TANZANIA MAP
9. Problems encountered during the Research
4.1 Being Saved (Kuokoka)
4.2.2 Conviction of sins or to be broken (Kuvunjika)
The Kiswahili term kuvunjika literally means to be broken. The Uamsho use of this term specifically means convictions that one is sinful and needs to confess despite his/her baptism. In this case Kuvunjika begins with the call of God Himself: God has to show a person that he/ she is a sinner so that he/she may feel the guilt. The external methods of witness that God uses to touch people are not only proof that God is concerned about His people but also that He can use anything He wants because "all creation belongs to Him". Sallu refers to a burning bush in Exodus.3, and a Horse in the Balam
Oral interview, Cyprian Sallu. Dar es Salaam, 20'h March 2003.
48 Gerald G. May. Addiction and Grace, San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1988, pp.111-112.
Oral interview, John Semgaya. Korogwe. 11' May 2003.
50 Oral interview, Jestina Fumbwani. Holy Trinity Cathedral- Morogoro. 17th August 2003.
story in Numbers 22 which God used to call Moses and Balam respectively.3'
When a person is aware that he/she is a sinner, he/she is awakened from either unconsciousness or sub-consciousness to full consciousness. This is a very important step towards Kuvunjika. "The realization of the crisis means abandoning over-optimism, based on an erroneous assumption of one's self- sufficiency, for the right awareness of one's inadequacy'.52 For those without knowledge of their crisis, this is receiving a new knowledge of the presence of the God who saves (Jesus Christ) and the necessity of worshipping Him alone. For those who had been Christians, the crisis brings about full realization that as long as one lives in sin, baptism cannot save. Since the first phase of Uamsho. wanauainsho have called attention to the insufficiency of baptism by emphasizing that one needs to go a step
further towards salvation through conviction and confession of sin. The result is that some have refused to baptize their children until they are able to confess their sins for themselves. Baptism was seen by many as a means of proselytizing by which the church had been receiving people without commitment to God in Jesus Christ. This denial of infant baptism is extreme among Charismatics to day. Sendoro argues that Pentecostal churches influenced this view.53 Fergus King sees it as a problem of a literal understanding of the Bible. According to King, the New Testament
5' Oral interview, Cyprian Sallu, 20lh March 2003.
* Osborn, Pioneers in the East African Revival, p.41.
53 Sendoro, Uamsho na Karama, p. 88.
accounts of baptism show the possibilities of infant and minimal water baptism. His four addresses he delivered to HUMANN had helped the group to have a different view of both infant and minimal water baptism."4
However, the Uamsho claims here explain the realities that "unless we live a confessional life, baptism will not save us from sinning."
In fact the Uamsho emphases are not far from that of the Anglican understanding of baptism that baptism is the sacrament of faith and therefore the beginning of faith. It is not a mature faith but one, which develops within the community of faith. If the community of faith does not put the faith into the daily life, the faith is dead and therefore needs to be revived. This is why wanauamsho describe baptism as insufficient for one's salvation.
Rather, it is a pointer to that salvation. This implies that even baptized Christians can only achieve Kuvunjika by being touched by God.
Uamsho understands the story of Isaiah (Isa.6: 5) as showing that when a person knows that he/she is a sinner and that God is holy and then realizes that without God nothing good can be exercised, that person can be saved.
Otherwise, he/she remains a sinner. According to Mwamazi, the weeping of Isaiah: "Woe to me—I am ruined for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord
Fergus King, Christian Baptism: New Testament Teaching & Contemporary, Four addresses delivered to Nyumba Kwa Nyumba fellowship, March, l996.Dzv es Salaam, unpublished paper. This will be expounded more later.
almighty", has two important features. The first is that Isaiah's realization that he has "unclean lips" is similar to the teachings of Jesus that what defile a person comes from inside (Mat. 15: 10-11.15-20). This implies that the centre of sin in human beings is the desires of the heart. It is understood in the Uamsho that the sins which are inside that person are the ones that makes him /her victim of "unclean lips".
Second, Isaiah's weeping also represents the effect of sins on the whole community. There is a time when a particular community may slip into communal sin unintentionally and. if the servants of God are not awakened, such sin will continue to exist in the people." Isaiah in this case was convicted of his sins (alivunjika) and therefore became ready for transformation to become a prophet who would call the whole community back to God.56
Nevertheless, a person can be aware of his /her sinfulness and respond differently. Instead of bringing repentance the realization of sins may cause a pessimism which hinders the person from repenting. According to Uamsho this has two explanations. First, the person may not be aware of the fact that God, through Jesus Christ His son, offers forgiveness of sins.
On the other hand, the person can be aware of the fact that God forgives sins but Satan can bring the deception that the person's sins are
v Oral interview, Imani Ndendya, St. Mark's Theological College, Dar es Salaam 11* June 2003.
56 Oral interview Ezekiel Kambanga. Dar es Salaam. I6lh April 2003.
unforgivable. According to Vailet Ngogo. Judas Iscariot killed himself because of this.37 Satan who tells them that there is still enough time to enjoy worldly life deceives other people. As a result they postpone repentance by saying, "'I shall confess tomorrow- (nitatubu kesho)". This leads to human beings increasingly submitting to Satan's domination and therefore eventually being turned away from God.
Second, Satan's deception may lead others to ignorance of the fact that God has good plans for every human being. As a result a person becomes satisfied with what he/she is: "If God is aware He should have helped me to solve my problem(s). Others say. "God helps those who help themselves first".59 This has led many people into searching for solutions to their daily problems60 that are detrimental to their well-being. Most of them however, may end up getting more mapepo from the witchdoctors whom they mistakenly think can help them.