Wrestle with hard questions

I hope I’m proven wrong, but I think the chances of another lock-down coming in the fall are right around 118%. I sincerely hope we’ve had all the Coronavirus deaths we’re going to have, and that this all just goes away. The warnings we’re hearing, though, make me think that’s unlikely.

It’s a good time, if we haven’t done it already, to think through tough issues of individual rights vs. public safety; authority and power; and, the role of governments, churches, and families as they relate to health and wellness.

The first lock-down caught a lot of people off guard, as it was unprecedented, and (in my estimation) only justified by a dubious “Appeal to Authority.” Search for that term under logical fallacies.

Since it was a brand new thing, never seen before in our history, let’s grant each other some lee way over which side we came down on in the spur of the moment. I was anti-lock-down, but I don’t think the folks on the other side were moral monsters. I grant that most of them really believed it was the way to keep everyone from dying.

My point is, we’ve had some time since then: time to crunch the numbers, follow the money, and read our Bibles. When the next lock-down comes, it shouldn’t catch us off guard. I know of several churches, for instance, that have already decided not to respond the same way they did initially.

My concern is that we all make these decisions on a more solid basis than partisanship. Do what you do because you think it’s actually right in the sight of God, and not because all the talking heads wearing your team’s jersey say so.

Christian, does Romans 13 mean that you do whatever the government tells you? Has God given any human organization the responsibility, or the brute force necessary to impose blanket health regulations? How does the Bible say that a nation should respond to a plague/pandemic? What is the command of Christ to healthy people in dealing with sick people?

Do you have a right to refuse to take vaccines? Do you have a right to force someone to? These last two questions can’t be answered without asking what a “right” is in the first place. Where do rights come from? Who gets to say what rights you have or don’t have? Doesn’t every right come with corresponding responsibilities? What are those, and, again, who gets to say?

My space is gone and I’ve only gotten to asking the questions. To answer them would take much more. Thankfully, that work has been done to a large extent, in a recent document called “The Warrenton Declaration.” Please read it, and sign it if you find it faithful to the teaching of the scriptures. It’s at warrentondeclaration.com .

This document tackles the difficult issues, and was written in the hope of providing pastors, elders and other church leaders material for discussing the situation we all face. Let’s ground our thinking on an immovable rock (Matthew 7:24-27).

Hurting people are looking for real answers and you have an opportunity to show them what, and who, is the truth.

Gordan Runyan is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari. Contact him at:

[email protected]