Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/91

Contributor - Jim Moerman

Title - Aids - a Christian Response

Topic - AIDS

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS has been called "The New Plague." In the USA in 1986, of the 24,011 cases of AIDS reported, half of those people are now dead. In 1990, 270,000 cases of AIDS were reported; this figure represents a tenfold increase in 5 years. There are an estimated 1-3 million apparently healthy persons in North America who are carriers of the AIDS virus which has a 7 year plus incubation period.

In Central Africa, 1 person in every 10, tests AIDS positive. By 2,000 A.D., it is expected that there will be 100 million cases of AIDS worldwide. It has been predicted that by 1995, each of us will know (or know of someone with AIDS.)

Unfortunately, AIDS is not a problem we can ignore it is here now! This fact raises the question, "What is our response?" As Christians endowed with God's Spirit as our inheritance, God's Word as our guide, and a commitment to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, what is our response to the person with AIDS? What does our Lord want our response to be? There are many unacceptable responses:

1. Evasion - Not long ago a 32 year old man walked into a Pastor's office in Dallas, Texas and explained that he had AIDS and requested that the pastor conduct his funeral service after his death. The pastor agreed to the request even though three other pastors had already refused. Was this their way of trying to ignore the issue of AIDS? Is this our response?

2. Desertion - In 1665 at the height of the Bubonic Plague in England, most of the wealthy, many clergy and almost all physicians fled London leaving about 20% of the population to die from the disease which came to be known as the "Black Death." Only 13 doctors remained to care for 200,000 people. Is this our response - "It's not our problem ... let THEM handle it!"

3. Scapegoating - During the panic of the Black Death in the Middle Ages, victims or scapegoats were needed to satisfy the enraged public. These victims were accused of poisoning wells with potions of spiders and owls and of infecting the air by breathing. Is scapegoating a Christian response? We need to turn to Scripture to formulate our response, beginning with the most oft-turned-to passage on homosexuality which is often tied to the AIDS epidemic.

Romans 1:18-27: The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.... For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened ... Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another ... Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. (italics mine )

Here and elsewhere, the Bible clearly and absolutely condemns the practice of homosexuality as sin. Anyone who claims otherwise ignores what is plain and is forced to twist Scriptures to suit their own needs.

Scriptures also say: "The wages of sin is death," (Romans 6:23) and "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction" . . . (Galatians 6:7,8)

But is AIDS God's judgment on homosexuals? Some would say "Yes." Certainly AIDS does confront the homosexual with his sin yet since AIDS is spreading to the heterosexual population, God may also be confronting ALL forms of promiscuity - homosexuality, fornication, and adultery. In doing so, God may be waking up a sinful sleeping society to the harsh realities of sin and judgment. But to say that AIDS is God's special judgment on homosexuals is going too far. It would be far more accurate to say that AIDS is a consequence of homosexuality and ALL sin whether it be cheating on income tax, cheating on one's spouse, dabbling in soft porn or in soft drugs carries its own brand of consequence. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked concerning ANY SIN. There is no such thing as "safe sin." All sin hurts us, cuts us, and exacts a very high price. Misunderstandings arise from the fact that many of us want to categorize sin by rating a certain one as a "5", another one as a "3" and "Oooh, homosexuality is a definite "11"! But our ways and judgments are NOT God's ways and judgments! From the Scriptures we find God's harshest words reserved NOT for homosexuality, NOT for murder, BUT for apathy! Apathy? Yes, apathy!

In Revelations 3:15, 16 we read: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth." That is harsh! Remember if we are going to categorize sin, NONE OF US IS SAFE! The wages of sin is death!

There is another problem with calling AIDS God's special judgement on homosexuals. If indeed this is so then why is He so inconsistent in handing out judgment? About 10% of people with AIDS are "innocent victims" including newborn infants, haemophiliacs (due to tainted- blood transfusions) and wives of bi-sexual men. Why judge them? AIDS affects homosexuals but not lesbians. Why not judge them too?

Perhaps the best question we can ask ourselves is: "How would Jesus respond to people with AIDS?" The greatest sermon ever preached on this planet is found in Matthew 5, 6 and 7, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Build your life on these words He said AND storms may blow, and the wind may beat at your house ... BUT you'll never fall! The next chapter (chapter 8) starts like this:

When He came down from the Mountainside, large crowds followed Him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before Him and said, "Lord, if you are willing you can make me clean." Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. "I am willing," He said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Matthew 8:1-3

In Biblical times, people with leprosy were considered unclean, untouchable, contagious, and deserving of God's punishment for something they had done to contract this sinful disease. By comparison today, people with AIDS are considered unclean, untouchable, contagious and deserving of God's punishment for something they have done to contract this virus. The parallel is not only close, IT IS EXACT! After Jesus h ' ad preached the sermon above all sermons, He walked down the mountain and was confronted with a disgusting, offensive person with leprosy an outcast of society - whom He touched ... and healed!

So then when the first person with AIDS walks through our door (maybe he or she already has) it is our responsibility to:

1. Be agents of Jesus' compassion and love without compromising the truth of His Word.

People with AIDS do not need to hear "I told you so" even though that is what we may want to say. As one person with AIDS said: "Don't judge me - I'm living under my own judgment. What I need is for you to walk with me as much and as far as you can." At the same time we must not compromise the Word of God which says that homosexuality is indeed a sin, it's evil, it's wrong, it's detestable ... but the homosexual IS NOT! Remember this distinction. We know this to be true because homosexuals have been - are today - and will be tomorrow - the recipients of God's compassion and love.

In I Corinthians 6:9-11 it states: "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolater nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders ... will inherit the Kingdom of God And that is what some of you were, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

If the homosexual is eligible in God's eyes for love and compassion then who are we to turn him away with condemnation. We cannot! As Christians we must extend to the homosexual the same love and compassion as did our Heavenly Father.

2. Be Educated and Educating

AIDS has arrived and there is no point in burying our heads in the sand or in the clouds nor is there any point in hiding concerning solutions to the AIDS epidemic. We must take the responsibility to educate our own children about sexuality ourselves, rather than leaving sex education to locker room conversations, the school boards, and public service ads on television. Let us be open about solutions at home, church, youth group meetings and so on. The solution is not to be found in the use of condoms but rather in the knowledge that sex must be a servant of love, marriage, parenthood, and home life. AIDS could be stamped out in one generation by confining sex to marriage - more specifically to a monogamous heterosexual marriage relationship just like God intended - just like He said in the beginning. The solution is to build strong marriages with Jesus Christ at the centre and to educate the world that God did not invent marriage to rob us of sexual pleasure, BUT to set the best conditions in which sexual love could be enjoyed! As the inventor, God knows how His inventions work best.

Here we are. This is the society in which we live. Let us not desert it. Let us not condemn left, right and centre. Let us not evade the problem. Instead let us care! It is the only proper Christian response. This is an incredible hour for the church to be the church. People with AIDS are dying alone and desperate. They are in need of hope eternal hope and often in need of someone to care about and for them during their last days on earth. As Christians we have much to offer people who are stricken with this terrible disease:

a. healing (whether physical or emotional)

b. comfort

c. grace - the grace of God that covers a multitude of sin. People with AIDS are more open to talking about faith, God, what is beyond this life and to prayer than we may think. So let us not slam the door on them, but instead treat them as Jesus would minor on judgment and major on ministry.

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