JUDAS' KISS, JESUS' BETRAYAL & THE REST OF US

Judas' kiss on the cheek of Jesus which gave him out to the roman soldiers have several applications nowadays.

A kiss to the cheek had been known in certain cultures to signify greeting, to confer congratulations, to comfort someone or even as a sign of affection but Judas used it with an evil intent -- to betray Jesus Christ, a case of using something that is designed to be advantageous for a bad purpose. When you take a look at our world today, you find that the same thing keeps repeating itself only in different forms. The government for example is meant to better the lives of the citizens through formulation of policies geared at making things better but this same government would formulate policies that would help them fill their pockets, that of their cohorts and family members without being questioned while the initial purpose a government is meant to serve is overlooked. Public funds are taken oversees, institutions that are meant to make life better for the masses lay in shambles rather wars are being endorsed with billions of taxpayers money.

What about the Internet? This happens to be one of the most important tools of the 21st century as it made everything easier since its advent and this was the initial intent. Deals are being closed virtually, Job interviews are being conducted without the need of physical presence or over the phone, people get informed without the need for the traditional radio or television set, plus its other usage or importance. The same internet is used today for wire fraud, all sorts of scam and even 'cyber wars' as have been witnessed globally. Stories have been told on how unsuspecting people were swindled by criminals posing as men of God, businessmen, politicians and even potential husbands/wives online.

There are a greater number of charity organisations today than is obtainable about a decade ago and the number keeps increasing. From musicians and actors floating charities to businessmen and politicians starting foundations cum charities. A charity organisation as we all know is a non-profit organisation usually started to cater for people with special needs or even the less privileged but most charity organisations today do just the opposite. There have been cases of diversion of funds and other forms of fraudulent practices within charities and all these rubbishes the purpose for which they were started in the first place.

One would've been able to argue logically that the number of churches around Nigeria today would mean little or no vices or at least a morally upright society but that argument would be rebuffed as soon as it is started. It even looks like the increase in the number of churches is proportional to increase in immorality and now the question remains, 'why is this so?' Churches are meant to bring people together, preach the gospel without bias, emphasise salvation and good works etc. All these, if in place would mean that the society would be a little saner and free from vices but the reverse is the case and this is due to the fact that most churches are profit-making enterprises or companies. In a previous article - THE RELIGION INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA, I wrote: "It is no longer a question of if one has the anointing or not(as a pastor) but rather it is how to get members because, the more the 'customers', the more income is generated. I have watched closely as the theme of most sermons graduated from Salvation to Prosperity simply because a good number of church goers would come back each sunday to listen to the Our-God-is-not-a-poor-God, His-children-must-prosper sermon rather than the boring Accept-Christ-and-be-saved-or-refuse-him-and-perish sermon." All of these boils down to the fact that churches are not being used for what they were established for in the first place but for other ungodly purposes.

There are several other examples and a closer look would show that every one of us is directly involved in or is a party to this using-something-that-was-meant-to-be-good-for-something-bad syndrome.
Most of the time, the blame is being put on the society as the cause of things like this but the same society is made up of you and me and if that is the case, correcting this condition that have been eating up the society or reducing it rather should start from an individual and then to his immediate family, friends and then to neighbours, the community he lives in, state, province, country and then to the world at large. Even the biblical Judas knew this and punished himself for his wrong rather than blaming anyone or the society (Although I am not advising this).

When we begin to see ourselves as the cause of most of the problems in the society and not putting the blame on the word - society - then profer solutions to these problems, maybe just then we would put a stop to or reduce some of these vices thereby making our country and in turn the whole world better.

Twitter: @victorikeji

VICTOR IKEJI'S BLOG IS ONE!

Hurray! Today marks the 365th day since the first article was published on the blog.

The blog started when I was looking at archiving my write-ups and that was after my article COHABITATION IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES hit over 8000 views and made front page on Nairaland. I thought about archiving my write-ups for reference and other purposes and then the idea came, 'why not get a blog for that purpose and also get to share these thoughts, analysis and opinions with others there' and that was how we started Victor Ikeji's Blog. Each time I look at the Blog's dashboard and see the number of page views per day, per week, per month, I feel very happy knowing that someone somewhere assessed the blog that day, week and month.

And so, to mark this 'Blogversary' and also to reward our readers for their loyalty, support, patience and feedbacks (both positive and negative). We'd be giving out free e-books that covers the following areas: Business, Entrepreneurship, Relationships, Motivation/Inspirational, Novels and Writing. All you have to do is just use the comment box below or send an e-mail to slymwhte@yahoo.com indicating the type(s) of e-book as mentioned above that you would want to get from us. You can also follow @victorikeji on Twitter and then mention along with your e-mail address and the type(s) of e-book you want. We would send you an e-mail ASAP.

Knowledge they say is power, so keep knowing, keep learning and keep reading VICTOR IKEJI'S BLOG.

PS: You can visit (HERE) for a plethora of news stories around the world from over 50 channels including BBC, FOX, MSNBC, DAILYMAIL, CNN, ALJAZEERA, FRANCE 24, NYTIMES, REUTERS etc (The good thing about this site is that you are redirected to all these different sites from a single page)

Also for Students, professionals and Coding enthusiasts, you can visit (HERE) to learn how to code for FREE!

THE POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES OF SOCIAL NETWORKS

It has transformed the way we meet people, the way we interact with each other, our relationships and it have even effected changes in how business are run these days. An attempt by Wikipedia(An Online encyclopedia) to define the social networking service reads thus: "A social networking service is a platform to build social networks or social relations among people who, for example, share interests, activities, backgrounds, or real-life connections." 

The social networking service did not start today or with Facebook like many people think. It dates back to the early 90's with sites like TheGlobe.com(1995), Geocities(1994), Tripod.com(1995) amongst others. These were followed by Friendster, Myspace, LinkedIn and Facebook in the early 2000's down to the numerous Social networks that are obtainable in our world today.

Social Networking have undoubtedly revolutionalised human interactions over the years and its effect have been felt both positively and negatively. For example, the Arab spring of 2012 which lead to the protests that saw about three countries remove their unwanted rulers was reported to be possible through the use of Social networks. The Microblogging site - Twitter was instrumental to the #OccupyNigeria protests of January 2012 which made the Federal Government rescind its decision to remove fuel subsidy. I lost contact with some of my childhood friends for over 10years but all thanks to cascading system of facebook, I have been able to reconnect with a good number of them as meeting one would lead to meeting another and it continues. In recent times, most business success could be attributed to the extensive and effective use of Social Networks.
Scholarly researches have been conducted through the use of demographics on social networks. For instance, students have been asked to look at the impact of social networks on youth culture, privacy, social capital, education, etc. The aid of social networks in investigations by the police is another advantage of the tool which have seen criminals apprehended and have helped Law courts prosecute them. 

But sometimes, the use of Social networks comes with a price which could be sometimes devastating as there have been extreme cases of death. In Europe and America, there have been cases of Social network bullying among high school and even grade school students that had sadly ended with the bullied students committing suicide. A friend told me how an ordinary facebook 'like' of his Ex-girlfriend's picture on Facebook ended his relationship and that is just one example of its effect on relationships. It has ended several as well as initiated some. Many have also argued that it is gradually taking the place of physical human interaction. Also, some unsuspecting people have been swindled on social networks by fraudsters posing as friends, relatives, potential partners, celebrities, men of God, etc. We all woke up to the news of the murder of a young, hard-working woman by name Cynthia Osokogwu around July last year and her killers were said to have met her on a social networking site. 

Social networks have come to stay, even when some people worry about or are concerned about it numerous effects, newer versions of the existing ones are being introduced while new ones spring up every now and then. As long as Technology keeps advancing, social networks would still be pretty much around.

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Twitter: @Victorikeji