[dropcap]B[/dropcap]etween parental blessing and pastoral anointing, which one is greater? As we both waited at the airport terminal for our flight to be announced, I spent time chatting with this senior pastor of the RCCG. Of course, he believes a pastor’s anointing is the highest form of blessing one can have, while I argue that parental blessings have a divine origin.
That’s how we reeled out quite a ton of Bible verses and biblical events to support our positions. Although I don’t agree with everything he said, I found his arguments quite compelling, laden with rich knowledge of the gospel. I told him so, and he too remarked that he was surprised that I had such deep mastery of the Bible. I really dressed 16-ish, and looking very ‘selense’, so that surprise was expected.
He was even more surprised to learn that I am Catholic. “You are probably a member of the charismatic movement or attend Bible classes elsewhere”, he teased. That suggested that Catholics don’t know enough gospel. Well, I informed him I was a Mormon before joining the Catholic faith after marriage. His eyes nearly popped out of the sockets.
Are Mormons Christians? Do they believe in the Bible?”, he asked aloud. These questions are familiar. Its impossible to go through the LDS seminary class, Institute Class, and Relief Society Class without reading the Bible from cover to cover at least 3-5 times. I told him that.
Then he mentioned that at the RCCG, they have been totally fascinated by the Mormon Church’s ability to draw the attention of the youth in this digital age. They have often wondered how young boys and girls devote 2 years of their lives as missionaries before going to college. It’s a soul-winning practice they have tried their best to learn and adopt without success. He confessed that meeting me has totally changed his thinking and mindset about Catholics and Mormons.
His last words were: Armed with very little facts, we often stay in our little corners, pass hurtful judgements, and draw the wrong conclusions about other people, things or other religions, without knowing that we wallow in ignorance. No matter how strong our convictions may be, they remain wrong as long as they are premised on the wrong conclusions.
Been chewing on those final thoughts…
Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri is a graduate of the Harvard Law School. She is on Facebook.
The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author.
