HIV/AIDS is not an excuse for the Church to allow sin, Christian Council of Zambia (CCZ) general secretary Reverend Japhet Ndhlovu has said.
Reacting to Independent Churches of Zambia (ICOZ) chairman Rev David Masupa on the use of condoms by Church, Rev. Ndhlovu yesterday said although the Church was affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, there was no need to start being lenient on sin.
He said the Church's role was to encourage people to aspire for that which was right. "The moment the Church starts saying some members are weak, then we will be defeating the whole purpose of the Church and Christianity. However this does not mean that the Church does not accept that there is sin in the Church. Sin is there," he said.
Rev Ndhlovu said there were better ways of ensuring that people were not infected instead of encouraging them to go ahead and have sex. He said the Church's stance had been and would always be that condoms could only be used by married couples.
Rev Ndhlovu said the Church, however, had nothing against organisations that marketed and advertised condoms because they had their own premise. He said though the Church may be viewed as old fashioned, it still based its stand on the Bible which taught against premarital sex. Rev Ndhlovu said although the Church was very much affected and infected by HIV/AIDS there was no need to lower the standards of the Church.
He said people should not limit the transmission of HIV/AIDS to sexual intercourse alone despite it being the major means of transmission but should consider other means of transmission. Rev Ndhlovu said it would cost everyone nothing if they exercised their self control.
He said condoms were more expensive than self control. Rev. Masupa on Wednesday said the Church would be very unfair not to allow Christians, who are not morally strong, to use condoms.