Couples in Igboland often fixed both church and traditional weddings on the same day to save cost. But the Bishop of the Diocese in Anambra State, Rt. Rev. Ephraim Ikeakor, disagreed with the arrangement, and banned the practise. Ikeakor, who also banned wedding celebration for pregnant ladies, also declared as unacceptable the conferment on its members with Ozo title, especially those already admitted into Knighthood.
Bishop Ikeakor, who announced these measures at the 3rd Session of the First Synod of the Diocese at Unubi, Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State, also banned its members from collecting goods on credit on behalf of the church during harvest ceremonies as well as shooting of dane guns during burial and funeral rites.
He said: “It is becoming almost a tradition for church members to come early in the morning for church wedding and, thereafter, in the evening go for traditional marriage ceremony. This is unacceptable in this Diocese.
“The church should be the last port of call for any marriage involving our members. No clergy man in this Diocese should be involved in conducting church wedding before traditional marriage.
“We have also observed with shame and dismay the and ungodly practise of conducting weddings for pregnant ladies in our churches. This is both unChristian and un-Anglican.
“We will no longer allow the unregenerate members of our church to set some unwholesome precedence and standard in the Church.
“In as much as we thank God for the gift of pregnancy, we ought not to put the cart before the horse.”
Source : Vanguard Newspaper
Thoughts?
38 comments:
oh please, they should take that crap and shove it up their asses! all the couples have to do is go and get married somewhere else. how can these people try and dictate how they should get married? are they the ones paying for it? mtcheww!
this is the right thing. its not gonna b easy, but its absolutely right.
@alicia i wither. These people think that getting married in the church is the end all and be all of life. They don't know that someone could actually do an outdoor wedding without their help. I so sick and tired of these 'clergy' men thinking they have a hold on peoples lives.
“We have also observed with shame and dismay the and ungodly practise of conducting weddings for pregnant ladies in our churches. This is both unChristian and un-Anglican.
This statement right here made me crack up..lol..If you ask me trad. wedding and church wedding, same difference...Man and woman become husband and wife in front of God and witnesses. I don´t see the big deal if you do one before the other.
@Alicia, from the tone and language of your comment, I think you have missed the point completely.
The church is the Body of Christ and acts as the moral voice in an age where secularisation is increasing.
As a result, it is their mandate to police things that go on within the confinds of the church walls in order to send out a message to the masses regarding what is acceptable before the eyes of God.
so long as what is being mandated is based on biblical teaching, I cannot see why this is a problem.
At the end of the day, if you dont like it you are free to attend another church.
I am still waiting to identify d man's logic... as if these rules will makes people live more righteously.... instead of looking for the reasons people wed these ways and how they can help make better choices... i understand d church's goal but making impositions will only create more rebels and create a distraction from christianity's ultimate goal which is to love God n our fellow man.....
Even d bible urges men who have 'unlawfully' bedded a woman, to make it right by making her his wife....in essence God's word provides for us to take corrective steps wen we have gone astray..... D churches shld remember dat b4 imposing judgments.... How can u justify wedding fornicators over pregnant couples? cos d only difference is The Evidence!
Also for anyone who might know, what happens to s'one who's preggers n unable to wed in deir church, where dem de go wed?
Pregnant women not being allowed to marry in churches is not new and do not see why people are up in arms about it. I believe in today's world, we want to have our cake and eat it.............you cannot change the church to suit purpose as has been the case in many churches and it is about time someone stood up for what was right and not what was popular.
its about time someone stopped all this craziness
@alicia must you comment, all your comment shows how daft u really are
alicia u've gotten your 2 seconds fame, oya vamoooose
Is there a LIKE button for this article?
......Well either we like it or not,these priests are God's Servants and we are supposed to mind the way we pass comments on them cos the bible says ''touch not my annointed and do my Prophet no harm
Evrything this man talked abt is very Biblical and we need to start adhering to moral standards and it must from the church
Let us first of all understand the geneses of marriage from the Bible, marriage is an
Institution that God him self has predestined before the foundation of the world. God Himself had plan of multiplying people in the earth (Geneses 1 vs 26-28) so God blessed the marriage not the BISHOP, REV. FATHER, PASTOR or POPE.
Secondly, the Bible said “So shall a man leave his father house and cleave unto his wife and both of them shall become one” (Geneses 2 vs 24) and that was where marriage started and also where it also ends. Immediately the both parents agreed together and bless the two couples, they are married and Heaven has reorganized the married.
So Church wedding is just to present your wife to your church member and receive prayers just like the way you present your wife to the community and receive prayer from the elderly once.
Remember the Canaan in Galilee marriage which Jesus attend was not church wedding but marriage according to the Jewish tradition.(John 2 vs 1- 6).
From all points of view you will understand that the man of God has his good reason by tell people to go for the tradinational wedding before coming to the Church wedding because that is the most important and also the first but that doest not mean that one can not do the both at the same day rather what matters is the one that should go first
Ah, so if I was in this guy's church nothing for me, as my church wedding was in the morning with traditional in the afternoon :)
this is absolute bull shit, its Men like this that are wrong with the church. They suddenly think they are God and can do as they wish.
There is a difference btw doing Gods will and imposing ur fucking opinion on a whole people.
This the same reason why all these road side churches will keep flourishing bcos the Anglican communion is succeeding in pushing alot of its members away
Which one is imposing church wedding as the last resort? how is it his business how one wants to do their wedding, is he going to assist his congregation financially with their wedding.
So what if ur pregnant, at least the man has agreed to marry you. So bcos a girl got pregnant God shouldn't bless her union with her partner again bcos its the most grievous sin to get pregnant.
Its people like this that have the worst children.
ms alicia this concerns those who WANT TO marry in the church. it's a choice. people know they can marry in court but they want to marry in church.
if u are in rome u behave like a roman
You pple should get off Alicia's back....Are you blind?
The man is telling you not to do trads and church wedding on the same day. Is he crazy?Na im dey pay for wedding?Wetin concern him,concern your traditional wedding? ah ah this is truly madness.
And the blind followers who never question anything pastor says will say AMen to this. Has anyone asked him to explain the rationale behind this. WHere in the bible does God mention traditional wedding. I'm so piseed right now.
Beware of false prophets is also stated in the Bible. I bet naija is the Headquarters of such false prophets....psssssssst
@Teniola, you say the church is the body of christ; which church? these man made churches that even christ himself will deny. Please stop speaking as if you are God.
In fact i am just so pissed off with these sort of human beings that parade themselves as men of God. I don't understand if they think we have no access or right to God except thru them or thru the church. These silly mere men made of flesh now want to weild power as though they are God, these complete nonentities who feel important becaus ethey have a job to preach the word of God to people. One da, hell be the one begging people to come and wed in his church. I don't blame him, you sit down there and disrespect your own culture and tradition because you foolishly adopted a foreign religion. That is why we will continue to be lost and never progress because of men like this priest. I woonder why he still bears his traditional name, he should change it to david or peter. Olodo!
allegra u are so right.
I however feel that the trad wedding should not be a condition to having your white wedding.
The people who brought Christianity to Africa dont even recognise this trad wedding so i think this bishop is contradicting his whole belief n service to the Church.
A wedding/marriage is a covenant whether in church or before traditonal rulers n i believe God recognises the vows we make.
People getting married with bele is not right! Abeg give birth first then go do your church wedding. its like saying Jesus forgave mary magdalene so i will wear bra to church. Everything must not be printed in the Bible before we know what to do. That is why we have the HOLY SPIRIT to UPDATE US.
God loves us but we must respect him. You can go privately to get a blessing on your union from your priest.
Christ LOVES us irrespective of what we have done but He bestows on u sthe responsiblity to be set a good example.
And sex before Marriage is fornication... AND A SIN. Modern day beliefs or not even the dictionary defines fornication!!
mtchewww! all I'm saying is, if you don't agree, carry your marriage to another church! simple. but you know some Nigerians follow anything the pastor or any "man of God" says blindly without question, those are the ones i pity. if you see me as daft, good for you.
@Ada, GBAM! so is it only because the couple has EVIDENCE of fornication that makes such a difference?
Teniola it has gone past living righteously. However you want to live please LIVE but if you claim to be part of the body of Christ then you must obey the rules however uncomfortable it might be...
That is why we have people coming out as GAY CHRISTIANS a total contradiction to the word of GOd.
If you cant stand the HEAT....
EGO SHAAAAARAAAAAAAPPPPP! I BIND THE DEMON POSEESING YOU BY FIRE!!!!
THE CHURCH IS THE BODY OF CHRIST N YOU KNOW IT..
SATAN GERRROUUUT OF EEEEEEERRRRRRRR. EMEM! EMEM!!!!
I do not give 2 spoons or a knife about this ... afterall he is the bishop of Anglican Communion In Amichi... my mother's village (truthfully) and not Lagos , Portharcourt, Abuja, Enugu, Kaduna or London, canterbury, New york... so I can imagine why he can talk like that... Abegi... I am a man and has he stipulated any decrees against other men who have faulted sexually... !!!! As far as I am concerned he is the one that is discriminating against a group of God's creation by being unjust to the women folk and it hurts me that as a man I have to point it out to the women.My sisters I need you to know we are all one in God's eyes. Abegi... make I hear word. I am Anglican as well and I can read and understand the bible tooBy his grace. I can unfortunately say he needs some exposure by relocating to an environment with a lot more stimulating minds.
This kind of nonsense will continue as long as they have daft congregation like some of the pple here.
Pastor says something stupid, people condemn it, then awon odes will start talking don't blaspheme, don't condemn man of God.
Who told him to think with his yansh and not his head........I might even understand the pregnancy one even though i dont agree with it. (If God can forgive who are we as humans to chastise?).....but sheeet the traditional wedding one is pissing the shit out of me. As in WTH is his own with it. Maybe because he wants to chop rice on two different days. NONSENSE!!!!!
@those of u insulting the bishop most esp kiky
i'm anglican by birth. Baptised and confirmed. So i can comment on dis issue. This pronouncement by d bishop is not new. In d abuja diocese it has been practiced since i can remember.
Here's wat goes. The church is not saying they wont wed a pregnant couple. However, here's wat they do. If d bride is not pregnant, they do solemnisation of holy matrimony for you. The implications are that, u are given a marriage certificate from d marriage act. Since the anglican church is a licenced place of worship according 2 d marriage act. With that certificate u are married legally. It's d same certificate that those who do court marriage are given. U can divorce in any court of law. The order of service is different.
On the other hand, if d bride is pregnant, they conduct blessing of marriage. The church believes u hv been cohabitting before d wedding. And for dt to happen, there must have been a form of consent. So wat d church does is to bless d marriage. To every other person it's d same, because d bride still wears white n everything. But anglicans knw. Once u go 2 an anglican wedding check d wedding program. Once u see 'blessing of marriage', look at d brides tummy. The certificate they are given bears d diocese e.g 'diocese of abuja' etc. Not 'federal republic of nigeria'.
As for d pregnancy being d evidence. Couples who are nt pregnant can still have a blessing of marriage as far as they come clean during d counselling that they've slept together. If a couple lies just so they dnt do d blessing of marriage, that's between them and God.
That of chietancy title, it's not only d anglican church dt frowns on it. We all know they do fetish stuff to get it. Esp, d ozo title holders
those that are complaining are clearly not anglicans. We have since adapted. Even d pentecostal churches have doctrines that atr not palatable at times. It's a matter of choice. The anglican communion owes nobody any apologies.
Pple circulate pentecostal churches but wen they want 2 get married they find their way back 2 d church. They must see something there.
Church wedding in its entirety is nt compulsory, but if u must, then abide by the church's doctrine. Most pentecostal churches bring d couple b4 d church 2 confess, if d bride is pregnant, and the they r suspended if they r church workers. So what are we not saying.
Then d idea of traditional first, maybe they want 2 ensure d couple have d family's consent. IDK.
I knw a couple that did both traditional and white d same day. But it was traditional wedding first.
My 2 cents
sorry *lenghty post*
The good news is that Amichi is the size of my left thumb and contains all of three people, so only three people, the bishop included, will be affected by this man-made dictates.
On another note, I have news for the bishop: the only church that is authorized in the Bible is the Catholic church, which Peter built. So, the bishop and his anglican communion can go and kiss a moving bus.
And as for the statememt that couples intending to marry in the so-called anglican church have to confess about sleeping together, it is no body's fucking business who one is sleeping with as long as those involved are consenting adults. Mind your business and worry about your own salvation. I hate it when people like the bishop act like their shit don't stink. The bishop is probably sleeping around with church members. What a jerk.
LMFAO @ chopping rice on two different days! i am dying of laughter now.
Anonymous 11:15am,
As long as they are 2 consenting adults they do not need permission from anyone.and traditional wedding does not imply consent either.
Like i said the traditional wedding part is stupid.
Anonymous 11:15am thank you jare.
all the people making noise, its not like u are being forced to comply. there are so many options for getting married.
@ego your logic does not follow. you say that the bishop disrespects his culture and tradition when in actul fact, he is emphasizing the importance of the traditional wedding before the church wedding. marriage is according to the norms of the land u live in or identify with. in england, it is the church stemming from when church & state were one. in most african communities, you are only married when both sets of parents or their representatives give their consent.
For anything, this bishop should be glad that they gave God priority. Normally, they would do their TRAD and proceed to live as husband-wife. For me, he isnt sure of the way 2go. Trad b4 wedding, leads to more pregnant brides on wedding day. The exact thing that wedding then trad aims to circumvent. He shld get his priority straight. M just saying....Meanwhile all these village churches sef
ol boy na your loss be dat ooo... u know hw much churches are making in terms of offering and thanksgiving monies.. especially the ones donated during chieftaincy title celebrations...at this rate ur church will soon close down... bad business decision ur making ooo..Word!!!
Judging by a lot of your comments, there is no wonder why the world is in MORAL BANKRUPTCY today...
All of what was decreed has biblical backing so I do not understand what is getting everyone so upset!
I think it is just guilty conscience that is doing some people here!
*God help this generation for we are surely in the end times*
So much hypocrisy!
Anonymous 9:02pm where does it say in the bible that you should do trads first? where does it even say in the bible that you must do ceremony for your wedding?
great blog and post .... thanks to shear ... GOD BLESS YOU
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