The Longing
Stuff that didn't quite make it into The Briefing
The difficult issue of premarital sex
Lee Gatiss / January 2002
Premarital sex in the world
There is no longer any stigma attached to premarital sex in our society. Pop stars do it, sports stars do it, politicians do it. Hormone levels are raised by advertising, television, cinema, music and magazines. What is discussed is not so much premarital sex, as non-marital sex, or even non-‘heterosexual monogamous life-long relationship sex’.
Such is the confusion and need for definition. Sex is seen in several ways:
- Sex as ‘need’ It is said that there is a natural instinct (akin to a hunger for food) which
The Qur’an and the Bible
Samuel Green / January 2002
A Westerner reading the Qur'an may find many familiar names and events. Most of the prophets from the Bible are mentioned. There is clearly a strong relationship between the two books.
By the sixth century, Jews, Christians, the Bible and its related literature were well-established in the Middle East. Yemen had in recent years been a Jewish kingdom and Medina was home to several Jewish tribes. Christian tribes also lived in the region. Muhammad had diplomatic relations with Abyssinia (Ethiopia), a Christian country, and as a trader had