Punishment for sins of fornication

Religion Zone
I have said this before and I will say it again. While we should give glory to Jesus Christ for sacrificing his blood for the atonement of the sins of mankind, we should not take for granted that the sins we intentionally commit now and in the future are already forgiven.

I have said this before and I will say it again. While we should give glory to Jesus Christ for sacrificing his blood for the atonement of the sins of mankind, we should not take for granted that the sins we intentionally commit now and in the future are already forgiven.

sundayword BY PROSPER TINGINI

That line of thinking is misguided and removed from the truth. Everyone will be held accountable for his or her own sins. God will punish those who do not repent of their sins and ask for forgiveness. The Lord our God is very merciful. If He could forgive mankind through the death of one man, His son Jesus Christ, how else could He not forgive those who plead for forgiveness?

Sexual thoughts constitute a significant portion of human mental activity, especially with the men. Even in animals, the male species spends a great deal of their time engaging in activities of a sexual nature, even fighting each other to derive sexual pleasures from the opposite sex. They can sometimes fight to death just for the right to mate. Sex, is therefore, a very powerful component of life. If mankind’s sexual activities are not kept in check, human behaviour would end up akin to that of animals. Animals have no sexual boundaries with regards to mating. A male animal can mate with its mother, sister, aunt and any female around it. The Lord our God set out to demarcate sexual behaviour between animals and humans, to separate humans from animals. He set out guidelines to follow to bring morality to human sexual behaviour by setting boundaries to forbid any incestuous mating. In the third book of Moses, Leviticus 18 verse 6, the Lord proclaimed; “None of you shall approach anyone near of kin to him to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord”. By saying ‘I am the Lord’, He is putting His signature to His words.

Against each prohibited sexual act, the Lord attached an appropriate punishment for it. As a deterrent, He spelt out punishments that would appear too severe to anyone’s liking. In Leviticus 20, verses 10-21, He spelt out all the judgements for disobeying His laid down rules related to sexual activities, especially with regard to incest.

The Lord opened by dishing out the punishment for adultery, of the seventh commandment, saying; “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death”. In this instance there is no incest involved but God wants to promote good neighbourliness among mankind. We should respect others as much as we respect ourselves, just as He commands us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. The love for our neighbours as ourselves is one of His laws, therefore there should be an equal respect for our neighbours’ wives.

The Lord proceeded to spell out the judgement for sleeping with your mother or stepmother or any woman belonging to your father for that matter. He proclaimed, “The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall be put to death, their blood is upon them”. Sleeping with your own mother is like sleeping with your own father; it is both animalistic and a total disrespect for your father. It is madness and anyone who commits such an act does not deserve to live as he is not human. Likewise the mother who allows such a thing to happen, upon herself, deserves an equal punishment.

The Lord our God proceeded to declare; “If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; they have committed incest, their blood is upon them”. This is exactly a reverse of the son sleeping with his father’s wife. In this instance it’s now the father sleeping with the son’s wife. Equally and rightfully so, the punishment is identical for both the father and the daughter-in-law.

Homosexuality is when a man sleeps with another man as if with a woman. God has already forbidden such an act of immorality and labelled it as an act of abomination. He proclaimed a judgment for such a sin, saying, “If a man lies with a male as if with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death”. A man and woman were created for specific purposes and to complement each other in various areas including that of reproduction. What kind of a man would rather sleep with another man instead of with a woman? This is against God’s purpose of the creation of a man and a woman. Both participants should be removed from society so that they don’t contaminate other beings.

God proceeded to proclaim, “If a man takes a wife and her mother also, it is wickedness; they shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you”. The mother of a wife is equally a mother to the husband that is why she is called mother-in-law. So for the man to also take on the mother as a wife is ‘inhuman’. It is incest and an abomination. If the wife permits such a thing to happen, then the three of them should be cast out of society. They are all guilty of the sin.

Beastiality is when a human being engages in sexual acts with an animal, or whatever beast it may be. Of this, the Lord our God rules, “If a man lies with a beast, he shall be put to death; and you shall kill the beast. If also a woman approaches any beast and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the beast; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them”. For a human being to seek sexual gratification with a beast instead of with another human being, what intention is there for such an act? Furthermore, what sort of product if any, would come out of such a union? What of the sexual diseases found in various animals moving across to also affect humans? No wonder mankind is now afflicted with diseases that are difficult to cure. People who engage in such practices should be removed from society as they are a danger to mankind.

On sleeping with a sister or a sister-in-law, the Lord proceeded to say, “If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother and sees her nakedness, it is a shameful thing, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people; he has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, he shall bear his iniquity”. Siblings should not behave like animals. They should respect the sanctity of a family unit. Siblings who engage in such acts should be sent into exile, removed from the family so that they don’t contaminate other children with their actions. However the Lord spares their lives.

The Lord proceeded to say, “If a man lies with a woman having her sickness, and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood; both of them shall be cut off from among their people”. Menstruation is the process where a woman discharges the remains of an unfertilised egg or ovum from her body. During this time she becomes an unclean person. Sleeping with a woman in her uncleanness also brings uncleanness to the man. Due to the fact that they both become unclean, they should be punished by separating them away from other people.

An aunt is a sister to the father or mother of a person. Since they are closely related to the father or mother, any intimate relationship with any of them is treated as incest. The Lord proceeded to say, “You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or your father’s sister for that is to make naked one’s near kin, they shall bear their iniquity”. While God is more lenient on the punishment, He, however, declares that it is a sin to do so. An uncle is on the other hand a brother to either the father or the mother, hence he should be respected accordingly. The Lord proceeded to say, “If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall bear their sin, they shall die childless”. This could explain why some people end up unable to conceive. It could as well be a result of such sexual sins committed by their parents or forefathers, which is then passed on to another individual in the next generation, thus paying for the forefathers’ sins.

Lastly, the Lord our God spoke about the punishment for sleeping with a brother’s wife. He says, “If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness, they shall be childless”. Again the punishment is barrenness, or failure to sire children. Likewise, this punishment can be passed on to the next generations if the culprits already have children at the time of the offence.

Having said all this, it should again be noted that where an individual accepts his or her guilt and confesses of the sin and asks for forgiveness, God will surely forgive of the sin and save the individual from the punishment. Our God is a merciful Being, prepared to forgive of all sins.

Prosper Tingini is a religious writer. He compiled a book titled, God’s Constitution For Mankind: The laws and commandments. His contact details are: 0771 260 195 or email: [email protected]