like Strobel, for us to accept the truth, we have to reconcile ourselves with the facts.

One of the often-spun political yarns, which Bishop Lazi believes is mostly the source of the political divisions plaguing Zimbabweans, is the presumption that last year’s elections — witnessed by more than 46 local, regional and international observer missions — were rigged.

Unsurprisingly, this presumption is reportedly being immortalised in a “comic” new book that is being written by one sulking self-exiled Professor.

It is simply going to be hilarious, especially for those who have time to waste and money to burn.

Apparently, no one has even tried to put these claims of rigging under proper scientific enquiry.

Well, mathematicians did not have to break a sweat to establish how it is impossible for anyone who wins only 63 of 210 House of Assembly seats to win the Presidential vote.

It is simply impossible and improbable.

I wonder if those who repeat this half-baked presumption have ever bothered to look at the strictures imposed by the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.

Well, they wont; they cannot.

They simply do not want to know the truth because it would seriously undermine the foundations of their political beliefs.

Apparently, the problem of the new generation of supposed democrats is their refusal to reconcile themselves with unfavourable outcomes of democratic processes. It is a new kind of toxic, self-centred righteous fundamentalism.

Disunity and discord can only make our shared aspirations to develop incredibly hard to achieve. So let us use this season for renewal to reinvent ourselves.

2 Corinthians 13: 11 says: “Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”

There are clearly some inescapable truths we need to face: we undoubtedly need each other; we cannot succeed without the other; and we will either sink or swim together.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and very prosperous New Year.

Bishop out!