This time of year PLE results are making big news in Uganda.
A few weeks ago PLE (Primary Leaving Examinations) results were released, accompanied by a media frenzy. Day after day gleaming faces of pupils that had scored good grades were splashed across front pages of the 2 main national newspapers, with many more of their inner pages devoted to testimonies from pupils on how they succeeded. (As I write this, it has just been announced that O-level results are out, so look out for even more testimonials!)
Many of the pupils interviewed attributed their passing the exams and good grades to ‘God’.
I recently asked some friends of mine who believe that ‘God’ supernaturally intervenes to help people get good grades to tell me how ‘God’ does it.
Here are the answers I got:
- ‘God’ implants the answers into your thoughts
- ‘God’ controls your actions, so that prior to your exams you end up studying only the specific topics that ‘God’ knew well in advance the examination questions will be derived from
- ‘God’ controls the examining authorities so that they set questions ‘God’ knew in advance you’d have no difficulty answering
- ‘God’ magically changes your wrong answers (after you have already submitted them) into correct ones before they are transported to the examiner’s offices for marking
- ‘God’, or praying to ‘God’, makes you relax, so that you can sit through the exam calmly and answer the questions correctly.
Out of these, I only found the fifth point interesting, although it would require a little rephrasing. I would put it this way…
- BELIEF that ‘God’ exists and answers prayers CAN “make you relax, so that you can sit through the exam calmly and answer the questions correctly”
…provided, of course, that you had actually been studying diligently and effectively. This is aptly illustrated in an interview that Sharon Kiggundu, a pupil who scored aggregate four in the 2009 PLE, had with a local paper:
“She told Saturday Vision that she read tirelessly and left everything to God. Her mother sent her an SMS that she had got what she had been praying for.”
I then asked my friends who they thought we should attribute poor grades to, if the ‘good’ grades were attributable to ‘God’.
At first I thought they were all going to say ‘Satan’, but I was pleasantly suprised. The response I got was that it was the person’s fault. The person just didn’t study hard enough – they said. But in saying that ‘not studying hard enough’ is what leads to poor grades, weren’t they unwittingly admitting that it is actually studying hard that does lead to better grades?
Going back to Sharon’s testimony – I’d like to pose a question..
- What would have happened if Sharon hadn’t read tirelessly and had JUST left everything to ‘God’?
Hmm..
Study hard. Think positive. Try and relax.. That’s how to pass exams.
No imaginary ‘God’ necessary.
Freethought Kampala 
28 comments
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February 4, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Mudamuli
Kati James, what would you say about a person praying for a husband? If she got one and said God answered her prayer, what should another lady say if God did not answer her prayer for a husband?
February 4, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Mudamuli
In other words I am asking, Sharon’s passing is to studying hard as getting a husband is to? Some guy’s poor grades is to not studying hard as some lady not getting husband is to? Just curious to know what logical explanation to give for the increasing number of single women say in Uganda. If it is not that they are cursed or that they have not prayed enough, why are they still single? Are they perhaps ill mannered?
February 4, 2010 at 11:43 pm
James Onen
Ha ha..probably 😀
May 2, 2015 at 1:06 pm
thuy
please praye God ‘s help me in passing the anatomy test that I took recently 25 april 2015 . The teacher give points for my test will be equality and support me . Please pray for me pass the exams , nothing is impossible with GOD . GOD bless you .
please pray God help my suggestion of going to study in University ( 2 morning every week , among 3 moths , may to august 2015 is accept easy , fast by my chef , doctor Hung , please pray destroy angry , pert , unreason , antagonist spirits , out of Hung , please God take on Hung the agrrement happily and the supporting my studying
God bless you .
thu thuy
February 5, 2010 at 12:22 pm
The 27th Comrade
I agree with James. The Bible mentions Rachel being helped by God to get a husband. But she most-certainly didn’t sit back and sip soda and wait for Boaz to rush through the door.
Note carefully that when God tells Adam “Your food shall come from your sweat”, he tells Eve “and your desire shall be for your man”.
Is there a link between working hard for food (for men to feed themselves, their children, and their women), and women doing ridiculous things to please, attain, and keep their men (such as painful and uncomfortable beauty procedures, dealing with fickle loyalty, and having to actively seek them out, rather than what we assume should happen)? As in, perhaps an implication there is “From the sweat of your brow shalt thou get and keep a guy”.
But I’m just positing things here. In any case, most women who believe in God look for men, just as most kids who believe in God also study hard, think positive, try to relax, et cetera. That these things can get you to some point A without gratuitous invocation of the God hypothesis (as, James, we discussed in your other post) is not proof or disproof of the validity of that hypothesis in other situations. That is why the kids who believe in God are justified, even as they study hard, think positive, try to relax, and so on, in order to perform well.
February 5, 2010 at 12:42 pm
James Onen
The kids can believe whatever they want, only that a ‘God’ has no real bearing on how they perform in their exams.
February 4, 2010 at 11:50 pm
Mudamuli
Surely not all of them? There must be other scientific and logical reasons to explain it.
February 5, 2010 at 9:01 am
phillip
….number 4 is my absolute favorite. come to think of it, instead of exams why don’t they just do a prayer competition… the one who gets an A without sitting the exams wins…. lmao
February 5, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Mudamuli
Comrade, most Christians believe a lady should not go looking for a man because it is for the man to find.They will even quote “he who finds a wife, finds a good thing” and add ‘not she who finds a husband.’
Meanwhile, it was Ruth and not Rachel that ended up with Boaz
February 5, 2010 at 8:17 pm
The 27th Comrade
Thanks for the correction on Ruth. 😀 I got mixed up.
I think they make the mistake of thinking that “find” there means “stumbles upon”. Looking at it from the guy’s side, you see that even if 100 unworthy girls file past, having come to him, he hasn’t found. When suspects are filed past you, and you’re looking for a face, then you find it …
What I’m saying here is that a very literalist understanding of things will be prone to being misunderstood due to biases.
If a girls does the searching and still fails to be found worthy by any of the guys she flings herself onto, it may be because she’s not a good thing. Or, of course, she isn’t even mobile enough to be found. (Prey that doesn’t move is rarely ever caught, or, so to speak, found.)
February 5, 2010 at 9:58 pm
James Onen
Samali don’t worry…you’ll “find” a husband. You strike me as a very smart girl with alot of very interesting things to say 🙂
February 5, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Mudamuli
Comrade, so you are saying I’m not mobile enough to be found? I know, the question I asked was in my interest. Selfish at that. You don’t have to answer my question now. Thanks for the insight.
February 6, 2010 at 9:52 am
Mudamuli
Ha ha ha. James, thank you. I’ll try to be mobile and maybe I’ll be found or I’ll find.
April 7, 2010 at 11:06 am
Canibus
We need to work pretty hard, even if miracles happened, the baseline is that. You just can’t sit there and think everything will happen because God will provide it. Its said he helps those who help themselves.
April 7, 2010 at 11:35 am
James Onen
“God helps those who help themselves” 😀
Whoever came up with that line (excuse) should be rewarded for coming up with the most ingenious disclaimer for religion.
Just study hard, and study smart. Good grades will be the inevitable result.
No god needed.
March 10, 2012 at 8:28 pm
Mormonism or All Religions – Scam or True
[…] Every Sunday believers share testimonies about how they prayed for a house and got it, how they prayed to pass exams and passed them, how they prayed to find missing keys and found them, etc. To believers all these […]
April 14, 2012 at 9:24 am
Kaysiii
WOW!,…..what a topic.I believe that everything boils down to our Faith and relationship with God.Ive seen this same God miraculously,give ‘A’s to physically undeserved people,ive also seen him,providing students with areas of concentration a night to the exams.B-)….Guyz,i just believe ‘all things are possible to as many that believeth,and are called by his grace’.
June 13, 2012 at 9:34 am
How to be successful in life
With God all thing are possible, i always believe in God, today am writting my exams, i believe God for a miracle and i will post to you all to tell you my own testimony
January 28, 2013 at 9:56 pm
Joshua
i am studing in kenya at Tudor secondary school in Mombasa a form four i am doing poorly can God help me plz help me how to study pass
August 6, 2013 at 1:45 pm
Francis Asare
God performs miracles, anytime i draw closser to God all things (exams) goes to my favour!!!
December 3, 2014 at 3:57 am
Denille
Lol im sorry JAMES. I write Acca exams and my exams are super difficult. I prayed to god so he wud help me pass my exams and thanked him fervently and guess what. I have passed. And its not because of me. Its because of my Lord Jesus Christ.
September 30, 2015 at 10:15 pm
Who believes in God
No imaginary God necessary? I find that pointless. You need divine intervention
September 30, 2015 at 10:19 pm
Who believes in God
You pass not because of your own strength but because God is good and he gives the desire of your heart especially if it is according to his will. We cannot rely with our limited strength. That’s why we need divine intervention. Our intelligence is limited because it is Gods way of showing miracles and strengthening our faith in him. And even if you studied hard if it is not in Gods perfect timing you will surely fail.
March 16, 2016 at 5:25 am
J Mac
To those who are convinced it is true that their imaginary fiend/friend will get them through exams instead of working hard and studying with vigour. Go sit an exam that is not in your area of interest and or in a language that is not your own. Do your kneeling and cowering down prior to the exam and see if you pass or not. I suggest a large group of people should do the same thing and prove it conclusively that either way. But we already know what the result will be. A lot of ‘believers’ claiming you must not test god, and of course the complete failure of all those sitting the exams.
May 26, 2016 at 12:52 am
isaac eshun
please am isaac i want you to pray for me to pass my wassec exams 2016 tthis year and please i attended oguaa senior high techincal school
September 25, 2016 at 1:55 pm
vampiro
Me ha gustado este post, la verdad es que está
bastante cuidada la forma de expresarse, lo que hace disfrutar de la lectura.
Un día ví algo que trataba de esto, y lo cierto es que tambien me encantó.
Confío en que sigas posteando artículos tan espectaculares como este, ya que voy a visitar a menudo tu blog.
July 12, 2017 at 3:09 pm
iwobijennifer
We commit “our” actions to God and our plans will suceed. Key here being our actions.. we have fre will to work hard, revise or do nothing. But God rewards your actions. So study hard and let the will of God Almighty take over.
November 27, 2017 at 9:11 am
Babe
Praise the Lord! HE DOES ANSWERS PRAYERS TO THOSE WHO SEEK HIM!. iHere’s my testimony.
This was my final semester in RMIT university Singapore. I am a full time degree holder and had 4 semesters to complete. Each semesters consists 4 modules. For past three semesters i passed all modules in God’s grace. On mid Oct last month I had to sit for a paper which is a new module introduced on this semester. I failed badly for our group assigment and so i need to get 50/100 for the final paper in order to pass the overall module. I studied my best and went in the exam hall nervously.
The papers were then distributed to us and we were given 15 mins reading paper. this is where we are not allowed to write anything and merely to read and get prepared before starting to write. As i flipped the page to view the questions, my heart bounced up and I could hardly breathe because whatever I studied did not appear in part B (which is 60 marks and 30 marks for each question). I was able to answer Part A 3 questions which are 10 marks each and I question scribbling based on my knowledge. As I moved on to answer part B i told myself that ‘ok I am going to fail and repeat this module’. I wrote what i know.. Before entering the exam hall I discussed a few questions with my close friend to recap what we have studied. That helped abit in answering however my answers was full of bullshit. During the exam, i turned my head to the right and left to see if anyone is struggling as I do. To my surprise most students were able to write one full pages front and back and here I am contemplating on what to write.
I managed to answer two questions in part B but it is full of nonsense, I could not answer anymore as I literally could not think of any at that moment. I raised my hand and hand over the paper to the invigilator and stepped out of the examination hall with a heavy heart. Behind me was a chinese girl, i randomly turned to her i asked her how was the paper. She replied it went well. Then made me even sad. Many thoughts were running my head. I felt demoralized. So i was the only one who did not put much effort. I am going fail for sure. I went to the toilet and took a deep breathe and talk to the Lord. I told him ” Lord i do not want to fail, the paper was difficult for me, please help me pass. Give me the strength to face my family and friends’. I left the toilet and head down to where my friends were waiting for me. I bumped onto my close friend and the first thing she said ‘ Yay! I am so happy whatever I studied came out” and asked how I did. I told her ‘no hope’ im sure to fail with a light smile. She said dont worry you did managed to answer the part A and immediately left the place as she was rushing to pick her mum up.
I took my bag and called my boyfriend and informed him on how badly i did the paper. He was disappointed. Nonetheless all he could do is to encourage me to move on and focus on my next paper. I left school and took the public transport. While on my journey back home i was reading all your testimonies and even called and texted some of my church members asking them to pray for me. My uncle who is a strong and faithful christian told me ” Please dont worry your paper will be marked by the Holy Spirit”. Wow i was like Hallelujah!
It was Oct 29 , i completed all my 4 exams. I had strong confident in only two papers. Back in home my parents always asked when will i get the graduation cert. I would say not now next year. I felt really bad for them. How am i to face them if I fail? or how are they gonna face others on my failure? what if I am the only one to fail in my circle of friends? Many negative thoughts were running wild in the back of my head. But I still had faith in our Lord Jesus Christ!
Every morning I kneel down and worship the Lord to help me pass all my papers. I will not missed church and would seek my church members to lay hand on me to pray.
My boyfriend and my bro told me to open up to my parents beforehand. So that they will be able to digest the sad news and prepare for the sch fees to retake the same module again. I did not. I wanted to see my results before opening up.
The day arrived. I logged into my student portal early in the morning to view my results. PRAISE THE LORD! JESUS IS AN AMAZING GOD , MY HEALER , MY SAVIOR WHO ANSWERED MY PRAYER!!!! i passed all my modules!! i got credit for 3 modules and a pass for the difficult module. The Lord did not put his child to shame!
Dear all, seek him diligently when went good things happen to you. he is the one and only living God ! Have FAITH no matter what you are going throught. workship him wherever you are. read the bible, heed his commandments spread about JESUS to all your friends and family..
thank you for your time in reading my testimony . May the good Lord bless you:)