–– Paul Schlehlein
The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and is a disease that destroys the body’s immune system, greatly lowering its resistance to infection. This disease is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, also known as HIV, which is transferred in blood and sexual fluids.
While there are treatments to slow the damage of AIDS, currently there is no known cure.
According to one dictionary, the disease “first spread among gay men, intravenous drug users, and recipients of infected blood transfusions, before reaching a wider population. This tended to overshadow a greater epidemic in parts of Africa, where the transmission is mainly through heterosexual contact.”
HIV/AIDS in Africa
In the mid-1980s, HIV and AIDS were virtually unheard of in southern Africa. It is now the worst-affected region in the world. Although eastern and southern Africa is inhabited by just 7% of the world’s population, it is estimated to have more than half of the people living with HIV.
Adult HIV prevalence exceeds 20% in Eswatini, Botswana, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe. The nations of the world with the highest numbers of HIV/AIDS cases are South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Nigeria. South Africa has over 300% more HIV/AIDS cases than the second-place country.
Is AIDS God’s Judgment?
It is not uncommon for people to ask the question: “Is AIDS a judgment from God?” One can respond in a number of ways. The answer is no if you’re asking if all who have the disease have committed some kind of sin that deserves punishment with AIDS. The disease spreads in more ways than sinful practices, such as the mother breastfeeding.
From a broad perspective, the answer is yes in that all suffering is related to the Fall in Genesis 3. If there had been no sin, there would be no strep throat, chickenpox, cancer, tuberculosis and certainly not AIDS.
In a more narrow sense, the answer is yes because if there were no sexual promiscuity and no drug use (the two largest causes of HIV/AIDS), there would be no AIDS.
AIDS is often called a “plague” or “epidemic” but it is different from others by this name. For example, when cholera breaks out, everyone is at risk, not so with AIDS. We know exactly how AIDS is transmitted. Those who are celibate or monogamous and do not use drugs have no reason to fear because they have zero to little chance of getting the disease.
Let us be honest. The vast majority of those who have the disease have engaged in biblically forbidden acts of sexual sin or drug use. According to Galatians 6:7, “Whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” According to Romans 1:27, HIV/AIDS is a part of the “due penalty” that comes upon the lifestyles of fornication and homosexuality.
Thus, AIDS is different from smallpox and other pandemics because it is directly related to sinful behavior.
A Reason for Hope
While there is a sense in which HIV/AIDS is God’s judgment, it may also be God’s mercy. If God brought no consequences for sin, His creatures would continue in it. In most places around the world, casual sex is accepted and promoted. TV and movies portray fornication as fun and enjoyable. While friends and family perish around them, people may begin to ask: “What are we doing to ourselves?”
Families and churches ought to teach about the importance of pure sex, not safe sex. Pure sex insists upon sexual intimacy only within the bounds of marriage. Safe sex teaches it is permissible to fornicate, as long as one uses some kind of protection against sexually transmitted diseases. Hebrews 13:4 says, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”
Christians should pray with compassion for those with HIV/AIDS and seek to help them. Regardless of whether they have the disease due to sin or not, we must remember that we serve a God of mercy. D.A. Carson said it well:
“So while Christians utter warnings about God’s judgment and articulate the Bible’s condemnation of promiscuity and of homosexuality, they must do so with a break in their voice, as guilty sinners telling other guilty sinners where to find relief” (How Long, O Lord?, p. 233).
If the grace of Christ preserved you from the consequences of these sins, then we should reach out to those who do not know Him and proclaim the gospel—the only message that will free them.