Thanks for your perspective on this issue. I have only two quick comments. The exploration of sense and 'non-sense in religious beliefs is not a modern phenomenon. A cursory look into the encyclopeic works of, for example, medieval Muslim scholars furnishes interesting perspective on the dialectic between reason and revelation. But the faith-based argument usually supports the reification of the latter in relation to the former. To cite an instance from the Quran, the day the mother of Prophet Musa have birth to him, she received divine instruction to put the baby Musa in a basket, place the basket on the stream and that Pharaoh - his archenemy -would care for him. It eventually came to pass that the Moses who eventuated the dissolution and liquidation of the pharaonic heritage was raised I the palace of the king..thusface to face with revelation particularly in matters of worship and beliefs reason plays the second fiddle; but in matters bordering on practical life and living, reason far as Islamic theology is concerned, is an indispensable instrument.
I have also come to appreciate the role location plays in cultural production. In other words a review of the history of ideological cum social currents in the west shows that the closer the critic is to the latter the more he is likely to become open to trends in western societies. And the farther he is the stranger such trends become. Thus once a society like that of the US, backed by state infrastructure adecidesnd 'reason' to make lawful what revelation makes unlawful the option that remains becomes like the bird in your hand.
If the west has developed a huge technology in medicine that functions in in correcting congenital abnormalities but the same West has refused to deploy same instruments to the correction of what nations across cultures and civilizations consider to be perverse then the point becomes axiomatic..
However, Chidi's Poem - The Original Sin - would appear to have been inspired by the discussions generated by Kayode Ketefe's post, of 31st March 2016, reminding us of somewhat obscured celebration of International Transgender Day for Visibility. For that purpose, he wrote a presumed conversation between a hypothetical conservative and a liberal Nigerian. My contribution caused Amatoritsero Ede to forward an attachment authored by George Olusola Ajibade and published in the Journal of Homosexuality of June 2013, under the title : Same-sex Relationship in Yoruba Culture and Orature. Amatoritsero's preface to his attachment reads, "I think the scholarly paper on same sex marriage in traditional Yoruba world might add another perspective to this conversation." The central issue in this discussion of LGBTI is not religion but whether the practices are natural (scientific) and whether the phenomena were practised in Africa before the advent of Europeans there.Grounded on my own mother tongue, there were never known Yoruba words for homosexuality, lesbianism, zoophile (bestiality), rapist or paedophile. The main purpose of sex in Africa South of Sahara has always been, and it is still, to procreate. Sea was not considered a leisure time engagement but mainly for procreation. Thus, before the pollution of our culture in the Yoruba part of Nigeria, when a wife had attained menopause age, she would counsel the husband not to waste his sperm in having sex with her. She would rather partake in finding a young wife still in reproductive age for the husband. In Yorubaland, sexual coition can only take place between a man and a woman with the man inserting his penis into her vagina and discharging semen in ejaculation.The relation between the male penis and the female vagina is illustrated in the Yoruba incantation for easy wealth without hard labour thus :Owó olówó ni êgún nnáAsó alásó ni ògà ndà bó'raBí olóko bá sá oko, a dí ti'kúnBí olónà bá yènà a dí ti eiye âse
Igbá onigbá àwó aláwó ni ìrókò fi njéunGbogbo ísé ti okó básé òbò ni ngbâTo cut the long story short the last stanza in the above Yoruba incantation translates to, "Vagina is the receiver of the result of all the work done by the penis. As it is with all normal females, vagina is a muscular tube lined with mucous membrane that forms the lower part of the female reproductive tract situated behind the bladder and in front of the rectum, extending to the vaginal opening to the cervix of the uterus. Vagina receives the penis during coitus with ejaculation of semen usually occurring in the upper vagina, from where the sperm move upward to fertilize an ovum. Vagina is a Latin word that means sheath, therefore, to Euro-Americans, the penis is a sword which is to be kept in a sheath. Scientifically (Naturally) a male cannot have sexual intercourse with another male because there is no sexual organ in a male to receive the penis as vagina would do in a female. I am neither prejudiced against homosexuals nor hate them. Rather, what I am against is their notion that the mouth and anus are equal to vagina. Normally, human-beings are expected to stand on their legs and walk on their feet, but those who desire to stand on the head to walk cannot attribute their acquired behaviour of walking on the head to inborn genes which they do not accept as being faulty and which no physician has been able to identify. There can be no sexual orientation as there is no walking orientation and there can be no gender identity beside the sexual organs between the legs for all normal human beings. That is my stand and if I am wrong correct me with concrete scientific facts.S. Kadiri
From: emeagwali@ccsu.edu
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Original Sin (Poem)
Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2016 17:10:18 +0000
"The Hebrew narration of creation is one narrative. There are others too. One good thing is that they are all illogical and defy reason. The ONLY logical and reasonable narration is the scientific mechanical one that Darwin expounded in his seminal work Origins." IBK
Many thanks to you, IBK, for your illuminating comment.
Speaking about other creation narratives, here are three others:
I am the one who came into being as Khepri. When I came into being, being itself came into being. All beings came into being after I came into being. Manifold were the beings from that which came forth from my mouth. Not yet had the heaven come into being; not yet had the ground been created or creeping things in this place. After I had come into being as the only god, there were three gods aside from me. I came into being in this earth, but Shu and Tefnut rejoiced in Nun, the Primordial Waters, in which they existed. After I had united my members, I wept over them and that was the coming into being of mankind, from the tears which came forth from my Eye.
Northeast Africa: The Book of Smiting Down Apophis
.........................................................
At this time, a certain thing was produced between Heaven and Earth. It was in form like a reed shoot. Now this became transformed into a God and was called Kuni-no-toko-tachi-noMikoto…….Being formed by the mutual action of Heavenly and Earthly principles, they were made male and female. Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto stood on the floating bridge of Heaven and held counsel together, saying: "Is there not a country beneath?"Thereupon they thrust down the jewel-spear of Heaven and groping about therewith found the Ocean. The brine which dipped from the point of the spear coagulated and became an island which received the name of Ono-goro-jima.
Japan
.............................................................................
From that sacrifice completely offered were born the Verses (Rig Veda). And the Saman-melodies (Sama Veda). The metres were born from it. From it was born the Sacrificial formula.
From it were born horses. Cattle were born from it. From it were born goats and sheep.When they divided the Purusa into how many parts did they arrange him? What was his mouth? What his two arms? What are his thighs and feet called? The brahman was his mouth, his two arms were made the warrior, his two thigs the trader and agriculturist, from his feet the servile class was born.
The Rig-Veda, Book X, 129
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
History Department
CCSU. New Britain. CT 06050
africahistory.netvimeo.com/user5946750/videos
Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries onAfrica and the African Diaspora
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Ibukunolu A Babajide <ibk2005@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 7, 2016 11:27 AM
To: USAAfricaDialogue
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Original Sin (Poem)Dear Ayo Obe,
You bring legal logic to bear on matters spiritual and cultural. Spirituality and its attendant cultural imperialism defy legal logic.
For many cultures the symbol of the Godhead is female. Misogyny later on reframed the narrative and in many folklores, there are tales of when women ruled the world but they were too strong and wanted to bring about Armageddon, so they were relegated and men took over ruler-ship.
The Hebrew narration of creation is one narrative. There are others too. One good thing is that they are all illogical and defy reason. The ONLY logical and reasonable narration is the scientific mechanical one that Darwin expounded in his seminal work Origins.
Cheers.
IBK
On 6 April 2016 at 18:42, Ayo Obe <ayo.m.o.obe@gmail.com> wrote:
I always find it curious how people jump over the latter part of Genesis 1:27 - "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." (emphasis added and note, no mention of Adam) and rush to Genesis 2:22-23 which could as well be the story of the origins of the Jewish people, having regard to the fact that after the Fall, "Cain knew his wife;" (Genesis 4:17) and there seemed just generally to be a lot of wives around to be married - where did they come from if not from those created in Genesis 1?
On Wed, Apr 6, 2016 at 8:19 AM, Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:
Thanks to Chidi for this Poem, "The Original Sin" which would appear to have put spel on same sex intercourse in Africa as advanced by the duo, Kayode Ketefe, and Amatoritsero Ede through an article in the journal of homosexuality by George Olusola Ajibade. The central figures in Chidi's poem are Adam, Eve and the serpent. Christians distribute/sell million copies of Bible annually and they want us to believe its contents. It is impossible to believe in Bible and accept same sex coition or marriage.
Beginning with Genesis 1:27-28 Christians are taught that God created man (Adam) in his own image. Thereafter, in Genesis 2: 20-24 Christians are taught that although Adam was in control of all animals and birds of heaven he had no suitable helper. Hence, God made Adam to fall into deep sleep whereby He removed one of Adam's ribs and created a Eve (a woman) with it to keep the company of Adam. And God brought her to Adam who retorted, "This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh! She is to be called a woman because she was taken from a man." For that sake shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh. It is self-explanatory why God did not create a man with the ribs he extracted from Adam because He did not want bone to bone and moreover, that would have countered His desire that mankind should proliferate and spread over the earth. God never created homosexuals or Lesbians which is why in the Bible the male gender is referred to as man, husband and father while the female gender is referred to as woman, wife and mother.
Of course, same sex coition is referred to as unnatural in the Bible which in Leviticus 18: 22 reads, "Thou shall not lie with mankind as one lies with womankind. It is an abomination." Further in Leviticus 20:13 the Christian believers are told, "If a man lies with a mankind as he lies with a womankind, both of them have committed abomination, they shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them." The righteous Western World who want to enforce same sex marriage on Africa should first withdraw all Bibles from circulation and revise it to include the ninth Beatitude, Blessed are the people who engage in same sex coition, for they shall inherit the kingdom of God. This is even more compelling as the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 specifically listed homosexuals among offenders that will not inherit the Kingdom of God thus, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived : neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor EFFEMINATE, nor ABUSERS of themselves with MANKIND, (10) Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." In the book of Revelation 21 : 8 & 27 Christian believers are unequivocally told that the homosexuals "shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." These are the teachings from the Bible which all Christians must believe.George Olusola Ajibade would like to make us believe that homosexuality predated the advent of Europeans and, indeed, Christianity in Africa. He premised his assertion among others on his own Yoruba invented expression, Ó ranjú kankan bí ojú adófùrò, which he translated to, he strains his eye bulbs like a man fucking anus. But ADÓFÙRÒ is not a Yoruba name for homosexuality as it only describes the action of one person, that is, the penetrator and not the penetrated. And if a man engages in anal intercourse with a woman, should the practice be called homosexual or heterosexual? Even if we accept ADÓFÙRÒ as a Yoruba name for homosexuality, it cannot imply that homosexual practice existed among Yorubas before the advent of Europeans. The Yoruba word for television is A-MÓHÙN-MÀWÒRÁN, translated to sound and picture recorder and yet there were no televisions in Nigeria (Africa) before the arrival of Europeans. We sing, talk and eat with the mouth in Africa, but in the Swedish Journal of Social Medicine No. 9-10, page 485, 1993, a Professor of Social Anthropology at Lund University, Kajsa Ekholm Friedman, wrote, "A man (Congolese) who has just returned from France after a long stay there wanted to practice oral-sex on his wife. The wife drew the attention of neighbours to the husband's abnormal behaviour leading to the community trial of the husband. He was asked why he wanted to eat up his wife's private part. There he stood with tears running down his cheeks, he tried to explain before a dumbfounded audience." Before writing this, the Professor stated that "it was remarkable that most of the perversions we (Swedes) practise are mainly non-existing in the Congo. Very soon, some learned Africans would tell us that there were oral-sex practitioners in Africa before our contacts with Europe.S.Kadiri
Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2016 15:35:16 +0100
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Original Sin (Poem)
From: alukome@gmail.com
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Chidi, IBK:
They are five Satanic verses......but for now, "we know in parts...."
And there you have it.
Bolaji AlukoShaking his head
On Tue, Apr 5, 2016 at 2:41 PM, Ibukunolu A Babajide <ibk2005@gmail.com> wrote:
Brilliant. Your erotic rendition took excessive poetic licence. God created Adam first, so Eve could not law claim or ownership to Eden. She did not exist.
Adam had his own sex stick. The serpent had its own too. Can they be the same? Methinks not! The serpent as teacher is a version closer to the factual sequence. Perhaps the rib of Adam stopped him from feeling and its removal made him feel again.
All said and done a brilliant erotic piece!
Cheers.
IBK
On 5 April 2016 at 13:14, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.opara@gmail.com> wrote:
By Chidi Anthony Opara
The gate of Eve's eden
Opened.
Eve's eden fascinated Adam
And fascinated the Serpent.
The Serpent
Crawled to the entrance
And inserted its sex stick
Into the open eden,
Twisting the sex stick
Like the sex stick
Of a sex starved lover,
Its eyes rolling in pleasure.
Eve moaned in pleasure,
Adam watched with pleasure
And learned.
The Serpent withdrew,
Leaving Eve
At the edge of orgasm.
Eve beckoned,
Adam brought her
To the pleasure of orgasm.
From the sky
A stern voice said;
"You have sinned,
Eve's eden not for pleasure,
Tis for bringing forth flowers.
This sin will be called;
The original sin."
(Poem presented as social service, all rights reserved).
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