Christians In Pandemic: 3 Critical Morality Issues We’ve Faced So Far

COVID-19 has no doubt singlehandedly uprooted any sense of stability and peace American people felt. Now, as states begin to reopen, it seems appropriate to take a step back and consider whether those of us who make our allegiance with Jesus Messiah have acted as He would in such a crisis.

Have we fulfilled our mission in being the hands and feet of Jesus through chaotic times?

Have we lived consistently with the ethics of the kingdom of God while the world reacts to a multi-level attack on human life?

How can we learn from this experience to better fulfill the mission of the church in the next crisis? Because, whether or not we now believe it, America is not exempt from life-altering crises. There will be more of these, and we need to be ready.

It’s important for us all to remember this has been a crisis.

According to the very nature of crises, we are facing tragedy on multiple levels.

It is a tragedy that businesses which provided food and sustenance for many low to middle-income families are facing the threat of permanent closure. For businesses that have been or will be forced to close, the financial devastation to its owners could take decades to recover from.

It is a tragedy that over 3.5 million people have been confirmed to have COVID-19 with roughly 250,000 deaths at the time of this writing. Even many who have not died will may live with effects of the virus if they experienced a severe case of it.

It is a tragedy that China doesn’t appear to have been entirely forthright with the world back at the beginnings of this virus. While there is still much speculation about why things happened the way they did, one thing we know for sure is that many lives could have been saved if China had implemented its shutdown the week Dr. Wenliang warned his colleagues (and the government) of what he saw coming through his clinic.

It is a tragedy that millions of people are going without food and getting physically beaten if they attempt to acquire any food in regions like India, Sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of South East Asia.

It is a tragedy that many people—especially elderly and youth—are facing mental breakdowns because of their isolation away from physical interaction with friends and people who love them.

It is a tragedy nurses and physicians face extreme mental anxiety (some committing suicide) because of the overwhelm they face on the front lines.

It is a tragedy that domestic violence has increased, and educational development has been momentously hampered for those who already struggle with school.

It is a tragedy that the world cannot seem to ban together and care for all parts of life—whether in the womb, the vibrant youthful years, or the waning days of age.

We’ve got to understand and acknowledge that there are many tragedies taking place right now on many different levels. Of course, there are always tragedies taking place in life. But for the first time in our lifetime, the whole globe is facing similar tragedies together.

National leaders are facing together the devastation a healthcare crisis has on their economies. World citizens are facing together the devastation being furloughed has on their family’s financial stability, while also facing the very real potential of losing a loved-one because of the virus.

And in the mix of it all, the Church in every continent is facing together the devastation moral compromises has had in the past, has right now, and will have in the future on their effectiveness in God’s work of restoration.

Many of the conversations about COVID-19 seem to pit these tragedies against each other. But it’s important to remember all of them are tragedies and all of them are existing, or at least amplified, because of the onslaught the COVID-19 virus has had on the world.

The question is not which tragedy is worse. The question—for those of us who make our allegiance with Jesus Messiah—is what role are we playing in helping the world navigate through this crisis?

It is a crisis—a conglomeration of tragedies.

And we as the church have a role.

I would suggest that we who claim to bear the image of God ought to be playing a leading role in fighting for all dynamics of life through this crisis. Not a “leading role” in the sense that there’s just a few stars of the show and we better be one of them.

But a “leading role” in the sense that we are the first to give our time and our resources and collaboration of ingenuity with professionals around the world to help defeat this virus and navigate through yet another manifestation of the brokenness wrought throughout creation because of humanity’s choice to rebel against Yahweh as their good and awesome God.

I know of some who have been actively (even if quietly) participating in that role.

However, unfortunately, many of us have chosen to play a spectating role.

We’re not even doing play-by-play of what’s happening along the way. We’re sitting passively, watching Netflix; or vigorously punching on Facebook as gameday analysts.

And in the process, we haven’t even noticed how we are completely falling apart morally. We haven’t paid attention to the ways we’ve compromised in just a few short months.

For those of us using social media during this time, we need to remember that if we make our allegiance with Jesus Messiah, the information and opinions we share are moral issues. Here’s what I mean:

1. Our choices in what we share about, believe, or argue over tend to derive from thinking more of ourselves then of others.

I live in Los Angeles, California. The second largest metropolis in the country. The layout of LA is significantly different from a city like New York City. NYC is much more densely populated than LA.

Even so, we don’t have to reach out very far to bump into people who have friends, family, colleagues who have had the virus (some even dying from it).

On the other hand, my friends who live in rural Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Kansas (or any other rural place) only hear about COVID-19 from the news. Few of them have any friends or acquaintances actually being affected by the virus itself.

I have analyzed data, news reports, and healthcare worker testimonies based on my perspective from a large urban setting. I see the value the shutdowns have, not because I’ve liked them, but because LA has not been nearly as affected by COVID-19 as NYC.

Early on in the outbreak it was reported that LA could face a similar onslaught as NYC…unless we acted swiftly.

We did.

The first shelter-in-place orders came from various urban settings here in California. At New York’s expense, we were able to learn, adjust, and act quickly in order to mitigate things on this side of the country. It very easily could have been the other way around.

My rural friends, however, analyze everything based on their context; and their context tells a completely different story.

I have been concerned about people pushing reopening as soon as possible because I know LA has enough of the virus that if we just open up overnight, it could take us over in a similar fashion as it took NYC. My friends are concerned about the potential of being out of work and facing economic hardship. The virus isn’t a tangible thing to them; the potential of financial devastation is.

In a recent dialogue I was having on Facebook, it occurred to me that, “Goodness, if this guy is really struggling financially right now then it’s absolutely pointless for me to try and explain where I’m coming from. We need to help him.”

From the very beginning, this virus has called us to put others first. It can spread from person to person without them even realizing it. I may never feel sick but could cause someone else to get sick (and potentially lose their life) because I was carrying it without knowing.

That’s why governors started placing restrictions on gathering sizes in the first place. It’s why we now wear masks. And it’s why I’ve stopped trying to convince my friends of the value of the shutdowns and started asking them if they need help.

Stop and think right now how many conversations you have participated in where you really wanted the other person to understand what you were saying? Now think about the conversations you entered where you tried to understand what the other person was saying?

Is it rather disproportionate?

The reality is, this isn’t a new moral issue for humanity; it’s how we tend to interact online, period. But everything is amplified right now, so it becomes far more obvious.

Every one of us evaluates data, news, our friends’ status updates, blog posts, videos, podcast episodes, comments—you name it—by what we personally experience right now and have experienced in the past. The question is, do we move beyond our experiences and presuppositions to consider other points of view?

This is Paul’s exhortation of Philippians 2: that we consider others as more important than ourselves.

Are we doing that?

Do we think about others and how it builds up, encourages, or brings clarity to confusion when we click “share,” type out a post, or leave a comment?

Through social media, the earth has become “flat.” I see and hear from my friends in rural Nepal about as much as I see and hear from my friends in New York City. When I share something on Facebook and fail to clarify what and who I’m talking about, it’s going to affect everyone who sees it no matter what their profession or where they live.

As disciples of Jesus Messiah, it’s imperative that we keep this in mind even as we interact on social media.

2. We have used abortion as a reason to not care about COVID-19.

I can’t count on two hands how many times I’ve seen the picture going around on Facebook showing how many abortions happen per year compared to how many COVID related deaths have happened thus far.

What’s the point?

Does sharing stats about death prove one is pro-life?

I never knew so many of my friends cared about the Facebook world knowing the extent of abortions. I wonder, is anyone doing anything about it? Are we more engaged in fighting for life in the womb than we were before COVID-19, before sharing all these stats?

If not, we are masquerading.

We are pretending to care about life over here, so we can care less about life over there. We end up not solving the issue of abortion nor the crisis at hand.

Nobody said that we should care more about COVID-19 than we do about abortion. And many who are helping those dealing with the virus have also been attempting to stand in the gap for those at risk of abortion…long before this virus came onto the scene.

And if people are sharing abortion stats because they’re frustrated that abortion clinics can stay open while churches cannot, I’m curious if any of them have helped to facilitate other healthcare options for pregnant women who don’t see hope in going through with having their child?

If you have recently started clicking share on pictures showing stats about abortion deaths but have not yet started lifting your fingers to get involved in the fight, you are telling yourself it’s not life that actually matters but the appearance of caring about life that counts. And that’s a moral issue.

I’m not saying don’t share the picture. I’m asking, why are we sharing it? Will we keep sharing it after shelter-in-place orders lift? Has this globally visual pandemic caused us to truly get more involved in saving lives, even when we can’t see them?

3. We have cared more about our political freedoms and economic stability then about the mission of the church.

I’ve been seeing on social media all the Mennonites who are participating in protests, demanding their states to reopen so they can go back to work.

I understand the financial pressure and instability we’re all facing–I’ve missed over six weeks of work, myself. But why is it this that has caused us to become politically and socially active? How many of us have protested abortion clinics, unfair treatment of immigrants, or Ahmed Arbery’s unjust death?

I’m not saying there isn’t a time to get involved and put pressure on our leaders to do the right thing. But what determines the value of “right thing” worth getting worked up about? Why haven’t we put this much effort into things that actually matter to God?

Because our piggy banks are getting hurt, we’re finally getting riled up?

Things are grossly out of line in this world, and it’s not just the secular government.

We should be expecting persecution. We should be expecting government overreach. We should be expecting financial instability as faithful coworkers with Jesus Messiah in building God’s kingdom here on earth.

But instead of participating in building the kingdom, we’re campaigning for our rights.

To be honest, I think there is a revival taking place. It doesn’t have to do with American leaders turning to Christ. Neither does it have to do with large groups of unbelievers coming to faith.

The revival taking place right now is a wakening up of those within Christ’s church who acknowledge how corrupt we’ve become and are allowing COVID-19 and the ensuing drama to mold us and prepare us to be faithful and fruitful servants of the Lord even in the midst of chaos.

If it only takes a virus to get the church in a frenzy, what’s going to happen if our ability to homeschool gets taken away? What will we do if we actually lose our freedom of speech?

You see, we’ve conflated political freedoms with integral Christian values.

The value is parents teaching their children the statutes of God; the freedom is being able to homeschool. The value is telling others about the way of Christ; the freedom is being able to tell them without a threat of imprisonment.

Do we have a framework for Christian faith without political freedoms?

Again, I’m not saying Christians should never appeal to government leaders to enact and abide by policies that aid creational restoration. But creational restoration through the redemption of Jesus Christ ought to be the focus of our efforts–not maintaining particular political freedoms.

I don’t think we’re actually losing any freedoms right now—we’re navigating a crisis. But this crisis has exposed how we care more about our political freedoms and economic welfare than we do about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is King whether I have money in my pocket or not.

That’s what I preached to myself the end of March when I didn’t know where our rent money was coming from. And to be honest, I’m ashamed to say I needed to preach that to myself simply over my rent.

Where is our love for God and His way? Where is our commitment to be His hands and feet no matter what obstacles we have to overcome or risks we have to take?

Where is our confidence in God’s sovereignty whether it’s the Left in power or the Right?

You can share your thoughts in the comments below.