Evangelicals: Just saying no to distancing
The Week summary - April 10, 2020
https://theweek.com/print/484209/116340/article
"Hostility to science among America’s religious right is “crippling our coronavirus response,” said Katherine Stewart in The New York Times. Donald Trump rose to power with the help of an evangelical movement that dismisses science and disdains expertise and government, and now “we’re reaping what that movement has sown.” Witness the arrest this week of Florida pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, who violated social distancing orders by holding packed church services, after calling those who fear the virus “pansies.” Or Trump ally Jerry Falwell Jr.’s insistence on reopening his evangelical Liberty University in Virginia, where at least a dozen students now show symptoms of a disease Falwell dismissed as “hype.” By defying distancing guidelines and promising that believers will be protected or healed, Christian right leaders “are definitely going to get people killed,” said Amanda Marcotte in Salon.com. [Not to mention go down as sinful fake Christians expecting Jesus and God to perform magic and miracles when they demand!]Their superstitious ignorance threatens not just true believers, “but the public at large.”It was entirely predictable that the Left would blame Christians for spreading the virus, said Timothy Carney in WashingtonExaminer.com. Nothing is more satisfying to secular liberals than “to look down” on believers “as self-deluded, anti-science rubes.” Let’s review the facts. Covid-19 began in China, where Christians make up less than 3 percent of the population, and has flourished in places—Northern Italy, Spain, New York City, New Orleans—not exactly “packed to the gills with white, conservative evangelicals.” Falwell and Howard-Browne are outliers, said Tristan Justice in TheFederalist.com. To seize on their actions to “stigmatize half the country” is right in line with the “condescension and mockery of Christians that is becoming the norm among our mainstream-media elites.”
I’m no liberal elitist, said Rod Dreher in The American Conservative, but “it angers me” that some evangelicals are acting as if adhering to public health guidelines were “somehow evidence of a weak connection to God.” God’s promise is that “He will always be with us,” not that He’ll put “a magic force field” around us to protect us from rampaging viruses. Pastors who are instructing their flocks to gather and touch are endangering lives. Using the common sense God gave us doesn’t reflect a lack of faith. No wise Christian jumps into shark-infested waters. And “all of us lock our doors at night, do we not?”"
Despite all the stupid conservative media saying a "liberal." whatever that is in their book of generalization, takes joy in suicidal, bio-terrorist Pastors inviting people to church on Sunday with a promise from God, I do not take any joy in those Pastor's stupidity and sinfulness.
Expecting, possibly demanding God perform magic for them is a sin! I would not expect this Pastor to ask his congregation to volunteer for infections, but that is what they are doing.
They may as well ask their congregants to swim with sharks with a bloody cut.
It is NOT saying I do not trust God if I choose to avoid a disease.
SACRIFICIAL LAMBS Pastor says his parishioners would rather DIE than not go to church as he refuses to stop services during lockdown
Danielle Cinone - Apr 8 2020
"In an exclusive video interview with TMZ, Spell said: "They say everybody's going to get it.
"Then if everybody's going to get it... Let's get on with life."
The defiant pastor held Palm Sunday church services despite the surge in confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths across the Unites States.
He has already been hit with six misdemeanors after repeatedly ignoring state orders against large groups assembling.
When asked about the possibility of one of his parishioners dying from coronavirus, he told TMZ: "The bible teaches us to be absent from our bodies and be present with the lord.
"So like any pure religious person...death looks to them like a welcome friend.
"True Christians do not mind dying, they fear living in fear.
"People that can prefer tyranny over freedom do not deserve freedom."
In Spell's mind, if Christians who attended church during the coronavirus outbreak were to die, they would die "like free people fighting for their convictions.""
Are Easter church services a suicide pact?
Pastor Who Defied Social Distancing Dies After Contracting Covid-19, Church Says
The death of Gerald O. Glenn, the bishop of the New Deliverance Evangelistic Church in Chesterfield, Va., was announced during Easter services.
By Neil Vigdor - April 14, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/us/bishop-gerald-glenn-coronavirus.html
The warnings from ALL the experts were clear, we MUST use social distancing to protect ourselves and others from infection. The Pope agreed, Dr. Fauci reinforced the warnings, and the message was loud and clear. To be safe from infection we must not gather in crowds like we would in a church.
Pastor who died from COVID-19 held service a week before diagnosis
By: WRIC Newsroom - Apr 14, 2020 / 11:40 PM EDT / Updated: Apr 15, 2020
"RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — 8News has learned the late Bishop Gerald Glenn was still holding in-person services at New Deliverance Evangelistic Church 10 days before he felt ill.
Bishop Glenn was tested for COVID-19 on April 3. The results came back positive. He died more than a week later on April 11."
Why do Christians have to test their luck and challenge God? God will not honor your DEMANDs!
Dreaded uptick worldwide of dead spiritual leaders
By The Associated Press - April 8, 2020 GMT
https://apnews.com/38cf1d543a51c062d51632620df6ee86
When Christians test God by consciously exposing themselves and everyone they come in contact with to potential covid-19 infection under a pretense of being a "true believer," a better Christian than the Christians who protect their family and other people by social-distancing, they are sinners. It is sacrilegious to expect, even demand God serve you this way.
You disrespect Christianity and all of humanity when you threaten the lives of innocent people! by holding crowded Church services.
No religion gives one the right to infect and kill people on purpose.
VIRUS PERIL Terrifying video shows how a single cough can spread a cloud of coronavirus across supermarket that lingers for minutes
Niamh Cavanagh - 9 aPRIL 2020
covid-19 does not choose who it infects. It infects everyone it touches.
If the Pastors allow a gathering of their congregants for an Easter Church service, and people get infected, and if any die, they are at best germ warfare terrorists, and worst, MURDERES. But it does not end at the service as the infected people and people with no symptom carriers go out into the wider community. The covid-19 infection will be spread widely for that Pastor's religious arrogance and sinful demand that Jesus and God protect these people.
God does not serve these Pastors. They commit sin when they demand he do so.
CHURCH-STATE SEPARATION IS A NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE DURING A PANDEMC!
Faith and arrogance in times of the coronavirus crisis
By PESACH WOLICKI MARCH 16, 2020
https://m.jpost.com/opinion/faith-and-arrogance-in-times-of-the-coronavirus-crisis-621213/amp
"When the world experiences unprecedented crises, people seek answers. For people of faith, this search for answers often expresses itself in attempts to determine the reasons that God is doing what He is doing. And herein lies a grave danger.
Over the past few weeks, I have seen articles in Jewish and Christian mass media that have made a wide range of claims about coronavirus. One writer quoted a rabbi stating that coronavirus is God’s way of punishing the evil Chinese, as well as the Iranians. A video being circulated quotes rabbinic leaders saying, without equivocation, that no God-fearing, Torah observant Jews would be infected. Yet another published “news” item claimed that since “corona” means “crown”, the pandemic is a clear sign of the imminent arrival of the Messiah.
More.
"“My thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not My ways, says the Lord.” – Isaiah 55:8
This verse does not mean, merely, that God knows things that He has not told us yet. This verse tells us to be humble. To be very careful before declaring that we have God all figured out. One of the fundamental stances of faith is humble submission to the fact that we do not know what God is doing until the dust settles"
Main point!
"To claim knowledge of what exactly God is doing is arrogance, not faith. I should note that in none of the articles or videos that I have seen that claim to know divine reasons for coronavirus did I see the words, “perhaps” or “maybe”. This unqualified certainty about God is nothing short of heresy. Faith does not demand, or even encourage, trying to figure God out. To declare that we know God’s thoughts is not faith. It’s blasphemy.""
How Should Christians Talk About the COVID-19 Pandemic?
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-should-christians-talk-about-the-covid-19-potential-pandemic/February 26, 2020 | Joe Carter
"Christians have a higher duty to the truth than our secular neighbors because of the ninth commandment (“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,” Ex. 20:16). This commandment, reiterated in the New Testament (Matt. 15:19–20; Eph. 4:25), bars us from committing any act that might bring undeserved suffering on another person, especially through speech. As the Westminster Catechism says, “The duties required in the ninth commandment are, the preserving and promoting of truth between man and man, . . . ; appearing and standing for the truth; and from the heart, sincerely, freely, clearly, and fully, speaking the truth, and only the truth, in matters of judgment and justice, and in all other things whatsoever; . . . discouraging talebearers, flatterers, and slanderers; love and care of our own good name, and defending it when need requireth; . . . studying and practicing of whatsoever things are true, honest, lovely, and of good report.”"
This is very important! Do not test or challenge God to do what you want done or to prevent covid-19. That is a sin. Tell the truth and do not fabricate cures or issues with Democrats, Republicans, police, medical people, or anyone.
By this standard, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, and Sean Hannity is not practicing Christians.
Trump adviser Paula White pulls out of religious event promising protection from coronavirus
Richard Morin, Arizona Republic Published 6:02 p.m. MT March 15, 2020
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2020/03/15/trump-adviser-pulls-out-religious-event-promising-protection-covid-19/5055788002/
One of Trump’s Favorite Pastors Says, “All Natural Disasters Can Ultimately Be Traced to Sin.”
When it comes to the coronavirus, some evangelicals wonder if it’s a punishment from God
Will Peischel -
If you believe God punishes sin with covid-19, you are saying God is a MONSTER!
God does not perform miracles on-call. It is a sin to test God in the pandemic.
It is germ warfare to conduct a Church service during the pandemic, terrorism.
PASTORS ASKING PEOPLE TO CONGREGATE DURING A PANDEMIC KILLING THOUSANDS IS EXACTLY WHY CHURCH-STATE SEPARATION IS ESSENTIAL COMMON GOOD, AND IMPACTS NATIONAL SECURITY!
Trump is also guilty of germ warfare by being stupid!
Donald Trump says he was tempted to allow churches a social distancing exemption for Easter holiday - and says he'll be watching services on a laptop
By Nikki Schwab, Senior U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com 01:31 05 Apr 2020, updated 04:33 05 Apr 2020
Our Dear Leader is going to tell covid-19 to stay away, take 1 day off because he demands it, on Easter. Trump really thinks he is God.
How can an enemy in warfare let loose germs be our enemy, but not a Pastor or Minister or Priest who does the same exact thing when they tell their congregation to gather inside the church DURING THE PANDEMIC not be a terrorist?
They are terrorists and should be arrested and jailed until the pandemic is over, including all the congregation that follows their lead. They are all sinners and terrorists.
Church leaders inviting congregations to gather in close proximity, NOT social distancing during the worst time of the pandemic, are SINNERS IN GODS EYES.
God and Jesus despise those Church Leaders essentially testing them. God and Jesus do not perform miracles on demand.
The rightwing Christian preachers in deep denial over Covid-19’s danger
A number of American religious leaders have endangered their flock by holding services – and by claiming the virus can be defeated by faith in God
Jason Wilson - 4 Apr 2020
https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/04/america-rightwing-christian-preachers-virus-hoax
These people will soon be murders. The fact is that spreading covid-19 intentionally is an act of terror.
It is a terrorist act to ask people to form a shoulder to shoulder crowd during a pandemic, and not just for the crowd, but for everyone they later contact!
Where Is God in a Pandemic?
The honest answer is: We don’t know. But even non-Christians may find understanding in the life of Jesus.
By James Martin - Father Martin is a Jesuit priest and an author. March 22, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/opinion/coronavirus-religion.html
I agree with Father Martin. In a pandemic, where so far 50,000 people have died, God is NOT testing our faith. If that is a test from God, then God is a monster. Is your God a monster?
Some of you will say the pandemic is to punish us for our sins? That God is also a monster as he murders innocent people, 50,000 innocent people.
"In the end, the most honest answer to the question of why the Covid-19 virus is killing thousands of people, why infectious diseases ravage humanity and why there is suffering at all is: We don’t know."
In my world, in my consciousness, not knowing is just as good as not accepting organized religion where they give us answers for everything as long as we keep tithing.
"But if the mystery of suffering is unanswerable, where can the believer go in times like this? For the Christian and perhaps even for others the answer is Jesus."
Therefore, believe anything you can to make yourself feel better. If this Christianity from a place of power is to mean anything, I think the following is the best part:
"Jesus continually sought out those who were sick. Most of his miracles were healings from illnesses and disabilities: debilitating skin conditions (under the rubric of “leprosy”), epilepsy, a woman’s “flow of blood,” a withered hand, “dropsy,” blindness, deafness, paralysis. "
Help others who need your help the best way you can. Pastor, you help no one be having a church service that can increase covid-19 infections. In fact, Pastor, you are not following in Jesus way as you literally are causing the pandemic to get worse, and you are hurting innocent people.
Prayer Will Not Stop the Coronavirus
The pandemic lays bare how American politicians have ignored the past and its injustices. It’s time for repentance, not just prayer.
By Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove - March 15, 2020
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/national-day-prayer-coronavirus/
"America is not in trouble because people are not praying; we face an exacerbated public health crisis because this administration has spent more time preying on the most vulnerable than lifting all people."
Trump preys, he does not pray.
"By obscuring America’s original sin of race-based slavery and the Doctrine of Discovery, which claimed divine right to seize native land, the myth of Christian nationalism that Carson was parroting allows Trumpvangelicals to hope for a triumphant future to match their imagined past. “No matter where you may be,” Trump tweeted, “I encourage you to turn toward prayer in an act of faith. Together, we will easily PREVAIL.” "
More.
"The day of prayer we need is a day of repentance. And it should begin in the White House. The Trump administration got rid of the White House global pandemic office, played down the threat of the coronavirus, and continues to portray a disease spreading within US communities as a foreign threat that can be shut out at the border. He has also attacked the Affordable Care Act, cut food stamps, proposed a budget that would cut Medicaid and Medicare, and systemically worked to defund government programs we need now."
More.
"But Trump is not the only one who must repent. The extreme poverty and systemic racism that will be exposed by this public health crisis were here long before Trump. One hundred forty million Americans are poor and unable to afford basic supplies to prepare for quarantine, uninsured or underinsured at a moment when the health of food and service workers directly impacts all of us. The United States has the largest incarcerated population in the world, and the more than 2 million Americans who live in jails, prisons, and detention centers cannot practice social distancing or self-quarantine if they are exposed to the coronavirus. "
Pastor endorses oil as COVID-19 antidote
By Vijay Chavan Vijay - Pune Mirror - 16 March 2020
" . . . a handful of baseless claims have surfaced, claiming that consumption of cow urine could stall the disease."
