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In the 1980s, “Magic” Johnson obtained great fame and wealth by his basketball exploits with the Los Angeles Lakers. He has been named one of the fifty greatest basketball players of all time. In 1991, he contracted the HIV virus, which forced his immediate and premature retirement when he was at the top of his game. He tried a comeback later, but never achieved his former level of play and soon gave it up for good. While I am sorry for him, the implications of this matter cause me much deeper sorrow. He became an HIV/AIDS advocate, preaching what he termed his “gospel.”
- He had heretofore kept his name free of scandal relating to gambling, sex, drugs, or violence in which so many professional athletes become involved. His broad, natural smile made him likeable even to strangers. He presented himself as an unusually wholesome hero for young people who idolized him. Now he has freely admitted his sexual promiscuity as the source of his infection, and his wholesomeness has been forever shattered to those who still have any moral standards. Worse, however, in spite of his sexual immorality, he remained the hero and role model for millions of youngsters.
- His “gospel” (as he terms it) will be one of “safe sex.” Loosely translated this means go ahead and behave like an alley cat in satisfying your sexual passions, just take the “necessary precautions” to decrease the chance of infection. Go ahead, commit fornication any time, and with anyone anywhere as long as you do it “safely”! You see, it is not that he sinned in committing fornication with perhaps several hundred women, but his fault was in failing to protect himself against disease!
- I sorrow over the corrupted and flawed view of God, of marriage and the family, of the Bible, and of moral standards that are indicated by the public’s ready acceptance of “Magic’s” immorality and the quick praise for his “gospel” of “safe sex.” The news media have almost made him a new Messiah. What a golden opportunity for “Magic” to influence millions with a sorely needed message concerning abstinence and control of one’s lusts somewhere in his “preaching,” but we have not heard the slightest hint either from him or the news media that he has sinned or done wrong. However, God’s Word still declares that fornication is sin and that fornicators will be eternally lost (1 Cor. 6:9-11, et al.).
- “Magic” is now reaping what he sowed (Hos. 8:7; Gal. 6:7-8). The price for sin must be paid, and often sinners pay dearly even in this world. Not only do sinners pay, but they bring tragedy upon the innocent. Not all who have contracted AIDS have done so through their own sins. Many will die from this merciless killer because they innocently (on their part) were infected by a medical professional, a polluted blood transfusion, or some similar means. Sin indeed has terrible, far reaching consequences!
[Note: I wrote this article for and it was published in The Lighthouse, weekly bulletin of Northpoint Church of Christ, Denton, TX, March 22, 2015, of which I was editor.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
