Living in Nigeria makes you no stranger to bad news here and there. Sometimes, the best thing for me has been to stay far from the news media, and it has given me real sanity mentally. However, some news simply goes beyond the media coverage; people won't simply stop talking about them.
One such news earlier this year was the building collapse in Lagos, where, according to some anecdotal reports, the building plan was for a 15-storey while at the last stage, the owner coerced the engineers to construct way more than intended. However, while trying to look for this story online, I was surprised to be greeted with a more recent event of a building collapse in Lagos, Nigeria.
While we are no strangers to bad news, one thing about Nigerians is that we are highly religious people, and we easily credit a lot of things to Satan. But could that always be so? Should we always credit events to a supernatural force?
Using references from a book that most Nigerians believe is highly valued and an authority for faith, let's see if the good old book—the Bible—supports the idea of blaming Satan for everything. This will be an analogy using the building collapse events recently reported on a large scale in Nigeria.
1. The Building Owner(s) and the Engineers
If most of the engineers died in a building collapse, and as rumoured in one collapse, the owner even died in the building as well, then could it be that they are reaping at an instant what they have sown?
Galations 6vs7
They quickly reaped the fruit of their bad decisions in this case. So, what is the point? Some bad things that may happen to us may be a direct consequences of our poor decisions and miscalculations, and you know, we've all been in that moment where we quickly realize that something could have been done differently.
We can't always get it right as humans. But, it is inhumane to skip on safety.
2. The Unrelated Casualties
We learnt of reports of hawkers and other people that were unrelated to the building project that lost their lives as a result. Not to mention the countless others who got sick as a result of the event, but mentally, physically, and socially sick. They didn't directly cause the event, but they were affected. Sometimes they were greatly affected, and other times the effect wasn't so significant but was enough to cause some levels of discomfort.
Could we simply conclude that these ones were in the right place but at the wrong time?
Ecclesiastes 9vs11
We cannot see the future and cannot tell where evil will be before us, and most often, this evil may be a result of another man's mistakes or misdeeds.
Here is a simple case! Most of the time, I use public transportation services. Sometimes, these vehicles are so poorly maintained that it is very obvious to passengers that they are grossly unsafe. For me, most often, I stop and take a new vehicle, but for most others, they simply hope that they will get to their destination safely. What if something goes wrong? What if, for some reason, I can simply take another vehicle and need to stick with the unsafe choice till the end of the journey?
The driver/owner of the vehicle simply had the role of making the vehicle safer for all passengers, but they failed. Is Satan to blame?
Nope
I am in no way trying to discredit the belief in Satan for those who believe in its existence or trying to be a literal "devil's advocate". If you don't believe in Satan, I am not trying to change your opinion. But the point is clear: most of what happens to us is not due to Satan, or "village people," as some will say in Nigeria, or any other supernatural causes; it could simply be the result of our poor choices and the uncertainty of time.