Journal of Education and Human Development

Biblical Response to Religio-Ethnic Crisis: Study of Kafanchan Crisis in Nigeria
Ikechi Chidi Ekpendu, Ph.D; GUGU, Zinas Filibus

Abstract
The concept of love taught, practices and recommended by Jesus Christ to His Followers as recorded in Matthew 5:43-46 helped the followers of Jesus in managing crisis in their time which brought peace in the society. There seem to be a misunderstanding or misapplication of this text by Christian famers in Kafanchan which has led to uninterrupted communal killing and fighting with Fulani herdsmen. This study set out to interpret the text in context and discover if the if there is a misapplication or misinterpretation. Mixes method of research was employed, the study population consisted 278,202 person in Kafanchan Local Government using 2006 census. Purposive random sampling method was used to select 250 youths, adults, pastors, reverends, chiefs and women. Data collated through questionnaires, and analyzed using SPSS, interviews analyzed in themes. Test selected was analyzed using Historical Grammatical Method. The Study discovered that the “love” in context of selected text is “agape” meaning unconquerable benevolence. 75% of the respondents agree they understand the text, 25.5% do not. 93.8% agree an enemy is not from another religion while 43.3% said they are from another religion. 87.8% respondents agree that killing and enemy is sin, 8% disagree. 97.6% agree they can forgive while 4.3% disagree. 54.5%agree that applying Matthew 5:43-46, will not ameliorate attack, 39.8% disagree. 82.2% agreed they can be judged by killing an enemy, 17.2%disagree. 60.1% agreed to apply the text, while 36% disagree. The interviews revealed that loving an enemy is a command and must be kept. The Research revealed that Christian famers in kafanchan have the head knowledge of the text but lack practical aspect of it. This study recommends that pastors and reverends should encourage Christian famers in kafanchan to practice what they believe through bible studies, seminars and workshops in their various churches as the application of Matthew 5:43-46 is the panacea to Fulani attack of Christian famers in kafanchan Local Government Area.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jehd.v8n2a11