Elizabeth Taylor, the actress, died this week at age 79. Every eulogy I’ve heard has mentioned her campaign to fight AIDS as her most memorable and lasting legacy. Not only did she raise money to fight the disease, she spoke openly about how we should understand the affliction, and welcome those overcome by it. No less a moral authority than an editor of People Magazine said that Ms. Taylor wanted to dismantle the notion that AIDS was God’s wrath against homosexuals. Although oft repeated, I don’t know any Christians who feel that AIDS is a sign of God’s wrath against anybody. Perhaps God’s love, but certainly not his wrath. Let me explain.
First of all, it is important to realize what AIDS is. It is not a disease. Rather, it is the absence of an active immune system. The immune system is a gift from God allowing us to live in a hostile, septic environment. A person with AIDS doesn’t get sick and die from AIDS, they get sick and die from other afflictions that were not dealt with by an active immune system. So in its own way, AIDS is the absence of something, not the presence. The AIDS carrier experiences what life is like without protection that the rest of us take for granted.
Secondly, it is important to realize that AIDS is in the vast majority of cases a condition acquired through voluntary behavior. True, there are children who get AIDS through their parents, blood transfusions, organ donations and the like. This is a true tragedy, but does not account for the overwhelming majority of transmissions. These latter events are usually associated with sexual activity, illicit drug use, and other “risky” behaviors. AIDS would die out, be eradicated, in one generation, if those not yet infected would desist from those “risky” activities. Thus, AIDS is perpetuated by willful decisions on the part of the uninfected.
Thirdly, all those “risky” behaviors are proscribed by the Bible. Whether it’s premarital sex, adultery, homosexuality or drug use, which is translated as “sorcery” in the Greek, in each and every case the Bible argues that God frowns on those activities. This is no doubt where the notion comes that AIDS represents God’s wrath against homosexuals. On the one hand he prohibits the behavior, then he sends the disease. Were it only that simple.
I would argue that AIDS is not so much sent by God as allowed by God. The Bible says that Satan came to kill, steal and destroy. AIDS does all that. I take the position that although God came to heal, restore and deliver, he nevertheless allows scourges like AIDS in the hope that a good greater than the suffering will ensue. How can that be?
The Bible goes on to say that although all stand justified by the shed blood of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, all stand in need of a further infusion of grace. We are already forgiven for moral guilt because of Good Friday. We tend to persist in sin, however, and in order to be delivered from that disposition, we need to be dominated by the Holy Spirit. Not only do we need forgiveness, we need power. If we continue in sin, we squander the benefits of Christ’s sacrifice and become subject to what the Bible calls a “coming Wrath of God.” This is a wrath reserved for those who do not acknowledge their need of forgiveness or divine power. People who ignore their need of these two things are banking that their own moral virtue will sustain them in the life to come. They are fine on your own in moral terms, if you will.
Here’s where the idea of AIDS comes in. If AIDS is a sign of what life in this world is like on our own, without protection, might it not be a metaphor for what life is like in the world to come when we are similarly on our own? If we need an immune system to prevent attack now, might we not need a spiritual immune system in the life to come, to likewise prevent spiritual attack in that world? If this is true, then AIDS becomes not a scourge or an expression of wrath on God’s part, but rather a profound effort, a last ditch effort by God, to show people that willfulness in this life can lead to not only temporary and also permanent loss. Those behaviors that lead to AIDS infections all belie a moral obtuseness that will lead to a coming wrath in the life to come. If AIDS can serve as some kind of warning, a wake-up call, then I believe God will allow it to continue.
God’s economy is not our economy. He’s always thinking about the long term, not the short, the many, not the few, and the unsaved, not the saved. Until we view things from his perspective, we will draw all kinds of wrong conclusions. We will misunderstand Him, our own role in our welfare, and the world around us. We will assign motives to God that are diametrically opposed to those he really holds, and we will miss out on some of the most profound gestures of love and concern our heavenly Father can extend to his children. Just don’t expect to get the real news in places like People magazine, or from people like Elizabeth Taylor.
Does AIDS work for good? I believe it can. I have personally evangelized a man dying of AIDS, who repented and became grateful for Christ’s sacrifice and life-giving spirit before he died. That man died physically, so that he might not die spiritually. That’s an unfortunate tradeoff, but infinitely better than the one he was headed for before he got sick.
