Dear Editor,

I fully expected negative feedback to my last article (Detestable Practices) from at least one or two individuals and certainly from SAFE's board; and I didn't have to wait long. The rather lengthy response, however, was not at all negative; they very politely pointed out some points in my article they don't agree with.

They claim that LGBT people have existed in plain view across many civilizations. We all know this is not true. Some of them have gone as far as getting married in order to avoid being detected. I suspect there is a large number still in hiding.

I was supposedly wrong in my assumption that LGBT people want to keep God out of the picture. However, in their joint resolution which was published in this newspaper on July 20, they clearly stated: "personal emotions and theologies have no place in this discussion." They also claimed that the religious Institution of marriage and the secular civil marriage are two different things and should be kept separate. I was therefore not wrong in coming to the conclusion that they want to keep God out of the picture.

The fact that God hates homosexuality was taken directly from the Bible. I quoted two verses, written in easy-to-understand English, which clearly state that God detests (intensely dislikes) homosexuality. He in fact hates it so much He considers it "deserving of death." I would be indescribably terrified to be among those whose behaviour is intensely disliked by one as powerful as Almighty God; but, that's me.

I see that you quoted six (6) verses of Scripture, which unfortunately you have rejected, because they are not gay-positive; they don't fit into your lifestyle.

Seeing that you want to keep theologies out, I wondered why you suggested I read certain books, some of which were written by reverends. The first book you suggested was: The Children are Free: Re-examining the biblical evidence on same-sex relationships, written by Rev. Jeff Miner and John Tyler.

I was kind of shocked when I went online to check out this book you recommended. You failed to mention that Rev. Jeff Miner is married to David Zier and John Tyler is married to Rob Connoley. The book was authored by two homosexual pastors, both of whom are married to their male lovers.

Though I was immediately turned off, I still decided to browse through a couple of pages. I randomly picked a page (90) and began to read: "As we have seen, Jesus has affirmed a gay soldier and his male lover." The authors were referring to Matthew 8:5-13.

The passage of Scripture read as follows: When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion (a commander of 100 soldiers) came to Him, asking for help. Lord, he said, my servant is lying at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering. Jesus replied, I will go and heal him. The centurion replied: Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof, but just say the word and my servant will be healed. After the centurion had left, Jesus told His followers, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

The obnoxious part is that the homosexual authors are trying to convince their readers that the centurion (whom the Son of God referred to as a man of great faith) was a gay soldier and his paralysed servant was the centurion's male lover.

These two "pastors" who do not claim to have studied Aramaic and Greek, are not re-examining the Bible as they claim; they are totally and completely incapable of such a task. They are deliberately misinterpreting God's Word to make it gay-positive in order to justify their sinful lifestyle.

The reason 99 per cent of our people do not react to disturbing issues is because they adhere to the nonsense American politicians have termed "political correctness." It means the avoidance of language or behaviour, seen as discriminating against or offensive to certain groups of people. They use it as an excuse to give in to minorities and as a scapegoat whenever they lack the courage to make decisions they should. They of course also use it to their advantage to gain the votes of minorities.

Political correctness does not take into account the 99 per cent who are offended by the immoral behaviour of the one per cent. Therefore, I couldn't care less about being politically correct; I strive to be biblically correct.

Americans have always been extremely good at creating new terms in an attempt to make their behaviour appear less sinful. They have changed adultery into "having an affair;" they used to call the killing of unborn babies in their mother's womb abortion, but, even that word sounded too sinful, so they changed it into termination and they call the filth that comes out of their mouth, adult language.

When God passes judgement, He will use His own definitions for sin. People would have to go to a museum to find a movie that's not filled with sex, violence and adult language. America has been exporting her immoralities to the rest of the world for decades.

Here is my sincere advice to SAFE's board and its members: Get rid of the books you read and recommend. Don't give them away, throw them away. They belong in a garbage bin. The main book I suggest you read is the Bible, written by God-called and God-inspired prophets. Please bear in mind that your souls are at stake!

You will probably react again to this article and you are of course free and very welcome to do so. I am in fact looking forward to your response. However, it's not my intention to get into a back-and-forth discussion with you via this newspaper. That's not going to happen. I have said what I had to say. Let the readers come to their own conclusions.

I leave you with one statement and two questions from the Word of God, which cannot be misinterpreted. "He who sins sexually, sins against his own body (1 Cor. 6:18) and: Who will acquit those who sin against themselves? Who will honour those who dishonour themselves? (Sirach 10:29)

Clive Hodge

Dear Editor,

St. Maarten/St. Martin Alliance For Equality (SAFE) stands by its statement that it is willing to engage in conversation with all people and/or groups as long as the dialogue stays respectful. In light of this, we take note of the opinion piece in your newspaper of Wednesday, July 29, from Mr. Clive Hodge concerning his opinions on LGBT life in general, and SAFE and its objectives and plans specifically.

Dear Editor,

The following thoughts have been triggered by a phone call I received a couple of evenings ago from a lady in Curaçao, whom I have been assisting with her family estate. She told me that she had received a call from her brother in Holland, who informed her that he just had read a story on Face book, where a blogger from Sint Maarten was saying extremely negative things about me, like that I, as a notary had spent time in prison for having stolen land from people. The brother, after reading that article, obviously became very worried about me now helping his family with their important land situation.

Dear Editor,

In your paper of today, page 9 you, have an article about a new law firm being established. As a devout believer having a big Seventh Day Adventist church here in St. Maarten, I continue to argue my point about democracy here on the Island, and also about the breakdown of the rule of Law.