The Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, Primate of All Nigeria (Anglican Communion), has admonished Christians to understand marriage before going into it, so as to avoid the high rate of divorce in the society.
Okoh said this in an interview with journalists on the sideline of the opening service of the Second Session of the Tenth Synod of the Diocese of Abuja, at Basilica of Grace, Gudu, Abuja, on Thursday.
The theme of the four-day event is: “The Christian Family’’ taken from the Book of 2 Timothy Chapter 1 Verse 5.
Okoh, who is also the Archbishop and Bishop of the diocese, stressed that marriage is a lifetime commitment.
He, therefore, advised would-be couples understand the dos and don’ts of marriage instead of making children to be produced from their unions to suffer what they know nothing about.
“If you notice, there is an increase in divorce; people rush to marry but soon afterward, they are going to court to file for divorce.
“We want to be sure that people understand what they are entering into when they say they are getting married.’’
The primate urged parents to discharge their duties very well at home so that their children would have good foundation and the society would be a better place.
“We discovered that the problems we find in our society, schools, colleges and universities actually have their foundations in the home.
“If the homes do their work very well, if children are properly taken care of, if fathers know their jobs and mothers know their jobs, I think the society will be a better place.
“That is why we decided to concentrate on the family,’’ Okoh said.
In his sermon, Rt. Rev. Akintunde Popoola, Bishop of Offa Diocese, stressed that the duty of parents was to train the children in the Christian way as the Holy Bible teaches.
Popoola expressed regret that technological development had almost taken over children’s thinking and way of doing things, adding that it would not help the society.
He said parents should not always leave the training of their children to different gadgets, stressing that such gadgets would affect their development negatively.
“Sadly, due to technological development, we leave the training of our children to different gadgets, which become little gods to them.
“These have not helped the society. Train the children in the way of the Lord and every child should be led to have a personal relationship with God. By so doing, they will be responsible in future,’’ Popoola said.
