Nimi Wariboko, the Girl in the Bus and the Smell of Fasting : A Description of a Style of Christianity

[Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju]

                                                 Nimi Wariboko, the Girl in the Bus and the Smell of Fasting

                                                                 A Description of a Style of Christianity

The writer describes a style of Christianity.

"[ the ] desire is to capture the operation of the senses—sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell—and redirect or reengineer  them toward God. "

"So they are careful not to set wicked things before their eyes (Ps 101:3) or to get involved in coarse jokes (Ps 15:3 and Eph 5:3). Similarly, certain music is avoided as unfit for the ears of the believer attuned to the Holy Spirit." 

"Hugging the opposite sex in greeting is wrong, and so is sitting too close to the opposite sex, even on a crowded bus."

"If one finds oneself inevitably squeezed together with the opposite sex, one must use the chance to talk to him or her about the Gospel. If one fails to talk to her, one will be accused of 'enjoying the heat of fornication on a

bus.' "

"Alcoholic beverages and food offered to idols or food offered by Muslims in celebration of their holy days must also be avoided."

"A Nigerian visiting pastor once told his audience at a service at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Roosevelt Island, in 1999, that fasting bodies have a smell: 'When people are fasting and have locked themselves up in a room for days and are praying ‘hot prayers’ there is an aroma of fasting in that room. In the US I do not sense that kind of smell when I

see brothers praying together.' "

Nimi Wariboko, Nigerian Pentecostalism, 89.