Ebo tan ebo ku? Yoruba Indigenous Religion's Viewpoint on the Death of Jesus Christ as the Final Sacrifice

Abstract

Ẹ bọ is an offering made to the Deity, the divinities and other agents considered by the Yorubá to be responsible for the imbalances in the life of humanity, in order to correct the inevitable disequilibrium or to show appreciation. The offering of ẹ bọ could be on daily basis for those who are priests and priestesses. Personal or communal exigencies determine the frequency of sacrifice, except offerings for thanksgiving for success and good health which are regular. However, in Christian religion, it is ageneral belief that Jesus Christ came to the world to die for the salvation of humanity. According to Christians, Christ offered himself as the final sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Therefore, there is no reason for further offering of ẹ bọ of any form. If this is the case, the questions one needs to ask are; if Jesus truly came for the salvation of man from sin and the sacrifice has been made once and for all, why do we still have sicknesses of all kinds in the world today? Can we say his own manner of salvation does not cover sickness, pestilence and other social vices like murder and stealing? Why is it that some Christians still carry on in the tradition of offering ẹ bọ till today? Why is it that god has not struck the adherents of African Indigenous Religion who still offer sacrifices in Yorubaĺand? These are some of the questions that this paper tried to answer. Data were collected through oral interview and was subjected to descriptive analysis.