Does objecting to the coronavirus lockdown mandates tantamount to not being a good Christian?
The issues surrounding this coronavirus pandemic are not that clear cut and there exists increasingly apparent polarizing views (both with some valid reasons), between those who dissent against the prevailing mainstream narrative and those who embrace the justification, however severe.
It is also interesting to note how people’s political leanings can greatly influence how each respective groups feels about this so called pandemic.
One group (primarily the right-leaning republicans) feels that the extremely over-reaching, draconian policies of government, namely within the blue states, are taking away people freedom unnecessarily; while another group (primarily the left-leaning democrats) are more than willing to forgo their individual freedom and are resigned to comply and be dictated by all the mandates. The latter group sees the lockdown mandate as being a collective, life saving effort and feel more than justified for the sake of the greater good of the community, while the first group sees it as a power grab being leveled at its citizen without any merit. Consequently, there is much hate between the two opposing groups, driven by their respective politics and fueled relentlessly by the media.
Here are some general observations between the two groups-exceptions may apply:
1st group-Democrats (Left):
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Less suspicious of the government but obviously do not support the Trump administration.
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More likely to trust the mainstream media’s narratives.
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More likely to trust government “health experts”
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More compliant towards the mandates, including wearing the mask.
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Criticize all the dissenters (who are primarily the Right)
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Less likely to entertain (coronavirus) conspiracy theories.
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More willing to give up their rights and freedom for the “common good of all people”.
2nd group-Republicans (Right):
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More suspicious of the government (primarily the Left) but supports Trump.
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More likely to distrust the mainstream media.
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More suspicious of the government “health experts”
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More likely to dissent against the mandate, including wearing the mask
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Objects all the draconian policy makers (who are primarily the Left)
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More likely to entertain (coronavirus) conspiracy theories.
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More willing to defend individual rights and freedom.
While I don’t particularly affiliate myself with either political party, I will admit here that my feelings on this pandemic run closer to the 2nd group.
I do however question how these group characteristics will shape and influence other eschatological issues moving forward.
Moving on, it is also becoming increasingly apparent that some Christians are conflating the issues surrounding the coronavirus with the moral obligations, we as Christians should have and uphold.
Does “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn 15:13) mean, that if someone opposes the idea of the lockdown, or object to the wearing of masks, or refusing to submit to mandatory vaccination; purportedly, all in the name of protecting or saving lives and for the “common good of all citizens;” then they should be vilified as selfish and morally reprehensible?
I say this because some well meaning Christians are using the argument that if “laying down our life for our friends” is a biblical mandate, then at all cost, (even if the cost is to forego our constitutional rights) that we should do our part in not imperiling the lives of others but to gladly aid in the cause of saving lives (by following the guidelines mandated by the state); and that this should be the moral imperative for any good Christian. And if not, then you are morally undeserving of being a “good citizen,” let alone a Christian!
I would contend that the moral judgement often leveled against those who oppose the lockdown is driven more by fear rather than love. They say, “if you really care about others, you should do whatever you can to comply with all the safety mandates”. Are they saying this because they really care about others or are they saying this because they are in fact more fearful for their own lives and are mercilessly fighting against any effort which may threaten their own safety?
There seems to be this confluence of the church and of these moral sermonizing groups of people to say that you don’t care about people unless you shut down your business, unless you destroy your livelihood, unless you basically become the kind of a citizen whereby when the government says jump you say how high; unless you become a total and ultimate serf that you are not a good human being? Well I’m here to say that that is emphatic no!
To either to save or not save my fellow men is my right! It is not the right of some tyrannical government nor of anyone else to dictate to me as to how I should “love” or I how I should “lay down my life for others”.
To say that one group is less caring or are selfish are just unfounded. I would argue that both camps do regard life as sacred and precious and do not want anyone injured or dead. Furthermore, there are clear moral grounds for both sides of the debate and just because one thinks one way does not give them the right to belittle or disparage the others simply because there’s a disagreement.
The meme
I also saw a popular meme that made its rounds on social media that read, “Closing churches to stop coronavirus isn’t yet Rev 13. It’s Leviticus 13 So act like 1 For. 13’ Til Rom 13 runs its course!”
We can see from the aforementioned observations of 2 groups, that this meme will likely gain support from the first group (primarily with those who lean left), while it will be criticized by the second (primarily with those who lean right).
Be that as it may, I do have a few questions about this meme. Is coronavirus lockdown no different than the Levitical 13 mentioned in the Bible in mitigating the plague of leprosy? The Leviticus 13 is part of the health codes given by God through Moses and this particular chapter deals with how to safely mitigate against an infectious disease such as leprosy.
Question: In Leviticus 13, who was quarantined? The sick or the healthy?
Answer: The sick, not the healthy!
The Israelites did not lockdown the entire camp nor did they closed down the sanctuary because of the plague of the leprosy (an infectious disease); nor did they require the healthy people to wear any special protective gear or restricted their behaviors in any significant way, moreover I have yet to find any inspired testimony that would support the idea of quarantining the healthy people!
Either these well meaning SDAs are ignorant of the Bible or they are oblivious to what is really going on in this pandemic.
It is a pretty well known fact by now that, at least to me, that this pandemic continues to propagate the unnecessary fear mongering while the policy makers are mandating healthy people to be quarantined, closing down businesses and destroying the livelihood of millions of people; Not to mention all the unintended health consequences (because of the lockdown) that are arguably far worse than the actual health-related casualties associated with the virus itself. Is this what Leviticus 13 had in mind? I tend to disagree.
What about Romans 13:1?
“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.”
Again, some place themselves on some moral high-ground to hurl disparaging remarks towards those who speak out against the government’s unreasonable, power-grabbing mandates on the grounds of Romans 13.
It is troublesome that many are using various scriptures to wrest and confound this distorted view of unduly being oppressed by the secular governing body as being a biblical moral duty. They reason that sacrificing their personal freedom for a temporary safety, purported to help protect the vulnerable, some how makes them more righteous, or more inline with biblical mandate and that would constitute being more socially conscious and responsible citizen. But do we not have any intelligent minds to question the government when it is taking certain actions that are clearly not warranted and is seen as a mere power-grab and unnecessarily encroaching against people’s rights and freedom?
Just to be clear, my family and I take very seriously, every measure, to comply with the local government’s mandates by wearing the masks and comply with social distancing in public places, and other health protocols where it is required and take every other necessary precautions to protect ourselves and to protect others, including good nutrition and lifestyle that should promote to strengthen our immunity, which apparently, are not at all being promoted by any of the mainstream media, other than the vaccines, the masks and hand-washing, social distancing, etc. That said, we nonetheless greatly disapprove of the extreme measures that are being leveled against the public, coupled with the fear-mongering that is ever encroaching upon our freedoms.
Unfortunately, public policies in our country and state today, while it has all the appearance of good intentions, are being driven by many dangerous elements and forces. Of substantial concern are policies, agendas and legislation being driven by claims of a “national crisis” – “crises” which, in my opinion, does not warrant the kind of extreme measures that we are all experiencing and are unsupported by volumes of data and valid medical opinions of those who are challenging the prevailing narrative since this pandemic began until now. Then again, there are many who will attest against this view as being reckless and don’t question the mainstream narrative and are fearfully resigned to having their lives conformed to the demands of the state.
I find it extremely disconcerting when these policy makers’ claims are promoted at the expense of deliberately suppressing any dissenting views, though may be sound, and are being driven by the politics of fear mongering, hate and division. This is especially disconcerting when certain individuals are targeted for not consenting to the mandate and are shamed, attacked and made an example of, to incite even more fear to promote misguided and harmful policies. It appears that we live in a culture now where the policy makers have truly elevated “safety” to an unrealistic place on some moral hierarchy with absolutely no regard for other unintended consequences. Then again, there are those who feel that this pandemic and all the ensued events are a sinister plot and preplanned global agenda, thus the “plandemic” conspiracy continues to circulate the web.
However, we would do well to consider Romans 13:10, which says, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour”
I would say that this biblical mandate should equally apply to ALL NEIGHBORS, including all the small business owners and all the people whose lives have been destroyed due to the coronavirus lockdown-not because of the virus; and NOT just to the vulnerable and those who might get sick and die. There are clear moral grounds that exist on both sides when we consider all the unintended, devastating consequences due to
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and COUNTETH THE COST, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” Luke 14:28
The policy makers should have been wise to have counted all cost of the unintended (or perhaps intended) consequences before mandating such drastic protocols.
Our country’s system of checks and balances is being circumvented and ignored by those we have placed in positions of authority and accountability. Intelligent and rational debate have fallen victim to hysteria and the politics of misinformation and fear. This atmosphere is being further fueled by social media and by sensationalist and also divisive news media headlines.
My humble proposal:
Based on the data on infectivity of Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Carriers, a healthy person, who shows no signs of sickness (the “asymptomatic carrier”), doesn’t necessarily needs to be quarantined because a healthy person do not pose the kind of a risk in ways that we are being told, especially to other “healthy” people.
Without trying to undermine the pandemic in anyway and knowing how any infectious virus may affect certain people more severely than others, It is my view (and I’m not alone in this) that based on most of the case data (provided by some legitimate scientist and epidemiologists, etc; in
cluding Dr John Ioannidis or Dr. Jay Bhattacharya from Stanford that I’ve read and heard, I don’t feel that this pandemic is as deadly as what the media and the policy makers are making it out to be. I think we can learn from country like Sweden and Japan and few of the states in the US that did not shutdown and yet saw no significant difference in the fatality rates. Below are just a couple of examples of describing how Sweden and Japan handled the coronavirus:
“No restrictions were placed on residents’ movements, and businesses from restaurants to hairdressers stayed open. No high-tech apps that tracked people’s movements were deployed. The country doesn’t have a center for disease control. And even as nations were exhorted to “test, test, test,” Japan has tested just 0.2% of its population — one of the lowest rates among developed countries.” Bloomberg-May 24, 2020
“Rather than declare a lockdown or a state of emergency, Sweden asked its citizens to practice social distancing on a mostly voluntary basis. Swedish authorities imposed some restrictions designed to flatten the curve: no public gatherings of more than 50 people, no bar service, distance learning in high schools and universities, and so on. But they eschewed harsh controls, fines, and policing.” www.foreignaffairs.com-May-12-2020
That being the case, I just don’t think all the extreme lockdown measures are necessary, as long as everyone is taking “reasonable” but necessary precautions as you would in any other flu season-given some seasons being worst than others.
As for quarantining, if you have any visible or known symptoms, (i.e. fever, headache, etc) then you should by all means stay home and self-quarantine yourself as you should for any other infectious sickness; and the healthy person should likewise take all the necessary precautions as he also should around any sick person or people who are particularly vulnerable and have comorbidity or are immuno-compromised and vise versa. And even if you do infect someone it would be no different than people getting the flu during a flu season from someone or somewhere. That is ugly reality of living in this miserable sin-infested world.
As for other mandates, I just don’t understand how you can walk into Target or Walmart or any grocery store (with appropriate precaution) but you can’t have any other small businesses doing the same? That doesn’t make any sense at all. Not only that, there are so many mandates that seem completely irrational and arbitrary or even entirely foolish.
Why is hike not allowed, why is going to the beach not allowed? or how is leaving fast food restaurants open but closing health food stores make any sense? I mean, fast foods are one of the biggest contributors of heart disease and yet they are open but health food stores are closed? BTW, About 647,000 Americans die from heart disease each year—that’s 1 in every 4 deaths; where are all the virtue-signaling Christians decrying about closing down these fast foods or banning the sale of cigarettes? Also BTW, Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day.
Why aren’t the government mandating that everyone should quit smoking, eat more healthy foods, and exercise so many hours a day and have “tracers” deployed to make sure each citizens do their daily health protocol?
Why do you have to wear a mask when you are biking outdoors?
Why are the liquor stores allowed to remain open and are considered “essential” but nurseries are not?
Why shut down the state parks?
Why are all the abortion clinics left open but all the elective surgeries are not allowed? which is more essential
Finally, I just don’t appreciate all the censoring going on these days for any material that challenges the prevailing narrative. This is clearly a violation of the 1st Amendment.
I think there are many deceptions and misinformations out there and I’m just trying to do my part in informing others as to what I would consider is in keeping with the inspired counsels on health.
Not sure how all of this will come to bear on different faith-based communities with conflicting opinions and attitudes…
