Religion
The
Church Should be
a Place of
Hopeand Comfort
Takura O’Theo Mambonde
M
ark 1:40-41“And there came a
leper to him, beseeching him,
and kneeling down to him,
and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved
with compassion, put forth his hand, and
touched him, and saith unto him, I will;
be thou clean.”
December 1 is World AIDS Day and I
believe the world will not be celebrating
the disease, but commemorating it. HIV/
AIDS is one element which has infected
most of us and affected all of us. I have
980 friends on my Facebook page and if
I am to go by statistics I have nearly 205
of 980 living with HIV/AIDS, which is a
staggering 196 of my friends.
It is my appeal to the rest of my
friends not to stigmatise those who are
unfortunate enough to be in my “196”.
And it is my appeal to my “196” not to
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stigmatise themselves. HIV does not at
all reduce the value of a human being.
It is just an ordinary disease like cancer,
pneumonia and cholera. Perhaps the only
difference is that it is affecting us at an
alarming rate.
And now to the scripture mentioned
above, which verse is plucked from the
book of Mark where Jesus heals a Leper.
What is worth noting here is that “And
Jesus, moved with compassion, put
forth his hand, and touched him.” Jesus
touched someone who was considered
unclean! Even the bible supported this
view [Leviticus 13:45-46 And the leper
in whom the plague is, his clothes shall
be rent, and his head bare, and he shall
put a covering upon his upper lip, and
shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days
wherein the plague shall be in him he
shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall
dwell alone; without the camp shall
his habitation be. Leviticus 5:3 Or if he
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touches human uncleanness - whatever
uncleanness wth which a man may be
defiled and he is unaware of it - when he
r ealises it, then he shall be guilty.
Please keep this thought in mind, as we
will refer to it later on in our discussion.
I would like to see HIV and AIDS as the
Leprosy of our day. Back in the Biblical
times Leprosy was a dreaded ailment and
those who had it were greatly prejudiced.
I will refer to the story of Job who had
leprosy (a skin disease) and his friends
accused him of disobeying God. They
saw the Leprosy as punishment from
God for anyone who disobeyed him.
That’s the same case today. I have felt
so uncomfortable during several church
services in which the preacher presents
AIDS as God’s tool against an adulterous
generation.
I have heard statements like “God first
sent private Gonorrhoe but we did not
take heed. Now he has sent Field Marshal
April 2013