In The Name Of Ambition, Lust, Greed and Ego.
That is the story of the Stoning of Soroya M. I watched it on DVD last night hoping to get some insight into the culture in Iran where it takes place. It is a hideous movie that ends in a graphic depiction of an actual stoning. If you are wondering how they did that at the time of Christ you can see how they did that.
I now think I know what Jesus was doing when he was writing in the sand asking the men "Who among you is without sin cast the first stone." He was drawing a circle that makes the pit for the stoning- and asking the men if they would like to get in. Let me explain-
Adultery in those days and parts of the world now was punishable by capital punishment- you cheat, you die. By having stones thrown at you. I always wondered how that could happen --wouldn't people just run away fast? How did they stone Stephen? Why didn't he run? Answer: he couldn't. He was half buried and bound.
The first thing they do when they stone you is they dig a pit. A large hole in the ground. Someone draws a large circle and they start digging. They have to bury you alive from the waiste down first so a circle is drawn in the dirt or sand and a pit hole is made into which the victim must stand and dirt dumped around them until only the upper torso and head is showing- their hands are tied with rope so they can't move or deflect the stones. The person dies when enough stones penetrate the skull and they bleed to death from the wounds.
It would be a mistake to say as some have that this is a general commentary of the way all muslim cultures treat women. The Turkish Constitution for example outlaws all forms of Capital Punishment which they did wanting to join the EU as that is a feature of the EU Constitution.
It is a more apt commentary on how men generally can be filled with such hatred toward women everywhere- and in some muslim cultures this is still an acceptable manifestation of punishment.
In this story an elaborate plot is woven to indict a totally innocent person because she was in the way of the ambitions, greed, lust and ego of her husband who wanted to dump her for the younger model, a fancy car in his midlife melt-down, and she wasn't going to give him a free and easy divorce. So he killed her off. He enlisted the entire community so his "honor" would be preserved, by concocting false allegations about her infidelity. A man in town's wife died and this widower had hired her to cook, do wash and baby sit his son- and the husband used this as a pretext to call her an adulteress when that was the furthest thing from her mind. Not only that, he disgraced and slandered her even more deeply by saying that she was seducing the son. The community was outraged by this- so by his bearing false witness he succeeded in riling up an entire town who felt morally compelled then to kill her off in the name of Allah.
There are obviously other ways that this happens in every society out there- men trying to kill off women when they get in the path of their ambition, greed, lust for power or other women and ego. This is the most primative brutal way. There are other plots out there concocted to do in women who get int he way- and equally slanderous. The movie should cause all men to reflect on what type of men they really are and how do they treat their women?
What sort of social stonings have you participated in- based on pure slanderous lies and false witness that sought to kill off someone?
We may be more subtle in the manner in which we attempt to destroy women in this country, but it still happens on a psycho-social economic level here. Plots thicken, women die.
Check yourself. And go to Confession.
He who is without sin cast the first stone. Jesus has his finger in the sand and he is about to draw a circle.
The United Nations should BAN all stoning everywhere in the world as cruel and unusual and the Europeans should take the lead to do it (the US still shockingly has capital punishment of various barbaric kinds). Stonings of women believed to be adulterous happen in several countries in the Middle East still. ALL Stoning should be outlawed as a first step.
Thereafter all forms of Capital Punishment should be banned. The UN should make all member nations sign The International Convention Against Capital Punishment.
That is the story of the Stoning of Soroya M. I watched it on DVD last night hoping to get some insight into the culture in Iran where it takes place. It is a hideous movie that ends in a graphic depiction of an actual stoning. If you are wondering how they did that at the time of Christ you can see how they did that.
I now think I know what Jesus was doing when he was writing in the sand asking the men "Who among you is without sin cast the first stone." He was drawing a circle that makes the pit for the stoning- and asking the men if they would like to get in. Let me explain-
Adultery in those days and parts of the world now was punishable by capital punishment- you cheat, you die. By having stones thrown at you. I always wondered how that could happen --wouldn't people just run away fast? How did they stone Stephen? Why didn't he run? Answer: he couldn't. He was half buried and bound.
The first thing they do when they stone you is they dig a pit. A large hole in the ground. Someone draws a large circle and they start digging. They have to bury you alive from the waiste down first so a circle is drawn in the dirt or sand and a pit hole is made into which the victim must stand and dirt dumped around them until only the upper torso and head is showing- their hands are tied with rope so they can't move or deflect the stones. The person dies when enough stones penetrate the skull and they bleed to death from the wounds.
It would be a mistake to say as some have that this is a general commentary of the way all muslim cultures treat women. The Turkish Constitution for example outlaws all forms of Capital Punishment which they did wanting to join the EU as that is a feature of the EU Constitution.
It is a more apt commentary on how men generally can be filled with such hatred toward women everywhere- and in some muslim cultures this is still an acceptable manifestation of punishment.
In this story an elaborate plot is woven to indict a totally innocent person because she was in the way of the ambitions, greed, lust and ego of her husband who wanted to dump her for the younger model, a fancy car in his midlife melt-down, and she wasn't going to give him a free and easy divorce. So he killed her off. He enlisted the entire community so his "honor" would be preserved, by concocting false allegations about her infidelity. A man in town's wife died and this widower had hired her to cook, do wash and baby sit his son- and the husband used this as a pretext to call her an adulteress when that was the furthest thing from her mind. Not only that, he disgraced and slandered her even more deeply by saying that she was seducing the son. The community was outraged by this- so by his bearing false witness he succeeded in riling up an entire town who felt morally compelled then to kill her off in the name of Allah.
There are obviously other ways that this happens in every society out there- men trying to kill off women when they get in the path of their ambition, greed, lust for power or other women and ego. This is the most primative brutal way. There are other plots out there concocted to do in women who get int he way- and equally slanderous. The movie should cause all men to reflect on what type of men they really are and how do they treat their women?
What sort of social stonings have you participated in- based on pure slanderous lies and false witness that sought to kill off someone?
We may be more subtle in the manner in which we attempt to destroy women in this country, but it still happens on a psycho-social economic level here. Plots thicken, women die.
Check yourself. And go to Confession.
He who is without sin cast the first stone. Jesus has his finger in the sand and he is about to draw a circle.
The United Nations should BAN all stoning everywhere in the world as cruel and unusual and the Europeans should take the lead to do it (the US still shockingly has capital punishment of various barbaric kinds). Stonings of women believed to be adulterous happen in several countries in the Middle East still. ALL Stoning should be outlawed as a first step.
Thereafter all forms of Capital Punishment should be banned. The UN should make all member nations sign The International Convention Against Capital Punishment.
Actual live video footage of a stoning in Iran:
The UN Needs to Ban it. Everywhere.
And THIS still happens in the world today:
Now aren't you glad we have an 8th Amendment to our Constitution in the US against Cruel and Unusual Punishments? The most cruel and the most unusual obviously is the death penalty-
so we don't enforce the 8th Amendment everywhere- but at least the above sort of punishment we are morally revulsed by.
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