NAVIGATING DIVISION: VACCINES. PART 2
The government narrative through the pandemic has been that the virus is lethal and you will probably be hospitalized and may even die if you contract it, and the only way to contain it is locking down our businesses, keeping social distance, and wearing masks until a vaccine is created. Once we have a vaccine, we will be safe.
Half the nation accepted this narrative and did what they were told and scolded those that questioned it. Many professing Christians preached that acceptance of the narrative showed love to one’s neighbor. If you doubted the narrative, you hated your neighbor, and hatred for your doing so was warranted.
I am a Christian that found the narrative suspicious. Most of the people in our church feel the same way, though our suspicions may differ in degree.
The government narrative didn’t square with reality. Most people didn’t need hospitalization (under 5% of cases) and most people didn’t die (under 2% of cases). For most, the virus was somewhere between a head cold and a nasty flu. Despite destructive lockdowns and mask-wearing the virus continued to spread. “Virus gonna virus”.
Most of us were fine with a vaccine in concept but had serious questions about Trump’s fast-tracked vaccines – approved in under a year when most medications take years to be created, tested, and approved by the FDA. Seemed fishy.
Trump’s Democratic opponents agreed and warned us against trusting the government vaccines – until they were declared the winners of the 2020 election. Suddenly the Democrats wanted to mandate the very vaccines they warned us to distrust. Fishy.
When credentialed and competent doctors started raising questions about the effectiveness and possible damaging side effects of the vaccines, the government experts and big tech labeled them quacks spewing “disinformation” and silenced many of them by de-platforming. Fishy. Why not just provide answers to their questions?
The vaccines did not do what the government had promised. They did not prevent contracting the virus or spreading it. Neither did the boosters. The government continued to try to force them on us anyway – and is doing so to this day!
I believe distrust of the vaccines is not as much about science as it is distrust in the government experts who seemed motivated by concern for politics destructive to President Trump than genuine concern for public health and what was best for the country.
Still there were some, even among those distrustful of the government narrative, who decided, based on their own research, that the vaccines were safe. They got the shot with a convinced conscience.
I believe liberty should govern our approach to the covid vaccines. Those convinced that the vaccines are safe ought not be mocked or persecuted for taking the shot. Those unconvinced and who don’t want to be vaccinated ought not be forced to do so and ought not be mocked or persecuted for refraining.
Let each be convinced in his own mind and let each bear the responsibility for any repercussions to himself for his choice.
I find it discomfiting that in America we who choose liberty find ourselves at odds with the government. But that, I believe, is the best place to stand both as Americans and Christians, and that is how we are navigating the issue of covid vaccines in our church.
Half the nation accepted this narrative and did what they were told and scolded those that questioned it. Many professing Christians preached that acceptance of the narrative showed love to one’s neighbor. If you doubted the narrative, you hated your neighbor, and hatred for your doing so was warranted.
I am a Christian that found the narrative suspicious. Most of the people in our church feel the same way, though our suspicions may differ in degree.
The government narrative didn’t square with reality. Most people didn’t need hospitalization (under 5% of cases) and most people didn’t die (under 2% of cases). For most, the virus was somewhere between a head cold and a nasty flu. Despite destructive lockdowns and mask-wearing the virus continued to spread. “Virus gonna virus”.
Most of us were fine with a vaccine in concept but had serious questions about Trump’s fast-tracked vaccines – approved in under a year when most medications take years to be created, tested, and approved by the FDA. Seemed fishy.
Trump’s Democratic opponents agreed and warned us against trusting the government vaccines – until they were declared the winners of the 2020 election. Suddenly the Democrats wanted to mandate the very vaccines they warned us to distrust. Fishy.
When credentialed and competent doctors started raising questions about the effectiveness and possible damaging side effects of the vaccines, the government experts and big tech labeled them quacks spewing “disinformation” and silenced many of them by de-platforming. Fishy. Why not just provide answers to their questions?
The vaccines did not do what the government had promised. They did not prevent contracting the virus or spreading it. Neither did the boosters. The government continued to try to force them on us anyway – and is doing so to this day!
I believe distrust of the vaccines is not as much about science as it is distrust in the government experts who seemed motivated by concern for politics destructive to President Trump than genuine concern for public health and what was best for the country.
Still there were some, even among those distrustful of the government narrative, who decided, based on their own research, that the vaccines were safe. They got the shot with a convinced conscience.
I believe liberty should govern our approach to the covid vaccines. Those convinced that the vaccines are safe ought not be mocked or persecuted for taking the shot. Those unconvinced and who don’t want to be vaccinated ought not be forced to do so and ought not be mocked or persecuted for refraining.
Let each be convinced in his own mind and let each bear the responsibility for any repercussions to himself for his choice.
I find it discomfiting that in America we who choose liberty find ourselves at odds with the government. But that, I believe, is the best place to stand both as Americans and Christians, and that is how we are navigating the issue of covid vaccines in our church.