Africa and AIDS

There is generally no doubt that Africa is on my mind pretty much everyday. It's kinda hard to ignore it when you've adopted from there. Throw in that I'm flying back to Liberia in 9 weeks and thoughts of Africa are pretty consuming right now.

The One campaign was pretty prominent on American Idol this week, and while I don't watch it often I did watch this one. Sara was definitely moved by some of the stories. It's hard hearing about people, especially children, who die because basic medical care isn't available. The weird thing for me was how numb I felt hearing and watching the stories. As I sit here now it's hard to even think back to it because of the emotional impact. But on that evening I didn't really feel anything. Admittedly I spend time every week hanging out with friends whose jobs are to educate people about AIDS around the world. I see the pictures and hear the stories all the time. I know how horrific the statistics are. But it was still atypical how unmoved I was.

A lot has been made during my lifetime about the desensitizing of America. Typically someone complains about violence and/or sex in video games and on tv. But I'm curious as to how true that can be for real life experiences. Can we become so inundated by harsh realities that we build up immunities to their impacts?

In this case for me, I was pretty tired and distracted that evening which I think is the root cause. Once you've seen firsthand the devastating effects of disease, poverty and warfare you're never the same. Walking down a narrow path between tin shacks the size of my bathroom that house whole families, trying to avoid stepping in the running streams of rainwater mixed with trash and human excrement(poop) the reality of their situation is unavoidable. Knowing that you're in a country where 1 in every 5 kids will not live to see their fifth birthday because of a number of causes including malnutrition, malaria, cholera, or even simple diarrhea. Can you even imagine a place where Pepto Bismol can save lives? And then there is AIDS. So many say they believe it is a myth created by Americans to try and change their sexual behaviors. The stigma is so strong that in more rural areas they won't always inform patients of the diagnosis because it would be such a detriment to their quality of life and there is no treatment available locally anyway. Can it get worse? In a country where conservative estimates say 60% of the population experienced some sort of sexual violence during their 15 year civil war, the impact is only going to get worse. I could go on and on. As a Christian it is hard to see how little the church in America has done to help. It's frustrating to see how little attention is paid.

And then there are evenings like yesterday. The annual Dine Out for Life supporting the Pierce County Aids Foundation. Restaurants all over the county donated 25% of their proceeds for the evening. The place we went to was packed and everyone was wearing a red ribbon. We went with a group from our church - 18 of us and it was great to see the support. There is hope. Awareness is beginning to grow. And for some it will come just in time.

simul justus et peccator

Speaking as a person of faith there are definitely trends in religion that seriously peeve me. There is a widespread tendency within Christianity in America to try to classify everyone as either saint or sinner. This in turn leads to overly pious attitudes of I'm better than you. We see this played out everyday, especially now that we are entering a drawn out presidential election campaign. Abortion or pro-life. Stem cell research? Gay marriage? A recent editorial article on CNN.com discussed the fact that Christianity in America has become defined in the minds of most Americans by a small group of issues. Even within churches these attitudes playout as some are shunned for voting for a particular political party over another, as if how you vote defines your relationship with God. And its not just voting, there are many things that contribute to this classification system.

All of this brings me to the title of this blog "simul justus et peccator" which is latin for "simultaneously saint and sinner." We are all flawed more than we could possible imagine and we are also loved more greatly than we could ever comprehend by God. There is not either/or as a follower of Christ. When we enter into that relationship with God we become both/and. We are both friends of God as the catholics define a saint and a person corrupted by sin. For far too long the church has gone about its business as if saying a prayer to aknowledge God's presence is all that is really needed. Once the prayer is prayed everything is ok. Except its not. Aknowledging God is important. But the story, the journey doesn't end there. Mankind has rejected our creator, we have chosen our own ways over His. But God's love for His creation is so great that He is constantly working to not only redeem us from our sin but also restore us to what he originally intended.

We are all bearers of God's image. We are all fallen. How come we cannot accept that when we classify as either saint or sinner we reject God's restoration in our own life. I am messed up and the moment I begin to think otherwise I return to that initial rejection of God's sovereignty in my life by placing myself first and foremost. I am not God. I am not perfect. None of us are so lets stop acting like a bunch of pious pigs that have made ourselves our own functional saviors and embrace the fact that when we are simultaneously saints and sinners because we are still undergoing God's acts of redemption and restoration in our lives.