I haven't posted on Tumblr in so long, but I needed to share something a patient of mine's dad wrote. It hits all of my emotions so hard...
This is a long post, specifically written for fellow believers in Christ who have chosen to not get themselves vaccinated. It may come across as quite direct. It may cause one to feel uncomfortable or confronted. Please know that I've written all of this because I love you, I want you to take care of yourselves and your neighbors, and I care deeply for my family, especially our Adair who is put at risk by all unvaccinated people. If you're a fellow Christian who is unvaccinated, please read this, even if you haven't read anything else I've written on the pandemic or vaccines. Here we go...
A friend had some wise words for me today as we were discussing the pandemic, vaccines, and our faith. He said that he believes bible study is the effort to know God's will, and science is the effort to know God's work.
I thought that this was profound and wanted to share some of my intersecting thoughts on this.
In my opinion, modern, American, Evangelical Christianity has increasingly become linked to a general distrust of science. Concurrently, the Republican Party has increasingly sought to brand themselves as the Christian Party (especially since the 1980s with Ronald Reagan), and not only that, but they've sought to demonize the Democratic Party. I'm mentioning both of these concepts, because they are interwoven in today's political and religious landscapes.
For many American Christians, it is deeply woven into the fabric of their lives that they must vote for a Republican in order to be a good Christian (I used to believe this myself). Furthermore, they believe that the word of God is in opposition to scientific discovery. Now don't get me wrong, I'm actually much more conservative in my biblical interpretation than you'd think, but I also believe that the earth is God's creation, broken by sin, but is still his creation, just as we all are. Scientific discovery is a gift from God and further reveals God's work in our lives. It is not the enemy.
Because many American Christians have universally linked their faith with the Republican Party and have put their faith on par with their loyalty to the party, they have set up a construct where they have made anything and everything that is in opposition to the Republican Party an enemy in the name of faith.
This all has been going on for decades, and has really come to a head over the last several years. Before I make additional statements, I want to make it clear that I believe (and the bible teaches) that all people are sinful from birth. I believe that when we put our faith in people as opposed to God and Jesus, we will always be let down. This is true, regardless of denomination, political party, etc.
All of that being said, I believe that the devil has been at work in these divisions and linkages. Here, I want to specifically focus on how the devil has been delighting in the alignment of Christianity with the Republican Party in America. I believe we saw that on full display with the election of Donald Trump. In my opinion, through Donald Trump, the devil worked to see how far he could push Christians away from the teachings of Christ. Donald Trump said that he was a Christian, but he also said that he didn't need forgiveness (example of that here: https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-on-god-i-dont-like-to-have-to-ask-for-forgiveness-2016-1). This is a cornerstone of Christianity - the knowledge that we are sinful, in need of Christ's forgiveness, and that faith in his saving work on the cross and resurrection is the path to heaven. There are so many examples of Donald Trump's overt bullying, lying, xenophobia, cheating, horrible business practices, and the list goes on (I use the word overt, because Donald Trump has been bold in his un-Christian behaviors, seeing them as a badge of honor) - yet the Republican Party and an overwhelming number of Christians have followed along in the name of faith. From my perspective, this is exactly what the devil wanted. He wanted to see how far he could push people away from the teachings of the bible by following an antichrist as the leader of this nation.
Don't get me wrong, there are countless examples throughout history of leaders from all political persuasions that have been terrible witnesses for Christ, even though they said they were Christians. Donald Trump is the first one that I'm aware of, though, that claimed to be a Christian yet stated that he didn't need Christ's forgiveness. That is critical for the Christian person to consider.
Donald Trump is, objectively, a compulsive liar and master manipulator. I can hear people now - so are all politicians. Ok, I get it. Many are, yes, and increasingly so in order to win votes. BUT, Donald Trump was so compulsive in his lying that he would lie about things that were irrelevant. He couldn't help himself in his lying. In my opinion, Trump, a lifelong Democrat, knew of the linkage between Christianity and the Republican Party, and used that to his advantage. He claimed to be a Christian even though he isn't. He claimed to be pro-life (THE issue for Republican, Christian voters), even though he's been pro-choice his entire life. And he branded himself as the person who was going to look out for the little guy, be the hero of the all-American family, and bring back American values and strength. But what he did was tap into things that have been building for decades and things that have been lying under the surface for a long time - the linkage between Christianity and Republican Party, underlying systems of racism and oppression; he built upon the strong emotion of fear and made immigrants his enemies, he made the made-up issue of voter fraud come alive in people's minds, and he sought to pit one side against the other, winner take all, at all costs.
His strategy was working in a lot of ways too. And then a novel coronavirus struck the world. And for Donald Trump, a man that refuses to be anything but a strong-man, refuses to acknowledge that he needs help from anybody or anything, a man that believes that he knows all and knows best, the virus moved upon him and our country with a vengeance (and continues to do so).
This virus doesn't care about political affiliation, personalities, conspiracy theories, or anything else. It seeks viable hosts in which to replicate and improve itself through variants.
And because of Donald Trump's ignorance and arrogance, because of his nepotism, because of his belief that he cannot be conquered, over 600,000 Americans have died due to COVID-19. Furthermore, his sewing of conspiracy theories, lies, deception, misinformation, etc have caused a large portion of our country to doubt cold, hard facts, to doubt credible experts, to doubt medical professionals, to doubt experts in communicable disease in favor of what have been deemed the only sources of credible information - Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Donald Trump and his enablers have sewed seeds of discord and doubt in their followers to the extent that facts are viewed as fiction. They have willfully spread lies about this virus and about the vaccines.
And all the while, Christians who have conflated their loyalty to party with their faith are praying for an end to this pandemic when one has been staring them in the faces for months. God's gift of science - that effort to know God's amazing work - quickly discovered a way to neutralize a global pandemic. The answer to our prayers is already here in the form of a vaccine. It is a fact that COVID-19 is deadly serious and it's only getting worse with the Delta Variant. It's also a fact that the vaccines are miraculously safe and effective. We don't know with certainty the long-term effects of COVID or the vaccines, but we do know a lot about the short-term and medium-term effects of them. COVID-19 is deadly, and it also damages multiple organs systems within the body, even in cases with few symptoms, leading to what will likely be long-term disabilities. The vaccines may have some minor risks that are easily treatable, but their benefits outweigh the risks by multiple orders of magnitude. Additionally, almost all vaccine injuries occur in the very near term, so with the data we have, it's logical to believe that the vaccines will be safe in the long-term, whereas COVID continues to show us that it will be devastating in the long-term.
The vaccines are the answer to our prayers, and it continues to befuddle me as to why so many right-leaning Christians refuse to acknowledge that fact.
I'll go a few steps further and say some things that have been on my heart. The job of the Christian this side of the resurrection is to be a witness for Christ and a light in this world. By promoting false conspiracy theories, by propping up wicked men and their actions, by denying facts and science, and by latching onto verifiably false beliefs, the Christian-Right has weakened the credibility of its witness for Jesus. If our role as Christians is to talk credibly to non-believers about Jesus and his saving work, why would any non-believer believe us about an invisible God if we are promoting verifiably false information? When we deny proven truth, facts, science, and reality, we hurt the credibility of our witness for Jesus. Our job isn't to try and look good for our fellow Christians - it's to be a credible witness for Jesus.
I'll end this with a desperate plea for everybody to get vaccinated who is medically able to do so as well as an excerpt from the writings of Martin Luther on the plague:
"Others sin on the right hand. They are much too rash and reckless, tempting God and disregarding everything which might counteract death and the plague. They disdain the use of medicines; they do not avoid places and persons infected by the plague, but lightheartedly make sport of it and wish to prove how independent they are. They say that it is God’s punishment; if he wants to protect them he can do so without medicines or our carefulness. This is not trusting God but tempting him. God has created medicines and provided us with intelligence to guard and take good care of the body so that we can live in good health.
If one makes no use of intelligence or medicine when he could do so without detriment to his neighbor, such a person injures his body and must beware lest he become a suicide in God’s eyes. By the same reasoning a person might forego eating and drinking, clothing and shelter, and boldly proclaim his faith that if God wanted to preserve him from starvation and cold, he could do so without food and clothing. Actually that would be suicide. It is even more shameful for a person to pay no heed to his own body and to fail to protect it against the plague the best he is able, and then to infect and poison others who might have remained alive if he had taken care of his body as he should have. He is thus responsible before God for his neighbor’s death and is a murderer many times over. Indeed, such people behave as though a house were burning in the city and nobody were trying to put the fire out. Instead they give leeway to the flames so that the whole city is consumed, saying that if God so willed, he could save the city without water to quench the fire.
No, my dear friends, that is no good. Use medicine; take potions which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor does not need your presence or has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire which instead of consuming wood and straw devours life and body? You ought to think this way: “Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison and deadly offal. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely, as stated above. See, this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God."
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