He warns us against fear because it can get in the way of the blessings and answered prayers that are in store for us. Various religious doctrines direct people to take care of their bodies. from Capital Bible Seminary (Lanham, MD), and is a D.Min. John Price / Unsplash. Instead of taking a position, he offered balanced counsel and argued for the individual to make a decision based upon faith, whether it be to receive inoculation or not, and for all to entrust themselves into the Lords providential care.7 Multiple pastors preached against it, such as William Douglass who condemned those who received inoculation as being guilty of a sinful distrust of God, though he would change his mind in later years. The Psalms in Practice. This goes against our religious belief and religious teaching, the letter states without elaborating. It's no wonder because Psalm 91 is literally the 9-1-1 to our mighty God. Others, in application of the doctrine of the sanctity of life,will refuse AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, while choosing Pfizer or Moderna, or rejecting them altogether. The Salvation Army Silicon Valley These so-called Bible riots revealed the deep tensions between the individualistic and common-sensical approach to biblical interpretation common among Protestants and a Catholic view of reading the Bible that was always filtered through the historic teachings of the Church and its theologians. It is about people who have faith in God. COVID Vaccine Religious Exemption Letters Show Battle of Faith vs. Science Notes from clergy, obtained by THE CITY, range from citing "morality" to erroneous declarations that the vaccine causes COVID. (Pro 3:4-6)' 'Seek ye first the Kingdom of G-d and His righteousness. Donate Clothing, Furniture & Household Items. He is a better man after his trial of earthly suffering. Should those who have previously declined vaccination pursue a religious exemption, or should they get vaccinated? Over this past week, multiple people inside and outside the church have asked about navigating matters of conscience and healthcare when it comes to COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The controversy surrounding the Covid-19 vaccine has been monumental, with conspiracy theories abounding. Please reach out if you need to talk to someone today. California, which abolished nonmedical exemptions for childhood vaccination in 2015, has led the way on covid vaccine mandates. His Holy Spirit resides in us as redeemed Christians. As Jesus said in Luke 12:31, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things will be added unto you. In addition, priests should be allowed to. Like they did in the 19th century, evangelicals who refuse to get vaccinated today tend to follow the spiritual leaders who have built followings by baptizing political or cultural propaganda in a sea of Bible verses. They make this argument for a variety of reasons. Several reasons proving that inoculating or transplanting the small pox, is a lawful practice, and that it has been blessed by God for the saving of many a life (Boston: S. Kneeland, 1721). Chip Ellis, who protested the vaccine mandate at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, told The Sun Herald that belief is in part why he submitted a request for a religious exemption. What Is the Significance of Not the Letter but of the Spirit? The Bible also has something to say about a government mandating vaccines for everyone. As you make the decision to receive or decline medical treatment, it is responsible for one to review whatever medical information is available, and to make an informed decision. Christians and the general public are divided on the need for vaccines to prevent illness, particularly regarding the vaccine for COVID-19. In the latest U.S. Supreme Court action on the matter, Justice Stephen Breyer rejected a filing by eight hospital staffers in Massachusetts seeking to block a vaccine mandate. However, getting through the initial grief and changes in my life and moving on to a place of greater faith and understanding was not an easy journey. Its message is based on the Bible. Other popular passages include Psalm 30:2: Lord, I called to you for help, and you healed me.; 1 Corinthians 6:19: Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?; and Leviticus 17:11: For the life of a creature is in the blood.. In contrast to these polar opposites were the voices that appealed to Romans 14 and viewed inoculation as an issue of the liberty of conscience. You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Pope Francis, the Holy See and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops say all the COVID-19 vaccines are morally acceptable. We know this from our friends and loved ones personal experiences with modern medicine in addition to published research reports. Proud member document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Ben Purves is a pastor at Occoquan Bible Church in Woodbridge, VA. Ben joined OBCs staff in 2008. Impact Report, Kathy Hochul to declare a state of emergency to ensure hospital bed availability in case of a spike in admissions and Mayor Bill de Blasio to urge New Yorkers to wear masks in indoor public spaces. She then quotes 2 Corinthians 7 out of context and assumes a vaccine will "contaminate" her. Jesus, in this statement, taught his followers that a pure heart does not condemn other peoples choices about whatever is ingested (including medicine) into their bodies. Maldonado's approach to COVID-19 is also shaped by the prosperity gospel, a teaching . Betty Dunn hopes her articles help you hold hands with God, a theme in her self-published memoirMedusa. Is it a matter of preference or a matter of conscience? [4] William Cooper. Can you receive the vaccine in faith? Options for the sacrilegious. According to religious studies scholars from the College of Liberal Arts, this group's justification for not getting vaccinated lies in . You should do the same. Covid Mask & Testing Exemptions. ", (Excerpted from "Should Christians Get Vaccinated?" A letter from a priest, written on behalf of a worker seeking an exemption from the vaccine mandate. Religious freedom is a core value in the United States. 'Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and acknowledge Him in all your ways and he shall make straight the paths beneath your feet. Amid this flux of ideas, what hasnt changed is the Bibles advice regarding the care of our bodies. The body is a temple that should not receive foreign or unnatural substances, and God will protect the body from sickness; and The immune system was created by God and should not be altered often. 10) Since the very beginning of creation "The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." The antecedents of the currently available vaccines in gene therapy play God with my body-soul unity as an image-bearer by willfully inserting synthetic foreign genetic material . Reading and praying on the verses below may expand your understanding of God's intentions regarding our bodily health and the role of vaccines. As workplaces have begun to require COVID-19 vaccinations for employees, some Catholic institutions insist that conscience exemptions are necessary. Everything is lawful, but not everything builds others up. With science and scripture, a Baltimore pastor is fighting Covid-19 vaccine skepticism. The Lord has blessed Ben and his wife Ricki with three children whom they are homeschooling. The Bible does not instruct us as to whether or not one should receive a vaccine, but it is clear when it comes to the doctrine of the liberty of conscience. [1] Matthew Niederhuber, The Fight Over Inoculation During the 1721 Boston Smallpox Epidemic, Harvard University Medical School. A former high school English teacher and editor, she works on writing projects from her home in West Michigan, where she enjoys woods, water, pets, and family. [7] John Newton, The Works of John Newton, 4 vols., (Edinburg: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2015), 617-619. Instead of receiving inoculation, Massey argued that one should trust the Lord. Our religion is predicated on the protection and preservation of health. My faith became stronger due to praying and searching for an answer to this popular question. Meanwhile, we all await the ultimate kingdom of God, where there is no sickness or dyingand we all get along. The religious objections of some may be as simple as holding the conviction that the human body is created by God, that ones health is a matter of stewardship, and Scripture places that responsibility on the individual and not the state. In fact, the purpose of the Tribulation itself is to bring pressure for men to surrender to Jesus and find salvation." EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is a resource for many seeking to understand if the Coronavirus pandemic is an End Times plague. Battery Energy Storage Systems Will Make the City Greener and Theyre a Lot Safer Than E-Bike Batteries, Motorists Say E-ZPass Routinely Racks Up Unfair Fees for Unpaid Tolls. According to these ultraconservative Protestant Christian groups that thrive in the southern and southeastern US the so-called ' Bible belt' the entire Covid-19 induced pandemic is a hoax. If I could devise a means to avoid the trouble, I know not how great a loser I may be in point of grace and comfort. After the state of Vermont removed its vaccine exemption for nonreligious personal beliefs in 2016, the proportion of kindergarten students with a religious exemption shot up from 0.5 percent to 3 . Jesus replied, addressing this topic of putting questionable agents into our bodies: "Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, 'Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 10 And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that swarm in the waters, and of all the living creatures that are in the . "Religious exemptions provide an all-too-easy way for people who don't want to get vaccinated for some reason or other to wiggle out of a vaccine mandate and do so on the basis of what they claim to be a deeply held religious belief, which is largely unpoliced," Feldman told Insider. Vaccines violate our ability to follow the teachings of the Bible. They grew anxious that these Catholic newcomers were a threat to their Protestant nation and often based these fears on perceptions of how Catholic bishops and priests kept the Bible from their parishioners. The Boston Smallpox Epidemic of 1721 There were also queries tied to justice, racism and oppression in the week following George Floyds death. Those who mandate vaccines give little room for liberty of conscience. Scripture reminds us that God began good work in us and through us. Romans 15:13. Barrier on What Does the Bible Say About Coronavirus: Is it a Sign of the End Times? I prayed this verse daily, driving to work, sitting on my couch. These search spiked to 100 times the average in a week. The two-page letter, made public last month by NBC 7, cites nearly a dozen Bible verses to bolster their argument that taking the vaccine would be sinning against God. Another popular search during the pandemic was Jeremiah 29:11, which says, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. This is a verse that many Christians are familiar with, but sometimes we forget its promises. Protestant denominations formed around such interpretations. Chaos is part of creation, but God didnt bring chaos. John Fea does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. But our citizenship is in heaven. There is absolutely nothing that can change this truth. Probatum est. There may be minimal or no symptoms. During the pandemic, many people have turned to Bible verses for strength and encouragement. If it pleases him, I hope it will please me. Reading and praying on the verses below may expand your understanding of Gods intentions regarding our bodily health and the role of vaccines. Bible verses about the "mark of the beast," which Maldonado pointed to in his Sunday sermon, warn Christians about a future where the Antichrist takes over the world economy and prevents people who don't have that mark from buying or selling food. During Jesus ministry on earth, someone in the crowd asked him for advice on eating meat offered to pagan idols. According to The New York Times, millions of white evangelical adults in the United States don't intend to be vaccinated against COVID-19.This poses many challenges to battling the virus, including the prevention of herd immunity. [6.] In addition to this, Massey argued that medical practitioners are assuming the role of God in intentionally giving the disease to their patients. . Getting the vaccine is something to pray about, to discern Gods will for your life and our collective life on this planet. Therefore honor God with your bodies.1 Corinthians 6:19-20, It is an honor to have a body that is the temple of the Holy Spirit. What the French traveler and diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville described as individualism had a profound influence on biblical interpretation and the way laypeople read the sacred text. Ill go and come, Do not seek your own good, but the good of the other person.. As Psalm 119:11 reminds us, "I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.". heal the sick . Maybe like-minded includes respecting each others convictions regarding the role of medicine in maintaining personal health. Did God Send the Coronavirus as a Biblical Plague from Revelation? Unless you're a member of a Dutch Reformed church or a Christian Science church, making a claim for a religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine as a Christian is going to be hard to prove.. A reply to the objections made against taking the small pox in the way of inoculation from principles of conscience (Boston: Stationers Arms, 1730). Perhaps more time in prayer, less time reacting in fear and anger would help bring peace in this difficult, pandemic time. The unnamed staffer is fulfilling her obligation to religious obligation to morality, the letter contends. If you lost your jobLook at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. It is not rooted in emotions or feelings. While this fear of Catholics was mostly rhetorical in nature, there were a few moments of violence. Scriptures can help us to make sense of the confusion we see around us with people in fear of the Coronavirus. "If he or she thus comes to the sure conviction in conscience that they should not receive it, we believe this is a sincere religious belief, as they are bound before God to follow their. Matthew 10:29-31 Which means that no person's life span can be cut short by a Covid-19 virus. Our inflexible stands and outrage over whether to vaccinate or not break hearts, and pits people against each other and government health agencies. " Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6 Where Does the Bible Talk About Our Bodies? Social media allows these evangelical conspiracy theorists to become influential through their anti-vaccine rants. (Could this be a metaphor for doctor-prescribed drugs today?). The mandate is directly affecting my religious beliefs.' . It was in the midst of this public health crisis that Cotton Mather began to promote an experimental inoculation that he had learned about from his slave Onesimus. You can opt out at any time. Nothing could occur in our lives, in creation, time or space, that can change Gods love for you. If there was ever a great opportunity for cherry-pickingusing Gods Word in a way that supports your ideas or lifethis is it. Immediately after Jesus sacrifice on the cross, the curtain in Solomons temple in Jerusalem tore in two, signifying that we were no longer separated from Gods holiness by our sins. I honor my body in these ways. . Check out her blog atBetty by Elizabeth Dunning and her website,www.elizabethdunning-wix.com. Perhaps you have a more sophisticated form of this objection. I dare not advise; but if she can quietly return at the usual time, and neither run intentionally into the way of the small-pox, nor run out of the way, but leave it simply with the Lord, I shall not blame her. Government and medical entities recommend vaccinations to slow its course. Paul preached to the rowdy citizens of Corinth in 1 Corinthians 6:12, I have the right to do anything, you saybut not everything is beneficial. It's brimming with declarations and promises of God's protection. Yes! Second, God frequently, in the Bible, calls us to do things and avoid things that are very costly to us personally, in order to demonstrate that Christ and his ways are more precious to us than safety or security or comfort, and that we sacrifice in order to do what's right. Gods love is not only incomprehensible, but it is also unbreakable. But not with just a verse or two from the psalms, or even just one psalmbut with psalms. Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. Who Are the Four Horsemen in Revelation? Staffers waiting for a response on their exemptions remain on the payroll and working while other anti-vaxxers who did not file exemption requests have been put on unpaid leave. In all its splendor, Solomons temple in Jerusalem housed the Spirit of God. For some, this will mean choosing to getting vaccinated, and for others, it will mean declining the vaccine altogether. But if were being honest, the novel coronavirus has impacted us all in vastly different ways. I wish we had all more faith to trust him with our bodies, our health, our provision, and our temporal comforts likewise. I read the verse in the chapter and book context and realized there was no mention of physical illness in chapter 17 of Jeremiahs prophecy. Im very troubled by religious exemptions, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis. Christianity.com is a member of the Salem Web Network of sites including: Copyright 2023, Christianity.com. Indeed, I had a name for it: the 6% gambit. Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, and the Catholic Church have all issued statements saying that their religion. The use of aborted human life at early stage of existence for scientific research violates my faith, beliefs, and biblical values.. 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