“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2
Just as Paul’s spirit was provoked within him when he saw the rampant idolatry of Athens, which moved him to confront that sin, this is a time for Christians to confront the idolatry and arrogance of America.
The basic scuttlebutt in Christendom these days is that we’re to lay low and spend the government ordered shutdown (thereby obeying the civil magistrate) in humble prayer. Loving our neighbor, we’re told, means that we don’t want them die of the Coronavirus. Thus, American Christians have become convinced that not working while the government racks up horrific debts to pay for our lack of production, is in accordance with the Bible.
This is wrongheaded on both counts and is, as we’ll see, in direct violation to the commandment against being conformed to this world – that is, not thinking Biblically. Indeed, as we can see in this verse from Romans, God doesn’t intend for his people to be blind followers, nor illogical beings who play faith over against reason. In fact, it’s only the true faith in Jesus Christ that allows anyone to rightly discern – by testing – what’s the right thing to do in a complex and sin-sick world.
First, as to the point that we must obey the civil magistrate, that doesn’t include a prohibition against speaking against the government when its actions are sinful. Jesus and John the Baptist both spoke passionately, but truthfully, against Herod, for example. Thus, the actions of many state governments, ordering the almost complete closure of businesses, should be closely examined by Christians. The reason this isn’t “tested” by the Christian, however, is that it’s been wrapped in a soft cloak of “saving lives” and “science.” These contentions must be examined – and, again, this examination is commanded of Christians lest we approve, not of what is excellent and pleasing to God, but of what is false.
The concept of saving lives is not, nor can ever be, a principle on par with God. But this has been bandied about as if it’s an unquestionable command from God alone. The danger of this proclamation is that it’s without context, which is a great ploy of Satan incidentally. When the Devil first tempted Jesus in the wilderness, his subtle lie was wrapped in truth. Jesus was trudging around in the wild and was certainly hungry. There were no restaurants, convenience stores, or even a snack machine out there, right? So, the temptation to command the rocks to turn into bread was based on a very real human need. This is why we always need to be careful. The whole point of the temptation of Christ was that as the true Israel, Jesus wasn’t going to succumb to physical needs and turn on the Father as the Jews did with Moses. Hungry and in fear of their lives, the Jews grumbled against God after being brought out of Egypt. Jesus, of course, knowing Scripture, reminds the Tempter that man doesn’t live by bread alone but by every word from God.
The basic gist of Israel’s sin in the wilderness was distrust. When confronted with earthly needs they didn’t trust God to provide for them. The basis of this was that when things got tough on them, they invariably looked for the easy way out – which is to say that they begrudged the fact that life wasn’t easier.
So, like Satan’s answer to hunger, we must be cautious lest our answer to a medical threat causes us to sin. The question – our “test” – should be what principles of God guide us during this time? This question is hardly asked as the average churchgoer simply follows the wisdom of the world.
God commands people to work and provide for their own living so as not to be a burden to others. Since work is a commandment, we should be highly skeptical of any order to the contrary. Debt is also forbidden (“owe no one anything” Romans 13:8) so a course of action that causes debt is to be avoided if there are other courses of action available. The argument that we must stop working in order to save lives is, therefore, rather spurious in that it’s based on a premise that’s unequivocally contrary to God’s word/law. At present, over 20 million Americans are out of work because of state mandates. Also, thousands of businesses have been shuttered. This has caused the government to spend close to $8 trillion to “bail out” the people. The thing is, the government didn’t have this money in a savings account. How has it “raised” the cash, you ask? Well, there’s the rub…it hasn’t. Adding to the worrying actions, the government is printing money to stave off the economic collapse it started under the pretense of saving lives.
But life requires work, so to stop working to save life is a contradiction in terms. The fact that we’re an advanced society doesn’t change the basics of economics. Once again, God commands His people to work with their own hands. To order contrary to this is, at least, quite irregular, at most, downright immoral. Furthermore, by making the “saving lives” principle ultimate, the state has sacrificed the future. This $8 trillion must be paid for by either raising taxes, which we don’t seem to have the will to do, or through inflation. Serious inflation will chew up savings and buying power, thereby enslaving future citizens to lower living standards and debt.
A loving response to a crisis must always be wise and the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord. By not carefully examining the core principle of saving lives at all cost, Americans will discover that the cost will be horrific. That America has been wealthy is a blessing from God. The so-called Protestant work-ethic has produced a nation of incredible wealth. Most Americans up until the last 75 years understood the book of Proverbs as their chief means of understanding work and family. Presently, though, we’ve jettisoned those principles and we’ll see how that works out. Hugo Chavez promised Venezuelans economic paradise outside of God’s economic laws. No one would dare be so daft as to contend that the people of that country are doing well today. God is not mocked. Our ignorance of economics is, truth be told, based in our bad theology. Man wants something for nothing – that’s the root of sin. God requires that we work and that demands that we think carefully, prepare and risk and work. The future is God’s and we’re to “cast our bread upon many waters.”
To have faith in God is to trust Him as provider. Lack of faith is when Israel said to Moses that they should just go back to the slavery of Egypt where they had three square meals every day guaranteed. Sin thinks like this. It fills one need by enslaving us in other ways. Christians have rejected this faith and turned back to the Egypt of government. But at least Egypt had actual money. We print ours out of thin air, not out of savings and production.
God says, “agree with me and you’ll be safe” (Job 22:21). He says, “whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, not for men but for the glory of God” (Colossians 3:17).
But the government says, be safe and know that I’m lord. Don’t work and I’ll provide for you.
Those are the words of Satan, not God.
Secondly, since the command to work – and the connection of work to life is clear – the state has a responsibility to prove that less restrictive measures couldn’t work before going DEFCON-1 on society.
But this hasn’t happened in the least. In fact, the opposite has happened. Proponents have literally shutdown not just the economy but any rational debate too. When the concern over economics and civil liberties are broached, the questioner is dismissed out of hand. Several governors – of Virginia and Michigan in particular – have responded to protests over their policies by calling critics “selfish.” Think on this for a second. In their reasoning, it’s selfish to want to work for one’s life. There’s a religious element to the line “believe science” – it’s theological to say that because it’s meant as an ethical/epistemological absolute. But science isn’t an ethical/political system. It can provide certain facts but not the wisdom to know what to do with these facts. Proponents of the shutdown are, therefore, rather “unscientific” when they disregard other disciplines like economics and civil rights from the equation and declare that their consideration is selfish.
That proponents of the shutdown have no interest in any process that doesn’t completely shutdown the economy shows that they aren’t thinking clearly. This is the either/or fallacy writ large. They presume that either rights must be suspended or we all must die. This ignores evidence from countries like Sweden which took more measured actions in their response. Far from being intrigued by Sweden, though, the “experts” (those conformed to this world’s thinking) lambasted the nation for being reckless. Introspection isn’t a strong suit of sinners and it didn’t dawn on them that real science rejoices in discovery. The monolithic, one-size-fits-all approach to COVID-19 is unscientific in that it has renounced alternatives (like Sweden’s), falsely claimed that apprehension of some facts meant mastery over all facts, and used that as a pretense to make all of society bow to it.
There’s an unbridled arrogance to the notion that so-called science trumps all other fields of knowledge. The contention that science is the ultimate consideration – indeed, even the only one – is rank foolishness. One recalls God’s judgment on Israel complaining of their diet in the wilderness. They moaned about not having meat so God gave them so much meat “it was coming out of their nose.” The parallel here very well may be that a country that says it “believes in science”- thus making a method of discovery into a philosophy itself – is now sacrificing itself on the altar of it.
The principles from this are downright chilling.
Imagine that politicians in the near future, convinced that global warming is a greater threat to life than COVID-19, use that as a pretense to obliterate civil rights and economic freedom. Given the principles of this crisis there’s no reason to argue against that, right? If civil rights can be abridged because of the threat to life, based upon the models of experts, which are changing almost daily, we can surely kiss the blessings of freedom goodbye. If lesser measures to contain COVID-19 weren’t even considered first, where does that leave us if/when it comes back in the winter? Do we ignore it and, if so, doesn’t that mean this was an overreaction? Or do we continue to interfere with economic/Biblical freedoms and thereby cause massive financial hardship?
To finish, the notion that life is more important than money and civil rights is unbiblical as it usurps God’s authority to determine the standards of morality. God grants no one the right to abridge the civil rights of another. His law/word establishes the state as His avenger – a punisher of crime. The state, in denying God’s sovereignty, has redefined its role and claims now the authority to force its citizens to not work in order to keep them safe. This redefines the laws of morality, however. By saying that some businesses are “non-essential” the state is saying that life doesn’t require work. Then they contradict themselves by printing trillions to save those they told that their work wasn’t essential. Well, which is it? God’s word has no such contradictions. All work is essential because life requires work. How dare the state play God! They have stolen the prerogatives of free people and forced millions into sin by denying them the dignity of labor, which has forced them upon charity. To be sure, a family without food will surely die. Soon. They may or may not get COVID-19 but starvation will absolutely kill them. This obliterates the lie that life is more important than money because that argument intends to shame the critic as greedy. It’s not money the worker is after, but the things of life that production provides and the service of their neighbor to the glory of the God who is the giver of all gifts. All work is essential to life. All work is intended to glorify God by advancing His kingdom on earth, which is part of the Great Commission.
The rational response to COVID-19 would have taken this into consideration and responded with humble urgency rather than dictatorial power. The answer was surely to follow the principles of Scripture. Civil rights and the commandment to work could have and should have been been respected even while the government took the necessary steps to keep the public safe. The answer wasn’t either/or as they persist. If God’s law/word is less than public health than God’s word is null and His promises are void. This is how we know that the government has accepted a false dilemma. Once again, property rights and rule of law can always be preserved in times of difficulty and should be now. The fact that they aren’t is evidence that we don’t trust the Lord.
To that I say, “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
And that Lord I serve, and that you should too, is indivisible, so His law and His love are never cut asunder. His commandments and precepts are always in place and no illness, no war, no fear of death, nor anything else in all creation are able to separate us from Him or them. America can and should respect the laws of God and liberty and work to protect the sick. If it believes the two are in conflict that only serves to show that its premises are flawed, not God’s.
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