LEGATO...

The Traditional Dowry-System in Africa [1] Arguments for traditional dowry   1.       It stabilizes the marriage and prevents the wife running away from her husband. 2.       Payment of dowry demonstrates that the husband-to-be is capable of supporting a wife. 3.       Payment of dowry makes the wife feel that she is worth “something” and that her husband considers her valuable. It can be considered a proof of love. 4.       Christian missionaries have often supported and encouraged the dowry system as a safeguard to the stability of marriage. 5.       The parents of the girl feel repaid for all their expense of caring for her and educating her. 6.       Bride Price enables the girl’s parents to provide similar dowry for their sons to marry wives. Thus the bride price becomes a kind of revolving fund in the family. 7.  ...

Although Christians know the gospel, many cannot articulate it. Here are two different "30-second" gospel presentations (give or take) you can learn quickly and present to friends, family, or to strangers.  Version 1 God says “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Maybe you lied, took something that didn't belong to you, or simply lived for yourself rather than for God.  Regardless, once you sin, God says “the wages of sin is death.” That means  eternal separation  from God in a place Jesus called Hell. Now most people don’t want to admit they’re sinners. But God says, “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”   But here’s the Good News. Jesus did three very important things for us. First, he lived the perfect life all of us were supposed to live, but did not.  The Bible calls Jesus the “spotless lamb of God.” Second, he died on a cross and there paid the penalty for our sins so that we d...