Is Africa Cursed

[Logostician]

I do not think God has cursed Africa, but the poverty and diseases like AIDS, Ebola, and others seem to take a heavier toll on Aftica.  And the health care system is unable to make much progress.

I'm not going to propose an ingenious theory as to why Africa has these problems.  I don't know.  But I have prayed often about Africa, and I have respectfully asked God, isn't it enough?  I do know that there will be a big turnaround in the glorified Kingdom of Heaven.  The first in this world will be last, and the last in this world will be first.

I will continue to pray to God to bring peace and prosperity to Africa.  I pray that this he selects strong Christian leaders for Africa to bring this about.  That way they will know that blessings come from God, and there will be no need to discuss curses.

[Henry_iain]

10 hours ago, RonaldBruno said:

7 out of 10 of the most prosperous countries in Africa are Christian countries (showing percentage of population that are Christians)

1. Mauritius /33% (half of the country is Hindu, 17% Islamic) It is a small country of 1.3 million.

2. Seychelles / 93%

3. Botswana / 71%

4. Cape Verde  /85%

5. South Africa /80%

6. Namibia / 90%

7. Sao Tome  and Principe /97%

8. Tunisia - less than 2%, majority Islamic 

9. Moroco - less than 1 %, majority Islamic

10. Ghana   / 71%

*If we look at the world in general, God has blessed Christians nations more than any other. China, the former USSR countries, India, many of the Islamic nations as well are not (accept those that are rich in oil)

I mostly agree. But I just want to point out that we must remember that when these stats are compiled they count Catholics, Zionists, Seventh Day Adventist, JW's and any other groups that claim affiliation to Christ. It also includes nominal Christians. Not that this takes away from your point, but I just thought I must add this side note 

[RonaldBruno]

58 minutes ago, Henry_iain said:

I mostly agree. But I just want to point out that we must remember that when these stats are compiled they count Catholics, Zionists, Seventh Day Adventist, JW's and any other groups that claim affiliation to Christ. It also includes nominal Christians. Not that this takes away from your point, but I just thought I must add this side note 

I know. Isn't anyone who believes in Christ a Christian, that He died for our sins and rose in the third day? Regardless of false doctrines as within, I believe the body of Christ is composed of all those who have faith in Him. 

In addition to this, is Colonialization did not take place, Christianity would not have widely spread. I would also go as far to say that African-Americans are better off today than if they had never come here and colonialization never took place in Africa.

[RonaldBruno]

Also, I hope you all take eschatology literally. God has a plan for the world - to put end the world of sin. In other words, the world is cursed. It will be destroyed, all false religions and unbelievers and we may be experiencing the "beggining of sorrows" as we speak! (See Matthew 24 and Revelation )

[Henry_iain]

Yes and no. It is true that colonisation (indirectly, I must add) opened the door for missionaries that spread the Gospel and took many Africans to places where they probably had a fairly good life. Good things can come from bad deeds. Slavery and colonisation happened to have some positive effects, but did much more harm than good. The freedom to choose is a very necessary element of a healthy society. I would argue that, had the European nations approached contact with Africa in a way that respected their freedom to choose, and had they treated them with kindness, bringing education and other benefits in return for resources, in other words, had there been mutual consensus and respect, Africa would have been much better off than it is now as would its relationship with the West. Now the seeds of mistrust towards anything from the West have been sown and many Africans will never again believe that Westerners have the best intentions. We (I speak again as a descendant of settlers) need to win back their trust. And it begins by  fully acknowledging what was done to them and doing our best to correct the wrongs that were done. 

[Henry_iain]

14 minutes ago, RonaldBruno said:

Also, I hope you all take eschatology literally. God has a plan for the world - to put end the world of sin. In other words, the world is cursed. It will be destroyed, all false religions and unbelievers and we may be experiencing the "beggining of sorrows" as we speak! (See Matthew 24 and Revelation )

Not to derail the thread too much. But I agree with what you more or less. But when it comes to eschatology, I am only now beginning to study it more deeply again. 

 

But we must stay focused on the topic of this thread. 

[creativemechanic]

22 hours ago, BeauJangles said:

Is Africa Cursed

That's a very insightful thought compared to those tasteless illustrations you post. Nicely stated. 

Well that was a backhanded compliment  if I ever heard one.

[BeauJangles]

34 minutes ago, creativemechanic said:

Well that was a backhanded compliment  if I ever heard one.

No backhand intended. You do have good insight, brother. You're intelligent and have godly wisdom. But, if you pull up a thread with those illustrated cartoons, others have pointed out the same comments. 99% of them are tacky. You're far better off without them.  

[RonaldBruno]

23 hours ago, Henry_iain said:

. I would argue that, had the European nations approached contact with Africa in a way that respected their freedom to choose, and had they treated them with kindness, bringing education and other benefits in return for resources, in other words, had there been mutual consensus and respect, Africa would have been much better off than it is now as would its relationship with the West. Now the seeds of mistrust towards anything from the West have been sown and many Africans will never again believe that Westerners have the best intentions.

Hmmm. I can imagine traveling through an African jungle 300 years ago, approaching a village with witch doctors practicing Vodoo, cannibalism or some other false religion . As you greet them, appearing friendly, non-aggressive, Bible in hand _ they in turn have a quite different response, spears in hand and something else in mind. The attempt of showing kindness, bringing education, the gospel, just got shot down ... you and your loved ones are now dead. Time passes, your folks back in your homeland begin to wonder, "Hey what ever happened to our missionaries - haven't heard from them? Better send in another group." As this second group approaches the village, they see evidence of horrific deaths and flee or get murdered also. And so it goes, peaceful intentions got ugly.

People get the impression that native tribes (including American Indians btw), were peace loving, down to earth people who sat around and smoked a peace pipe in harmony with each other until all us bad people came through and took over. They were savage warriors, no less evil than barbarian hordes anywhere else, who raped pillaged and plundered each other's tribe. Sure some may have been friendly and non -violent, but when just a few unprovoked murders happen, settlers/colonists become less friendly. What would you think if you saw a loved one's head on a stake or scalped? Respect, compassion, forgiveness? 

Edited May 28, 2020 by RonaldBruno
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[Henry_iain]

Let me be clear. Colonialism is, in my view, completely unjustifiable. It was wrong. So is all forms of oppression and all slavery. And it can be partly blamed for the way Africa is now. I consider myself an African and although I do not always think they are right, I more or less side with them in their claims when it comes to this subject.

But that is now history. It is not too late for us. God can turn things around. But we as Africans need to turn to Him and choose obedience. Forgive what should be forgiven, repent of wrong things happening in our countries. And we need to work at the it, making use of the help given to us from the outside. I do my part through my work as a social worker and in outreaches. And I pray for Africa quite a lot.I hope more people will join me in that.