THE HERESY WE KNOW
“I have told you countless times Man that a person has chosen to back down does not translate as weakness or a sign of giving up. Last time we heard this argument, I told you that I have my reservation on the subject matter of which I vividly believe I owe you a zero explanation. You can believe what you want and even advocate whatsoever worldview appeases your dry skeptical gut but it’s all matters of subjectivity…” Donald was cut short by the realization that the person he is talking to is very much attentive to something else.
“Wait Leonard; is what I am seeing in there the case?” Donald asked collecting the tablet from Leo. “How was he kidnapped, I heard he left for Pakistan where he was granted asylum by the infamous President Ahmed Khan”
“That is exactly what I am trying to figure out.” Leonard spoke for the first time still hung up on the situations in the country, “I know this is very similar to the event of the 2020s win the famous Peter Obi took power and arrested the insidious and corrupt Tinubu his rival in the 2023 election.”
“Yes, it is very similar. But things are different now. I mean this 2052 and Nigeria has come up too far that Prof. Abubakar cannot escape like Tinubu.”
“We will talk about this later and for the view on the death of the priesthood of modern Christianity, I shall tell you what I think happened to it. Now I will go to my Modern World History Class. Catch you up later” Donald wanted to say something but had a better thought of it. He watched his best friend disappear into the lecture hall and wondered how his friend that had been the Christian apologist of their time has become the harshest critic of all things Christian. He remembered him repeating the words of Nietzsche that ‘There was only one Christian and He had Died on the Cross’ to his Symbology lecturer yesterday. Now he has begun a blog on why African traditional Priesthood was the pure form of priesthood that is devoid of all things Christian priesthood denotes. He checked his watch and headed for his class on Neo-Democracy.
It was past seven in the evening when the assassination of the Nigerian dubious and rebellious politician who had been granted asylum by the Pakistan Government was broadcasted saying that he had been found dead with repeated close-range gunshots at his temple near the borders of Afghanistan in the early morning of Friday, 25th March 2052.
“I had a premonition that history was not going to repeat itself when the election had turned undemocratic last month. But lemme not even talk about that, all thanks to H.E. Dr. George Opobo for rescuing the country from the tyranny of Islamic Propaganda. Back on the thing about the death of the Christian Priesthood” he paused and stared at Donald as if he was all ears. He looked on very much longer as if he was seeing through the innerness of his friend, making Donald look awkward.
“You see Man, I have read many libraries, I have made diplomatic analysis of the events of Christianity and her tenets at a different point in times of history. Christianity is one if not the only Religion that has stood the test of time even to our own time. Christianity has seemed to stand beyond all forces transcendental or immanent; Events, movements, cults, philosophies, governments, men and women a different points in time have tried to pull down the walls of Christianity but it emerged through. But the question is why has its de facto mystery and the central sacrament, the thing that is believed to be the bridge, the progenitor of the reincarnation power of the Scriptural Christ lost meaning and place within the circle and more outside of the circle. The priests of the religion have undergone a radical secular wave that has shaken them down to their foundation and planted an emptiness that seems to have built a great chasm between what they are and what they should stand for. Do you know why?”
“Go on, I am listening”
“I shall tell you Man, when the Church flourished in the medieval and before the advent of the Second Vatican Council of the early 1960s the priesthood of the church was secretive, mysterious, and a transcendental holy order designed by Christ as a prerogative of a particular gender that shares in his peculiar human likeness. At that point in time, the essence and transcendental nature of the priesthood were sensible and seemed believable with them backing the people of God and chanting in Latin all alone and pouring libation on behalf of the people. The mystery of the priesthood was hidden from the reach of the frivolity of vulgar Christians and priests, the force of liberal theology, and the critical principles of secularism. But all these came crashing down after the liberal theologians of the 1960s decided to open the windows of the church to let in some air of modernism and adaptation of scientific coherence theory which questioned the foundations of the doctrines of the church. The priests were scandalized and confused to find themselves to be no longer people set apart from men but rather had to live among men and concelebrate with the lay faithful. More confusion ensued when the realization that their office was based on principles founded on tradition and not on anything transcendental. The last straw that broke Carmel’s back was the irrelevance of the office of the priesthood in society which is a result of Science, psychology, secular theology, and Ethics taking up the role which was naively played initially by the priests. More outrageous is the sterility of the doctrines and teachings of the church which no longer resonate with the existential issues of contemporary times. It all became antiquated and has no longer any meaning and value for the people of modern times who have taken to a dictatorship of relativism in all areas of life; belief in God is very much inclusive. The priests were no longer repositories or custodians of truth or knowledge. They just lost everything and got stripped off of everything they were known for. As a result, priests went ahead about engaging in different secularistic clandestine escapades that would later hunt and bludgeon the Christian priesthood into trenches. A story was once told of a priest in the 2030s who after the mass told the congregation that there is nothing special about his office and that at ordination there’s no substantial transformation, that it is still his normal self as a matter of fact he is a full man in all things human and could be liable to hell if such state exists eventually…” he was interrupted by Donald who will always take the opposite not necessarily that the opposite is the case but for the sheer joy of pulling the skeptical rabbit out of Leo’s hat of skepticism.
“And you think that for the fact that modern priests have secularized the office of the priesthood, it’s enough to believe that it was and has always carried such an identity, is that what it is Leo. Guy come to think of it, what could you say has always kept the priesthood despite the atrocious doctrinal aberration of the priests?” Donald turned to his Pes X50 that is built with Augmented Reality effects that he just purchased.
“Maybe you have a point” Leonard continued, “because there is a difference in the priesthood of the Native African religion and of the Christian Religion. The priesthood of the African Religion is one that is filled with reverence, mystery, holiness, and uniqueness and has an unprecedented and indispensable place in African religiosity. Chinua Achebe, the African Literary Giant in the 1960s wrote extensively on the subject matter and other classical authors prior to him. Also, the legendary writer, Mmadu M. in the 2040s, Prof. Chris Okigbo, the last work of Adichie, Never Again, and the famous Lady Thiong’o who took after his great grandfather in her story, The Glory of African Religion placed the African priesthood at the zenith of the true meaning of priesthood.
“The thing is, Christian priesthood is the heresy of the true meaning of priesthood. In the African priesthood, you find priests who is convinced and honestly committed to the ideals of their religion and office. They are not hypocrites; they say what they mean and mean what they say. They are in continuous communion with the transcendental forces they serve. They are truly unique and set apart from the mundane lives and activities in society. In fact, the summary of my point is contained in the book, African Religion is not Paganism written by Stan Cardinal Ilo in the 2040s.”
Donald neither turned nor said anything to Leo when he finally finished. For Donald, religion and the essence of religion exceed the individual or human agents that propagate such religion. The priests might have failed in many ways but to say that the Christian priesthood is heretic is like saying that a football club is not a good club because some particular players at one point in time have refused to play well. As a football club is larger than just the players in the club so is the priesthood larger than the priests. But could it be that at some point they could actually be an end to the Christian religion, as to everything with a beginning? Maybe the conspiracy theory is much of a truth; that Christianity is nothing but a conglomeration of the various religions of the ancients and the antiquity. The signs of the time seem to affirm that it is time for another great religious figure to emerge and take the baton from the Galilean Carpenter called Jesus.