SAM EVIDENCE ORIKUNDA: All of us have sinned, pardon Ntagali

As we began the lent season yesterday I looked back and thought about what I have passed through as an individual. The truth is I was convicted by myself especially where I know and remember that I sinned, however as I did so, I also remembered that I’m human and therefore created a lot of execuses for myself.

When I was in Sunday school, I was taught that Lent season is a period of forgiving each other, repenting and returning back to God’s ways. As Genuine Christians we agree that we are bound to sin however much we are taught to avoid sin but sometimes it happens without our control and nothing we can about it. The only remedy in such a situation is asking God to forgive you and the person you have wronged. If the option of forgiveness and repentance wasn’t there I think Christianity would lose meaning and value. Some of our leaders in church today are former serial sinners who did not only steal but also raped and committed murder. But because we believe in repentance and forgiveness those former sinners are now leaders in church and serving us on behalf of Christ. If we the Christians now started pinning them on their past, I think we wouldn’t be having the Church.

Forgiveness and repentance is part of the foundation that makes Christ’s church. It’s very challenging that sometimes we seem to forget that forgiveness and repentance exists hence doing things our own human way.

When the news of the former Archbishop of Uganda, the Rt Reverend Stanley Ntangali being accused of involving himself in the extramarital relationship came in, most Ugandan picked it with excitement and some with shock It’s from there that we started mocking the man of God on media, some giving him names and others doing all sorts of things against him. The Church of Uganda didn’t spare him as well. Different Bishops made several statements against the former leader of the Church of Uganda. The statements they made hurt me and they made me feel out of place. I wondered where common sense has gone and if the values of Christianity have been suspended. I didn’t not comment not because I wasn’t seeing them but because everyone had ganged up against the Archbishop and taken over the position of God which is judgement.

They made alot of conclusions and I’m told the house of Bishops sat and made a resolution against him – forcefully excommunicating him and stoping him from conducting any clerical activity.

I still think that the decision against the former leader of the Anglican Church of Uganda and the way the public handed the matter was too harsh and unnecessary. We behaved like the people we have read about in the Bible who made judgements and punished by stoning those they accused of committing sins. In fact at one time Jesus Christ challenged them when they brought a woman who was accused of adultery. He said ” “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7 KJV) We read further that after Jesus made that statement, those who were accusing the woman left one by one. I think they got challenged and convicted themselves. Through doing that, Jesus was teaching us that we are sinners and we should not magnify other people’s sins to look bigger than ours. Actually the same Bible we read teaches us not to focus on the speck in your brother’s eye. The Bible describes as an act of hypocrisy (Mathew 7:5)

Just last week, I read a post on Facebook on the page of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was celebrating the LGBT and calling upon the people in the world to recognize them and respect them. To him homosexuality is normal and should be permitted in society. No Ugandan Bishop or Archbishop has come up to condemn that evil act maybe because they’re not on Facebook or maybe they’re not minding about it. The Anglican Church of Uganda has it’s origin from the United Kingdom, therefore when it’s mother church commits such an embarrassing sin, I think they should come out to condemn it just like they were quick to crucify our former spiritual leader.

The former Archbishop of the church of Uganda did not sleep with a fellow man neither did he sleep with a teenager. The former Archbishop did not rape or lure school going girl into sex. He didn’t sleep with his relative just like most men do these days. In fact we are told the woman could have persuaded our former Archbishop into doing what he did. Why then should we be hard on our former spiritual leader like that? Why should we draw cartoons of him and say all sorts of disrespectful statements against him? Should we say we are being Godly by doing what we are doing against him? I think we are not. We should reconsider all the decisions that the Church made against him, the former Archbishop of the church of Uganda should be exonerated and everyone who made statements against him should apologize. We believe that the throne of judgement is not here on Earth, it is in heaven. We believe that all of us including the religious leaders will face the judgement individually and privately. Why then roast our spiritual leader and torture him like that have turned ourselves into God?

I agree the church of Uganda has laws that guide her. However those laws are not bigger than our wisdom. Those laws shouldn’t lead us into sin, also we should remember that those laws were made by human beings. We should also think about how Jesus handled situations where he was caught out of the law. Especially the day when Jesus worked on Sabath! What did he say when he was Questioned? Now if Jesus found ways of relaxing those laws why should we be rigid basing ourselves on the laws that we have made by ourselves. I think that’s wrong. The lent season is here and being a season of forgiveness and repentance I think it’s the right time to reconsider the decisions made against the former Archbishop of Uganda, it’s time to seek guidance from God on how to handle some complicated matters without exciting the public and publicly sacrificing our servants. The Ntangali saga should teach us alot as Christians.

The writer is the a Deputy RDC Kitagwenda District.