A One-Tree Forest

For although we are walking in the flesh, we do not wage war in a fleshly way, since the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. - 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 HCSB

There is a village on the Gold Coast of West Africa, called ‘Achimota” that lies near the infamous Christianborg castle where slaves were held for the slave ships. Across a wooded hill runs a path trod by thousands of slaves headed for a life of misery. This hill was the last chance to run before they reached the dungeons from which there was no escape. Sometimes slaves would manage to escape their chains and, hiding in the bush country, would be fed by the local villagers.

Achimota was later chosen as the site for the first great college in the country, where young men and women are educated for the future life of the free state of Ghana.

The first vice-principal, James Kwegyr Aggrey, was known internationally for his work of reconciliation between black and white races. The crest of the new college was designed to one of his parables: “On a piano you can play a tune of sorts on the white keys and a tune of sorts on the black keys, but for real harmony you need both black and white”. And its motto, “Ut omnes unum sint” (That they all may be one), points the way to one family of diverse races which is God’s long-term plan for humanity.

Christians are often told that it is at best in poor taste and at worst bigotry to attempt to “proselytize” others but what if Aggrey had followed their advice? What if he had simply held to his beliefs about the miscarriage of justice that was the slave trade and had not tried to convince others? What if each of those villagers had simply believed fervently without action following faith? All the good things that we have in life have come because someone, somewhere had a good idea, a firm belief to which they held contrary to the prevailing view. We are able to profit from their ideas because of their tenacity.

Each of us should try to convince his neighbor of what is right. Is that not the very essence of democracy? As each idea is tested, some fall by the wayside, others flourish until they become a veritable ideological forest - providing shelter, food, lumber, shade, holding the water in the ground. Only through spiritual reproduction will we maintain the human race in the state to which it is accustomed. We cannot be a one-tree forest. We must reproduce. This is the way of life.