Nigerian South African-based thought leader and technology entrepreneur, Charles Awuzie, has given reasons why he no longer believes in Jesus the way most Nigerian Christians and churches do.
Awuzie said this in a recent KaaTruths podcast by Kel Armstrong Amobi titled ‘How tech, religion, and politics are controlling you’.
Awuzie said that he does not believe blindly in Jesus, miracles, and Christianity the way most Nigerians do, without questioning some doctrines and practices that are not in line with true spiritual values.
The former Pentecostal pastor, now a businessman, stated that in the Nigerian religious settings, there are two gods — the God who created man and the God that man created. He, however, added that the most sold or marketed God is the God that man created in his image.
He said that everything one sees in a man, they will also see in the God he created, adding, “Man mirrored himself to create a God that does things like him, relates like him, and wants to be praised like him. However, little or nothing is known about the God who truly made man in His image.”
The former pastor said that he stopped believing in the version of Christianity practised in Nigeria just before he left Nigeria. He further said that before he left Nigeria, he had interacted with many pastors and ministers, and discussed things, people, events, and places, and also sensitive topics like heaven, hell, and tithes.
He said he was saddened when these issues were met not with intellectual responses, but with emotional outbursts or blackmail
“I hear that all the time. Why do we not have answers to these questions? And I discovered that there was an intellectual gap in religion, where more people just come in to become followers or believers,” he said.
He further said that, as someone who has extensively studied the scriptures, he believes that the first Christians were thinkers, while the end-time Christians are believers, and that there is a gap between these generations. Recognising this gap, he stressed that he was moved to fill that gap by making believers think and thinkers believe.
“Belief is what you embrace when there is no evidence to support what you know. So, where there is no knowledge, you cling to belief. I realised that the problem was not the thinkers. The problem was with the believers.
“So, I set out to educate, enlighten, and teach. I was doing this on social media. I was teaching doctrines. Then, I started getting attacks. I had to take a break and let everyone believe what they want to believe. These days, I just create value and solutions, and live my life,” he added.
Awuzie said that with his new stance on life and religion, he now practices a private spiritual life, which he added is intentional, because organised religion suppresses people and intellectualism.
Blogger and founder of KaaTruths, Kel Armstrong Amobi, buttressing the issues Awuzie raised in the interview, said it is unfortunate that most people believe things, most times, blindly, without making an effort to investigate to know the truth.
“Belief is the absence of knowledge. You do not have to believe what you know. I understand many were born into what they currently believe in, and when you try to encourage them to take a moment and look at things the other way, they feel you are the enemy,” Amobi said.
