Perversion of Divine Intent

I am horrified, as are many other people, by the news that South Sudan (see correction in comments below...this is happening in North Sudan)  has sentenced a woman to death, because she will not recant her Christian faith.  She is apparently married to a Sudanese man, who is a Christian and who has US citizenship.  Her father was Muslim, but left the family, and she was raised by a Christian mother.  She has never practiced Islam herself, but is being accused of apostasy for “leaving” Islam and adultery for being married to a Christian.  She is pregnant with their second child.

Sitting here in the United States, this news seems preposterous, barbaric and beyond comprehension.  We have come to expect certain “rights.”  As a Christian, I am also struck that Islamic law, specifically Sharia law, demonstrates a horrible perversion of God’s intent for a man and a woman.  Islam and Christianity, although calling Him by different names, share the idea that there is one God who is creator and sustainer of the universe and to whom we are responsible.   Sharia law totally ignores the notion that man and woman were created by that God to be mutually supportive, to complement one another, and to work together to raise a family and accomplish God’s purposes in the world.

I am in NO way defending Sharia and this totally repugnant ruling in South Sudan.

But

As a Christian, I am struck with the horrible perversion of God’s intent for a man and a woman that I see around me every day in our culture.  The fictional characters in the media and real-life celebrities flaunt their sexual freedom making it seem like it is “the norm.”  Women and even young girls come to believe it is acceptable to expose themselves in seductive attire.  Lyrics of songs are blatantly sexual.  The idea that one could be chaste and not engage in sex until marriage is viewed as a ridiculous impossibility.  What happened to God’ design for one man and one woman to be faithful for a lifetime?  I am horrified by the young women I see having babies with multiple partners.  They jump into bed with a man they don’t even really know.  It doesn’t seem to occur to them to develop a relationship first.

So, on the one side there is a culture in which women demand the right to express themselves and expose themselves.  On the other side is a culture of repression that looks for ways to subjugate women to punish in excess, and to make women property rather than human beings.

Both are perversions of God’s intent.  His plan is for the relationship between a man and a woman to conform to the immense love that Christ has for His bride….the collective body of those who believe in Him.  He sacrificed His life for His bride.  She is to keep herself pure.

My heart grieves over what I see and hear in this world.

What must it do to God’s heart?