By Buwa Meldrick Memeh

I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say, sorry. I mean I would much rather go to the other place. I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this. I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid – Desmond Tutu.

My first reaction to the above quote was expressed in questions. How could a retired Anglican Bishop preach salvation and openly declare support for homosexuality? Could he be one of the end time preachers the Bible talked about? Should I show love to homosexuals or rebuff homosexuals?

Firstly I must state this. I am not gay. I can never be gay and in fact I strongly hate the act. I love the opposite sex and this explains why I chased after my former colleague who has become my wife today and I love her but truth must be told. I do not expect you to love my wife because like they say, one man’s meat is another man’s poison, but I expect you to respect my choice of having her as my wife. The first problem I will have with you or any member of my family will be based on your inability to tolerate the love I have for my wife and any attempt to get me divorce her in order to marry the woman you feel is best for me.

This brings me to one of the issues we have as a people. Our inability to tolerate others because we feel our opinion and belief is supreme. For that singular fact everyone must accept things in our own ways. I am a Christian but I would not force my doctrine on you neither can I force you to accept my religion. I can only discuss with you and if you feel a conviction, it’s left for you to join me in my faith, besides the Bible makes it clear that it is only God who draws men to him.

I was forced to block an old schoolmate of mine with his constant barraging of his religious sentiment on my Facebook timeline and condemnation of my faith. It was his attitude of spitting fire and condemning my religion and this has been the issue with the Boko Haram insurgents who insist that everyone must be Islam. Thankfully some Muslims have openly condemned their intolerance and affirmed the freedom of man to associate with any religion. This in itself is Democracy and this takes me back to the issue of Homosexuality.

A lot of us have condemned the act and as I earlier said, I condemn it in entirety but should we crucify the perpetrators, am sorry I don’t think so. Must we constantly send death threats to the people involved in homosexuality like I saw on Bisi Alimi’s page? I still say, NO. If we continue in that light, how different are we from the Boko Haram insurgents making life miserable in the Northern part of Nigeria?

In all sincerity, we have missed it. Right from the period we chose to embrace the Western culture, one thing became inevitable and that is absorbing the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of the West. I think the focus should be shifted to the parents who have failed to instill proper values in their children. The focus should be on the parents who value money at the expense of the future of their children. The focus should be on the pastors who refuse to preach the message of salvation and have focused on the message of prosperity; the focus should be centered on the political clergy who have chosen to use their crowd to the advantage of a political party. We have missed it.

Why have I focused on the family and religious institutions? Our clergymen have a big role to play in shaping every society and through their teachings they are meant to explain and promote the various components of a just social order. Unfortunately some of them have concentrated on the gains that come from politics and are more concerned with associating with politicians than the flocks under their watch.

On the part of the family, the culture of 6am to 6pm hardly affords parents the opportunity to protect their children and guide them on the kind of television programmes to watch and very importantly, the company they keep. You hardly see a youth today who is not conversant with the Kardashians and in fact they have become role models to lots of our youths and this explains why painfully we can only condemn the act but our society is gradually breeding more Caitlyn Jenner and homosexuals.

If anyone had told our great grand fathers that in 2015, our National Assembly would be discussing Homosexuality, I am very sure they would doubt it but here we are today. The Senate has succeeded in passing a law prohibiting homosexuality but has that solved the problem? Hate me on this, but I will tell you this evil has come to stay and this explains why I wasn’t surprised when a young lady called in to a popular programme to express her displeasure with the senate legislation against homosexuality. Her comments revealed her strong preference for same sex and it dawned on me that our young people have gravely been influenced by the West.

One thing is certain and that is the fact that I can never be lured or influenced by the act of homosexuality but then my stance on the senate rule on homosexuality has always been neutral. God forbid any child of mine chooses that path and that explains why we must be very interested in everything concerning our children. It is most important to bring up your child in the way of the Lord, and like the holy book says when he grows, he will not depart from it.

After all said and done if any child insists on been gay, I can only respect his wish but never cease to pray for him as I leave him in the hands of God. Every man will certainly bear the consequence of his action and God remains the judge.

Should homosexuality be regarded as criminal? I don’t still think so. They have neither stolen from me nor infringed on my rights. Painfully it is the bitter pill coming along with globalization. What is most important is to focus on building strong institutions and our religious leaders must focus on their calling because they will be held accountable by God on how well they used their ministry to positively impact their society. We need to go back to the drawing board and build our homes according to set morals and proper value standards.

Source: http://dailytimes.com.ng/much-ado-homosexuality/

Okies no

abeg sumarise

Na about homo u write full everywhere