World Aids Day

I stood there in the middle of Africa with a child in my arms, and I wondered how many Christians in the West would condemn him to death in the name of politics or religion. As we have been approaching World Aids Day, I have been listening to the voices of many American evangelicals and come to realise that there are an unfortunate many who would indeed do so.

The beautiful child of whom I'm thinking had a big smile on his face. He had just finished playing Frisbee with one of our team members and then had been chasing me around the compound until I let him catch me. Then I picked him up in my arms. As I looked at him and his bright smile, I couldn’t help but to wonder what his future will be like. Will he accomplish great things? Will he marry and have children? Or will he even live to be an adult?

In many East African countries the percentage of people who are HIV positive is staggering. I have held the hands of many children who will not reach adulthood because of this terrible disease. And yet I keep hearing people speak with contempt about the AIDs situation. Some say that AIDs is God’s judgement upon homosexuals and that it is therefore in some way deserved. Others say that it is a problem always brought on by some kind of immorality and therefore not worthy of our compassion.

As I held the child in my arms, I wondered how we could ever have reached a place where we could turn a blind eye to the suffering masses in the name of “justice.” When we do so, we fail justice miserably and instead become collaborators with the worst kind of evil.

And in case some people are thinking that the standard is different in Africa somehow than it is in Europe and America, let me also mention that I’ve held a lot of hands in America as well. There are somewhere around a million people here in the USA who are HIV positive. Those statistics may not be nearly as high as in such places as Africa, but they are still disturbing. And these statistics cut into every walk of life. Some people think AIDs is a homosexual disease and that everyone who has it lives a gay lifestyle. This would appear to be very far from the truth however. According to the UNAIDS Report on the Global HIV/AIDs Epidemic: December 2001, as many as 80 percent of people diagnosed as HIV positive are heterosexual, and statistics are also quite clear in pointing out that a significant number of those who are HIV positive have been infected by their marriage partners or their parents. There is no one specific group of people who is alone infected by this disease. However, even if there were we would still have no right as Christians to deny compassion to its victims.

We need to be reminded that there is no such thing as an innocent person, so when we dismiss people as simply “deserving” of this disease we take a moral position that is very dangerous indeed. We make ourselves judges and juries of mankind when we ourselves are judged by Scripture as all being guilty of sin. “There is none who is righteous…no, not one” (Romans 3:10), “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). If it were not for God’s mercy, none of us would stand. The only hope any of us has is to turn to God and accept the gift of His grace. This is a gift that Christianity teaches is available to all people, regardless of who they are.

It seems to me that many of the people who turn a blind eye to the AIDs crisis are people who disguise their bigotry towards certain people groups under a banner of religion or politics. Many who are of certain political persuasions, for example, automatically dismiss homosexuals as being less worthy of God’s grace than other people even though the Bible makes no such distinction. And if they see someone whom they know has been infected by this dreaded disease, they put a label on the person and turn away.

But here is the truth…The truth is that if we are truly to be Christ-like, we need to learn to take people like this African child in our arms and show them love and compassion regardless of where they come from, what they look like, or how they have lived. And here’s the shocking truth…even right here in America or Europe, you may not have to look across the sea to Africa to find someone who needs to be embraced with God’s love as he or she faces this terrible disease. You may only have to look across the street or even across the room.

How will you respond to the AIDs crisis? Will you respond with Christ-like love and compassion? Or will you simply walk away?