Hard Hearts

The controversy over Pope Benedict XVI’s recent comments on the use of condoms in the fight against the spread of AIDS in Africa continues. For those of you who missed it, the pontiff essentially said you can’t resolve the AIDS problem with the distribution of condoms. The answer, he said, is a responsible and moral attitude toward sex including abstinence and monogamy.

The predictable outrage from activists and government officials ensued. French human rights minister Rama Yade said she was "dumbfounded" by the pope's comments. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called them "the opposite of tolerance and understanding." The Belgian parliament passed a resolution calling them "unacceptable" and demanded Belgium's government officially protest.

What did they expect from the leader of a church that holds the position that sex outside of marriage is wrong?

The whole affair reminds me of Jesus’ teaching about divorce in Matthew 19. The Pharisees came up to Jesus and tested him by asking, “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for just any reason?” Jesus responded that marriage was instituted by God and “let no one split apart what God has joined together.” The Pharisees thought they had him where they wanted him. “Aha! Then why did Moses say in the law that a man could give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away?” Now Jesus had them right where he wanted them. He said:

“Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended.”

Not what God originally intended. That says it all, doesn’t it?

God originally intended that man and woman would stay together for life in a committed relationship and would not have sex outside that relationship. Once again, mankind has rebelled and gone his own way.

Should condoms be condoned to slow the spread of AIDS? Only as a concession to our hard hearts. It is not what God had originally intended.