HEROES
ief of chastity had shaped Mother Teresa’s identity as it showed how devoted she was to God. When she received her calling she was at a young age but thought about the calling for 5 years until she was 17. As a child, girls don’t tend to think about getting married and starting a family but once they become adolescents they question whether to start looking for someone and having children on their own. For an adolescent to give up the opportunity to spend their life with someone and have children of their own in future is difficult. By taking this vow, it shaped Mother Teresa to be more devoted to her calling and to helping others and has shaped her to be a strong independent woman as she chose her own path, stuck to it and then devoted her whole life on it on her own and then with others.

Poverty & Poorest of the poor
The belief of poverty or helping the poorest of the poor had shaped Mother Teresa’s identity as she was able to have an open mind about world and the people around her instead of just focusing on herself or materialistic goods. By not focusing on materialistic goods or herself, she put other people before herself. An example of Mother Teresa putting people before herself is when she asked to leave teaching at St Mary’s High school where she taught Geography and soon after became the principle. She felt that her calling was not fulfilled and left to work with the poorest of the poor in the slums in Calcutta. Here, she devoted a majority of her life looking after the poorest of the poor and help enlighten them by keeping them company and looked after them even though at times her life was put at risk. Soon after, she was then able to help more people by creating hospices and a charity where more people could also help the poorest of the poor.

Obedience
The belief of obedience had shaped Mother Teresa’s identity as it showed how strongly dedicated she was to God and the service of others. When Mother Teresa had accepted the calling to become a nun and help the poorest of the poor, she stuck to what she was told to do and didn't think of other situations. For example, Mother Teresa helped and looked after the ‘untouchables’. The ‘untouchables’ were the ones who were diagnosed with contagious diseases such as leprosy. Instead of pulling out as her own life were to be at risk as she would develop the disease, she stuck to her calling, obeyed God and continued to help the poorest of the poor and the untouchables. This shaped Mother Teresa’s identity as a devoted woman to the service to others and God himself.

Dignity of a human being
The belief of dignity of a human being allowed Mother Teresa to value everyone’s life. It shaped her to become a better person by putting others before herself trying the promote equality whether you are rich, poor, ill or homeless. An example of an event that allowed Mother Teresa to become a better person to promote equality was when she arrived in Calcutta. The area was in the slums surrounded by poverty and people who were dying from illnesses or starvation. Mother Teresa valued the life of others and became a better person as she, out of many people who could have helped took the effort to look after them and provide them food. She would collect left over food for people instead of letting people throw it out and waste it. As well as feeding them, she also nurtured those who were dying in hospices and also offered to keep the children if their parents wanted to perform abortion.

Wealth distributed evenly
The belief of wealth should be distributed evenly shaped Mother Teresa to be compassionate and not self-centred. During Mother Teresa’s life she had won many awards which included a lot of money. Instead of keeping the money to herself she distributed her money to the centres and hospices she made so it could be used to provide the people who were abandoned, diseased or disabled. An example of which the money was used for in the charity centres and hospices were to buy more food and resources such as more beds so they could take in more people and look after them. This shaped Mother Teresa to compassionate and not self-centred as she is always concerned for others. If another person were to receive money from an award, it is most likely that they would use the money for materialistic goods such as getting a bigger house or expensive cars.

http://vocnewsonline.com/mother-teresas-beliefs-that-shaped-her-identity/

GOD is not a Christian and other provocations by DESMOND TUTU

The following is excerpted from theArchbishop Desmond Tutu’s new book,‘God Is Not A Christian: And Other Provocations.’
This talk also comes from a forum in Britain, where Tutu addressed leaders of different faiths during a mission to the city of Birmingham in 1989.
They tell the story of a drunk who crossed the street and accosted a pedestrian, asking him, “I shay, which is the other side of the street?” The pedestrian, somewhat nonplussed, replied, “That side, of course!” The drunk said, “Strange. When I wash on that side, they said it wash this side.” Where the other side of the street is depends on where we are. Our perspective differs with our context, the things that have helped to form us; and religion is one of the most potent of these formative influences, helping to determine how and what we apprehend of reality and how we operate in our own specific context.
My first point seems overwhelmingly simple: that the accidents of birth and geography determine to a very large extent to what faith we belong. The chances are very great that if you were born in Pakistan you are a Muslim, or a Hindu if you happened to be born in India, or a Shintoist if it is Japan, and a Christian if you were born in Italy. I don’t know what significant fact can be drawn from this — perhaps that we should not succumb too easily to the temptation to exclusiveness and dogmatic claims to a monopoly of the truth of our particular faith. You could so easily have been an adherent of the faith that you are now denigrating, but for the fact that you were born here rather than there.
My second point is this: not to insult the adherents of other faiths by suggesting, as sometimes has happened, that for instance when you are a Christian the adherents of other faiths are really Christians without knowing it. We must acknowledge them for who they are in all their integrity, with their conscientiously held beliefs; we must welcome them and respect them as who they are and walk reverently on what is their holy ground, taking off our shoes, metaphorically and literally. We must hold to our particular and peculiar beliefs tenaciously, not pretending that all religions are the same, for they are patently not the same. We must be ready to learn from one another, not claiming that we alone possess all truth and that somehow we have a corner on God.
We should in humility and joyfulness acknowledge that the supernatural and divine reality we all worship in some form or other transcends all our particular categories of thought and imagining, and that because the divine — however named, however apprehended or conceived — is infinite and we are forever finite, we shall never comprehend the divine completely. So we should seek to share all insights we can and be ready to learn, for instance, from the techniques of the spiritual life that are available in religions other than our own. It is interesting that most religions have a transcendent reference point, a mysterium tremendum, that comes to be known by deigning to reveal itself, himself, herself, to humanity; that the transcendent reality is compassionate and concerned; that human beings are creatures of this supreme, supra mundane reality in some way, with a high destiny that hopes for an everlasting life lived in close association with the divine, either as absorbed without distinction between creature and creator, between the divine and human, or in a wonderful intimacy which still retains the distinctions between these two orders of reality.
When we read the classics of the various religions in matters of prayer, meditation, and mysticism, we find substantial convergence, and that is something to rejoice at. We have enough that conspires to separate us; let us celebrate that which unites us, that which we share in common.
Surely it is good to know that God (in the Christian tradition) created us all (not just Christians) in his image, thus investing us all with infinite worth, and that it was with all humankind that God entered into a covenant relationship, depicted in the covenant with Noah when God promised he would not destroy his creation again with water. Surely we can rejoice that the eternal word, the Logos of God, enlightens everyone — not just Christians, but everyone who comes into the world; that what we call the Spirit of God is not a Christian preserve, for the Spirit of God existed long before there were Christians, inspiring and nurturing women and men in the ways of holiness, bringing them to fruition, bringing to fruition what was best in all. We do scant justice and honor to our God if we want, for instance, to deny that Mahatma Gandhi was a truly great soul, a holy man who walked closely with God. Our God would be too small if he was not also the God of Gandhi: if God is one, as we believe, then he is the only God of all his people, whether they acknowledge him as such or not. God does not need us to protect him. Many of us perhaps need to have our notion of God deepened and expanded. It is often said, half in jest, that God created man in his own image and man has returned the compliment, saddling God with his own narrow prejudices and exclusivity, foibles and temperamental quirks. God remains God, whether God has worshipers or not.
This mission in Birmingham to which I have been invited is a Christian celebration, and we will make our claims for Christ as unique and as the Savior of the world, hoping that we will live out our beliefs in such a way that they help to commend our faith effectively. Our conduct far too often contradicts our profession, however. We are supposed to proclaim the God of love, but we have been guilty as Christians of sowing hatred and suspicion; we commend the one whom we call the Prince of Peace, and yet as Christians we have fought more wars than we care to remember. We have claimed to be a fellowship of compassion and caring and sharing, but as Christians we often sanctify sociopolitical systems that belie this, where the rich grow ever richer and the poor grow ever poorer, where we seem to sanctify a furious competitiveness, ruthless as can only be appropriate to the jungle.
http://vocnewsonline.com/god-is-not-a-christian-and-other-provocations-by-desmond-tutu-2/

This is cheering news! who says nothing good can happen in Nigera? Nigeria is blessed with the best of human resources in the world. I believe with the right leadership to harness our rich human resources, Nigeria will take her right place among the economic super powers of the world.

follow me @gazemobor

Everything God created was designed to support and sustain life. In other words every of God’s creations are integrally interdependent. Each creation needs one another to sustain life and enhance universal stability. Let us take a closer look at the essential nature of some of God’s creations.
Consider the sun and its enormous contributions to life. Without the sun, there would be no light/daytime; there would be no evaporation; rainfall and plants will not photosynthesize – produce fruits/food, and by extension, animals and man that depend on the fruits bore by plants would die of starvation. What about the plants themselves? What if there is sunlight, but plants just refuse to bear fruits? This of course, would spell doom for humanity and the catastrophic effect will be the total extermination of mankind from the face of the earth.
Now, elementary biology also teaches that plants on the hand depend on the nutrients produced by animals that die and decompose in the soil. The above picture is just a synopsis of the complex web of interrelationship and interdependence that exist in creation.
To provide a proper perspective for this piece, let me define the word “FRUIT” within the context of our discussion. Fruit can be referred to as the external excess food stored by plants. Plants through the process of photosynthesis utilize the natural resources of water, soil nutrients, sunlight, carbohydrate and the chlorophyll of its leaves, to produce food for its nourishment and growth. And then, the excess is stored as fruits.
It is instructive to note that plants have been designed by God to always store their excess food as fruits. The reason is that other creations such as man and animal would depend on that fruit for food, used for nourishment, so as to stay alive. So, it would amount to natural aberration, if plants refuse to bear fruit, and instead use its food for self- nourishment- growth and enhancement of its “greenish leaves”.
There is a biblical narrative of how Jesus was hungry and he saw a fig tree from afar, expecting to see some fruits to eat from it, but when he got closer, to his utter amazement, the leaves of the tree were only greenish, but there were no fruits on it. And so, furious with this discovery, Jesus cursed the tree, “henceforth no man shall eat fruit from thee “. And it was on record that the tree dried up –died. How ironical it is today, that many of us live “greenish” lives; a life of me, me and me.
Drawing an analogy between the process of fruit-bearing by plants and the relevance of the life of man to the sustenance of humanity, it will suffice to say that we are created also to bear fruits, and give back to life.
Man utilizes the universal resources of life: time, idea and creativity, through positive mind programming( “mind-synthesis”), to create wealth (food) for self- nourishment (only) and the excess should be given out, as charity [fruits] back to life. In the spiritual parlance, this process is called FAITH.
So man operates the same principle of fruit-bearing like plants. The reason why we must bear fruit – give back to life, is because other people are created to depend on the fruit we bear for their sustenance. Now if we refuse to bear fruits – give back to life from our wealth, we would have created a vacuum of need that will disrupt the effective functionality of life.
Many of the socio-economic malaise that has bedeviled the world today are traceable to humanity’s abuse of the principle of fruit-bearing. We live in a world where a minute few, that amass so much wealth, wickedly refuse to proportionately give back to life.
The symptomatic manifestations of this abnormality caused by humans, are poverty, crime, violence, terrorism, religious crisis, war and hunger e.t.c. Poverty for instance, is a man –made phenomenon. It is the direct result of human greed. The universe always provides freely, and in abundance too. E.g. Air and water are not only free, but exist in abundance. It is instructive to note that, the economic system of the world created poverty, while the social system created the rich and the poor.
In summary therefore, I would submit by saying that the relevance of your life is in the fruits you bear. You have a choice to use the resources of nature for selfish – nourishment /enrichment, or to bear fruits – give back to life. Herein , lies the true of meaning of life.
God bless Nigeria.
BY AZEMOBOR GREGORY
International Coordinator, VOICE OF CHANGE NETWORK
Twitter @gazemobor

Dr. Martin Luther King Said, “I have a dream.” Those words have been repeated around the world again and again- in print, on radio and TV. Because he dared to both live for and die for that dream, his life made a difference. Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream was not only for himself but for others. He had a dream for an American society devoid of racial discrimination and social prejudice. Today, Black Americans live freely with their white brothers.

Dr. Nelson Mandela had a dream for his country, South Africa. He dreamt of a country where the political subjugation and inhuman apartheid policy would be truncated. He was imprisoned because of his dream for his people. He spent 27 lonely years in incarceration. But at the end of the day, his dream prevailed, and apartheid was dismantled.

Our forefathers had a dream for an independent Nigeria. They fought colonization with so much nationalistic zest. Many of them were prepared to pay the supreme price. Eventually, on October 1st, 1960, their dream gave birth to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I can go on and on with a catalogue of great men that had great dreams that changed their generation and impacted their world.

The world is ruled by dreamers. Every advancement in human history was orchestrated and championed by a dream in the heart of one man. Dreamers foresee a better future for themselves and for society; they create the picture of a glorious destiny for their generation. Every dreamer in history changed their world

"Many of the greatest accomplishment in history have been done against impossible odds, because somebody dared to dream"

The urgent need to raise and nurture dreamers with a passion to change our nation gave birth to Voice of Change Network International, a non-governmental organization established to promote collective responsibility for national development, inspire individual passion, civic patriotism and commitment towards building the Nigeria of our dreams.

THE PICTURE OF A BETTER FUTURE.CITY2

I have a dream of a new Nigeria, a nation where there would be freedom, equity and the spirit of enterprise; a nation that would be ranked amongst the top 20 developed economies in the world by the year 2030. I can see a society that will evolve selfless leadership with patriotic passion to re-invent this nation.

I have a dream of a country where there would be adequate provision of infrastructure and power supply for rapid industrial development. I have a dream that one day, Nigeria will be a corrupt-free society where her people will be law abiding and exhibit high sense of discipline in every facet of their lives. Then it would be a taboo to give or accept bribe. Our policemen and civil servants would no longer request for gratification before they discharge their duties. The time is coming when people will no longer dispose refuse indiscriminately, urinate and defecate anywhere. Our streets and cities would be clean.

I have a dream of a Nation where social miscreants “Area boys” will no longer infest our streets constituting nuisance; our youths would no longer use the internet to send scam (419) business proposal.

I have a dream that, every Nigerian, both home and abroad would be proud of our National colors. Nigerians in the diaspora would be glad to return home to rebuild our Nation. I see a future where our green National Passport would have respect and value. I can see Americans and Europeans applying for the Nigerian lottery Visa.” Asian and other African nationals would queue up in our embassies other to obtain our visa.

I have a dream that made-in Nigeria products would be exported to America, Europe and Asian countries.

I have a dream that one day, the problem of unemployment would be a thing of the past, because there would be enough industries to absorb our young graduates. Even then, our youth would take pride in becoming entrepreneurs, starting their small businesses. Poverty would be eradicated. There would be sufficiency of food for all Nigerians, because agriculture would be completely revamped.

Nigeria is going to evolve a political culture where elections will no longer be a do-or-die affair. Money bags would no longer dominate our political firmament, then true leaders will emerge with the heart to serve the people. This is my dream for my beloved country.

I believe this dream can be realized in this generation. We can make them happen. Remember, Nigeria is our only country, we don’t have another one. We can’t fold our hands and allow this decay in our nation to continue. We must rise up for a change in this country. Enough of pointing accusing fingers at our leaders; enough of criticism and attack on our political leaders. Though they have their faults, we equally have to accept some measure of responsibility in taking this nation out of the rot we have found ourselves.

NIGERIA’S NATION BUILDING REQUIRES COLLECTIVE EFFORT

Nigeria’s nation-building and development requires collective effort.The development of this nation does not lie in the hands of one single individual. It is our collective effort that will make Nigeria great. I am a firm believer that there is hope for this country; there is a greater tomorrow for Nigeria.

So, whatever corner God has put you in whether big or small position, please give it your best shot, be the best and if each one of us is the best in our little corner, then we will see the Nigeria of our dream come to light.

Let us join hands together as Nigerians to build a nation where peace and justice reign, for that is the only way that the labor of our heroes past would not have been in vain. It is my prayer that we will all see the Nigeria of our dreams come to pass.

I will strongly advised against bulk passing and losing faith in the nation owing to some of our developmental and political challenges. In spite of our challenges in this country, I want to encourage every Nigerian not to begin apportioning blames. We must realize that distractions come from looking around, discouragement comes from looking down, defeat comes from looking backwards, but deliverance comes when we lift up our eyes to the hills from whence comes our help, because our help comes from the lord the maker of the heavens and the earth.

A CLARION CALL

The time has come for every one of us to rise up to begin to contribute our own quota to building the Nigeria of our dreams.

What is your dream for this Nation? What are you prepared to give or sacrifice to make Nigeria a better place? Nigeria needs you. You are an agent of change. There is something you carry that will impact this nation! Wake up! The time to do something is now!

We of the Voice of Change Network International, will not relent until, the dream for a new nation is realized, join this chariot now to champion the birth of a new Nigeria.

God bless you.

God bless Nigeria.

By: Azemobor Gregory

International Co-ordinator, Voice of Change Network

follow me on twitters @ gazemobor
http://vocnewsonline.com/national-building-nigeria-needs-dreamers/