The 3 S’s of African Religion, Part 1 of 3

To understand the African's faith you have to understand the way that he thinks about his soul, sin, and salvation. Ancient beliefs root the African to the ground. These beliefs seem to have no skin in this modern world, but they still have muscle and bone. They might be covered over with modern skin, but they are the thing that controls how the African moves. The average city-dwelling African might not be able to articulate and divide his beliefs of the world, but they still exist. It is much like a pregnant woman’s cravings for burnt popcorn or ice-cream with pickles. She might not understand the why, but the desire is very deep and needs to be fulfilled.
Before starting on this subject, I want to make reference to a topic that I stated in an earlier blog. Worldview is very important, and a missionary needs to understand the great differences between the Western and African worldviews. You might be thinking, “If the differences are so great, then how come no one talks about them, or notices them?” I want to give one answer to this question now, and I will deal with the other answers in a blog that I hope to write in the future.

We have to remember that we are living in a modern world, a world where people have changed their exteriors greatly. They no longer seem so foreign. We also are living in a developing world in Africa, where Christianity is the popular norm, and people have embraced the forms, terms, and practices of Christianity. This skin of religion can make it very easy for a missionary to look past the deep-heart differences of the people that they are called to reach.

With this stated, let's go beneath the surface…

We will talk about three things in this blog: the Traditional African view of the soul, of sin, and of salvation.

THE SOUL
In the Akan tradition we believe that each person has three souls (or spirits)- the okra (soul), the som (spirit), and the mogya (blood). Each person has these spirits. The belief is that when a person dies his okra will always return to the Creator God. The som dwells on earth after death by entering the world of the Ancestors. This is the spirit that we pour libations to, and the spirit that must be worshipped, remembered, and kept alive. The mogya is the last spirit. It is believed to come from the mother’s blood, and enters the children when they are in the womb.

So to the Akan person, his soul is not separated from God. It will always return to his Creator. The blood is always passed to the children. The only concern that he has is making sure the earthly som (spirit) is maintained. Let me give you a quote from the New World Encyclopedia about African religions:
'Immortality is associated with a person’s name and with the collective memory of their family. As long as there is someone alive who can remember a deceased person, that person is considered as part of the “living dead.” After no living person remembers the name of the deceased, he or she becomes part of a collective, community immortality. For this reason, marriage and children are very desirable, as many descendants ensure the immortality of an individual.'

Here is another quote from Evil and Salvation in African Religion and Christianity by Gregor Schmidt.
'In African Religion, there is no heaven and no hell. As long as they (Africans) stay within this order, they consider themselves good and need no divine help to do what is right… Whatever the transgression is, humans remain within God’s creation that is sustained by his love for our well-being. “God is and was always with us. He comes in dreams and through mediators. He can renew our life through wisdom.”'
In the African view of things I do not have to wonder about my soul. All souls go to be with the Creator God. The only soul that I can influence is the one that remains on earth, and the Creator does not deal with this soul. He has no laws for this soul. The decision about the resting place of this soul will be determined by my family and the way that I follow social norms. Therefore, the Akan does not fear death.

Here is another quote from the New World Encyclopedia:
'With a few exceptions, most African religions do not posit judgment or punishment in the hereafter. There is no heaven or hell, and no desire for a closer contact or union with God. Belief in life after death is not associated with the hope for a better future or the idea of “salvation.” Death is regarded as part of man’s destiny, a departure in which the physical body decays but the spirit moves on to another state of existence.'
The idea of the soul is very clear. The African does not worry about his soul in relation to the Creator God. It will always be accepted. The fear of the soul is with the living in this world. The living determine how long the som (spirit) of the dead will remain.

Here is one last quote to illustrate my point. It is taken from The African Experience of God Through the Eyes of an Akan Woman by Mercy Amba Oduyoye:
'As God is the foundation of life, so nothing happens without God. God lives, God does not die, and so indeed humans do not die. Even when we do not occupy a touchable body, we still live on. People believe that all the good and well-being they enjoy come from God, and that if one is not yet enjoying well-being it is because one's time has not yet come.'