Minister of National Guidance and Religious Affairs Rev Godfridah Sumaili has advised men who are under sexual pressure to seek God’s strength to resist temptation rather than sleeping with sex dolls.

She was speaking in an interview with News Diggers! following the influx of sex toys on the Zambians market. After Police Spokesperson Esther Mwaata Katongo told journalists in a WhatsApp group that importing and possessing sex dolls was a criminal offence under Zambian laws, the Religious Affairs minister added that the toys were addictive and destructive.

“First and foremost, as a country we have given ourselves an identity, and our identity is that we are a God fearing and law abiding nation. Therefore, even in terms of our national heritage, that should also help us to know the things that we can accept and the things that we cannot accept. When you talk about sex toys or dolls as they are being called, it is not right for a number of reasons. It’s not something that we should embrace, no! It is totally unacceptable for anybody to start using these items,” Rev Sumaili warned.

“We are a Christians nation, guided by Christians principles. We are guided in Romans 1: 24-27. The bible says “Therefore, God also gave up to uncleanliness in the lusts of their hearts to disowner their bodies among themselves who exchange the truth of God for the lies; worship and say to the creature rather than the Creator who is great for ever. For this reason, God gave them as to vile passions; for even their women exchange the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also, the men leaving the natural use of a woman, burnt in their lusts for each other…Here, God is guiding us on the importance of not using unnatural things from what God created and how He created us. God created that man and woman must come together, not an article replacing a man, or an article to replace a woman. That is totally unacceptable and unnatural.”

She warned that sex dolls were very addictive.

“These kinds of things when you start using them, you become addicted; they are very addictive. You will put yourself in bondage. It’s an abomination before God. It is not something which should be condoned in a Christian Nation. Secondly, the Constitution is very clear. In part 2 it talks about values and human dignity. We are not animals and we should not bring ourselves down from the way God created us in His image. Some people who are using these things are even married, the Bible says the body of the man belongs to the woman and the body of the woman belongs to the man, so whenever the wife demands, the man should be available, whenever the husband demands, the woman should be available. That’s the way it was meant to be, not bringing in toys!” she exclaimed.

“Some people who are doing this have children and what will happen is that their children will give in to those kinds of things. Recently we saw those beautiful girls, they have fallen into lesbianism, which is not allowed; which against God’s guidance. So what I want to say is that it is very important to exercise self-control. Self-control is a fruit of the spirit. It’s in Galatians 5 verse 22.”

Rev Sumaili advised couples in distant relationships to persevere through sexual desire and not fall prey to sin, saying when called up, “God always comes in to help with the situations.

“I think that a human being has capacity to control themselves. If you are in a distance relationship and your partner is away for those three years, you can control yourself and surrender to God and to depend on God for strength and guidance. It (self-control) will not come automatically, but you have to pray and say ‘God help me in this situation’ and God will come forth and help you. When you expose yourself to hanging around the opposite sex who are not your wife, you will be tempted. Temptations will always be there, but one has to manage their life,” said explained.

“The other thing is that we need to have values as families. The statistics show that there are so many divorces out there. That means we are not having family time to be united. We are not putting the Lord at the centre of the family. So I want to call upon the Church. The Church needs to preach these things, preach the reality of what is happening out there; which is affecting the people. And let me emphasiSe that handing or being found with pornographic items is a criminal offence. So I want to warn people out there that if you are connected to these things, come out of it. It will just bring destruction and shame to your life.”

Asked why a country which is faced with rampant cases of child defilement was preventing men from relieving their sexual pressure on sex dolls, Rev Sumaili said it was wrong to stop a sin using another sin.

We cannot allow to get rid of sin and them replace it with another sin. We can’t do that. What we are saying is that it’s important for morality to be upheld because we are a Christian nation. So child defilement is an abomination and it should not be allowed in our country, but we are also saying using sex toys and pornographic materials will just bring our moral standing down. People should practice self-control, turn to God to help you,” the minister guided.

When asked if masturbation was also sinful and immoral, Rev Sumaili declined to comment.

“I think let me remain with this issue which we have talked about. Other issues, I think let me leave them out because we want to send a clear message. When we bring in other issues, some people will just highlight what you have just mentioned, and ignore everything else. So I will not talk about that for now,” said Rev Sumaili.