Cultural Anthropology for Missions

COMPARITIVE STUDY OF KUKU AND HEBREW CULTURES
M. M. NINAN
Though these stories about the fall and seperation of man from
God are very different from the Genesis story, the general
concept of fellowship between God and man and its eventual
disruption because of sin is clear in the Kuku legends. It is also
to note the role of Satan and that of the woman.
4. Sin and Death.
ln spite of the alienation of man from God because of
disobedience, man still have access to God by living a moral life.
The greatest sin that may bring immediate .wrath of God and
consequent punishment are murder, adultery and in that order.
Stealing, disobedience to moral laws, disobedience to parents
and elders, pride, selfishness are also punishable by God and
takes the form of sickness and death. Leprosy is considered as a
punishmet crimes.
Thus in the Kuku thought, man need not die. If a man has lived a
righteous life performing all the moral and spiritual acts of
sacrifices , rituals, observing the orders of the ancestors, he will
not die even if he is very old. Death is a punishment from God for
the sins committed. The sins of the parents may also be carried
forward to their children. Death takes its toll in decay most of the
time until man dies of his old age. But for an evil doer, who
wilfully violates moral codes is often 4nstantaneous. In an
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