“They know I am gay. I don’t know if I am going to be killed, this is up to God…” stated Moyad matter-of-factly. Moyad is a 38-year-old homosexual Iraqi. “My friend Ahmed, from the neighborhood of Zafaraniya, was killed by his family for looking like a female. Those commandos tell the families to kill them or else they will kill them. I expect that my own brother might lead these guys to kill me” Moyad further stated. Moyad’s story is the story of many people living an alternate lifestyle in post-Saddam Iraq, but it is not a new story, it’s just more publicly acknowledged now that there is more freedom of expression in that part of the world. This is the bane of freedom. You are free to make choices that may ultimately lead to your demise. As Christ followers we often talk about being set free from the bondage of sin, but the reality is that this new found freedom makes us even more aware of our propensity for evil, and consequently the need to navigate our freedom wisely.
Part of wisely navigating our freedom is being able to love people compassionately and unconditionally, understanding that we are free simply because of the grace and mercy of God. Sadly for Moyad, that is not the case, at least not as far as his family is concerned. He fully expects that his own brother will ‘sell him out’ to the people hunting him because of his lifestyle choices. Moyad actually believes that it’s solely up to God whether or not he is killed. Evidently he doesn’t believe in cause and effect and therefore sees no correlation between his choices and the possible outcome. Amazingly, in response to the story from which Moyad’s above quotes were taken, I read the following comments:
“Thanks George W. Bush for returning Iraq to the Dark Ages.”
“This is why I really don’t care for this part of the world. Such blind stupidity and ignorance.”
Seriously??? It’s George Bush’s fault that gays are being hunted down and killed in Iraq? How infantile is that sort of reasoning?! Does the writer actually believe that these murders only began after the ousting of Saddam Hussein? That would be like blaming the minister of transportation for every road death that occurs from speeding. That would be like adding two plus two and coming up with five. Where on earth do such people emerge from, that positions them to reason so poorly? And the other comment suggests that it’s blind stupidity and ignorance that motivates such actions and that’s why he/she doesn’t care for that part of the world. I guess they’ll have to hate America too then, because serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer who literally disemboweled and ate his victims reside here. When all is said and done we really need to be about compassionate prayer and a helping hand, so that guys like Moyad are made aware that there are people who really do care about them whatever lifestyle choices they may make.
1 comments:
Well said, Joseph
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