Zimbabwe is a very faithful nation and this is a good thing because ‘the word’ prospers people and not just in terms of their finances. Zimbabwe has had and still has it’s fair share of problems and getting by from day to day may be challenging at times. The presence of God in the lives of believers brings them a multitude of blessings and allows them to navigate their way through the challenges of living in Zimbabwe.
Despite all the benefits of being a believer, the institutions that deliver the word are dogged by controversy. More often than not, the stories usually revolve around topics such as, the wealth that some of the Pentecostal Pastors have amassed and then there are the sex and adultery scandals that also feature frequently.
In the video (circulated via social media) below (click here if you cannot view the player), a Pastor decides to air out his thoughts on how certain members of the Church (namely, Elders) conduct themselves. He talks about how whilst praying for people (women in particular), the person doing the praying may in what seems like an inadvertent action, inappropriately touch a woman that is not theirs. All the while, they may have been intent to take advantage of the situation to make inappropriate physical contact.
The Pastor goes on to ask why the need for lewd and lascivious acts when you are supposed to be praying for someone in church? Even more so, when the person being handled inappropriately is not their wife and may very well be married to someone in the congregation.
A lot of trust is put into Pastors and behaviour such as that described above leads to scandals that can rock the core of a Church. It can be easy enough for a woman to be fooled into developing a relationship of an intimate nature with someone that they ‘trust’. Relationships of this nature are destructive and even more so when it leads to adultery and to pour more fuel on the fire, are more of an issue if they involve a high ranking church member.
All of this is nothing new and if anything, it is either getting worse of these indiscretions are becoming more and more exposed. The sad thing in some of these situations is the apparent inaction by church leaders to do something about it. In some cases the rumors of allegations of indecent acts are ignored. In other cases, offenders are moved from one geographic location to another and taking all of their ‘baggage’ with them. The number of instances in which firm action is taken are few and far between and this can’t be good because of the picture it paints about religion.
This is one of those topics where it can be hard to reach a general consensus on who’s right and wrong, why and how these things happen and what sort of action should be taken to curb it. It would be interesting to hear your take on this type of behaviour within churches.
Leave a comment below on your thoughts or even better, share your story by submitting an article to Citizen Journalism by Living Zimbabwe.
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