Like Mahatma Gandhi, like Anthony Joshua -By Ugochukwu Ugwuanyi

What could have united the Indian freedom fighter, Mahatma Gandhi, and the British-Nigerian boxing champion, Anthony Joshua, fondly called AJ, in a sentence, you may be wondering. Well, they met in the mind when the latter paused and turned his thoughts towards eternity. Joshua, who held the unified heavyweight championship twice between 2017 and 2021, emerged from that reflection with this sobering question posted last weekend on his Snapchat story: “Can you have a deep relationship with God and make it to heaven without religion?”

The fact that a question typically meant for a Bible Study session in Church or that could have been directed to the many fathers of Faith around was thrown to the world for Any Joe to answer speaks volumes. Patience… you’ll understand the point as you read along.

It is not surprising that the boxing athlete is suddenly yearning for God. During this month’s Thanksgiving Service of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, General Overseer Enoch Adeboye attributed Joshua’s survival in a fatal auto crash to divine mercy. “I read in the newspapers yesterday that our boxing champion, Anthony Joshua, exchanged seats with someone before the accident. The people he exchanged seats with died,” said the revered cleric.

The supernatural preservation of his life has brought AJ to realise the reality of God. While it instigated in him the desire for a robust relationship with his Maker, he is discouraged by the widely upheld religious standards, which are at best duplicitous. True to type, religion posed a major stumbling block when it should have facilitated man’s bonding with God. Although not mentioned, Christianity seems the culprit here, given that the character in question goes by a Christian first name and surname. Even if the counterargument is that he ditched Christianity somewhere along the line, didn’t Proverbs 22:6 advocate the training up of a child in the way he should go so that when he is old, he will not depart from it?

Christianity isn’t meant to be a religion but a relationship between God and man facilitated by the impartation of Jesus’ life in the believer. Those who have made a religion out of the Faith are to blame for the spiritual quandary that Joshua found himself in. These are the people whom Gandhi pointedly told: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Joshua is now saying the same thing through a question that may well be rhetorical. That makes the two of them!

Like the father of the Indian nation, AJ is invariably telling Christians that he wants to have a deep relationship with Christ, but finds how they relate with and present Him (religion) as repulsive. His question further probes if there is a way to fellowship with the Saviour of the world outside the established system of beliefs and moral codes that judge, qualify, or disqualify people based on adherence to rules, laws, traditions, and prescribed performances. We will get to the answer in short order.

While expressing no dislike for Christians, Joshua’s innocuous query is a no-confidence vote on Christians and Christianity. Should we blame Joshua when what is meant to be Christocentric is being brazenly subjected to the whims and caprices of so-called men of God? There is no denying the infiltration by some opportunistic elements who, as founders and general overseers, perpetuate dogmas that fly in the face of Jesus’ Gospel and the Apostles’ epistles. Juxtaposing their ways with the precepts of Christ certainly perplexes the ponderer!

Added to this internal contradiction is the inability of the Body of Christ to reach a consensus on common matters of faith, as if they aren’t the ones for whom Jesus prayed that they be one, just as He and the Father are one. Exclusionism and a cliquish spirit are so rampant that “Churchianity” is fast eroding Christianity. Beyond embarrassing scandals, a major indication that all is not well with the Church, especially in Nigeria, is the rise of some Apostles who have taken it upon themselves to rebuke highly-placed clerics over unfounded teachings and practices. When accused of being censorious and irreverent, these enfant terribles would remind that Jesus and John the Baptist were even more condemnatory against false teachers and Pharisees, who were dismissed as hypocrites and brood of vipers (Matthew 3:7, 12:34, 23:33).

Such activism in the Pulpit may well be Christ’s way of building His Church so that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. As such, there is still hope. When Elijah thought he was the only one around who hasn’t yielded to the corrupting tendencies of his days, the Lord replied “I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18). What this reveals is that God will always have some remnants who would ensure that the Church keeps marching on.

The thrust of this article has been founded on the assumption that the heavyweight boxing champion is conflating religion with fellowship with other Christians. As a categorical answer to his question, therefore, it is indeed possible to have a deep relationship with God and eventually make Heaven without religion. Yet, there is a reason why scriptural verses exhort the saints not to neglect the assembly of the brethren and highlight the need for iron to sharpen iron. If Scripture can uphold the Church as the pillar and ground of the truth, AJ can still find and belong to one where he wouldn’t “neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership,” but would “give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” (1 Timothy 4:13-14).

This way, the reality of John 14:6, where Jesus declares, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” will dawn on Joshua, securing him access to Heaven, unlike Mahatma Gandhi who believed “There is only one God, and there are many paths to him.” This quote from the Sanatani Hindu leader also affirms the similarity between Gandhi and Joshua.

While wrapping up this piece, I stumbled upon a report that introduced Anthony Joshua as being raised a Christian, identifying as spiritual, respecting various faiths, including Islam, and has been seen praying in a mosque. The thing about those who believe there are many paths to God is that they usually end up confused without finding God (as I expounded in the article titled: ‘Burna Boy, like several others, needs help!’). That is because God is not in religion, but His Spirit inhabits the person who believes and confesses the resurrected Jesus as Lord and personal Saviour!

VIS Ugochukwu, a Sage, Storyteller and Media Trainer, attends to DMs on X (nee Twitter) @sylvesugwuanyi