When Are Two People Really Married?

Posted on October 3, 2024 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Andrew Zekveld

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

A legal marriage certificate, or a traditional marriage based on the customs of a particular people group, has historically provided the criteria for when two single individuals become a married couple.

Of late though, there seems to be an increase of critical thought about the legal or traditional requirements of the marriage moment. This concern is certainly justified in light of the world’s increasing hostility towards Biblical marriage. The world is tenaciously holding onto the concept of marriage, but using it to describe the unions between homosexuals, transgender individuals, and even, as in the 2006 Sudanese case, between a human and an animal.

The question that demands some clarity is: “What makes a person married?” Or, as Christians sometimes phrase it, “When is a couple married in God’s eyes?”

Are the legal definitions the only criteria for getting married?

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Clarity On Christian Unity: Defining the Essentials and Non-essentials

Posted on July 9, 2024 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Andrew Zekveld

Audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

The Apparent Confusion About Christian Essentials

Christian unity keeps popping up as a topic of serious consideration among the masses who consider themselves Christian.

This year, from our own continent in Burkina Faso, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was themed around the greatest two commandments of love for God and love for your neighbour. Emphasising the virtues of charity, mercy, justice, and unity was presented as the key to uniting Christians around the world.Already the World Council of Churches is planning next year’s Week of Prayer for Christianity Unity, and the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea with the theme of “believing” and “affirming the faith” is heralded as the key to unity among Christians in 2025.

No doubt, that theme for 2025 will cause some disunity, since it appears that the Catholic Pope thinks it is not necessary to “affirm the faith” as composed in the Nicene Creed of 325 AD, but calls instead for world peace freed from religious persuasion.

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Followers of the Fallen

Posted on January 9, 2024 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Andrew Zekveld

Listen and subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

A proverb that has been attributed to the people of Tanzania observes how “the humble pay for the mistakes of their leaders.” This simple observation of life is indeed the downfall of much in our beloved Africa. When leaders fall, it is always the humble followers who get crushed.

Yet, it seems that very little can convince the humble followers of fallen leaders to stop following their discredited heroes.

Ousted from the South African presidency in 2018 because of corruption, Jacob Zuma regained great political fame this past December in his announcement of forming a new political party—this all amidst his corruption trial!

So also spiritual leader Shepherd Bushiri from Malawi, while awaiting extradition orders in Malawi for financial crimes committed in South Africa, enjoyed a renewed following in his recent 2023/2024 Crossover event.

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Should we celebrate Christian holidays?

Posted on November 23, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Andrew Zekveld

Listen and subscribe: Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Introduction

Christmas is a month away, and already the range of emotions, sentiments, and opinions about celebrating Christmas are filling the conversations and plans of some Christians across Africa. A few months later, the Easter celebrations will re-ignite these discussions all over again. Then, forty days later, an Ascension Day Church service will be kept in some scattered Churches across our continent.

Our differences are not only personal, they are also national. In South Africa, the celebration of Ascension Day was removed as a national holiday with the fall of Apartheid in 1994. In Egypt, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, Christmas falls on the 7th of January and in Ghana on the 1st of December. In countries with a strong European heritage, you will find Christmas trees and fruit cake on Christmas Day, while the decorations and meals of other countries might vary from region to region within the same country. Though Easter is celebrated in many African countries with more zeal than Christmas Day, it receives no official attention in about a third of African countries.

How should Christians in Africa think about celebrating Christian holidays?

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