Do you believe in God? (Part 2)

New Years Eve 

For those of you who know me, you will often find me falling, or being kicked out, of clubs at some ridiculous hour and New Years Eve is no different, if not worse. But not this year. No this year I spent my evening at the Accra sports stadium.

What was I doing there you ask, raving at a concert perhaps? No. I was  being led in worship, along with 40,000 others, by a pastor to crossover into 2014, drinking a thimble of wine and eating dissolvable paper (meant to stand for bread).

It was an experience like no other I have ever had and honestly I actually found it quite uplifting. In the fifteen minutes leading up to the clock striking twelve we were instructed to pray for all the things we wanted in the new-year. So I closed my eyes and began to think.

Suddenly the stadium erupted into a ripple of chants. I opened my eyes and everyone was waving their hands in the air, dancing and shouting their prayers. Their eyes were closed so tight and their fists were thrusting with so much passion you could tell these people wanted their prayers to come true more than anything in the world.

The explosion of Christianity in Africa has meant the number of churches in Ghana has been doubling every 12 years. Many argue the proliferation of churches in the country is gradually undermining Christianity. People are calling themselves men of God when they have no understanding of the roles of such men and it would seem taking advantage of their position

Some colleagues told me about a church congregation that was being broadcast on television. A woman had come forward complaining of a pain in her breast. The pastor asked the woman to take out her breast (on live TV), which she did and he performed some sort of spiritual healing on it using his hands. Now one has to question the morals and motives of this man of God.

One of thousands of chruches

Sadly churches are increasingly becoming a commodity. Pastors are no longer solely interested in getting people to Heaven; they’ve devised intelligent ways to make good money while reaching out to souls to pay for their fleets of cars. 

And while the bible expressly states that salvation is free, at times it comes with a cost: offerings, tithes, gifts to spiritual leaders, and a directive to buy literature and other products created by men of God.

It is sad to think vulnerable souls, desperate for financial breakthroughs, miracles and healing, who all rush to the church for redemption are being taken advantage of. But I like to think this is only a very small minority. Step out of your front door on a Sunday and the streets are near to empty, pretty much the entire population of Ghana is at church or at least following a ceremony on television or the radio.

While I admire their faith and respect their beliefs and join in the odd prayer now and again I don’t think I will be becoming a fully-fledged Christian any time soon. People thank God for their success and while that’s all well and fine (each to their own), I thank my parents for giving me a fabulous upbringing and a fantastic start in life oh and of course myself, for working bloody well hard. 

Wish you were here xoxo

Do you believe in God? (Part 1)

God is great

Do you believe in God? It’s a tricky question for me. I like the idea God exists and that there is a heaven etc but then the realist in me rears its ugly head and my belief in evolution takes over.

When I was little my friend and I would write a prayer to God asking for our parents to let us have a sleepover. We would put the prayers in our ‘magic’ jewellery box, turn the wind up key and cross all our fingers and toes. Since those days I have never really prayed to the big guy in the sky.

Religion is everywhere in Ghana, primarily Christianity; if it’s not a church on every street corner, it’s advertising for church on a billboard at every crossroad, if it’s not a preacher on the bus, it’s a van spreading the message with a megaphone. There is no hiding from it. Ghana has been rated one of the most religious countries in the world. 

It’s amazing just how much faith Ghanaians have. One day my boyfriend woke with severe head pains (which later turned out to be an ear infection). He told his mum about the pain and I was fully expecting her to tell him to go get it checked by the doctor, but no, she told him to pray to God and she would do the same.

One of a billion billboards

I thought this was very bizarre and honestly quite stupid but at the same time it really opened my eyes to just how much these people believe in the powers of God.

 For many Ghanaians faith and religion gives them something to hold on. When every day is a struggle the world can become a very lonely place and if God can help people overcome that then I don’t have a problem with it.

People over here constantly ask me if I believe in God. I tell them that, well, I have been christened but I don’t practice the religion and nor do any of my family. “You don’t go to church?!” is always the response I get, some in more accusing tones than others. 

One girl actually told me she thought it was “f***ing disgusting” (not a very Godly thing to say if you ask me.) I respect everyone’s right to believe in whatever religion they chose so surely I deserve respect for choosing not to practise one?

Offending article

On my first trip to Ghana I had packed a t-shirt that had a cross on one side and an upside down cross on the other with the world love written under it. It didn't even cross my mind I was buying a top that suggested I love the devil, nor that it might offend anyone, it just looked good.

So you can imagine my shock when I put it on and my roommate told me, again, it was "“f***ing disgusting and needs burning”. It’s safe to say I took it off immediately and buried it to the bottom of my case. After all I was in their country and the last thing I wanted to do was offend anyone or draw any more attention to myself.

I have recently moved accommodation and it would appear I have an extremely religious neighbour. I awoke one morning to hear a rather aggressive chant coming through the wall it went something along the lines of, “In the name of Jesus I give you fire”. Put it this way it didn't sound like a particularly pleasant prayer to me. 

Like it wasn’t bad enough that it was 6am, and half an hour BEFORE my alarm was due, I walk outside to see said neighbour spraying my living room with wine while chanting his prayer. I think this was meant to protect us from evil spirits but I couldn’t help thinking the opposite.

Being woken by prayers is nothing unusual for me. The all night prayer and song sessions often keep me awake at night and you can certainly forget a lie in on a Sunday. But if you watch the video below I think you will understand why I can let it slide.