I just hope that those who fought back on the christians side and happened to be killed wouldn't wake up in the life after and find themselves together with those they had regarded as 'unbelivers'. Lets pray for God's wisdom on what to do when faced with such difficult decisions, whether to fight back or walk way.
Pablo Vermillion
Posted: December 04, 2008 11:08 AM
The article was very informative. What does need to be understood about Nigeria as a whole is that is a nation always teetering on the verge of civil war. The population is closely divided between Christians (mainly in the south) and Muslims (mainly in the north). What is the real problem here? It is that the Muslims would like to run the whole country just like they believe they are to conquer and dominate the whole world with their twisted religion. THIS IS CORANIC TEACHING. Christians should not initiate violence against Muslims but I believe they should respond with appropriate force when Muslims initiate this. Since I live in the only nation on earth that has been conquered and ruled by Muslims but is today free of their tyranny, I understand that their violence must be resisted by society.
Bonbyrl
Posted: December 04, 2008 8:57 AM
As painful as it might be, there is no Sense equating Islam to Christianity. These are two different poles, the one a relationship with a loving, gentle, rational, caring, and all encompassing God and creator. That values life and the sanctity of it. The second is an ideology of world dominance. The later would not cease till such aim is accomplished. What other reason would it be, that a people 20% of a population (if statistics are right according to Les Nordman) fighting for dominance in a place that is not theirs. Settlers due to trade and mining contracts since the 1900s (Les Nordman); forgets that the indigenous people lived in and on this land long before the 1900s and it is not a defining notion for their insistence on dominance of the place and others. This attack on Jos with foreign troops is a clear indication that the ideology of dominance is a guarding force and a sheer wicked concept only from the originator itself.
Reuben shikula
Posted: December 04, 2008 7:45 AM
Of all the religious crisis that have taken place in Nigeria, Muslims are always the perpetrators, initiators and master minders of every crises. How can a religion so believed that if you kill a soul or die while fighting a religious war then you are guanranteed heaven? Why won't they look for more ways of causing trouble even when there is none? Let us pray God to give us the wisdom of king solomon so that we could be able to guide ourselves aright. This is because we have lost confidence in our leaders and Government.
john
Posted: December 04, 2008 5:58 AM
When Christians respond to violence with violence, the world has more evidence to justify simply putting all the religions together in one category: something that should be done away with for the sake of world peace and harmony. This is the spirit of anti-christ. Jesus' response is such actions is clear but unnatural and necessary to differentiate us - following his teaching and example is possible if He is the conscious and unconscious center, the path we walk and the air we breathe. Let's not excuse the behavior of Christians who don't live the standard but let's condemn it with humility remembering [as was mentioned above] how natural it is to take revenge.
chizoba adimba
Posted: December 04, 2008 4:43 AM
It was painful;the incidence in jos.Being a Nigerian It couldnt have been otherwise.Matter of factly i was in jos about 3weeks ago and we discussed the election in Jos with a colleague who was an indigene of Plateau state where Jos is located.Muslims in Nigeria have always had very little respect for life and propery, they go about miaming and killing at the slightest or no provocation at all.While the response of christian youths is sub-christian,the teaching of Jesus to love our enemies as ourself is very difficult when we see loved ones killed for no reason at all.i am not personally aware of any religious crisis started by christians in Nigeria.This is a very difficult time for the church in nigeria,We need wisdom and grace to respond appropriately and to both pray and plan with foresight to avert futher loss of innocent lives due to religious crisis.The church in Nigeria weeps with our brothers and sisters who lost loved ones who needn't have died at all.
Dawuda Mani Musa
Posted: December 04, 2008 4:07 AM
I am a student of ECWA Theological Seminary Jos. Rev. Dr. Sunday Agang's article is the true picture of what has happened both in the state and the seminary. I was at the Leadership seminar venue at JETS on that faithful day when the smoke enveloped us. Out of the thicket of the smoke I beheld my wife coming to us while we had just said amen to our long prayers. She left our two children at home with the neighbors to bring my inhaler to me that I might cope with the smoke. My wife and I are typical Hausa. English is our second language and I always get worried when Christians do not differentiate between "Hausa" as a language and Islam as a religion. We are on the training equipping ourselves to do the ministry effectively. Surely after our studies we will go back to far north to serve. It may interest every reader to know that there are many Hausa who are Christians, who love the Lord Jesus Christ and serve him even in the midst of such crisis.
Les Nordman
Posted: December 04, 2008 1:07 AM
"Plateau State is generally acknowledged to be a state dominated by Christians. However, the Muslim community in one of the local government areas, Jos North, claimed to be the majority." Professor Agang, please, listen-o! It is tribalism-o! Though the Hausas were in control of Jos in the early 1900's, many people have moved into the area so that presently Hausas account for about 20 percent of the population. The struggle is to identify "indigenes" versus "immigrants." And which tribe will have the power. "Muslim youth, enraged by that assumption, went on a rampage at 1 a.m. on Friday." "Muslim youth"? Professor, you yourself know that if you scratch a "Muslim," you will find a Hausa, or a Fulani. If you scratch a "Christian," you will find an Ibibio, or a Yoruba. Religion is a veneer laid over tribal allegiances. Religion is also used as an excuse to justify advancing tribal power, be it political, economic or cultural. Your solution must include tribalism-o!
Ephrem Hagos
Posted: December 04, 2008 12:16 AM
How can peace not elude Christians and Muslims alike when neither one group knows firsthand and personally the god it claims to worship? If they did, they would know the same, identical self-revealing Prince of Peace in their corresponding Scriptures and share one faith! May the LORD have mercy on us all!!!!
Gerald
Posted: December 03, 2008 4:12 PM
God never uses force to accomplish his will. We pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." But do we really mean it? Christ prayed in that last recorded prayer before going into the Garden of Gehtsemane: "I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the word but that Thou should keep them from the evil." All of these kinds of things are because the angels of Rev. 7 are slowly allowing the winds of strife to be loosened thus revealing the charater of those who are being sealed. At the same time God is allowing Satan to take control to show to the Universe the kind of kingdom he would have if given unlimited control. Thus we can expect more of this type of event to take place around the world, prior to the Second Advent of Christ Read the story of the Fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 as a type in miniature for the terribleness of what we face before Christ returns. Our hearts sorrow with both sides in these kinds of events.
Gotep
Posted: December 03, 2008 3:46 PM
Christians retaliate against their will sometimes in self defence, sometimes because of frustrations and anger at what is being done to them and their own. Do not judge them too harshly until you experience what they have experienced. When you watch your home being burned down, your wife/husband, children being slaughtered in front of you, it is difficult to remember to turn the other cheek and submit yourself to be killed as well. Let's keep praying for our brethren.
Gene
Posted: December 03, 2008 2:28 PM
What a shame this happened on the eve of the season when love and understanding is supposed to rule. Once again we have Muslim extremists rioting because they didn't get their way - and they are supposed to be peace-loving??? It was also wrong for the non-Muslim people to respond like they did. However, when we react like a thermometer, instead of being controlled like a thermostat, these things happen. It can happen in Africa or America, India, or anyplace where people are not tolerant of other people. It hasn't yet happened in America, but it could just as well happen here also. We must pray for communication and understanding between people to guide us and not our feelings and responses like happened here. As Christians we have Jesus' example to follow - however, not all people have this example - may God give us the ability to work for change in a way that is peaceful and not violent. Have we so soon forgotten the World Trade Centers?
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