After a fire in Rome in 64 AD, Emperor Nero, covering up accusations against himself, designated Christians as the cause. Then, to assuage the fears and outrage of the people, he tortured and executed them where he could find them.
In the 1930's Hitler and the Nazis fingered the Jews as a major threat to the safety and security of the region. The outcome was the Holocaust where millions of Jews were rounded up and executed to calm the fears of the people and secure the society.
The New York Times reports that white evangelicals could prolong the pandemic because they are refusing to take the COVID vaccine. Now, the notion that "white" has anything to do with the question is nonsense, and it's not that everyone who identifies as "evangelical" actually fits in that category, and it's not like "white evangelical" is anything close to a major portion of the nation. The Pew Research Center says that there are 41 million white evangelical adults in the U.S. and are "least likely to get the vaccine." That would be roughly 10% of the nation -- nothing like a majority.
It's interesting to note in the story that there is no data about vaccine hesitancy among evangelicals of other racial groups. Apparently no one is looking at other races as a threat. And religious hesitancy spreads beyond white churches. Apparently that fact is irrelevant to the question. So why is this story out there? Why is the New York Times pinning the problem on "white evangelicals"? I would be classified as a "white evangelical" (even though I'm moving farther and farther away from "evangelical" as "evangelical" moves farther and farther away from ... "evangelical"), and I don't object to the vaccine on religious grounds. Do you suppose their complaints about "white evangelicals" will bypass me? I'm not morally opposed to it. Will they give me a pass? I don't think it's "the Mark of the Beast" or "contains aborted fetuses." Will they cancel me anyway?
Don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that a Nero-style persecution is coming. I'm not suggesting that a "Christian Holocaust" is just around the corner. I'm not expecting anything like that. All I'm saying is that the easiest way to be allowed to use excessive force against those we don't like is to classify them as an "enemy combatant" of some sort and then it becomes "okay." And all I'm saying is that to do so in such an ill-informed manner is as offensive as locking up all Japanese in America because some Japanese bombed Hawaii. Unfortunately I don't believe that our society is wiser on this kind of thing than Nero, or the Nazis, or the Americans in 1942. I am not at all optimistic given the current climate of hate. But Jesus said, "I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) Expect it. Don't worry about it. Know where your peace comes from. (Hint: It's not in a friendly social climate.)
3 comments:
We now, as a Church, face a worse fate than slaughter. With so many tares in the wheat, we are indistinguishable from the world. We are unimportant because we appear as the same as the world. As more and more "Christians" abandon traditional doctrines to conform to modern sensibilities, we are hold to those old beliefs become marginalized and ignored. The Church will never die, by the promise of God who will keep His remnant, but it will disappear into the background of the louder false Christians, the Christians that have accepted the world's view of morality and ethics. The war with sin and Satan is being lost, understandably. Thank the LORD, we have One greater than the world.
The good news is that the liberal Left will become deeply concerned for us because we will become the ignored and marginalized, and those are the ones they like to help out. You know ... I mean if they were consistent.
I'm very glad that 1) the Lord builds His church and not us and 2) God works all things after the counsel of His will, so we ultimately have nothing to fear.
While a agree with David’s analysis, I think that if we look globally the picture might not look so bleak. Which is one of the amazing thing about God, His Church and the Gospel aren’t limited or focused on one culture or nationality.
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