A Youth Pastor with the Victory Christian Church, Abule Oshu, Lagos, Clinton Obiora, has urged youths to imbibe the teachings of the scriptures.
Obiora said this at the close of the church’s two-day Bible quiz competition for youths on Saturday.
According to him, it will aid young adults to develop strong character that will make them better persons.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the annual event, which began on Friday, ended on Saturday with awards to participants for encouragement.
It reports that the event, the church’s tradition of fostering healthy fraternity among youths, is aimed at making people internalise the teachings of the gospel to be resourceful in life.
The event, which drew participants from other churches, sought the knowledge of youths on what God demands from mankind as well as relationship between intending couples before marriage, faith, work and evangelism.
Obiora, also a Youth Influencer and the Coordinator of the programme, described youths as the engine of the society.
He said they should, therefore, be guarded with the teachings of the scriptures to avoid derailment.
According to him, the society, just as the church is doing, should help youths in their formative years with social structures that will aid their growth and development for the good of the society.
“God gave man an instruction to subdue the earth this particular injunction cannot be accomplish with mentally lazy youths, but with youths of character.
The recent upsurge in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in different facets of human endeavour is part of that injunction of subduing the earth.
“But, without the grooming of the people in Bible teachings to prioritise human welfare and the common good, such development such as AI will be misapplied to peoples disadvantage,” he said.
The youth pastor said that the Bible remained a reference book for life and better development of the society, and that its teachings should be made a daily tradition for young adults, if we must have youths to rely on for the future.
He regretted youths indulgence in vices and organised crimes including banditry, insurgence and kidnapping for ransom and called on the National Orientation Agency (NOA) to formulate action plans embedded with scripturally themes and teachings to reform the people.
Also speaking, a participant and one of the award winners, Ms Ann Obot, said that the programme tasked one to uphold good conducts in the society.
