Kodi Mdyerekezi Alipo?

Nthaŵi inayake m’mbiri ya Matchalitchi Achikristu, anthu ankaona mdyerekezi, Beelzebule kapena kuti Satana, mfumu ya zoipa, kukhala weniweni ndiponso wamphamvu monga momwe anthu ochepa lerolino akuonera ‘Mulungu.’ Chifukwa cha kuipa komwe kunalipo m’nthaŵi yawo, Ayuda ndi Akristu oyambirira anapanga mdyerekezi wooneka mbali ina ngati munthu kwinaku ngati chilombo. Kenako, Akristu anazindikira kuti mdyerekezi ameneyo anali wongoyerekezera wopanda umboni woti analipodi ndipo anam’chotsa mwachinsinsi.”​—Analemba motero Ludovic Kennedy m’buku lakuti “All in the Mind​—A Farewell to God.”

MONGA momwe Ludovic Kennedy yemwe amalemba mabuku ndiponso kuulutsa nkhani pawailesi ananenera, kwa zaka mazana ambiri, palibe ndi mmodzi yemwe wa m’Matchalitchi Achikristu yemwe ankakayikira zoti Mdyerekezi alipo. M’malo mwake, monga momwe Pulofesa Norman Cohn ananenera m’buku lake lakuti Europe’s Inner Demons, Akristu nthaŵi zina anali “kuda nkhaŵa ndi mphamvu ya Satana ndi ziwanda zake.” Nkhaŵa zimenezi sikuti zinali ndi anthu wamba osaphunzira okha ayi. Mwachitsanzo, chikhulupiriro chakuti Mdyerekezi amasanduka chilombo kuti atsogolere kuipa ndi miyambo yonyansa, “sichinachokere m’nthano za anthu wamba osaphunzira, koma chinachokera kwa anthu ophunzira kwambiri,” anatero Pulofesa Cohn. “Anthu ophunzira” ameneŵa pamodzi ndi atsogoleri achipembedzo ophunzira, ndiwo anayambitsa kufufuza mfiti kumene kunachitika ku Ulaya konse kuyambira m’zaka za m’ma 1450 mpaka 1700. M’kufufuza kumeneku, atsogoleri amatchalitchi ndi akuluakulu a boma akuti anazunza ndi kupha anthu pafupifupi 50,000 omwe ankati anali mfiti.

N’zosadabwitsa kuti anthu ambiri atsutsa zikhulupiriro zokhudza Mdyerekezi zimene amaziona kukhala zosamveka. Ngakhale kale kwambiri m’ma 1726, Daniel Dafoe ankaseka anthu okhulupirira kuti Mdyerekezi ndi chilombo choopsa “chokhala ndi mapiko a mleme, nyanga, mapazi ogaŵikana, mchira wautali, lilime lamphanda, ndi zina zotero.” Iye anati malingaliro oterowo anali “opanda nzeru ndi opanda pake,” okonzedwa ndi “anthu omwe ankalimbikitsa zoti Mdyerekezi ndi chilombo choopsa ndiponso amene anapanga chithunzi cha Mdyerekezi wooneka ngati chilombo choopsa.” Anthu ameneŵa “anapusitsa anthu osaphunzira ndi chithunzi cha mdyerekezi wopanga okha.”

Kodi inu mumaganiza motero? Kodi inunso mumaganiza kuti “anthu ndi amene anam’pangadi mdyerekezi poyesa kufotokoza kuchimwa kwawo”? Mawu ameneŵa amapezeka m’buku lakuti The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, ndipo anthu ambiri amene amadzinenera kuti ndi Akristu amaganiza motero. Jeffrey Burton Russell ananena kuti atsogoleri ambiri a matchalitchi omwe anaphunzira maphunziro apamwamba a zaumulungu “ananena kuti zoti kuli Mdyerekezi ndi ziwanda, ndi nthano chabe.”

Komabe, kwa anthu ena Mdyerekezi ndi weniwenidi. Amaganiza kuti kuyenera kuti kuli winawake  wamphamvu kuposa munthu amene ali ndi mphamvu zovulaza zomwe zimachititsa zinthu zoipa zimene zakhala zikuchitika m’mbiri yonse ya anthu. Russell anatinso, “mavuto oopsa amene anachitika m’zaka za m’ma 1900,” akupereka chifukwa china chomwe “kukhulupirira kuti Mdyerekezi alipo kukuwonjezekera mofulumira kwambiri pambuyo pa nyengo yaitali ya kuzilala kwa chikhulupirirochi.” Malinga ndi zomwe wolemba mabuku wina dzina lake Don Lewis ananena m’buku lake lakuti Religious Superstition Through the Ages, anthu ambiri ophunzira lerolino omwe “kale ankanyoza makolo awo osaphunzira” chifukwa cha zikhulupiriro zawo ndi kuopa mizimu, tsopano “ayamba kuchita chidwi ndi zinthu zoipa zamizimu.”

Ndiyeno, kodi zoona zake za nkhaniyi n’ziti? Kodi zoti Mdyerekezi alipo ndi nthano chabe? Kapena kodi iye alipodi motero kuti n’kofunika kuchenjera naye ngakhale m’zaka za m’ma 2000 zino?

[Chithunzi patsamba 4]

Zikhulupiriro zakale zinasonyeza Mdyerekezi kukhala ngati munthu kwinaku ngati chilombo monga momwe tikuonera pachithunzi chosema ichi cha Gustave Doré

[Mawu a Chithunzi]

The Judecca​—Lucifer/​The Doré Illustrations For Dante’s Divine Comedy/​Dover Publications Inc.