I have never referred to any scripture in the Bible as foolish and stupid – Otabil

General News on Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

2019-05-28

The office of Dr. Mensa Otabil, founder and general supervisor of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), reacted to information circulating in the media, suggesting that some scriptures of the Bible be described as foolish and completely stupid.

According to media reports, Pastor Otabil, Sunday, while preaching to his followers, interviewed some chapters of the Bible referring to Luke 6:29, which read as follows: "Do not ask no refund. To whoever strikes you on one cheek, offers the other too. And to him who takes off your cloak, do not hold back your tunic either. Give to all those who ask you ".

Quoting it as one of the scriptures of the sacred book that made no sense to the human spirit, Otabil asked his congregation, "Why should the Bible say that if someone is not? one slaps you on the left, you must also turn right towards the person. It makes no sense, which of you can do it?

On the basis of the direct quote above, some media portals have reported that Otabil said that parts of the Bible did not make any sense.

But, answering the question in a press release forwarded to Ghanaweb and signed by the church's secretary-general, Reverend Morris Appiah said that Pastor Mensa Otabil had never called scriptures the Bible stupid and insane.

According to him, Otabil's preaching on the theme "The nonsense of God is wiser than the sense of man" was taken out of context because he was only trying to put in light the mysterious works and wisdom of God that men can not understand.

"We have a responsibility to our audiences to correct such misrepresentations. The title and the opening statement in no way reflect the point of view or the content of the sermon preached by Pastor Otabil, "the statement said.

Based on 1 Corinthians 1:25, his scripture says, "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men," Reverend Morris Appiah said. that the motive of Otabil was to let his followers know how God chooses people. humans see it as totally disqualified or useless.

"The central thesis of the message was that God often chooses stupid, weak, unimpressive, unsophisticated people and things to establish his designs. Pastor Otabil warned that people should not be surprised when God chooses other people whom they consider totally disqualified. He added that in most cases, if human beings made the same choices, they would themselves exclude them from all consideration, because God could use anyone regardless of their state of weakness, "he said. in a statement.

The ICGC leadership further stated, "As a church, every opportunity to enlighten the word of God is an opportunity we would gladly accept. We therefore wish to reiterate our position that Pastor Otabil has never called any part of Scripture stupid and stupid "and hopes that" all those who feel inferior or unsatisfactory who read this sentence will be inspired. to raise and aspire to the summits which are prescribed to them in the Holy Scriptures ".