The Islamic Kingdom of Brunei decided to implement a moral code that includes penalties of stoning for adultery and sodomy. The Sultan of Brunei is one of the world’s richest individuals. He owns dozens of luxury hotels around the world. George Clooney and Elton John have called for a boycott of these hotels.
No one wants to talk about the elephant in the room: The Islamic Sharia. This legal code of Islam prescribes these punishments for adultery, sodomy and other sins. Criticizing sharia is labelled as Islamophobia by our culture. So, we can only ban the hotels of individuals who implement the sharia. These calls for boycott only expose the hypocrisy of individuals like Clooney. This was rightly pointed by Bill Maher.
Some people are also attacking Christian faith as they criticize Sharia’s aggressive stance on homosexuality. It is true that both Christianity and Islam consider homosexuality a grave sin against God. But there is a key difference. Christianity does not ask for death sentence for any sin. It offers forgiveness when we confess our sins. It is true that Bible has passages asking for stoning for homosexuals. But that is part of Jewish Law which is obsolete now.
In the New Testament, homosexuality and adultery are still considered sins. In John 8, an adulterous woman who was caught in the act was brought to Jesus. People who brought her to Christ demanded death penalty by stoning. But Jesus said, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her’. One by one every one left. Jesus told her, ‘Go now and leave your life of sin’ (John 8:11).
That is what Jesus offers to us: Go now and leave your life of sin.
He paid the price for all our sins on the cross.