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TechnoratiIf we are looking at mission and trying to reach people with the Gospel – are we looking at the children? They not only represent over half the population of the planet they are the most likely to respond to the Good News.
CP: You mentioned the UNAIDS overestimated the AIDS pandemic. Does the new and lower estimate of 33 million people living with AIDS, down from nearly 40 million, have any practical effect on the fight against HIV/AIDS?
Todd: I really don’t think it does. Whether it is 40 million or 33 million it is still a staggering and alarming number. It is still a pandemic, it is still the world’s worst health crisis. I think people’s minds are so numb to those numbers that if you say 33 million or 40 million it just doesn’t change much in the mind or heart. People either care and respond or they are going to remain indifferent and change the channel and watch some more TV. It is one of those things that at that level it probably doesn’t translate to a lot of impact in terms of perception and mobilizing the public to do something.
CP: How would you as a Christian with a science background convince a fellow Christian that HIV/AIDS is the disease that most needs their attention and help?
Todd: I would convince a fellow Christian first of all to walk in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we look how he did ministry we can hardly flip a page of the Gospel without seeing Jesus in the midst of raw humanity spitting at and rubbing it in a man’s eye to give sight, telling a man to get up and walk and be healthy. A woman who comes up in a crowd and touches his garment and he is so filled with the power of healing that it flows out of him and heals her and he knows that.
That spirit is the same spirit that dwells in us. We have the power of he holy spirit and the ministry of our Lord…Jesus went about teaching in the synagogue and healed every disease and sickness among the people.
That is the holistic Gospel and that is what the world needs to see from us. We need to care about the whole person and show the world the real muscle of the Gospel in word and deed.
Now when you talk bout prioritizing, I wouldn’t want to say AIDS is more important than malaria or tuberculosis is more important than childhood diarrhea. The fact is all of those diseases are a scourge and not meant to be what God designed us to experience. There is no reason why 30,000 children should be dying again today from a preventable and treatable disease.
If the body of Christ would wake up to its mandate and mission, if the body of Christ would look at the precedent and example set by Jesus being not about the proclamation but about the demonstration of the Gospel then we would stop those preventable death. The issue for Christians is not how do I prioritize among all of these opportunities to serve the hurting, the issue is getting the Christian to realize that serving the hurting people of the world is what we were rescued and given grace to do.
CP: Do you have anything you want to add?
Todd: I’m very hopeful. I know when we talk about AIDS, the pandemic, the numbers, the children that are suffering and dying it is easy to grow weary and despair. But I believe that this is the church’s greatest opportunity to be who God called us to be. And the Compassion is something that is moving the Kingdom towards something that is more holistic Gospel. I love being part of that. I have the sense that although our history is one of stigma, discrimination, and not caring there are a lot of good people who want to do the right thing who just need to know what to do and who to trust. So I’m very hopeful of what God is doing right now is a wonderful thing and we get to be a part of it.
