Me, Myself and I

WE ALL KNOW ONE (PART II)

Below is an extract from a fellow bloggers's comment page. The topic that sparked off this discussion was to do with an article from the Guardian's "agony aunt" section. It concerns a 24yr old single girl, who being a christian, is torn about not having sex until marriage, an issue compounded by the fact that only non-christian guys ask her out.
Now there were a few varied replies to this post, but one in particular struck a chord with me which is why I replied to it, and the following (should I say dialogue) ensued:

SOUL: Too much bollocks going on here.i've already said, some people dost protest too loudly, they've replaced Sex with God and boy is it messing with their mental.Gosh, is sex really that dirty?, that bad... or is it really that dirty and that bad in the mind of some 'christians'.God shouldn't be the reason you don't want to have sex, it should be because you think you are not ready to have it. Irrespective of age. Or becuase you just don't want to.No wonder she's conflicted, as are a gazillion other Naija women out there, who use the bible as their personal chastity belt.I wonder how people develop healthy relationships with God when God has become the excuse?.
08 September, 2006 19:10

ME TO SOUL: " God shouldn't be the reason you don't want to have sex, it should be because you think you are not ready to have it. Irrespective of age. Or becuase you just don't want to." So then, could the same way of thinking apply to many other dilemmas in life? e.g. given the choice to cheat or steal should one refrain from doing so purely because they dont want to or bcos they know it would offend God? As human beings we all have a conscience and have an inherent knowledge of what's right and wrong, but most times this doesnt prevent us from following the wrong paths or making the wrong choices. Having God's commandments as our guide can only be a good thing bcos it convicts us in making the right judgements.
10 September, 2006 10:43

SOUL TO ME: One should refrain from cheating or stealing because it is the wrong thing to do.If you need the bible to tell you that, then I'm afraid we see things in extremely different ways.Having God's commandments should be a good thing, but God also gives all of us common sense and free will and choice.I can quote the number of times God's commandments have been used for evil and are at present being used for evil, I'm sure even you know this.My point which in no way denies the power or the usefulness of 'God's commandments' actually lays emphasis on human beings..i.e. Many people use 'the word of God as a crutch, and at that point common sense tends to flee them.From girls who will willingly lay down and commit adultery with 'their pastors' because they don't want to disobey a 'man of God', to those who can read the bible and decide that God doesn't want us to dance.There are many alleged people who are claiming to be christians and who exalt the holier than thou attitude not becuase they truly believe but because they are too scared not to be a part of the group think. ANd this is extremely endemic in the Naija chritian community.You say God's commandments convicts us in making the right judgements... really?Then how come soo many times we get it wrong where it matters.AIDS and HIV is decimating the population of Africa but the pope (I was born Roman Catholic by the way) insists that God's conviction is leading him to make a 'right judgement' to say that using a condom is wrong?. And that mofo is still spreading that verbal diarrhea out of the mouth.Is it God's conviction which is driving most christian churches to make a judgement to denounce
maasturbation? one of the most natural reactions to our own bodies.Is it Gods conviction which drove the West to make the decision to rape, torture and enslave many Africans, or let's bring it a little forward...Is it God's conviction which is causing many pastors to preach intolerance and in many cases the murder of homosexuals?Was it God's conviction which drove George Bush (who apparently talks to God personally) to make the decision to shock and awe Iraq?.
10 September, 2006 19:20

Interesting. The reason why I have posted these comments on my blog is because I wanted to reply to the above but I didnt want to use someone else's blog as a forum for (what could possibly turn out to be a heated) debate. In reply to the last comment made by SOUL,granted there were strong points which unfortunately do ring true but I wish to point out a few things: a lot of atrocities have been committed all in the name of religion, including christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc. The people committing these crimes may claim to be doing so due to their 'convictions' but if we truly know what each of our faith preaches, then we know that this is so not the case. So in answer to all of the above , my answer would be no, these acts have not been committed as a result of right judgements spurred on by true convictions, but due to people's misguided views/ideas , warped as they might seem. It is just so sad that this taints those who try to act out their genuine convictions. At the end of the day I dont believe this should be a reason to cast aside the commandments which were set for a good purpose.
SOUL also mentioned the fact that HIV and AIDS is killing off the population of Africa (I'm not going to comment on the catholic church's view on contraception; that is another subject altogether). If we ask ourselves the reason why HIV is so pandemic in the world today, I think you will agree that widespread sexual promiscuity has a big part to play in this . As it does with regards to unwanted pregnancies, abortions, STD's, not to mention the emotional and pyschological trauma that goes with all of these .
Which brings me back to the original topic of this debate: If we as believers do not convict ourselves by God's commandments against sexual immorality (and this includes pre-marital sex), even though the rest of the world see it as a load of b******t, it would be so easy to become complacent, because we all have natural, human desires and the easy thing to do would be to give in to them at whim. And that is not to say that sex is a 'dirty' or 'bad' thing; on the contrary it is a beautiful thing, even moreso if it is practiced as the pure and wonderful act it was created to be.

posted by Beautifully Human @ 9:24 AM