I AM A SOBER CHRISTIAN

I am lost in the thought of being a good Christian. Don’t dress casually, don’t drink this, don’t eat that, don’t do that, don’t watch this, don’t listen to whatever you want. So what if I do? God will reject me?

For all the lukewarms out there, good news, your actions cannot save you, but they can destroy you. Christianity and Christians are two different things. You can only follow one. If you choose to follow Christians, then be prepared to give up your life for whatever the hell they want you to be. Christians are like stars that you can’t possibly fathom into a constellation. One wants you to do this and the other wants you to do that. But if you choose to follow Christianity, then be prepared to listen from God’s own heart and to believe with your entire body, soul and mind.

Time has disappeared with true religion. There is no church anymore. There are only churches, ‘united in faith, divided in doctrines’. True religion only exists in the heart these days. Every church is faulty, every faith impure. There is no way to be saved if you want to weigh and find a reason to go to a particular church. As it turns out, every church (‘Pastorpreneur’ churches not included; those are not churches, they are businesses) has its own flaws and none is better than the other, if not for the content of what they present as the ‘gospel’.

I don’t want to struggle with the thought of being a good Christian anymore. I now know that if your reason outweighs your faith, you will become an atheist, and if your faith overcomes your reason, you will become an extremist. Every Christian knows that salvation is not earned, it is received, as a gift, through grace, not merit. If you want to attach meaning to everything that happens in the church, you are unsalvageable.

The first time I heard someone say he is ‘a sober Christian’, I was amused. “What a nice way of defining hypocrisy!” I thought. But I was wrong. I have come to learn that the supposed sobriety of a Christian is not an indication of hypocrisy, actually, it’s like the opposite. Clearly, some Christians are not sober. They are overdrunk with religion. And some are overdrunk with reason. A sober Christian is the one who believes as much as he reasons, none outweighs the other.

Besides the sober Christians therefore, Christianity is filled with two categories of people. Those who believe too much and reason too little, and those who reason too much and believe too little. To the former, I don’t think we could ever be in agreement no matter what I say. But if you are the type that does not question whatever is said be it by the pastor, priest, bishop, evangelist, elder or preacher, you are in that category.

I have seen people get deceived so much by ‘pastorpreneurs’ in the name of prophets just because they don’t question their ways, motives and messages according to the Bible, or just even according to the most common sense. They only believe. Somebody calls an 8-year-old child an ‘angel on assignment’ just because he is a good actor who can perfectly manipulate their faith. A child, who can’t even distinguish wrong from good deceives fully bearded men and women past menopause. Really? Is that how much we are supposed to believe? If we are supposed to believe, then we should believe in God alone, and make personal efforts to know Him and His will.

To the latter, you are not far off from atheists. You see, atheists think that they reason better than others when actually they believe much less than others. It is faith that is lacking in them, not reason in others. If you want to attach meaning to everything in the faith, then you will find the faith constraining, and slowly by slowly, you will be losing your way into the world of atheism. It is difficult to change the mind of an atheist [but not impossible, of course], but those who still have a little faith can still give it a chance before time runs out.

The sobriety of a Christian is very important. Without it, religion will become just like ‘kalongolongo’, children’s game. Everyone can reason and everyone can believe. So, for me, I don’t see a reason why we should have atheists or extremists. Surely, the fact that many are carried away by false religion should not be a reason to fight true religion. And the fact that hypocrites rule the world should not be a reason to fight sound-mindedness in the church. And by the way, is the reason we are talking about here same as carnal-mindedness? I’ll leave that for you to solve, just don’t ask your preacher. Goodbye!

THIS ONE THING I LOVE ABOUT CAMPUS ‘LOVE’

‘Love is a beautiful thing’, so says the singer Willy Paul. George Sand, an ancient French novelist, as well once said, ‘there is only one happiness in this world, to love and to be loved’. Wow! Only one! This makes love the most beautiful thing ever in the history of humanity. Love indeed is beautiful. What makes a man happier than the feeling of being deeply loved, or a woman madder than the thought of being truly loved? Love is more beautiful than every treasure or pleasure the human heart may crave for, more satisfying than every material thing we might ever long for.

Love is an inevitable part of human life. As it is often said, human beings are social beings. Once you find yourself in a group of so many people, you can never stop yourself from falling in love. Well, campus is one such places where not being in ‘love’ is considered an abnormality. Actually, it can be ascertained that 99% percent of campus students are either in a relationship, in relationships, or have once been in a relationship or relationships. Moreover, based on statistical evidence, it can be affirmed further that an insignificant number of university students, graduate without ever getting into a relationship in campus. It is thus appropriate to put forth that love, or rather relationships form an important part of campus and life of a university student. Campus relationships come in two forms, inter-campus and intra-campus. What is the difference between the two?

Inter-campus relationships are those that involve two people rom two different universities, while intra-campus involve two people from the same university. I might not have a lot to say about the former, because in my own opinion, if two young people, in universities, where sex is a daily meal, can be in love and successfully, patiently and faithfully maintain a healthy relationship, despite the distance between them, then it is irrefutable that the relationship is a responsible one, with a future.

I might have a lot to say about the latter, except for how they begin. How do they even begin by the way? Do the two begin by flirting when they meet in the library, or become friends first as they advance procedurally? Do they begin by I like you, you amaze me, then I love you? Or do they begin by you’re so hot, or cute, or whatever the hell your physical appearance communicates? Well, I am worried about how they begin, because I do know how they end. They end in a quarrel, insults, tears, heartbreaks, groans, pregnancies, abortions, STIs, flops, uselessness, emptiness, bankruptcy, and most sadly, forgotten identities.

We never know the first thing about love while entering these relationships. Love is not a test experiment, or a trial. We are always so consumed with the illusion that love is a beautiful thing that we forget that it is us who are supposed to make it beautiful. We enter relationships without remembering that falling in love is an irreversible step. Singer Warren Barfield in his song ‘Love is not a fight’ says, “Love is not a place, to come and go as we please. It’s a place we enter in, and commit to never leave.” So, what in the face of this world makes you think you can love anyone anytime and leave whenever you feel disgusted? That is not love.

You see, campus ‘love’ perhaps has the shortest lifespan in the history of humanity. Shorter than the lifespan of new year resolutions, or of a campus student’s sober moments. They have no commitments at all, they are always like a house built on sand; falls at the blow of the slightest wind. They are always built on deception; how can we ever expect them to stand? They are meant for trial, and perfection of bedroom skills, how can anything good come out of them? So, what’s my point? My point is, love never exists in campus relationships. They are simply an expression of people’s own interests and lusts, which once satisfied, the wind blows away the relationship, leaving scars and regrets that will take a lifetime to heal.

Wondering what the one thing I love about campus ‘love’ is? Well, here is the thing: It never really exists. I happen to love things which are deluded to exist, yet they don’t. My hope is that campus students realize the weight held in the simple phrase “I LOVE YOU”, and be very careful before letting them out of their lips, and most importantly before letting them out of their heart. Choose very carefully the one you say them to, because you will never really take them back. The choices we make in campus, are those whose consequences we will live with for the rest of our lives, so be careful!

CURSED BE THE DAY I STEPPED INTO CAMPUS.

Ever heard the phrase “going through school without school going through you”? Well, I sometimes think this is very possible and sometimes to the advantage of some people. Yeah, there are people who have form four certificates but look like they have never stepped into any academic institution all their life. That is how life is, anyway.

Perhaps that is why despite the increasing number of university admissions in Kenya, only few go through university in real sense. Notably, it has often been said that Kenyan universities produce half-baked graduates; yet the problem is not with the universities, nor with the education system. The problem is that very few of those admitted into universities really go through the university; and the university ‘goes through them’.

Criticizing education is a thing of the past, and trust me, that is not what I am trying to do. There are people, however, who have taken us back into that antiquity by deliberately criticizing our education system, through their actions of ‘going through school without school really going through them’.

From personal experience, not once have I been openly confronted by a drunkard or a matatu conductor for ‘being so serious with life’- claiming they were too but still ended up where they are. I have confirmed, myself, that one of the drunkards-who in his late 20’s- actually has a degree. As a matter of fact, is it so strange in the modern day to find a woman with a degree who is simply a housewife. Well, it is not just the contempt that undermines education, but the fact that such people are actually educated is maligning and act as a great reproach to education itself.

I will not say that where someone ends up after his/her degree is all up to him/her, but I do know for sure that people graduate with two different types of degrees, irrespective of the honours: a degree from a university and a degree from ‘campus’, otherwise known as campo. I don’t know what campus means to you, but to me, and to those who go there, it means some sort of a paradise where people are free to do anything. And I mean anything, without restrictions of reason, ethics or virtues. Those people go there purposefully for ‘a degree’: it’s just that there is no specific formal way of obtaining that degree. I hear some of those degrees are ‘sexually transmitted’, some ‘money-bought’, some harambee, and some achieved through ‘artificial intelligence’, otherwise known as mwakenya. Well, it doesn’t matter how the degree is achieved, because in campus the end justifies the means, not the other way round.

You know, in campus, every action perfectly defines just three words: avarice, debauchery and pleasure. There is nothing else better understood by the campus boys and girls better than these three, and believe you me, they really know what actions define them. Neigh, it is not wrong to be aggressive, just the intents are not right. It is not wrong to go outside one’s area of study, just the means and intents are unjustifiable. It is not wrong to have fun, it’s just how that is diabolic. If there are any such things as priorities in campus, then schoolwork is not one of them, and if it is, then it is the least. No, education, or rather degree, isn’t the main reason why people go to campus. I may not know the main reason, but at least I know a reason, which is to live absolutely limitless of such things as morals and reason, knowing the future will take care of itself.

As contentious as this may seem, it is the truth and believe you me, there is a big difference between a university and ‘campus’. A university student and a campus boy or girl are two  different types of people. Despite sleeping in the same hostels, learning in the same classrooms, studying the same courses, living under the same rules and regulations and being protected by the same walls, a university student and a campus boy or girl are in two different worlds, as different as East is from West.

You wouldn’t like it in campo, because if you’re a girl in ‘campus’, then there is a rule : O sister, you must not put on anything that covers your knees or even thighs, because you have nothing private to cover; those belong to the public. And if you’re a boy, then the rule is : O brother, you must not have a girlfriend. And if you do, then it must not be one, but sex is compulsory with or without; you must not wait for consummation. It is also a rule that you must not attend classes, but liquor is mandatory - you must not miss your daily dose.

Yeah, that is the life in campo.

Now you tell me, what good would come from ‘campus’ therefore? Even the Bible notes that nothing good can come out of a rotten thing. Tell me, what kind of person will the callous egocentric campus graduate become? Does Kenya even need such a person? Does the future even need him/her?

I am now certain that it is not the university graduates who are half-baked, but the campus graduates. Well, it is normally too late when the campus boy or girl realizes their true worth. And while looking at themselves, and the ruins they have become, they blame and curse the day they were born.

No, don’t curse the day you were born, curse the day you chose to step into campus and bury the university, because that is the day when the rain started beating you. If still in ‘campus’, I guess it’s never too late to cross over to the university as it is not miles away; it is just a decision away. A university is a definitely a better place to be in than a ‘campus’. And I would say, woe unto them who choose ‘campus’ over university, because they berate not just education, but themselves too.