On 12 Dec 2011, it was reported that the Saudi
Government has executed/beheaded a woman convicted of sorcery. The woman
Amina bint Abdul Halim bin Salem Nasser was executed in the Northern
Province of al-Jawf. Amnesty International calls the penalty as extreme
and highlights the general of climate of unfair trials and persecution
for execising the freedom of speech and religion.
“The charges of ‘witchcraft and sorcery’ are not
defined as crimes in Saudi Arabia and to use them to subject someone to
the cruel and extreme penalty of execution is truly appalling,” said
Philip Luther Amnesty International’s interim Director of the Middle
East and North Africa Programme.
Although not mentioned, the root of the issue is
about religious faith and its practices as the Saudi Government is
intricately linked and representative of. It's not an action of a few,
but representative of the strict religious laws. It is their country,
their religion, and they have the total right to execute the woman.
Their Government and Religion is one.
The Huffington Post article published 16 Dec 11 -
"Let's face it: it's the Radical Right, not Islam, that is the Greatest
Threat to the American Way" is true only in certain respect, for the
"face" of it is the Saudi Woman being executed and not the harmless
protests by the religious right of gay marriages. The faces of real harm
is hard to hide:-
a. An
Afgan Woman, Gulnaz, imprisoned for adultery after sentenced for 12
years for being raped by her cousin's husband two years ago. According
to a CNN report, there are hundreds of such cases, hence not isolated.
Their judgement is tied into their religious faith and one begins to
understand the context of the equally religious Jewish Pharisees
dragging a woman accused of adultery to Jesus. Where was the man?
b. There
is a religious ban on women driving cars in Saudi, and not because of
any bad driving. This issue was highlighted by the sentencing of a
woman, known as Shema, to 10 lashes after being found guilty of driving
in Jeddah in July.
If they
want to ban their women, and for them to be at home, it is their right
and prerogative as a religious people of faith but it is quite contrary
to the "American Way" where there is perhaps too much individual freedom
including the proliferation of gun ownership and right for abortion.
Christianity is of course no different in some
respects. In Singapore, the National Council of Churches is still
insisting that gays be put into prisons as they claimed it would bring
the nation to a slippery slope of immorality. Sin becomes a sin based on
our narrow religious labelling rather than the moral injustices in
Singapore such as the treatment of foreign general workers, and the
sufferings of the poor. There is a great hypocrisy of insisting that
gays be put into prison whilst those having adultery, divorce and
abortion are not likewise persecuted and hardly even mentioned.
We begin to understand, Is 61:1 "... to preach good
tidings to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those
who are bound". Jesus was not talking about general oppression as much
as some Christians would like it, it was about:-
a.
Religious oppression, the yoke of the law was too great. It was by the
letter of the law, without any consideration of the actual context, nor
reflect any mercy or grace. When Jesus finally came 500 years later, his
greatest against was against the religious Pharisees who were the
keepers of the law.
Christians tend to excuse most of the Jewish religious laws such as
working on Sundays, and eating pork, etc, as not culturally applicable.
But it becomes applicable when we use the same laws against gays.
b.
Spiritual bondage - The word "poor" here can be read as "oppressed", and
they were oppressed because they had sinned against God by worshipping
other deities and so God let them come under the captive of these gods
through the foreign invaders. The land was destroyed. Their hearts were
broken and their hopes dashed. They were in ruins and there was a spirit
of heaviness (Is 61:3).
We are in
spiritual bondage and ruins yet not realise it for Satan is the great
deceiver for even some Christians think he is not there, whilst others
see him under every tree. Christ is our answer, our hope and redemption.
It is not what we do, or have done, but what Christ have done in our
lives. It is in grace, that we manifest the ministry of Christ and bear
the fruit of good works in continuing the ministry of Christ.
Jesus was to proclaim the "Acceptable year of the
Lord" (Is 61:2), where there will be love, grace and mercy. He will take
on the vengence against our captives. Christmas is not about love per
say, it is about Jesus who personified God's love, grace and mercy.
The Gay community is under a double whammy of
religious oppression by the Christian Right through their insistence of
the religious laws (which they themselves do not follow fully), and aslo
a Spiritual bondage of a Satanic deception that says that Homosexuality
is a sin hence dispersing all the gentle lambs from the saving embrace
of Jesus Christ. The likes of 377A (laws that persecute gays), and the
ban on gay marriages are an evil Satanic bondage that keeps us in the
closet, that keeps us in prison. It is a physical, emotional, and
spiritual prison.
In this Christmas season, the sounds of carols and
angels fill the air in the shopping centers. We may be perturbed at the
breakdown of Train Services during this festive busy period, but why are
we so rush to go from one place to another, knowing that our end in life
doesn't stop here but we journey on to heaven in a route made possible
because of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.
We do take things for granted, and when it fails
(such as the train services in SG), we often complain but forgetting to
give thanks. Christmas is a time of giving thanks for God gave us
wonderful preseants in our redemption by faith alone in Christ and His
resurrection power through God's grace. For the Gay Christian community,
it speaks of redemption from the condemnation of the law, and the
bondage that Satan has put us in by locking us up in a closet and
hindering us from accepting our true innate sexual orientation, nor
seeing that Jesus loves us and accepts us just as we are.
Come to the waters, for the God I know, for
the Jesus I know welcomes you home today just as you are.
For Those Tears I Died You said You'd come
and share all my sorrows.
You said You'd be there for all my tomorrows.
I came so close to sending You away,
But, just like You promised, You came here to stay.
I just had to pray.
Chorus
And Jesus said, "Come to the water, stand by my side.
I know you are thirsty, you won't be denied.
I felt every teardrop, when in darkness you cried.
And, I strove*
to remind you,
That for those tears I died."
Your goodness so great, I can't understand.
And, dear Lord, I know that all this was planned.
I know You're here now and always will be.
Your love loosed my chains and in You I'm free,
But, Jesus, why me?
(Chorus)
Jesus, I give You my heart and my soul.
I know that without You, I'd never be whole.
Savior, You opened all the right doors.
And I thank You and praise You from earth's humble shores.
Take me I'm Yours!
(Chorus)
And Jesus said, "Come to the water, stand by my side.
I know you are thirsty, you won't be denied.
I felt every teardrop, when in darkness you cried;
And I strove*
to remind you,
That for those tears I died.
And I strove*
to remind you,
That for those tears I died."