Boko Haram: Kumuyi rejects self-defence call

THE General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, on Sunday rejected the call on Christians to defend themselves against attacks by Boko Haram.Christian Association of Nigeria President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, while reacting to the Christmas Day bombings which claimed at least 40 lives and dozens injured in parts of the North, said Christians would be forced to defend themselves if attacked by Boko Haram again.Oritsejafor hinged his stand on the lack of response by Muslim leaders and that the Christian community was also “fast losing confidence in government’s ability to protect our rights.”However, Kumuyi, who addressed a news conference at the International Bible Training Centre, Ayobo, Ipaja, Lagos, said retaliation was contrary to the biblical injunction for Christians to “take an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth.”He said the nation could be thrown into anarchy if Christians chose to defend themselves through violence or if they resorted to taking up arms.According to him, this can lead to another civil war.Commiserating with families of those who lost their lives in the Christmas Day bombings, the cleric urged believers in Jesus Christ to demonstrate the virtue of love, patience and forgiveness. He said, “I wish to encourage our brothers and sisters in the faith who were directly affected by the spate of bombings in our country to exercise a high level of restraint and caution.“While I appreciate the emotional outpourings over these incidents, we must nonetheless be circumspect so that we do not exacerbate an already fragile and dire situation.“We must always adhere to the admonitions of our Lord that we are not to retaliate or fight back against those who openly provoke us or make themselves our enemies without a cause. We are to love them, pray for them and continue to extend hand of fellowship to them. This is the path the Lord Jesus followed and which He enjoins us to follow. This is what marks the believers out as salt and light in the world, provocations notwithstanding.”He added, “We have to copy the example of our Lord Jesus Christ who, though persecuted, unjustly treated and brutalised, committed everything to the Father without retaliating.“However tempting the situation, Christians must not resort to violence. We cannot afford to give up this virtue and resort to retaliation, self help or bloodletting against those who are practitioners of violence. Ours is not a violent cause and we cannot afford to lose our good virtues, even in the most hostile of environments.”He noted that life was sacred, saying nobody has the right to take the life of another person, no matter the level of provocation.