Forbiding cultural practices leads to true identity

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I had pondered whether the Christian belief forbiding cultural practices that acknowledge ancestors was intended to block me as an African to know my true identity. I come from a denominational church and in my family we did not perform any ancestral cultural practices. This was normal to me because the people in my social circles had the same upbringing,but as I entered adulthood my social circles grew and I started socializing with people who had a different upbringing.


This issue on true identity initially started to bother me when I realised that in my denominational church ancestral cultural pratices were not strictly forbidden, it was a personal choice. I started to consider it deeply when people in my social circles who acknowledged ancestral cultural practices associated them with true identity as an African.


In all this time these were just thoughts with no action but when I came up on difficult life situations I was really tempted to follow through with action. The only reason I did not go through is that I had another lingering thought which was never fully resolved in my mind. 


When I read the Bible there are so many similarities between these African cultural practices and the practices that the Israelites were instructed to practice in the Old Testament.This made me wonder whether the original idea of acknowledging ancestors was copied from the Bible itself and was then adopted into what we now refer to as African culture.


I am glad I did not put action on my thoughts because I now realize the knowledge of my true identity does not lie in acknowledging ancestors.


The spiritual realm

The Kingdom of God is the spiritual realm where God (of the Bible) reigns supreme through Jesus Christ, exploring the spiritual realm through the Kingdom of God has 2 implications for me

  • Secures my eternal future to be with God (of the Bible)

  • Gives me access to knowledge about being who God (of the Bible) has created me to be. i.e. true identity


There are many ways of exploring the spiritual realm, acknowledging or worshiping ancestors is one way.The implications of exploring the spiritual realm through acknowledging ancestors gives knowledge about my physical identity as an African but it does not reveal my true identity because only the Creator is able to reveal my true identity.


Exploring the spiritual realm outside the Kingdom of God is declared illegitimate by God (of the Bible) because it does not lead to my true identity.It is therefore to my benefit to explore the spiritual realm only through the Kingdom of God so I can live up to my true identity.

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