Allow me to say that we need to scrutinise two slogans: human rights and personal freedom. Human rights conform to liberal secular principles, for example personal freedom. It follows that homosexuality is an act between two consenting adults that does not “harm” others, hence, according to this view, it is a human right. Any devoted religious person should not take this ideologically biased perspective of human rights from a liberal secular philosophy that does not believe that humans have certain key rights. In Christianity, with every sin there are multiple levels of why it is offensive to God and to be avoided. The simplest is clearly to say the Bible says it is. And we should start there; and if we can go deeper, that is good. I think it is implied clearly and spoken clearly in Romans 1:24-29 that homosexuality is wrong and to be avoided. And I think Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 lists a very unusual phrase about homosexuality where he says, “Those who do such things”-and he lists it along with greed and covetousness and other sins, so it is not unique by itself in this-“those who do such things will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” In other words, if you know that it is wrong and you say, “I don’t care that it’s wrong. I don’t care what God says. I’m going to do that thing,” that is an indication that you are not going into the kingdom of heaven. Now, that is just the “It’s wrong, don’t do it” authority answer. The question “Why would the Bible say that?” is also multi-layered. The Bible sets up at the beginning that a man and a woman become one flesh. That is God’s way of doing sexuality. Sexuality is God’s idea, and we should learn from God what it is. It is a man and a woman created in beautifully complementary ways so that they form one flesh. And to try to do it another way is a distortion. It is a corruption. It is a dysfunction of the way God made it. There are red line issues we are not supposed to go beyond.
Paul Mendy,
Brikama
Terrorism not based on any Islamic texts
Dear editor,
It is quite unfortunate that terrorism has been closely associated with Islam. There have been claims that Islamic texts have been used as a pretext in recent violence by terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and Al-Shabaab. I beg to disagree. In Islam, God has commanded humanity to avoid evil; he has forbidden immorality, rebellion, cruelty, aggressiveness, murder and bloodshed. Those who do not obey this command of God are walking in the steps of Satan, and have adopted an attitude that God has clearly declared unlawful. Of the many verses that bear on this subject, here are only two:
1. But as for those who break God’s contract after it has been agreed and sever what God has commanded to be joined, and cause corruption in the earth, the curse will be upon them. They will have the Evil Abode. (Surat ar-Ra’d: 25)
2. Seek the abode of the hereafter with what God has given you, without forgetting your portion of the world. And do good as God has been good to you. And do not seek to cause mischief on earth. God does not love mischief makers.’ (Surat al-Qasas: 77)
As we can see, God has forbidden every kind of mischievous act in the religion of Islam including terrorism and violence, and condemn those who commit such deeds. A Muslim lends beauty to the world and improves it. The conflict between the greedy powerful nations of the West and terrorist organisations has nothing to do with religion. It is about politics. Al Qaeda kills Americans citizens and other foreigners in order to force them to withdraw from their territories. Their reason for killing non-Muslims in their countries is more about political strategy rather than inspiration from religious texts. Of course, in these Arab countries where these terrorist elements are resided, they kill fellow Muslims too.
Yusuf Ceesay,
Kunkujang
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