49.Behind the news

The Scottish Justice minister MacAskill included a perverse argument In his reasons for releasing Al Megrahi, the Lybian murderer of Lockerbie :

'Mr Al Megrahi now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power. It is one that no court, in any jurisdiction, in any land, could revoke or overrule.'

MacAskill is mistaken for two reasons. First, in my opinion the murderer should not have been released.
And second, that statement clearly suggests, that Megrahi's death sentence, from prostate cancer, is a divine punishment for his crime - from God or, in his case, from Allah. MacAskill's false argument is based on the original Biblical doctrine, that life and death, and sickness and health, are all in the exclusive power and control of God, meted out as punishment or reward. That is why there are virtually no human doctors or treatments described in the Bible.
Moses, in his final speech, quotes God as saying: 'I put to death and I keep alive. I wound and I heal' [Deuteronomy-32:39]. Likewise, God is in control of all illnesses and cures - and fertility, of course: 'I will remove all sickness out of your midst... I will grant you a full span of life'. [Exodus-23:25].
Furthermore, physical disabilities are also entirely within God's power, as punishment for sins, of course. God tells Moses: 'Who is it that gives man speech? Who makes him dumb, or deaf? Who makes him clear-sighted or blind?' [Exodus-4:11]
As the Scottish minister suggested, diseases, cancers and disabilities, are inflicted as divine punishment for sins - incapable of human influence. When we are afflicted, we ask: 'what have I done to deserve it?' The word 'pain' actually means punishment.

So the reverse applies as well: anyone who is sick or disabled must have sinned. Therefore, they deserve our scorn and rejection. Leprosy sufferers were shunned by Byzantine society - many centuries before their bacillus was discovered. They bore the hallmarks of sin! That is one of the most harmful legacies of the Bible. And it is still very much alive today. The clergy still use it to explain and justify the suffering of their parishioners: 'maybe you should increase your donation, my son?'
And when Glen Hoddle declared, that disabled people are former sinners, who are being punished, nobody objected. So if you see a cripple, you should wonder what sin he had committed.
If you are a Moslem, you do not have many crimes to commit. Certainly murder is permitted. Judaism and Christianity, in contrast, cunningly ensured that everybody would have a bad conscience. They defined a great deal of sexual activity as sinful, even within marriage - even single persons masturbating. But that will have to be a separate blog.
Before that, in the mean time, Al Megrahi, MacAskill, and myself, will all end up in hell - for different reasons.
- What about you??