A pastor in South Africa has shocked churchgoers with a series of sermons claiming Jesus was HIV-positive.
"Today I will start with a three-part sermon on: Jesus was HIV-positive," Xola Skosana said in a recent Sunday service in Cape Town, in a move intended to fight the stigma surrounding the virus.
Read more on Skosana's service on HIVPlusMag.com.
While some are outraged at South African Pastor's Xola Skosana's words because they portray Jesus Christ as possibly being sexually promiscuous, the pastor told followers that Jesus frequently put himself in the position of the poor or sick population.
Skosana also said he used the example to illustrate the stigma that HIV/AIDS still has on South Africans and people around the world.
"Of course, there's no scientific evidence that Jesus had the HI virus in his bloodstream," the pastor said according to the BBC. "The best gift we can give to people who are HIV-positive is to help de-stigmatise Aids and create an environment where they know God is not against them, he's not ashamed of them."
Watch House of Numbers to learn more about HIV and AIDS.
Source: http://advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/11/01/Sermon_Jesus_Was_HIV_Positive/
Source: http://hivplusmag.com/NewsStory.asp?id=22044&sd=11/01/2010
