Times Of Swaziland: ‘LET’S IRON OUT OUR DIFFERENCES’

‘LET’S IRON OUT OUR DIFFERENCES’
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BY NONDUMISO MTSETFWA on 29/03/2017 02:37:00


MANZINI – The witch doctors association want a formal meeting with church
bodies to iron out a few generation- long differences.
Following the controversial announcement made by witch doctors that they would
be rectifying the existing Holy Bible, some church bodies felt that the witch
doctors should use a different name for their book as opposed to calling it a
‘Bible’.
Makhanya Makhanya, who is the chairman of the Bemdzabu Bamunye Eswatini Balaphi
Witch doctors Association, said they wished to meet with the church bodies and
if they accepted their invitation, one of the most crucial subjects on the
agenda would be why they should not be allowed to call their ‘bible’ a
Bible. Secondly, the witch doctors want to clarify that they do not worship
ancestors, instead they believe in them.
Makhanya said they too were children of God and having others say they
worshipped ancestors was an insult to them.  “We would like to know who has
the right to dictate whether a book is called a Bible or not, Muslims are
allowed to call theirs a Quaran and we as Christians have a right to call ours a
bible,” Makhanya explained.
He said the idea was to create harmony between witch doctors and churches and
further educate each other. He reiterated that Jesus Christ was a healer and was
no different from them.
“We all believe in the same God, but when pastors preach in church, they paint
us in a bad light and make it seem like we do not know of the existence of
Christ. We know that he died for our sins and that our ancestors did not die for
our trespasses but we still believe that they are there for us,” Makhanya
explained.