It is like this country does not have committed Christian leaders who could give direction on this matter. I would have thought that by now there would have been numerous seminars and workshops on this subject and a general consensus would have been generated, but there is nothing of that sort, yet. I know that most church leaders are anxious not to be labelled as sympathetic to homosexuals, while others are reluctant to openly condemn homosexuality as sin as the Bible teaches. The majority would prefer to stay clear of the subject altogether, and that way they hope to stay safe from criticism by either side.
Perhaps we are also unwise to tackle this matter in this contribution, but we have always felt the need to express our convictions without fear or favour. It is our conviction that homosexuality is sin and there is no way of condoning it according to the word of God. This does not, however, mean that a homosexual person is committing the unpardonable sin. In fact, just like other sinners, homosexual people can also be forgiven if they repent from their sin and turn to Jesus for salvation. The problem with the current proposal is that by providing condoms to prison inmates, the State will obviously be viewed as promoting homosexuality. But to deny prison inmates access to condoms may be to subject them to certain death once they engage in unprotected sex while in prison. There are numerous reports of rape among prison inmates, especially those of a young age who are commonly abused by hardened criminals that are saving long sentences. The general argument is that it is these young and vulnerable inmates that could be protected from the HIV pandemic by the provision of condoms. This is a laughable argument since a rapist will most likely refuse to make use of the condom when they rape a victim.
What then is the solution to this moral and health problem? We are of the opinion that prison inmates should not be provided with condoms. It is much better to improve the security of the people behind bars so that such acts as rape do not occur. It is even better to intensify our Christian outreach and evangelistic efforts at all prisons so that inmates can receive Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and shun homosexuality and rape. Admittedly, it may take quite a long time to successfully evangelise all the prisons. It will be a much better approach to dealing with the problem of HIV / Aids among prisoners than to provide them with condoms. A changed heart is a more powerful tool against sin than any protection against a deadly disease.
We also know that condoms are not entirely fool-proof when it comes to HIV infection. There are hundreds of thousands of people who religiously used condoms whenever they had sexual intercourse but they still contracted the disease. As a nation, we will have failed in our fight against sin, homosexuality and immorality if we start providing condoms to prison inmates. We might as well provide free condoms to all our secondary school children since we know that some of them do indulge in pre-marital sex. We must not succumb to the devices of the devil, the creator of the HIV / Aids pandemic in the first place. The just shall live by faith.
Post published in: Opinions