COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE
CONCEPT OF GOD BETWEEN THE AFRICANS AND THE
WESTERN WORLDVIEW.
In the Western culture, this supreme Being is called God, he is seen as a personality that is believed to be three in one (father, son and holy spirit), in some quarters he is the
creator of the univers, while to some he is not a creator of the
univers (Aristotle metaphysics). There are various theories of the existence and non-existence of God in the western culture, we have the theory of deism, pantheism, agnosticism, thesis and atheism. In the western culture it is believed that there is only one way to reach this God (Jn. 14:6), i.e. through his son Jesus. To the ancient people of the west (Israelites), God has mean and serve different purpose to them at different times, the children of Israel once conceived God as a warrior, who fight and avenge wrong doing against them, at other times he is seen as a benevolent God who bless and reward those who love and keep his commandments, or a God who forgive sin and show mercy on those who call no him, while at the end of times he will destroy and punish all those who go against his will.
God in the western worldview is believed to direct the affairs of men and the univers. They see him as the savior of mankind, through the second personality in the God head family, he is immortal, has no beginning and ending, he
lives in
heaven and sees all that happens on earth and can change things through prayers.
In the west, they sometimes don’t believe in God or that he exists at all, this has made them to live their lives the way they want it. They believe that at the end they will go to heaven and live with God if they live a
good life and that those that live a bad life will go to hell, though this has not change the perspective of some of the westerners.
The Africans lack a single name for this supreme being, the Urhobo of southern Nigeria call him Oghene, the Igbo of eastern Nigeria call him Chukwu, the Yoruba of the western Nigerian call him Olodumare, while the Hausa of the northern Nigeria call him Allah, but the idea or concept of this being is held in high esteem in that in every African society he is seen as a high God, creator and the almighty, but this being cannot be approach directly, therefore he must be approached through dime-gods, divinities and deities. The positions of this go-between in African Traditional Religion has made some to see ATR as a polytheistic religion, but this is not so, ATR is a monotheistic religion. The Africans do not worship many gods, they worship one God through different means, the various deities are subjected to the almighty God, and they are only an avenue to reach to almighty God. The idea and concept of God is in the kind of names they give to their children. Polytheism, pantheism, deism, agnosticism, and atheism are all new export into Africa.
The African belief is “this worldly” i.e., they do not believed that when a person dies he will go to heaven if he is a good person and will go to hell if a bad person, a traditional African believes that if he lives a good life he will be rewarded with good children, wives, good harvest in the farm, he will prosper in anything that he does and when he is dies he will go to the ancestral cult and allowed to reincarnate after a period of time. This has made the African man to be very religious and has made him fear God and live according to his commandment and the moral code of the society in which they live in. for the African the concept of God is transcendental and immanent.
Both culture see God as a supreme being that must be worshipped, he is conceived as a transcendental being who bless and punish people, both cultures believes that God cannot be approached directly, hence the mediator. God in both cultures is seen as the creator of the univers with many servants in attendance, he lives in heaven but his interested in this world. They both agreed that God is a spirit, a personality, prayers, blood lettting and sacrifices to God.
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