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Bono and Abstinence

I am sitting here watching Bono and Bobby Shriver on TV talking about a new initiative called (Red) which is aimed at using the color and the association to Bono arguably the most popular singer of the most popular rock band in the world, to galvanize people to purchase products and services associated with his Red promotion in an effort to raise funds to fight the spread of AIDS. I must say that as far back as 1982 when I first became a fan of Bono’s band U2, he has always come across as a genuine humanitarian, a rock star (though he wasn’t as big back then) who was very concerned about his fellow man. I applaud him mightily and I hope that his new venture succeeds in a big way.

Unfortunately however, as I have written about previously, AIDS is emblematic of the human weakness of man combined with the human efforts of man, to attempt to fix a problem that only has a biblically directed solution: that being abstinence from sex when it’s circumstances are inappropriate and “morally” wrong. No amount of preventative drugs will stop the spread of a disease that is by and large propagated by rampant sexual activity, an activity that is consistently condemned by God: (1 Corinthians 5:11) But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat; (1 Corinthians 6:18) Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body; (Hebrews 13:4) Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

God’s directive against sexual immorality is definitely a hard (some may say impossible) message in today’s loose and free-wheeling society. However, can any reader of this blog argue that if most who have contracted AIDS had “simply” refrained from the sexual activity that caused it, that they would not currently have the disease? In order to stay alive, it is impossible not to breathe, it is impossible not to eat, but is it impossible not to abstain from promiscuous sex or sex that is deemed immoral by God (the creator of the air you breathe and the food that you eat)? To be sure, there are those who are more or less bystanders who happen to have contracted the disease indirectly (while having nothing to do with sexual promiscuity) – those who contracted it via blood transfusions or children born to parents who had the disease etc. However, even these unfortunate souls are victims indirectly of those who were likely sexually promiscuous.

None of this diminishes the efforts of many like Bono and Bobby Shriver who are living selfless lives in the interests of others. However I have to wonder, what type of impact would an AIDS fighting effort of abstinence have if a Bono was a champion for that message?

All scrpture courtesy of the NIV Bible
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