A few Sundays ago, Pastor Xola Skosana took an HIV test in front of his entire congregation and encouraged others to do likewise, says the U.K. based The Guardian.
The HIV test was accompanied by a provocative sermon entitled "Jesus was HIV-positive." Xola Skosana’s desire is to make South African Christians think more carefully about what he sees as a “conspiracy of silence” by the South African church regarding HIV, and its continued stigmatization as evil and a sin. All this in a country where nearly a thousand people die a day from Aids related illnesses.
One hundred young people from Skosana’s church, the non-denominational Way of Life church based in Khayelitsha , Cape Town, joined him in taking the test. Skosana acknowledged that his sermon title was designed to shock and draw attention to "a very serious issue".
"In many parts of the Bible, God put himself in the position of the destitute, the sick, the marginalised," he stated. "When we attend to those who are sick, we are attending to him. When we ignore people who are sick, we are ignoring him."
Skosana quoted the Scriptural passage where Jesus said: "I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."
However, Skosana made note of the aggressive opposition he has faced from some Christians as a result of his message.
"The scathing attacks I've received from Christians are unbelievable," he said. "They're saying you can't reconcile Jesus and Aids. They assume it means Jesus was promiscuous and had a louche lifestyle with many sexual partners."
"It baffles me why in the church this is the most untalked-about subject," Skosana went on to say. "If I went to church and never heard the pastor talk about this, I would assume I must go home and die in silence. The message is that it's an unpardonable sin and we must just forget about HIV/Aids.”
"My responsibility as a pastor is to open a Bible and paint a picture of a God who cares for people and wants the best for them, not who judges them and is ashamed of them."
HIV/Aids has impacted Skosana’s life personally as he has lost two sisters to the pandemic. Skosana urged other churches to be more open about the subject. "I hope this will change the paradigm, especially in the Pentecostal background. I come from the Pentecostal background and I know this discussion is totally alien there."
In a blog article he wrote as a result of Skosana’s sermon, the academic and author Dr. Dion Forster fully supported these views and provided some further theological and scriptural backing for them.
Forster points out that:
“Christians believe, according to Paul's theology, that the Church is the "body of Christ" (see for example 1 Corinthians 12:12, Colossians 1:18). If there are members of the Church that are HIV positive then the Body of Christ is HIV positive.”
Forster goes onto say that “we are responsible for one another, and as such the whole Church (all across the world) must consider itself HIV +. The HI virus infects the whole of the body. Unlike cancer one cannot remove the ailing part of the body. The virus affects every part of the body.”
Forster also quotes a paper he wrote for the Epworth Review, a theological journal where he says, “One of the most controversial statements in the contemporary Church is surely the assertion that ‘The Church has AIDS’! This statement challenges Christians to recognize that it is impossible to do theology and engage in Christian life and ministry without taking into account the impact of HIV and AIDS on the world...”
(You can read Dr. Forster's blog at www.dionforster.com).