Jesus Was HIV Positive?

Categories: politics, religion

Date: 01 November 2010 13:10:43

I saw this story on the BBC website.

I am astonished at the reaction of the South African church to what this minister has said. Jesus did align himself with the poor, the needy and the sick. These are people who were treated as outcasts by the religious authorities at the time. Jesus showed that they were as valid as anyone else to receive the salvation that God had sent him to offer.

Ok, so saying that Jesus was HIV Positive was not the best way to bring this about but what the minister was doing was linking the suffering and alienation that HIV sufferers feel today. Many are ignored by the authorities, refused treatment or shunned by their own communities.

Yet these are people that should have the love, acceptance and salvation shared with them. Ignoring their pain and suffering helps no one, least of all them. Yet that is what many in Africa are doing. They associate the problem with homosexuality but the disease is spreading throuoghout the hetrosexual community because churches and politicians are not facing up to the reality of the problem.

This minister is trying to warn his congregation that not only are they at risk themselves but that they need to stand up for those already struckdown with the disease. Christians should give a lead to show that these sufferers are not alone, that people do care for them and that God has not rejected them because they have this disease.

As many seem to have reacted against this teaching from a stance that Jesus is somehow devalued by this interpretation, then they have as much to learn as the Pharissee and Sadducees did.