Musaazi NAMITI | SUNDAY THOUGHT
If you read the Bible regularly, you have come across these verses. John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Ecclesiastes 10:19 says: “A feast is made for laughter, wine makes life merry, and money is the answer for everything.”
The verses talk about two completely different things. But they sprang to my mind after watching an NBS news video clip about a man named Mark Mwine. He lives in Kamukuzi, Mbarara, and in 2019, he developed a pimple around his right ear.
It has since swollen menacingly and looks like clay caked around his ear. Doctors told him it is cancerous. He cannot eat. He drinks water or juice to fight hunger.
The family lives in poverty and has sold everything to raise money for his treatment to no avail. There is nothing left to sell, and the children dropped out of school. The patient needs shs40m for surgery. They do not have it.
Mr Mwine’s problem presents a major challenge for religious people who keep citing John 3:16. They strongly believe that God loves us all. But if God so loved the world, why does it sometimes seem that money, not love, is the answer to everything?
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If Mr Mwine had money, his situation would look different. If, for example, a good Samaritan deposited the shs40m into his bank account, doctors who cannot see him now would attend to him. If he had much more than he currently needs, he could even go overseas for treatment.
Against this background—and given everything else we know about how money makes many seemingly impossible things possible—Ecclesiastes 10:19 starts to look like it makes much more sense than John 3:16.
Christians will say that the verse does not celebrate money and may cite 1 Timothy 6:10—“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil…” —but what use is divine love that cannot pay hospital bills when you desperately need treatment?
If God loves people, he can demonstrate his love by tackling Mr Mwine’s problem and millions of other problems people are facing. If he does nothing, it becomes hard to believe he loves us.
A man in desperate need of treatment needs both money and love. But if love cannot do what money can, money wins every time.
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🔴 Sunday Thought cuts through the noise of prayer, piety and superstition to ask the questions most people avoid. It discusses God, faith and religion—not to preach, but to probe, challenge and sometimes unsettle. Whether you believe, doubt or have stopped looking altogether, Sunday Thought will make you think, question and maybe even rethink everything you thought you knew about the divine—and about life itself.