my wife lived in the Ivory Coast for a while. the women she worked with had a very interesting attitude on sex and HIV/AIDS.
when the missionaries explained HIV/AIDS to them in a way that they could understand the women looked defeated. they said there was nothing anyone could do about promiscuity and unprotected sex in Africa. they resigned themselves to defeat and the idea that Africa would be destroyed by this.
i don't remember the position of the mission group on passing out condoms. i know they aren't fans of sex between unmarried people, but that doesn't always (and shouldn't always) match up.
as Christians we are called to love and care for (physically and spiritually) those who don't believe just as we do our brothers and sisters in Christ. the Pope is corect that there needs to be a spiritual renewal. he is correct that a spiritual problem is the root of all this. but does that mean we can't take measures to help people who have different values and beliefs protect themselves from a disease that will kill them? in pragmatic evangelical terms, we would be robbing them of the opportunity to have a full life in which the gospel could work on their heart if we didn't try to save their lives.
of course this is a big gray area with lots of discussion. i don't have the answers. i don't think there's any "increasing the problem" in Africa - it's about as bad as it can get. any compassion and help, be it in the form of condoms or food or education or whatever, will save lives and is worth it.
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when the missionaries explained HIV/AIDS to them in a way that they could understand the women looked defeated. they said there was nothing anyone could do about promiscuity and unprotected sex in Africa. they resigned themselves to defeat and the idea that Africa would be destroyed by this.
i don't remember the position of the mission group on passing out condoms. i know they aren't fans of sex between unmarried people, but that doesn't always (and shouldn't always) match up.
as Christians we are called to love and care for (physically and spiritually) those who don't believe just as we do our brothers and sisters in Christ. the Pope is corect that there needs to be a spiritual renewal. he is correct that a spiritual problem is the root of all this. but does that mean we can't take measures to help people who have different values and beliefs protect themselves from a disease that will kill them? in pragmatic evangelical terms, we would be robbing them of the opportunity to have a full life in which the gospel could work on their heart if we didn't try to save their lives.
of course this is a big gray area with lots of discussion. i don't have the answers. i don't think there's any "increasing the problem" in Africa - it's about as bad as it can get. any compassion and help, be it in the form of condoms or food or education or whatever, will save lives and is worth it.