I am going to go about the study in a little different way today than I had originally planned. I cannot possibly answer all of your questions, but I do hope to impart some information to you that may be helpful in dealing with the subject.
The focus of our study is going to be on sanitation in communion “in light of recent developments.” That, of course, primarily has reference to a disease called AIDS. Before we can understand the issue, we must be able to understand what it is we are dealing with. Fear exists even among Christians! This fear is not so much a fear of the disease itself, but the stigma attached to it!
“AIDS” stands for the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, a disease which is a sever breakdown of the body’s immune system. This disorder leaves the body vulnerable to a variety of unusual, life threatening illnesses. It is these diseases, not the AIDS virus itself, which can result in death. The common cold becomes a killer to the person with the AIDS virus. The most common illnesses found in people with the HIV virus are: PCP, a type of pneumonia, and KS a form of cancer; both, killers!
AIDS cases have been documented as early as 1977, although now we know that a similar disease was documented in 1951. And as far back as 1827, similar diseases have been known to exist (although people did not know what to call them.) Since 1977, the illness has been diagnosed around the world with increasing frequency. Scientists expect the AIDS epidemic to continue to spread. There is no known cure or vaccine for the disease (although one lady did say that Nature’s Sunshine herbs was a sure cure). Understanding how the virus is contracted, how it is spread, and how to prevent its transmission; are the only ways to slow the epidemic at this time.
I want to preface all my future statements with this one thing. The disease is the result of sin, and I refuse to use the word “gay” in this study. There is nothing “gay” about the sin of homosexuality, and the Bible specifically condemns this sin. I will not soft sell the sin, and I refuse to call it an alternative lifestyle! It is not. It is an abomination unto the Lord (Leveticus 18:22; 20:13; Deuteronomy 23:17)!
- Homosexuals, 64%
I.V. (intravenous) drug users, 18%
heterosexuals, 4% rising to 9% in 1991
Hemophiliacs 3%;
(and it is known that 93% of all aids victims are men).
Aids was initially identified as an epidemic in 1981 and was first seen in homosexual and bisexual men. Shortly thereafter, I.V. drug users began accounting for a high percentage of all AIDS cases in the U.S. Others who are at risk for developing AIDS are children born to parents who are infected with the virus, and people who have other blood disorders who must receive blood. (Just as a side note, of the cases that I am personally familiar with, the people have the HIV virus as a result of blood transfusions.)
- (1) through intimate sexual contact;
(2) through shared needles and syringes, a problem especially prevalent among I.V. drug users;
(3) through receiving blood or blood products that have been contaminated with the virus (but this risk has been greatly reduced by testing all blood donors for antibodies to the virus);
(4) through infected mothers passing the virus to their infants through the blood stream before and, or, at the time of birth.
The biggest question on our minds is, “Can this disease be transmitted by or through casual contact with a person who has it?” There are no reported cases of AIDS or HIV infection as the result of casual contact. Ordinary household and work-place contact with people infected with HIV is safe. (This is very important to our sanitation issue.) You CAN NOT become infected with HIV by sharing eating and drinking utensils or bathrooms. Just for your information, I was concerned about the cleanliness of public restrooms, elevators, busses and other public facilities long before I knew anything about AIDS.
Mosquitoes do not transmit the disease, and the common communion cup does not offer a suitable atmosphere for the HIV virus to live. Some tests have demonstrated that the active life of the HIV virus outside the carrier to be up to 15 hours, but these tests were conducted under laboratory conditions, and the virus was virtually kept alive by placing it in the right conditions for it to live.
Now some questions before we more on. “First, How do we respond to those among us who have the HIV virus, or full blown AIDS?” That is a legitimate question and I will at least begin the answer here and continue it in the discussion period. Above all, we must not make any assumptions as to how such individuals contracted the disease! We must then exercise our faith, for dealing with this problem is pre-eminently an exercise in faith. Titus 1:15 says, “to the pure, all things are pure.” If someone here had AIDS, or we converted someone with AIDS, we must act toward them in faith without wavering.
Second, “Is this a plague sent from God to destroy the people involved in the sin?” Some say yes, and point out Sodom and Gonorrah and what happened to them (Genesis 19:1-29). I believe the answer lies in Romans 1:27. It says, “Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which is due.” The penalty is due them as a natural consequence of that sin! Romans 6:23 reads, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” They get what they deserve for their sinful conduct.
I have heard some say, “sure they sin, but that disease is just too much!” No, I am afraid that is not the case; they reap what they sow! I also want to say that the effects of this disease can certainly visit the children to the third and fourth generation (Exodus 20:5-6). The third and fourth generation may be totally innocent, but still feel the effects of the sins of their forefathers. This is not a plague sent to these people for the specific reason of punishing them, but it is the natural result of their sin. One thing that we must all remember, we will pay the consequences for our sins!
Homosexuality is wrong. It is a sin. But AIDS is not God’s direct curse on those who practice it. In God’s sight, there is no difference in the eternal consequences of different kinds of sin. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-30), Jesus equates anger with murder and sexual lust with adultery. Sinful lifestyles have certain consequences.
Third, “What about innocent children who contract AIDS from parents who have the disease?” Answer: They are suffering the consequences of sin in the world. Not God’s wrath! The same holds true for those people who receive contaminated blood during transfusion.
The first thing that I would like to make clear is that this is not a discussion of the “cup” question. What we have been discussing may be more of an issue in future debates and personal studies, but this is not a discussion of the one cup per se.
Advocates of one communion vessel for the distribution of the fruit of the vine have not really had too much of a problem with the sanitation question as far as the safety of this scriptural method is concerned. That is until now!
In the beginning of the move to individual cups, it was generally stated that the practice was for health reasons. It was just healthier, some argued, to have each person use his or her own cup. The advocates of multiple containers for the distribution of the fruit of the vine felt that for all to drink out of one container would be unsanitary, and that this practice would promote the spread of disease from one to another. However, besides the fact that we are commanded to use one container, scientific proof exists that the risk of spreading (any) disease through drinking from the same container is nil.
I would like to read a quote out of “The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper” by Thomas H. Warner;
“Until near the end of the nineteenth century the chalice, or cup, was used in the distribution of the wine at the Lord’s Supper. At that time more attention began to be paid to hygiene, and the use of the common cup began to be unpopular with communicants. Rev. J. 0. Thomas, who was both a minister and a physician, was the originator of the idea of the individual cups. From his medical practice he learned what he believed to be the uncleanliness and danger of the common cup and felt that the Lord’s Supper could be made more beautiful by the use of individual cups. His first patent was granted in march of 1894. The first service using individual cups was help in a little Putnam county church in Ohio.”
Thus the multi-cup idea was formed and brought into existence. However, it is an established fact that the church existed and prospered for 1900 years without individual cups, and there is no record of any of its members ever catching or dying from a disease as a result of using one cup as the Lord commanded. If the world stands that long, I am sure we will be safe in continuing to do what the Lord says for another 1900 years!
If you are truly worried today about the spread of disease through the communion cup, may I please give you some things to think about. I do not claim to be the expert, but from the standpoint of scientific studies that have been done, it is next to impossible to spread disease through the communion cup.
You may want to pick up a copy of “Sanitation in Communion” by brother Alton Bailey, [at “Strong Meat” site on this blog]. It has some studies listed that you can check out for yourself. One of these is a study conducted by Doctors William Burrows (associate professor of bacteriology) and Elizabeth Hemmons (instructor in the Walter 0. Zollar dental clinic). Their study shows that common communion cups do not spread disease. The only time these scientists were able to detect the transfer of any bacteria was when the first person left as much saliva as possible on the cup and the second drank immediately from the same spot. Then, they said, only .001% of the bacteria were transmitted from the first person to the second.
Notice, as much saliva as possible was left on the cup which is not the case in the communion service. And even then only .001 percent of the bacteria was passed on to the next individual. Monroe, head of the Colorado AIDS Research Project told me, “You cannot get AIDS off the Communion cup!”
The Head of the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, stated that to have even the slightest possibility of contracting the HIV virus from saliva, a person would literally have to drink buckets. Casual contact does not spread the disease.
The Surgeon General’s Report on AIDS states that one “cannot be transmitted from trace saliva on common communion cup.”
The Minnesota Department of Health, in responding to an Episcopal Bisphop’s question on AIDS, said, “In our opinion, the communion cup is safe.”
A Group called “Living Hope” in Seattle, Washington offers studies on the common communion cup. All say transmission of disease is not going to occur during a normal communion service.
These and many more furnish scientific proof that we should not worry about the transmission of this disease. As a matter of fact, in the case of the AIDS carrier, They are in greater danger than we are. They stand a greater chance of getting a life threatening disease from us than we do of getting AIDS from them. We stand a better chance of getting sick as a result of the air we are breathing than from catching AIDS from the communion cup.
Finally, Dr. G. A. Trott, a preacher, editor, and Medical Practitioner; in an article in the Apostolic Way dated September 1, 1913 said,
“I am willing to stake my professional reputation on the assertion that cultures made from the individual cup, made by a competent biologist, will reveal as many deadly germs as those made from the common cup. Give us the proof of the contention of the deadly danger of the common drinking cup before asking us to ignore the example set by our Lord and Apostles.”
My friends, I feel just like one person who said, “I am more afraid to disobey the Lord than I am of a few germs.”
I leave you with this thought. 1 Corinthians 11:27 reads, “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” This is one passage of Scripture that needs to be used and thought about a lot. Verse 28 talks about how we are to examine ourselves as we eat the bread and drink the fruit of the vine from the cup. One aspect of examining ourselves is to see to it that we do not partake of the loaf or the cup of blessing in an unworthy manner, or as Strong’s says, irreverently!
If our minds are on the possibility of catching some disease while we are partaking of the cup of blessing, then we are not partaking in a worthy manner. As a matter of fact, I would have to examine my faith if I considered anything else but what I was doing! Remember Romans 14:23, “Whatsoever is not faith is sin”!
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