@thesamuelkowe@BrotherPossible Besides he said it that he majorly disagrees with the soteriology and all reformed people here say there is more to the reformed than “Calvinism”. He admits to that. So why the tussle?
@thesamuelkowe@BrotherPossible “Foolery” highly unnecessary. See, people do not understand why people need to preach if with or without that, they will be saved. You can simply explain it to him and if he still argues, you leave it be.
@thesamuelkowe@BrotherPossible Stop trying to shove people’s wrongs in their faces when they have a rethink. It’s not a gotcha moment. It’s a humbling thing to even come out to admit. People can change their minds. That’s why we are humans, and Christians…
@Lawal_oluwadami 😄 “ma”. I asked because I don’t necessarily agree with Calvinism but some of the JC Ryle materials I have read have been pretty solid. We can disagree and still learn from each other now. “Innit?”
@NSawyer45@vick__odion That’s the one I cannot explain o. I only said the one I can. Like I said, I expected him to speak about women being pastors too, since it’s a serious discussion that is always raised up in the Christian space.
@NSawyer45@vick__odion It’s okay now. I expected him to go into women pastors particularly too. However, you cannot assume the intent of the “asker”. And based on the asker, he answered the question.
@NSawyer45@vick__odion The question didn’t ask if women can be “pastors” though. He answered the particular question asked. He just didn’t particularly speak about women being “pastors”
@thekintann This is a great piece. Thank you. I have also asked my self questions about why it seems as though women aren’t interested in theology or examining doctrine. And why almost everything relating to women in the church has to be tied to relationships.
I don’t blame Nigerians who are afraid of vaccines. Vaccine hesitancy in Africa has much to do with trust.
When a Nigerian says, "I don't trust this vaccine," the medical community’s first instinct is often to dismiss them as conspiracy theorists. I don't.
As a doctor, I believe your fears are incredibly valid. Why? History.
History gives us a tangible reason to be skeptical. We cannot (and should not) forget the 1996 Pfizer Trovan clinical trials in Kano, Northern Nigeria. During a severe meningitis outbreak, an experimental antibiotic was administered to children, leading to tragic deaths and permanent disabilities. When a medical intervention goes that wrong, the trauma echoes through generations. And we as medical leaders have to learn from this to ensure this never repeats itself again in any way or form.
It is completely human to look at foreign medical aid and ask, "Are we being used as lab rats?
Your skepticism is a survival instinct.
But while we must never forget history, we must go deeper into said history and not ignore the undeniable facts of human survival.
Vaccines remain one of the greatest miracles of modern medicine. And there are no lies here, just look at these facts:
1. Tuberculosis (TB): Decades ago, TB wiped out entire lineages, even in my own family. Today, the BCG vaccine has drastically reduced severe, fatal forms of childhood TB like TB meningitis. TB treatments are free today.
2. Polio: Growing up, we probably knew someone paralyzed by Polio. In 2020, thanks to relentless vaccination campaigns, the entire African continent was declared completely free of it.
3. Diphtheria: This bacterial infection literally forms a thick grey web in a child's throat, suffocating them to death. Before vaccines, it was a leading childhood killer globally. The recent, tragic Diphtheria outbreaks we witnessed across Nigerian states in 2023 were a terrifying, real-time reminder of exactly what happens the moment our routine vaccination rates drop. We must not mess with it.
4. Measles: We sometimes treat measles lightly now, how lucky we are! Historically, it was a hyper-contagious plague that killed over 2 million children globally every single year before the vaccine turned it into a manageable, preventable condition.
5. Smallpox: A virus that killed roughly 300 million people in the 20th century alone. Today? It is completely eradicated from the face of the earth. No human gets it anymore, purely because of a global vaccination effort.
Let’s also look at our own trajectory: Since the year 2000, life expectancy in Africa has increased by more than 10 years. Child mortality rates especially among children under five have plummeted.
We are living longer, and we are living better. A massive part of that is because we figured out how to teach the human immune system to fight back a disease before the said disease strikes.
You absolutely must do your research. Ask your doctor questions. Understand what is going into your body.
But I also want to challenge our thinking and perspective on where we direct this intense medical vigilance - Quality Healthcare and Regulation.
Right now, there are far more dangerous, unregulated killers sitting in our homes. Substandard foods and fake medicines.
As we debate the safety of heavily monitored, globally subsidized vaccines, thousands of Africans are dying daily from acute kidney and liver failure caused by unregistered "miracle medications."
We are losing people to fake anti-malarial drugs sold over the counter. We don’t have anti-snake venoms. We’re developing cancers from toxic, unregulated preservatives, pesticides, and dyes in our open food markets.
These everyday, silent toxins have a far more devastating and immediate impact on our daily lives and our mortality rates than a vetted vaccine ever will.
Be skeptical. Ask questions. Do your research. But let your skepticism protect you, not paralyze you from life-saving prevention available at your disposal.