CHANGING SOME INCOMPATIBILE CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS PRACTICES IN THE CHURCH TODAY: AN EXEGESIS OF LUKE 5:33-39

Dominic Obielosi, Joseph Chibuogwu

Abstract


The Philosopher Heraclitus is credited with the famous teaching that everything is in a state of flux. Only change is permanent. Change can be seen as any alteration, modification or even transformation that is made on any person, thing or system. Repentance and conversion are parts of change too. Change does not come easily mostly when it affects belief of the people such as religious teachings and practices. They tend to resist it with all their might. Most times the resistance is due to fear of the unknown or for personal benefits. Religious changes are expected to affect the spiritual life and activities of the people that it is meant to affect. But in some cases these changes are peripheral. Change could have positive or negative impact. Whatever the effect, the fact remains that for there to be a growth, certain things must be changed. The Philosopher, George Fredrick Hegel rightly holds that for there to be a synthesis, there must be an antithesis against a subsistent thesis. The result is always the synthesis which generally is better than the former thesis. Using the prism lens of exegesis, this paper studies Luke 5,33-39 with a view to underscoring the need to effect some changes in certain things in the Church that are incompatible with Christianity.

 


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