Just like that, we shut it down. Everything. Well, almost everything. You can still buy gas, even though you probably won’t be driving much. You can still go to the grocery store if you stand on the red X. You can purchase home improvement items if you stay behind the obtrusive sneeze barrier. You can even have an abortion if you so desire. After all, we’re doing this because we want to make sure everyone has a chance to live.
Confused? Yeah, me, too.
We all have our opinions about the universal reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some think we should have allowed businesses to stay open, while others passionately call upon their governors to extend and enforce statewide “stay-at-home” orders.
I have my own personal opinions about all of this, but my primary concern goes beyond COVID-19, COVID-20, or any other variant strain of the perennial coronavirus.
My primary concern is focused not on a virus or the validity of the stats that plaster our television screens daily. I am more concerned about the why. Why did we turn off our lives? Because of the possibility that someone might get hurt. I get that. We don’t want people to get hurt. We want to protect those who are susceptible to disease. We want every person to live a full life until they die of natural causes in old age (except, of course, those aborted babies).
We were asked to stay at home until we “flatten the curve,” preventing hospitals from being overrun. Then we were commanded to do so.
As a pastor, I had a difficult decision to make in March. I had to balance the biblical command to assemble with the requirement to obey our civil authorities. Like most other pastors around the nation, I decided to indefinitely cancel all in-person activities and move almost completely online. I believed then and still believe that I made the right choice.
However, I also believed, as I still do, that we as the church have revealed our vulnerable underbelly to the world. We have shown that if the government commands us not to meet, we will not meet.
In the case of a pandemic and the fear that comes with it, I’m OK with that. But what if next time it’s not a virus that causes church meetings to be detrimental to society? What if it’s our teaching? As Bible-believing Christians, we have some nonnegotiable beliefs that often collide with the morals of society. If and when we are told that we must shut down because our views do not comport with those of society, what will our response be?
Sure, we have our beloved First Amendment. But we shelved the inherent rights it recognizes when we willingly complied with the government’s orders to shut down. Who’s to say we won’t do it again for any other reason?
You might think I’m way off base, and I wish I were. But I’ve seen how easily we trade our precious freedoms for the security offered by our omniscient and benevolent government officials. And when I consider the trends I see in those omniscient and benevolent government officials, I am very concerned about the future.
A very slippery slope ‼️
I have struggled myself with this. We are return to in-person services this coming Sunday, May 3.
Exactly what I have been saying to Ric! It is scary because the younger generation may not see the pitfalls until it is to late!