HomeOld_PostsIs Mwari and Jehovah the same Supreme Being?

Is Mwari and Jehovah the same Supreme Being?

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By Davet Muzwidzwa

IT is not disputed that the Creator of the universe and the creator of matter and life are not in contradiction and therefore is one.
It is not disputed that the whole universe belongs to the Supreme Being and is commanded from that one centre of authority.
There is an agreement that science knows very little about the universe and the command of Mwari and is currently trying to understand the shallow waters of the universe and its intricate interrelatedness.
If the above understanding is true, how come this Supreme Being is understood in sharp contrast in different domains?
Could it be the case of the created packaging the Creator to suit his/her short sighted interpretation of the macrocosm.
The Bible presents Jehovah as a very jealous God who can punish up to four generations of people for the evil deeds of an individual, Exodus 20:5, Joshua 24:19.
I would not see why Jehovah should be jealous because all matter in the macrocosm belongs to him.
One is expected to be jealous only in the face of competing forces.
Since the so-called other gods are not the Supreme Beings because there is only one such, the Supreme Being will not lose hair worrying about his creation to behold a grudge over four generations.
In Exodus 34:14 God’s name is called Jealous.
Why would God be given a name associated with bad.
Surely we despise a jealousy wife or husband.
We certainly would not like our Supreme Being to be a jealous God.
In Numbers 5:18, jealousy is a curse which is exorcised by a priest through offerings before God.
This is evidence enough that our Supreme Being cannot himself be jealous when he punishes people for being jealous.
Song of Solomon 8:6 says, “Jealousy is as cruel as the grave.”
Jehovah is presented as a God of war, Numbers 21:14, Exodus 15:3.
Killing is against Jehovah’s commandments, Exodus 20:13.
War is an art of killing.
How could the same God who put a commandment against killing in one hand ends up sanctioning several wars.
The universe is a system in harmony.
Its sustainability depends largely with harmony and rigidity of the various scientific laws in place.
In the absence of such laws as density, gravity, pressure and so forth, there will be chaos.
War is chaos.
How then will such an orderly Supreme Being be associated with the chaos of war?
In some instances Jehovah is branded and personalised.
He is called God of Isaac, Genesis 46:1, God of Israel, Exodus 5:1 and is referred as such throughout the whole Bible.
Surely there were multitudes of children of God during the times of Isaac and Jacob (Israel).
To refer God in the names of earthly beings would be like branding God.
It would be understandable if Jehovah could brand and package his creation like a manufacturer who brands and packages his products.
But for the products to brand Jehovah and personalise him would be somewhat a misnomer.
We are talking about a Supreme Being, one who is the beginning.
To suggest that in the history of mankind Jehovah associated mainly with Adam, Abraham, Noah, Jacob, Moses and a few prophets will be under estimating the Supreme Being.
It will be naive to ignore God’s role as a universal Supreme Being from which all matter and life comes.
It will be wrong to suggest that in areas where no writings were made, the Supreme Being did not invest there.
The narrative of associating God with Israel and an ordinary person is branding par excellence.
Even this notion of associating God with the earth is selfish branding.
The fact that we don’t know how much the Supreme Being invested in the rest of the universe does not mean there are no investments there.
The other understanding of the Supreme Bing is the one that is not documented. This has been inherited orally.
This narrative has also branded the Supreme Being in the same way as the above narrative of Jehovah.
The Mwari narrative as understood by those in it presents the Supreme Being as the God of order and Peace.
In this branding, going to war is out of the question.
Aggressors at war are said to be enemies of God.
In this branding, the dead and the living continue to serve God.
God respects age and communicates through lineages.
Mwari is not jealous at all.
He promotes love among peoples.
The Mwari narrative is not personalised.
Mwari is worshiped through communities.
Yes, prophets emerge from time to time such as Tovera, Chaminuka, Kaguvi, Nehanda and others in other territories.
The Mwari narrative does not seek supremacy over other brandings.
It does not seek to persuade or coerce people from other narratives to abandon their ways.
The Mwari branding while claiming to have been there since creation does not go to war for the sake of protecting its brand.
There are no holy wars in Mwari religion.
Rather it seeks purity of nature and the environment as seen through protection of certain wildlife and sacred places.
Why then do we have such contrasting narratives of the same Supreme Being?
The fact that one narrative claims to be the only way above all others is brand competition.
The Supreme Being is a God of variety.
Different kinds of people, different kinds of animals in the same family, plants, rocks, soils, you name it.
Mwari cherishes the amazement that variety presents.
So is Jehovah the same Supreme Being that is called Mwari.
Why are these two defined differently.
Why are they in the opposite extremes of the continuum?
It would be wrong to think that there are more than one Supreme Being in the universe because conflict will be prevalent.
Machongwe maviri haariri pamutanda umwe.
The only plausible explanation of such a departed view point of Mwari and Jehovah arises from branding.
People branded God in the way they wanted to use him.
If they wanted to use God to build wealth by attacking other people and looting from other people, they would brand the Supreme Being as a God of war, a ruthless God and so forth.
However, if a people wanted to use the Supreme Being to build communities and to enjoy life, to grow humanity in diversity and not invasion, they would package God as Mwari.
Out of a desire to building wealth by all means necessary, it is said that God graced and commanded several wars of aggressors.
The capitalist economy emerge from this environment.
Out of a desire to build communities and enjoy life, it is said that God assisted in the development of early civilisation in the pre-colonial Americas, Africa and other parts of the world.
A communal economy emerged from this environment.
Mwari builds communities.
The universe has one Supreme Being branded differently by different peoples in pursuant of their perpetual goals.

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