I believe Scripture does not directly address whether someone should be vaccinated against COVID or not. Within a church people should have liberty to follow their conscience. I made the decision to get vaccinated. Here are the reasons why. Please consider them respectfully. If you agree, that is great. If you disagree, that does not mean you do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, and I hope we can respectfully and rationally discuss our reasons, and we can still “receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God,” and still “with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:6-7).
1.) I got vaccinated because vaccines have saved millions of lives. Compare, for example, David Cloud’s articles on life before and after typhoid vaccines, smallpox vaccines, and yellow fever vaccines. God tells man to subdue the earth and have dominion over it (Genesis 1), and the scientific method and science are part of the way that we obey that command. I got vaccinated because I believe I am helping to stop a disease that has killed or contributed to the death of millions of people world-wide, and in this way am loving my neighbor as myself.
2.) I got vaccinated because I believe it helps to save the health and lives of the Lord’s people in His churches. I know of good churches where people have died from COVID. I know of numbers of the Lord’s saints who were hospitalized because of COVID. I know of numbers of the Lord’s people that had to go on oxygen because of COVID. Some of them were elderly, but others were young. By way of contrast, I don’t know anyone who has died of the flu or had to go on oxygen because of the flu. And these are just people I am familiar with–there are countless numbers of the saints of Christ in other places who have likewise gotten sick, been hospitalized, or died. I want to do what I can to help God’s saints be able to serve the Lord Jesus Christ on earth for as long as possible until He comes.
3.) I got vaccinated because even if one does not get hospitalized or die from COVID, it is not a fun disease to have for many people. Some people I know who got COVID months ago still have issues with their sense of smell now and have other problems. When they were sick it was not a good time for them. I would rather not risk getting really sick and having ongoing effects possibly a long time later when I could just get a poke in my arm and go about my day just like normal. My only side affect was a slightly sore arm for a short time. Also, I am much less likely to have to lose several weeks of income quarantined, and much less likely to cause other people and businesses to have to lose their livelihoods for several weeks, and I would like to prevent those things from happening.
4.) I got vaccinated so that I can have greater ministry to the elderly. I would like to be able to go into a nursing home to preach the gospel, not limit my opportunities to go into an elderly person’s home to preach the gospel door-to-door, pick elderly people up for church, and so on.
5.) I got vaccinated so that I do not give people a reason to stay away from the Lord’s house on the Lord’s Day. They don’t need to be afraid that I am going to make them sick. I also do not want to give weak people a reason to stumble. I would much rather get a little poke in my arm than hang a millstone around my neck and be cast into the sea (Mark 9:42), but it is better to have that bad situation with a millstone than cause others to stumble.
6.) I got vaccinated so that if I have opportunities to preach or teach the Word in other countries my ministry will not be limited by being unvaccinated and unable to get into the country.
7.) I got vaccinated to defend religious liberty. Religious liberty is increasingly under fire, especially from the left in the USA. Many restrictions on churches meeting at all were very bad, and they were justified by the threat of the spread of disease. I believe I am taking away this excuse to attack Christ’s churches and restrict them and their worship and their ministry. If the majority–which always has been and always will be unregenerate (Luke 12:32)–thinks of churches as places where anti-vax conspiracy people spread disease all over the place, they will want to shut them down. If they don’t like churches because of the gospel we preach, that is fine. If they don’t like us because we are taking a “stand” for something not in the Bible, like opposing vaccination, that is not good. Assembling, as Christ commanded, to worship the Triune God, is something worth fighting for and dying for. I do not believe opposing vaccination is worth fighting or dying for. (I also believe supporting vaccination is not a doctrinal issue and should not cause division in a church.)
8.) I got vaccinated because I believe it will help our church to be able to minister to everyone in the community, not just people who subscribe to certain conspiracies or hold certain unconventional views on science.
9.) I got vaccinated because it can help with evangelism. If I am at a public transit station passing out gospel tracts to thousands of people, they might be afraid to take one from me if I am unvaccinated, or I might give them an excuse not to take one. Furthermore, I am more likely to get sick by being out with very large groups of people, and I want to be able to minister without increasing my risk of infecting others.
10.) I got vaccinated because I do not want my unvaccinated brethren in Christ, or other fellow humans in God’s image, to get sick. If a high enough percentage of the population gets vaccinated, COVID will be unable to spread as effectively, and those who do not get vaccinated will also be safe. If not enough people get vaccinated, while the vaccinated people will be protected, those who are unvaccinated will remain vulnerable. I would like to help protect those vulnerable people.
11.) I got vaccinated because, while none of us knows the future, it is very possible that this virus will keep mutating so even people who have gotten COVID already may get it again in a year or so. There are churches that have very few vaccinated people, and where for a variety of reasons they either neglect or refuse to social distance, mask, etc. COVID has gone through many such congregations, sickening many, hospitalizing some, and killing a few. At least for now if practically everyone has already gotten sick, though, they have antibodies just as if they had been vaccinated. If this is a once-for-a-lifetime situation, it would still be very sad for precious saints of the Lord to be in an untimely grave, or on oxygen for weeks, teetering on the brink of death or life, with many others unable to smell or taste properly for months. Unfortunately, COVID may become a yearly thing like the flu. It would be terrible for churches to have COVID sweep through every year and hospitalize or pick off a few of God’s sheep every year. By getting vaccinated, and getting a follow up in future years if necessary, I can do what I can to prevent a recurrence of serious and sometimes deadly sickness among the Lord’s people.
12.) I got vaccinated because I believe it fits in with the real world that God made, which is not the imaginary world of conspiracy theories from InfoWars and its kidnapped children who are in slave labor on Mars, or lies spread by countries such as Russia that are spreading vaccine disinformation. I don’t want God’s Word and His infallible truth associated with such things, or for people to associate the Bible or Christianity with such false ideas or with a failure to be able to think logically and rationally, when Scripture strongly favors a “sound mind” and commands, “come, let us reason” (2 Timothy 1:7; Isaiah 1:18). Of course, not everyone who has not received a COVID vaccine is a follower of InfoWars or accepts Russian disinformation. People may have many reasons for not getting vaccinated which may be better than these ones—for example, if a person already had COVID and was treated with monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma, in conjunction with his doctor’s advice it may be good to wait a few months before getting vaccinated. If a husband forbids his wife from getting vaccinated, then she should not get vaccinated. But if InfoWars or another highly unreliable Internet source is why we are not getting the vaccine, it might be wise to reconsider that reason, at least.
13.) I got vaccinated to honor my father and my mother. My family is helping to care for an elderly parent who has not yet believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. This person does not believe in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. I do not want this loved one to get sick because of me, hindering my ability to share the gospel, or even worse, pass into an eternity without Christ, because I did not get vaccinated. I also do not want my ability to witness to this loved one hindered by adopting anti-vaccination conspiracy theories and having this person think that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ–which is overwhelming–is like the evidence for anti-vax conspiracies, which is, at best, far from overwhelming.
14.) I got vaccinated because after carefully considering them I did not believe arguments against vaccination are as strong as the arguments for getting vaccinated. The best anti-COVID vaccine argument is that one is supporting abortion by getting a COVID vaccine. However, I do not believe getting vaccinated supports abortion or is anti-life. No COVID vaccine has tissue from any aborted children. It is true that in the 1970s and 1980s cell lines from abortions were placed into labs and used for medical testing. We are now thousands and thousands of generations of cells away from this originally wicked act of getting the cells in this way. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has more involvement with abortion than Moderna or Pfizer, so I avoided the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, although I do not condemn those who got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. I am not killing any preborn children by getting vaccinated, nor am I supporting the way decades ago a particular cell line was originated by getting a vaccine that is made thousands of generations of cells later when there are no other alternatives. I believe I am very pro-life if I make it so that the lives of the very real people I know who have died from COVID are the end of the death from this disease. Pro-life means I try to stop the unnecessary death of adults as well as those of the preborn. Non-Christian religious pro-life movements such as Catholicism as well as secular pro-life groups also recognize the morality of getting a COVID vaccine, even while they (as I agree) recognize it would be better to get cell lines that originated in a different way. If a treatment for a deadly and dangerous disease was achieved by experimentation on the corpse of an adult person who had been murdered, and there were no other equally effective alternative treatments, I would get the treatment for the disease while advocating for other methods of research and development and trying to eliminate future murders in every righteous way possible. I will do the same in this situation. If you think that there is too much of a connection to abortion to get vaccinated, I respect your concern and don’t want you to violate your conscience. From the way I see, it, however, we probably have a closer connection to abortion if we ever shop at a grocery store that donates to pro-abortion causes and if we pay taxes–as Romans 13 commands–to a government that funds abortion and other terrible evils. Maybe we have a closer connection if we are part owner of pro-abortion companies in mutual funds or other investments (find out if you are here), or if we never warn about abortion through means such as passing out the pro-life, anti-abortion gospel tract here.
Another anti-COVID vaccine argument is that testing has been insufficient. We certainly can always do more testing, and more testing is always commendable, but I believe the likelihood of health problems arising from getting vaccinated is orders of magnitude lower than the likelihood of getting health problems from actually getting COVID. I don’t know anyone who had to go on oxygen or is dead from getting vaccinated, but, sadly, I do know numbers of people who have from actually getting COVID. Testing requirements for vaccines in the US are very rigorous, and the competing companies have every incentive to expose their competitors if another firm’s vaccine is unsafe. Thousands of lawyers hoping for a class action lawsuit, countless doctors, millions of people who simply want safe vaccines, and many other competing interests that make it very difficult for a vaccine known to be unsafe to continue to be marketed in the long term. Also, concern that the vaccine utilizes mRNA and therefore, according to some anti-COVID vaccine conspiracy advocates, changes one’s DNA is simply entirely unsubstantiated and highly inaccurate scientifically. (See also here.) Claims that thousands of people are dying because they got vaccinated, based on misunderstood VAERS data, are simply misinterpreting the data in question and confusing the fact that with millions of people getting vaccinated thousands of people would die afterwards by simple probability does not mean that they died because of the vaccine–one could equally point out that thousands of people died within 24 hours of reading a book or within 24 hours of getting a good night’s sleep and conclude that getting enough sleep or reading books is deadly.
In my opinion, I did not think that other anti-COVID vaccine arguments were very strong after examining both sides of the issue using critical thinking and scientific principles, as commanded in the Bible.
One of the weakest arguments against vaccination that, sadly, I have heard a lot, is that people are only getting vaccinated because they are afraid, while opposing vaccination is the way to be free from fear. In my view, it would be a lot better to make rational arguments rather than imputing motives that one cannot know to the millions of Christians and the many godly preachers and godly households who have gotten vaccinated. For myself, I know that I got vaccinated to honor and show love for the Lord Jesus Christ, to show love for others, and to be a good steward of the life the Lord has given me. I do not doubt that there are many people who have gotten vaccinated because they were afraid of getting COVID and its sometimes serious effects and a lot of people who have not gotten vaccinated because they were afraid of the very rare instances where vaccines have serious side effects. However, I don’t think it would work to go up to a Christian who opposes vaccination and tell him he is just foolishly full of fear and that is why he is anti-vax. That would not get me anywhere. I would probably be more effective if I could show that he was much more likely to be killed on his morning drive to work than he is likely to be killed from getting vaccinated. Nor, if I were against vaccination, would I go up to a Christian who thinks vaccines are blessings from God the Father that save many lives and tell him he is only vaccinated because he is full of fear. If he actually was not full of fear, he would view my false accusation as ridiculous. Instead, whichever side I was on, I would attempt to find logical and scientific arguments for my view instead of assuming things only God knows about other people’s hearts and minds.
So those are the reasons why I got vaccinated against COVID. (Oh, and here is one more–I am tired of wearing masks and look forward to a time when enough people are vaccinated so we can stop wearing them, although I will still wear one when I am supposed to until that time, since I don’t see anywhere in Scripture where it says not to wear one if a private company tells me to on their own property or the government God has ordained (Romans 13) tells me to do it.)
People can be very godly and can know nothing about science, can be very godly and know very little about how vaccination works, be very godly and be very into conspiracy theories, can be very godly and can disagree with this post for a variety of other reasons that may be a lot better than those ones, etc. There is a godly man I know in the United Kingdom who thinks the sun moves around the earth, and says he can prove this because if you jump up and come back on earth the earth does not move away while you are in the air. I am thankful for his being able to serve the Lord. He could well have much more eternal reward in heaven than I will have. If you are reading this and you are an anti-vax Christian, please don’t take this post as a personal attack and get angry. Please think about it rationally instead of reacting emotionally. I would also encourage you, if you don’t already, to remember that “he that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him” (Proverbs 18:13), so make sure you are reading both sides of an issue, not just finding people who agree with you on opposition to vaccination. If you have never read a Christian biology textbook such as those by BJU Press, I would encourage you to check one out and make sure your arguments against vaccines, or against the COVID vaccine in particular, do not require the abandonment of basic biology. If you have never read an article on PubMed by one of the top medical journals, like the New England Journal of Medicine, try reading a few and try avoiding YouTube and social media as sources for information on science. See what your doctor says on the matter. I trust that we would agree that we must be very careful as a Christians, and especially if we are Christian leaders, not to tell people falsehoods, even if we are sincere in advocating them, and we must be very careful so people can distinguish between when we are giving opinions of ours that are uncertain and are matters of Christian liberty and when we are giving people the infallible truth of God’s Word. Of course, you are also welcome to comment on this post. I may not have time to get into a lengthy pro and con argument on vaccination, though, so please don’t be offended if I don’t do that.
I believe getting vaccinated is a Christian liberty issue, and have explained why I have gotten vaccinated. If you have not gotten vaccinated, you are still my brother or sister in Christ. If you are a Christian who cares more about my getting vaccinated than you care about what I think on the gospel, on repentance, on sanctification, on the Triune Godhead, on the church, on worship, on the inspiration and preservation of Scripture, and on other crucial Biblical matters of doctrine and life, and care more about my getting vaccinated then you do about what I do to serve the Lord in my personal life, my family, and my church, then maybe you ought to reexamine your beliefs and see if they are Biblically balanced; maybe you are making anti-vax into a doctrinal issue, and just perhaps you ought not to do that.
May the Lord graciously guide you into His will for you in this matter as you search the Scriptures and apply Biblical principles.
–TDR
Absolutely great post.
Too many people associate anti-vac with Christians. I am glad that you are encouraging believers to take a vaccine.
I believe in biblical inerrancy, and the creation of the earth in 6 literal days. Evolution is pseudo-science. But I do not throw out real science, and have found most conspiracy theories to be a waste of time and even dangerous.
Thanks, Tenerin!
I suspect that the creationist founders of modern science would be disappointed to see many modern Christians adopting ideas contrary to the Biblically based scientific method.
Bro. Ross,
I’ve read quite a few of your articles over the years. I certainly respect your scholarship Christian spirit, and level-headedness. I’m sure many Christians have adopted ideas contrary to the the Biblically-based scientific method. I include myself.
There are sound scientific reasons to be wary of the Corona Virus vaccines. Many times modern medical science has been hijacked by those who are in pursuit of money or prestige. Actual scientific truth gets railroaded.
There are also Biblical reasons to be suspicious. For the love of money is the root of all evil, is one that comes to mind.
I’ll include a link to article below you may or may not have seen detailing the author’s reasons to forego “the jab.” He includes some links to scientific literature, and the Emergency Use Authorizations. If you haven’t read the EUAs, they are worth at least skimming.
For our household, it is a simple matter. Covid-19 has a 99.5% survival rate for those under 60. There are perfectly good therapies (and prophylactics) available with HCQ, and Ivermectin. With those in mind, I would rather get the wild virus and have a stronger immunity to it in the future.
I appreciate your appeal to Christian liberty. I just wanted to present another view.
https://www.deconstructingconventional.com/post/18-reason-i-won-t-be-getting-a-covid-vaccine
What a pity. Sounds like you missed some very critical information and thus had not make an informed decision. For one, it is shown that the mortality to this virus is so incredibly low, that a person basically has a 99.9+% chance of surviving it if they get it, and that is from CDC data. And then, also from CDC data, they fessed up to that virus infection numbers were way skewed, and that basically only 9% of the totals are legitimate due to loads on PCR tests being set way too high. A scientist with a university recently talked about doing retests on samples of 5,000 people who tested positive for the virus–ALL of them tested negative instead, and that they either had influenza A or B, not the virus! This was peer reviewed by many other scientists and universities. Thus, it’s really unlikely you would get the virus, especially to die from it.
Second, these vaccinations are really scary. Have you looked into the plethora of adverse effects to them? There are tens to hundreds of thousands of cases across the world. There are thousands of deaths related to the vaccines, as, for example, due to people getting blood clots. The Astra Zeneca vaccine was banned in numerous European countries because of that, like in Germany and Austria. There are so many places reporting adverse reactions, but they are not being reported in mass media, which appears to show they are trying to hide them so people will go and take the vaccines anyway.
There are vaccines made with experimental mRNA technology. Some have shown they change people’s DNA. Who knows the long term effects anyway since there was not a long process of trials like they normally do with vaccines! They didn’t even do normal animal testing. Thus, people are the guinea pigs! For that matter, the vaccine producers have no liability for vaccine injuries or deaths, so if anything does happen, they cannot be held to task for it. Basically, there is no hiding it that these are still experimental vaccines and people are the lab rats for it. People are going infertile from these vaccines. There is Bell’s Palsy happening to many. There are miscarriages, skin problems (like horrible rashes), stomach troubles, etc., etc. It does not appear you came across any of that since you did not address it here. I sure hope none of that will happen to you.
Also, they are touting that the vaccines do not prevent getting the virus anyway or transmitting it either. Countless people are even in the news from getting sick with the virus after they had the vaccine. What is the purpose of the vaccine if you still get it! It does not make sense then to even get it!
To address the ‘mutation’ issue, a world-renowned vaccine developer said that this virus is mutating every ten hours! They cannot make enough vaccines to keep up with all the mutations. Also, you have to ask, how is it that mutations make a vaccine more dangerous? Usually mutations degenerate the quality of something, not make it stronger.
For more information on this virus and vaccines it should be recommended that people check out http://www.americasfrontlinedoctors.com or http://www.drtenpenny.com.
TDR
When it comes to the Government requiring us to wear a mask, I came to the conclusion that if the Governor or whatever leader was imposing something that violated the constitution then we were not under the Romans 13 principle. In a Constitutional Republic, the “powers that be” is the constitution. If the Governor states something outside the bounds of the constitution and the state Supreme Court agrees too, then I think it is acceptable to say it isn’t violating that principle. Our Governor clearly violated the constitution and I didn’t listen to him because we have a Constitution that is the power, not the Governor outside of his boundaries.
Kevin
Seeing an article on this subject of such length, I have to deduce there are some strong convictions behind this. What I am more concerned about, as my contribution to this discussion however, with regards to health crises, would be the rampant drug abuse, moreso than the vaccinations conversation.
Of course, it can also be argued, as you might have started to do already, that perhaps the greater damage done here has been caused by the reaction to the disease, the sociological phenomenon, than would have been possible by this particular virus by itself. Doing comparative studies, we see that some areas such as New York which despite having the most extensive policies, and these being effective, were nevertheless among the worst-hit areas statistically. Other areas that had the most minimal policies nevertheless did not stand out among the worst-hit, when data are controlled for properly. Analysis of the overall 2020 death statistics gives some insight as well.
At the end of the day though, this would be like a small wave (and thus, like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, compared to the slowly rolling crisis of drug abuse, and the related widespread social, mental, physical and spiritual problems that arise from this, as well as the concomitant rise in criminality, that looms over our heads the longer that that crisis is bypassed for more attention-grabbing concerns.
Hi Kevin,
I can understand your argument about the Constitution, but keep in mind Romans 13 says “the powers that BE,” which included, for example, a Roman emperor who had assassinated the previous one. Most of our taxes are unconstitutional, but we are explicitly told in Romans 13 to pay taxes.
I wish people cared about the Constitution, but a politician who actually tried to follow the Constitution would never win, except maybe in places like Oklahoma.
Thanks.
Dear A Friend In Christ,
Could you please explain how, when the mRNA does not even go to the nucleus of a cell, cannot replicate, etc., it can change one’s DNA? That would seem to overthrow basic rules of science. Could you please explain clearly how this is even possible?
The Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines make it so a small part of a protein on the shell of the COVID virus displays on some cells, is recognized as foreign, and then you produce antibodies for it. Could you please explain how that can cause someone to lose fertility? If so, then everyone who got COVID will also become infertile, since the same protein is all over the place if you actually get COVID. Has worldwide fertility declined, say, 50% this year? This also seems to overthrow the basic rules of science.
Many of your assertions are extraordinary claims that require extraordinary evidence. We should read strong arguments on both sides of an issue before coming to a conclusion. Could you please tell us the two strongest cases you read to refute each of your assertions, and give a few scientific reasons why you have rejected the refutations of what you read? And, of course, we are talking about real research, not random websites, YouTube, and social media.
Are you asserting that the vaccines are for COVID but people are actually just getting a different disease, influenza? Why is it that in churches where COVID spreads through the congregation the people who have been vaccinated don’t get sick but the unvaccinated ones do? I can think of one congregation where basically the whole church got it except the vaccinated ones. It was pretty nasty. Why did a COVID vaccine stop them from getting influenza? Or did they all get the strain that had not mutated to stop the vaccine in 10 hours? These are extraordinary claims, and I hope you have extraordinary evidence for them.
I’m glad you mentioned peer review. Please give the multiple peer reviewed scientific journal articles that you have read proving every one of these assertions you have made.
If you are a preacher, I hope you don’t say these things in your pulpit, the place for God’s infallible truth. I hope you are very, very careful about that.
Thanks.
Hi Chris,
Yes, I think we have Christian liberty here.
Keep I mind that if COVID has a 99.5% survival rate, then in a church of 200 people every year where COVID sweeps through we should expect one person to die and numbers more to be hospitalized). Do you think that one out of every 200 people who get vaccinated dies from the vaccine? That is a high price to pay, very possibly, year after year after year. Do you encourage people over 60 to get vaccinated, since they are more likely to die?
Yes, people love money, and that is evil. But Pfizer’s love of money would lead them to love to have the other vaccines driven off the market so people buy theirs. So would Moderna, etc. so there are also lots of people whose love of money leads them to want to find problems with vaccines if they are there.
Unfortunately, getting the virus once may not make one more immune in the future than getting vaccinated with two shots. We don’t know that. It would be nice if once one got COVID that was it for life, but that may not be the case.
Thanks.
By the way, Chris, the article you cited argued that after one has COVID one has life-long immunity. That is going to be very hard to prove and calls into question whether this blogger knows what he is talking about. Also, lowering symptoms is very good. It is getting a sniffle versus getting hospitalized on a ventilator.
Dear A Friend In Christ,
I trust you are aware that Ms. Tenpenny, whose website you link to, is an osteopath—kind of like a physical therapist, one of those people who help you if you strain your back or shoulder. Could you please explain why you believe she is a reliable source on virology? Also, please let me know the top two solid places you have read that are critical of her, and why you believe their criticisms are invalid. Thanks.
Thomas, I did do research, and so your comments are not pertinent. Go check out the information I have stated or cited and it might be surprising how relevant they are.
Dear A Friend In Christ,
I am glad you did research. Could you please answer the easy to answer questions I asked, then? Thank you.
One more thing A Friend in Christ, if what you are saying actually violates basic laws of science and is impossible unless, say, 50 years of research on DNA and RNA is wrong, it is hard to see how that is “not pertinent.” Maybe it would be better to answer the questions, which should be easy to do if we are not answering a matter before we hear it.
Thanks again.
The “America’s Frontline Doctors” people had a link on their PDF explaining why they believe one should be skeptical of the COVID vaccines that said that if you get COVID you get lifetime immunity, with a link. The link came to here:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33408181/
which is a study entitled “Immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2 assessed for up to 8 months after infection.” It is unfortunate that these people would make claims about lifetime immunity from a study that accesses what happens to people only 8 months after they got COVID and simply does not prove what the “America’s Frontline Doctors” people claimed.
I am sympathetic to people who say they are conservative, and more suspicious of information spread by people claiming to be liberal, but simply because someone is politically conservative does not make what he says true, nor is what someone says necessarily false because he is liberal. The article here:
https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/07/30/americas-frontline-doctors/
has at least some valid reasons to lead us to not place blind faith in the America’s Frontline Doctors group, especially when, evaluating what is on their own website, they clearly make claims that are not substantiated by evidence.
Would you tell Jesus to stand six feet from you? Where did this satanic six feet rule come from? Won’t the mark of the beast involve a bunch of sixes? If the six feet rule works then why the mask? If the mask works why the six feet rule? If the vaccine works that why does Fauci still tell us to mask up?
Jesus and his disciples were very active in ministry. They exposed themselves to many “potential carriers”. Would you tell Peter, James, John, and Andrew to wear a mask and practice social distancing?
Can YOU prove asymptomatic transmissions of C19? Are you all for contact tracing to force quarantine an asymptomatic carrier?
Since when did it become illegal to get sick or expose yourself to some potential danger? Where in the Bible does it tells us to “be safe”? God’s word is repleted with “Be strong and of good courage, fear not, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” It is God that is omnipresent not C19. Didn’t Jesus heal lepers? There is at least one instance in scripture where Jesus TOUCHED and healed a leper. How contagious was leprosy in His day? Were there any known cure back then?
Speaking of leprosy, only those who had symptoms were quarantined and re-examined by the priest to see if this individual indeed had leprosy or not. The Bible never isolated anyone who showed no symptoms of leprosy. If a leper was unclean, he was to cover his upper lip (mouth) and NOT his mouth AND his nose and cry out, “Unclean, unclean” (Leviticus 13:45).
Dr. Deborah Birx who doesn’t carry as much weight as Dr. Anthony Fauci even admitted that many C19 deaths were misclassified. Those patients had co-morbidities and whereas OTHER countries would record the cause of death to that patients preexisting condition, in the US they would classify that as a C19 death. Why is that? The more fear these fear mongers impose the more scared and vulnerable the sheeple are. We have become a country that does not look to God but is waiting on Big Brother to give the green light to reopen our States again. Sadly many professing Christians are waiting for the CDC, Fauci, and Big Pharma to give us the green light to reopen churches and be able to sing again as a congregation.
Have you not followed John MacArthur and James Coates? These men have led their congregations to continue to have church as usual in spite of North American government persecution. Yet none of their respective churches has had an outbreak nor a a single C19 casualty. This is NOT a conspiracy theory, these are cold hard facts. Pastor MacArthur leads a church of over 7000 people in Los Angeles County, an area supposedly hit hard by C19 and has had to endure more draconian measures than many other counties. Yet Grace Community Church is not a super spreader of C19 thus exposing the C19 hoax.
Pastor Coates was arrested and spent 35 days in prison for not following the Canadian Public Health Order. Yet after 37 weeks of meetings, not even one C19 case, yet they arrested him anyways.
His church facilities has been closed off by the police with three layers of chain linked fences. I expect this to happen in China, not in Canada. Yet they continue to meet underground knowing the church is the body of Christ and not buildings. These two high profile churches have proven that there is no clear and present danger of C19. They are being persecuted in an effort to silence them because Big Brother doesn’t like to get exposed.
I lived and served the Lord in a communist country for over a decade and NEVER sought the government to grant permission to assemble nor asked for their opinion on how to conduct a safe service. Christ is the head of the church and not the CDC.
South Dakota, Sweden, and Taiwan have also proven that the lockdowns were unnecessary. If the lockdowns worked why have the most draconian States not shown remarkable improvement? If South Dakota, Sweden; and Taiwan (again none of these places are conspiracy theorist States or Countries) ignored the WHO and CDC science why haven’t they been wiped off the face of the earth? I believe in herd immunity not Big Pharma and Big Brother.
Speaking of immunity, God gave use an immune system. Take care of it and you won’t need man made vaccines. Why should I wear a mask but my 1 year old son doesn’t need to? Is C19 merciful to toddlers? Don’t buy the potency of C19 and how deadly it is nor the narrative of how widespread it is. 99.9% of the people who contracted C19 have survived yet sadly many Christians act NO different than unbelievers. We act like it is a 99.9% fatality rate rather than a survival rate. We need to stop drinking the Koolaid and really get into God’s word.
Could you be twisting the Bible to justify why you got vaccinated?
The blog may be better titled What is Truth- opinions based “on our understanding of” the Bible.
We ought to obey God rather than men.
One other consideration:
Did you know that hydroxychloroquine and zinc work to fight off C19 but Left Wing censorship and Big Pharma has kept this from being heard nor distributed because they can’t make big bucks selling HCQ and Zinc. The love of money is the root of all evil.
Are you going to get another shot (not vaccine!) in 6 months, and then every year following? You are sincere, but I believe you are sincerely wrong. This “vaccine” is only approved under emergency use, it has not been thoroughly tested, and in their own paperwork to the FDA the makers admit further testing is needed. The long term effects of these covid shots are totally unknown. Effect on fertility is just ONE concern. Just curious, do you smoke? Why not? Because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Why would you knowingly take a shot with unknown long-term effects when the virus you are supposedly being innoculated against has a very high survival rate and there are very effective treatments for it?
One more thing…why are so many doctors and scientists who raise questions being censored? If you can’t question it, it’s not science; it’s propaganda.
Hi Amy, thanks for commenting.
If COVID continues to mutate, I will certainly rather get a vaccine booster shot than get a disease that at the height of its spike was killing 20 times as many people as the flu. I will do it for all the reasons mentioned in the post.
If putting part of one protein on the outside of a COVID virus (the vaccine) causes infertility, then actually getting COVID causes infertility much more.
Long term effects of getting COVID are not known just like long term effects of the vaccine, because both are new, but it is much less likely that having one part of a protein will cause lots of problems than getting the disease.
It looks like the friends who disagreed with the post above were not able to answer the simple questions I asked them. Maybe you can do it for them. Thanks.
You have obviously researched the “vaccines” and know how they are “supposed” to work, spike proteins, etc. The essence of science is that a theory means nothing until proven. You don’t have to be a virologist, scientist, doctor or even have a college degree to understand this. Unintended consequences are the concern here, which are totally unknown. Again, this is admitted even by the vaccine makers. For example, from the FDA Briefing Document from Pfizer in Dec. 2020 (I am sure there are more up-to-date briefing documents available now): “There are currently insufficient data to make conclusions about the safety of the vaccine in subpopulations such as children less than 17 years of age, pregnant and lactating individuals, and immunocompromised individuals.” Also, “Risk of vaccine-enhanced disease over time, potentially associated with waning immunity, remains unknown and needs to be evaluated further in ongoing clinical trials and in observational studies that could be conducted following authorization and/or licensure.” Just a couple of many such statements in this document. Yet the vaccine was approved for emergency use. Even the intended consequences are not entirely proven, let alone the unintended consequences. Using the “conspiracy theory” term in my opinion really weakens your argument by attempting to smear anything outside the mainstream narrative. (Festus did that to Paul in Acts 26.) Taking the Covid shot really comes down to a matter of faith–I don’t have enough faith to take the government, the CDC, the pharmaceutical companies, or the media at their word. Others might, but I am learning more and more each day that concerns me, and it could actually be a life or death matter.
Dr. Ross,
Just one more thing. I work in the medical industry, and I know first-hand how the system was gamed to drive up Covid-19 numbers, starting in March of 2020. Both in Medical coding, and on death certificates. According to the CDC, roughly 9% of reported deaths are due to Covid-19 alone. If we assume 600,000 deaths, that would calculate to 54,000 Covid-19-only deaths. I won’t debate the issue of whether Covid-19 contributed heavily to some of those deaths. I’m certain it did. Let’s assume 100,000 Covid-19 deaths. (Probably 200,000+ of the 500,000 deaths were preventable, but HCQ and Ivermectin were heavily discouraged or banned at the time)
Based on the 4/23 release from VAERS, 3,544 deaths are attributed to the various Covid-19 vaccines. According a report by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (2011) fewer than one percent of all vaccine adverse events are reported to the government. Let’s assume the number is actually 10%. That extrapolates to 35,440 deaths. This doesn’t include injuries, some very serious. And we don’t yet know the long-term impact of the vaccine.
You stated, “I believe the likelihood of health problems arising from getting vaccinated is orders of magnitude lower than the likelihood of getting health problems from actually getting COVID” Perhaps you are right, but I am doubtful. It will be a while before we really know the answer, but it appears to me the impacts are on par with each other. I don’t think a fair reading of the data yields a difference of “orders of magnitude.”
There is a link to a summary of the VAERS chart, and a compilation of adverse reactions to the vaccine.
https://www.medalerts.org/vaersdb/findfield.php?TABLE=ON&GROUP1=CAT&EVENTS=ON&VAX=COVID19
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uS4krGJX-7sa8fuRlH7mhod-Xa5ZBsXU/view
Hello Radford, thank you for your sacrificial service for the Lord in communist China. I can see someone coming from that environment being extremely suspicious of what the government says to do. I appreciate your zeal for the Lord and your years of service for Him.
The Lord Jesus was sinless and thus did not get sick. No, I would not ask Christ to stay six feet away. I would do what He said to do, not tell Him what to do.
If we are going to say that the six feet rule is not connected to the distance particles spread when we sneeze but is connected to the mark of the beast we are going to need some strong evidence here, especially if we are going to say that practicing social distancing is a sin, which it certainly would be if you can prove it is Satanic and associated with the mark of the beast. If that is true, then churches need to excommunicate those that practice the Satanic evil of standing at a certain distance from each other.
To avoid getting Lyme’s disease it is recommended to wear long pants, high socks, and insect repellent so ticks don’t bite. They all work together. So do masks and social distancing.
If the Apostle John or Peter was sick, they would confess their sins, seek God, and use the best medicine available. That is the point of James 5 and the medicinal anointing with oil, which is like the Good Samaritan pouring oil into the wounds of the man who was beaten up.
I am not sure who it is that was saying COVID was omnipresent rather than God, but I believe every Christian would be with you on the attributes of God.
Leprosy does not transmit the way COVID does so what a leper did to cover his mouth just may not be relevant to what people should do in other situations.
The US classifies people who die with COVID deaths as that because you rarely die directly from COVID. You get COVID and then die of pneumonia. It is like nobody dies from HIV, but once you get HIV and it kills all your white blood cells you then die of something else very quickly.
I am not in fellowship with MacArthur and have no idea if there has been a COVID fatality at his church. I know of a much smaller church that had two fatalities, another one that had one, and know of a number of people that were hospitalized and put on oxygen, including a dear Christian saint in his thirties.
I am glad you did not ask the communist government of China for permission to do things. We are all with you on that, just like on God’s attributes.
I am not sure where this post was discussing lockdowns, but thanks for your thoughts on them.
Yes, the fatality rate for COVID is much lower for little children. What a blessing!
HCQ costs more than the vaccine, and in countries like Israel where Trump is wildly popular they also stopped using HCQ.
Please consider, brother, if it is wise to say social distancing is Satanic and connected to the Mark of the Beast and to argue the other things you did. You may be violating the conscience of many Christians and hindering your ability to get the gospel to everyone in the area by making these things into doctrines. Also, if I practiced the way in your comment I could not have driven an elderly person to church yesterday and would also have dishonored one of my parents, and our church would have to permanently end its nursing home preaching ministry.
Here is a popular level article from the Jerusalem Post. It is going to be hard to make the case that the Israelis, Swiss, Italians, etc. stopped using hydrochloroquine because they hated Trump more than they cared about the lives and health of their loved ones.
https://m.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-specialist-hydroxychloroquine-ineffective-treatment-for-covid-19-629493
Hi Chris, thanks for coming back.
Isn’t that VAERS figure anyone who died after getting a vaccine, regardless of whether there was any even possible connection, and with a huge percentage of the US population having been vaccinated, some of them are going to die of something? Isn’t it true that the reports submitted there are unverified, so, for example, people have successfully submitted reports relating to Spider Man and Wonder Woman on it? What sources have you read critical of the 3544 figure, and why did you conclude their arguments were invalid? Thanks.
Bro. Ross,
I am referencing VAERS in the same spirit that you referenced Snopes. I am very skeptical of any government figures. I could pose the very same objections to you concerning Covid-19 cases and deaths. Do you think many of the deaths attributed to Covid-19 could have been due to co-morbidities? Do you accept that there have been 577,000 deaths in the US due to Covid 19? How about the case numbers? If you do, what sources have you read that are critical of those numbers? And do you still maintain that the risks from Covid-19 are orders of magnitude higher than the risks of the vaccine?
I don’t know about Spider Man and Wonder Woman, but I do know that fruit and oddball samples have tested positive for Covid-19. Elon Musk submitted 4 samples for testing. Two were positive and two were negative. All of the numbers from government sources are suspect. I only use them to make a very conservative case for my argument.
By the way, I don’t really expect answers to these questions. But in the spirit of debate, and a mutual desire to discover Truth, I feel a Christian duty to challenge your viewpoint.
Thomas,
I am thankful for your desire to spread the Gospel and your careful consideration of how your decisions will impact your ability to minister. I disagree with your conclusion about getting the vaccine, but I am not in the same situation as you, particularly as it relates to caring for your parents. I also believe this is an issue separate from doctrine and should be treated as such, as you state in your post.
There are a couple reasons you gave for getting the vaccine that I would question you on. First, your seventh reason states that you are defending religious liberty by getting the vaccine. The hypothetical scenario you describe is the government mandating vaccinations in order for religious organizations to meet. How is it religious liberty to concede to a governmental mandate in order to worship God freely? The whole point of religious liberty is that we can worship God the way we choose without government dictates. Church and state are separate. If the only thing the government mandated was to get the vaccine, that would be one thing, but there is a dangerous precedent being set that could result in many more mandates. Where would it end? I think you would have a hard time convincing true Christians in Russia under the KGB or the Pilgrims fleeing religious persecution in England that following government mandates in order to worship is protecting religious liberty.
My second question is more general in nature. Do you believe there is any validity to the medical/moral reasons that people have about the vaccine? Or are all of those qualms birthed out of conspiracy theories? I have a hard time believing that this vaccine was developed by people in the medical realm with zero ulterior motives, including political. At the same time I am not suspicious of everyone in the medical realm (and for the record I have visited Infowars once in my life). Maybe, just maybe, people who justify killing unborn babies, who believe that man is not created in God’s image, who believe that life came from some cosmic explosion, and who believe man will not answer to God for his actions would have the audacity to lie to us about a vaccine that is being distributed around the world.
Hi Luke, thanks for the kind words.
I am not in a position to deny that there are probably a higher percentage of pro-abortion rather than pro-life medical researchers, but what is your basis for saying that all of the thousands and thousands of people involved in vaccine research in the USA, in all the countries in Europe, in Australia, etc. are pro-abortion? Let’s say it is 70 pro and 30% anti-abortion in that field instead of about 50/50 in the general population. Your argument seems to fail unless it is close to 100% pro-abortion among the group of scientists in question.
Furthermore, selfish motives in millions of people would give them incentives to discover problems with the many vaccines. One easy one is the motive vaccine companies have to destroy their competitors; regulators not to get fired; researchers to get famous or win prizes or prestige; etc. Selfishness would certainly encourage some people to lie about vaccine problems, but it would also encourage many people to expose them. The simple and selfish desire not to die would encourage millions of doctors, nurses, etc. to verify vaccine safety.
I am glad you have visited InfoWars once in your life. That is about all that is necessary. I’m guessing you probably didn’t buy what popped up for them to try to sell to you either when you go there. Good for you.
As explained in the post, I have not found anti-vaccine arguments very convincing, and I cannot say that the comment section here has changed my mind on that. Maybe if the anti-vax people would answer the simple questions I asked instead of ignoring them or refusing to answer them it would be different. It makes me tend to think that they don’t answer them because they cannot be answered. Certainly some of the comments seem to have tried harder to make a rational argument than others. They probably represent a good sample of the ways people argue against vaccination.
I believe either I did not state my religious liberty argument as well as I could have or you misunderstood it. I am not saying governments should require churches to all get vaccinated in order to meet. They should do no such thing. I am saying that a church where people are voluntarily vaccinated, or at least vaccinated in a percentage comparable to the general population, is a harder target to persecute than a church where they make anti-vax into a doctrine and preach against vaccination and do nothing to stop the spread of COVID. A church will get a lot more sympathy from the community and a lot more opposition if they are doing more to stop COVID and are a safer place to go then Walmart than if there are a bunch of businesses in the community that had to shut down for two weeks and lost millions in revenue, and a lot of workers who lost paychecks, and some in the community who lost loved ones to an early grave because church members who were employees or neighbors spread disease to everyone and went around preaching easily falsifiable and disease spreading falsehoods instead of preaching God’s infallible and powerful Word. If we are going to be persecuted, let it be for Jesus Christ, not for InfoWars.
Brother Ross,
Here is another perspective – mine (with some additions from my dad).
Some information for background:
– My family accepts most recommended vaccinations; COVID and a few others we would decline. For what he describes as medical reasons, our family doctor does not recommend COVID vaccines.
– My mom and grandma worked as registered nurses.
– I grew up in a post-Soviet country.
Some thoughts:
– Vaccination eliminated smallpox and other diseases, antibiotics have saved many lives, but isn’t it possible for vaccines and antibiotics to be overused? Could that be happening in this case? Does the talk that folks will have to or may have to be re-vaccinated regularly in the future support the idea that overuse may be being promoted?
– Have the COVID vaccines been tested thoroughly by truly scientific methods? In the USA they are still considered experimental. Even where they are not considered by government agencies to be experimental, as far as I know they have not been thoroughly tested with methods similar to those used for other vaccines.
– Is it reasonable to assume that governments and big companies always have completely good motives for what they do?
– Money talks, and so does power. Government money is going to huge companies to pay for vaccines that have not yet been proven safe.
– Couldn’t it be possible for companies to release only information that is favorable to their narrative?
– Not all “conspiracy theories” are created equal. There are very crazy theories, and there are also theories that are backed up with quite a lot of evidence but aren’t the official story. Why wouldn’t governments want to protect themselves by hiding incriminating evidence?
– Is America (its government or companies) immune from illogic, dishonesty and greed? No. Is it OK to suspect illogic, dishonesty and/or greed from those who believe there is reason to suspect the COVID vaccines are not totally safe and may actually be an element of some unfruitful works of darkness, but not to suspect illogic, dishonesty and/or greed from the US government or companies gaining revenues from its policies?
– Trusting the science behind something is not the same as trusting the people / organizations who are implementing it.
– People in countries with difficult histories are probably thinking “Those Americans are so naïve. Do they really think the government always has their best interests in mind?”
– Just because someone believes a “conspiracy theory” may be true doesn’t mean he/she has to act any differently. Often the possibility of the official story not being true simply encourages a person to distrust human nature and understand that it is God who ultimately keeps us safe.
– A primary issue is who decides about vaccines? Can / should they be forced by governments or employers or providers of public services? I think they should not be, but that a person in consultation with good advisors (hopefully, e.g., a Christian doctor) should make the decision for himself, and if the head of the house, for his family. That you chose the vaccine is entirely within the scope of your authority and responsibility as a steward before the Lord. That someone else chooses not to is also the same. I think we agree on this.
– Just because America/the West says something doesn’t mean it is true. Just because Russia says something doesn’t mean it is false. It would be nice if everything was black and white, but not everything is life is like that. It is possible to create confusion and chaos by telling the truth in some cases and lies in other cases or mixing truth and error.
– My dad recently heard this story from people who were missionaries in Africa in the early 2000s: “The people in white coats came to the villages and called everyone to the center of the villages to be vaccinated. The women who were vaccinated started miscarrying and experiencing infertility (sterilized). After that happened, whenever someone in a white coat came to the village, all the villagers would run and hide.” This missionary had a first-hand or eyewitness account and eventually came to the position that the Gates Foundation-endorsed vaccines given had contributed to sterility and/or miscarriages among the local population. This is anecdotal, but also experiential. Why would the missionary lie? To the best of my knowledge, the Bill Gates Foundation never apologized or accepted any responsibility and did not say it was a mistake. The villagers drew the connection that the vaccine had caused it – the missionary didn’t have to say anything to promote a “conspiracy” theory. They had taken the vaccines and suffered negative consequences. Regardless of motivations and sources, the villagers learned by experience that the results of those vaccines could be bad. Who is more trustworthy, the missionary and the villagers or Bill Gates and his associates? (As far as I know, Bill Gates expresses concern about overpopulation and promotes reducing the human population.) Coincidences happen, yes, but there is such a thing as too many coincidences: Why would someone commit suicide by jumping out of a window and shutting the window behind himself? (There are often reports from countries with oppressive governments that so-and-so committed suicide by jumping out of a window. In some cases, possibly because of an error on the part of the perpetrators of the “staged suicide”, the investigators found that the window was closed from inside. This has been reported in Russia among those who have resisted the political narrative of those in power. Coincidences are coincidences, but they are not automatically irrelevant.)
– Wanting to protect people and minister is the most convincing argument I’ve heard for getting the COVID shot. However, as a young woman, the risks for getting vaccinated are, best I can tell, greater than the risk of the actual disease, and some of the side effects of the COVID vaccine might not affect just me, but others. There has not been proper testing of the vaccines. I would go to a lot of trouble to avoid conflict, protect the vulnerable, and make people feel comfortable, but there is a limit to how much I can do. Besides our family doctor, my parents are not in favor of taking the vaccine, which makes an already clear decision even clearer. As of now, the vulnerable people around me are either already vaccinated or opposed to taking the COVID vaccine, and more than willing to have unvaccinated people around them. One grandma (90) said “I’ll wait until I see how many people die from it.” The other grandparents (81) are very opposed to taking the vaccine.
Graciously,
JLC
Hello recent commenters,
I don’t have time to write much more here on this topic, so if I don’t respond to what you say below, please pardon me. I am going to make some general comments that relate to some of what you wrote.
There is a difference between people who have COVID and also have diabetes dying and calling that a COVID death (and yes, of course many people who died after contracting COVID also had other things wrong with them) and the VAERS statistics where simply by probability, in light of the number of people receiving vaccines, some people are going to die shortly after getting vaccinated, just like if 75% of the US population ate one green jellybean there would be thousands of people who died shortly afterwards, but post hoc does not mean propter hoc.
That also relates to people in deep poverty in an African village experiencing miscarriages some time after getting the types of vaccines people in the West regularly get when they are little so they don’t die here the way they did 100 years ago of childhood diseases. It is not very likely that there were no miscarriages before the people were vaccinated, but now they had something to blame for it instead of whoever cast a spell on them getting the blame. If getting vaccinated actually caused the infertility and miscarriages we would not have to go off testimonials but would be able to see, say, a 500% increase in miscarriages in a controlled group of a large number of people in contrast with those who did not get vaccinated. Note that what we actually do clearly see in Africa is millions of childhood deaths from diseases that are easily preventable with vaccines, so deciding that the post hoc ergo propter hoc logical fallacy is not fallacious has real life—or should I say real death—consequences. That does not in any way mean that a godly missionary was not sincere. I am not saying he is like this person, but the godly man I mentioned in the post who thinks the sun moves around the earth is also very sincere.
By the way, I do not agree with Bill Gates that the world is overpopulated, but what he actually thinks is that reducing infant and childhood mortality will reduce population growth because people will not have as many children if they know that they will not have half or 75% of them die from diseases that they will easily survive if they get vaccinated. If you are reading sources saying that Bill Gates is trying to cause people to die from vaccines, you are reading misinformation.
Getting booster shots for mutant forms of COVID is not “over vaccination,” it is not getting a mutant form of the disease so that you can serve the Lord instead of being wiped out for weeks or possibly on oxygen.
I already explained that greed and self-interest also would cause many people to expose problems with vaccines, not just hide them. The truth of total depravity does not mean vaccination is bad.
Rejecting vaccination has real ministry consequences. For me, it would mean not picking up an elderly person who I brought to church this past Lord’s Day. It would mean some people in our congregation probably not coming back. I just read about another church that has had a blessed and very extensive prison ministry for many years. They are thinking about ending it because the person leading it does not want to get vaccinated. That means real people in hell. Of course, if, as has been argued in this comment section, keeping 4.5 meters away from other people, or 6 feet in US measures, is really connected to 666, then maybe it is worth it. But if the six feet rule has about as little to do with the mark of the beast as the fact that there are 66 books in the Bible has to do with the mark of the beast, then this would be tragic. Also, there are very real issues with our testimony before the world if we make anti-vax a doctrinal issue or preach things that simply are not so from the pulpit where God’s infallible truth needs to be proclaimed.
Thanks again for all the comments. You are welcome to keep commenting if you like, but whether it is that you think the post is great, or you think COVID does not exist and is really influenza, or something in between, I may not respond. If I asked you questions above and you never answered them, I would like to see your response to them, although I may not respond further if you ask me a question. Have a blessed day serving the Lord.
One more thing to a recent commenter–what is in the COVID vaccine is not a matter of faith in Big Pharma (nor is rejecting them a matter of faith in Big Anti-Vax) companies. Anyone with the right type of microscope can see what is in them.
Brother Ross, you may know that my wife has a form of cancer that the doctors say is terminal.
I got vaccinated because I believe the immediate risk of Covid to her and the short term effectiveness of the vaccine far outweighs the immediate risk of the vaccine. I do not trust the governments and drug companies to have properly assessed the longer term risks and the long term effectiveness, and realize that it is possible I could have some longer term side effects which are unknown as of now. I realize I might have to have boosters in future — but then, I get the flu vaccine and the pneumonia vaccine (including boosters), too.
I believe the governments have lied to us, have manipulated and exaggerated this problem, but that does not mean it is not real. It certainly is real, if not justification for their abuses, and could be deadly to my wife. I would be a poor husband to not protect her.
I admit that, when we sit near someone in church or at the doctors, or pass by people in the store, I would be happier to know that they have also been vaccinated. I understand, though, why they would be hesitant. I suspect, if the roles were reversed, that I would also be vaccinated for the protection of others in the church. But I do not particularly mind that much if they don’t, for I believe governments have done much to make Christians not trust them.
I reject the government/media efforts to make us afraid, but I also reject the alternative media/social media efforts to make us afraid of the vaccine. Much has been said on both sides that is manifestly false. I’ve used the brain God gave me to make the best choice I can with what I know, and am trusting the Lord to use it for good. I am sure He will.
I refuse to live in fear of either Covid or the vaccine. We still go to church even though we know many haven’t been vaccinated. Now that we are fully vaccinated, we no longer wear masks, either, whenever we are in an environment where they aren’t required. Perhaps we should, but the chances of catching Covid, and of passing it on, once we have been fully vaccinated, are very, very low. Enough independent studies have confirmed that.
We also avoided the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
Thank you for your article. I believe you may have understated the reasons for not trusting the government scientists and media coverage of this mess. Nevertheless, I believe you have articulated reasons that have strong underlying Biblical principles for accepting the vaccine. I strongly suspect that, even if our circumstances were different, I would have done the same and largely for similar reasons as yours.
I’m going to close comments here now, because if Thomas is not going to answer them, I don’t want to have to judge who to post and who not to post, so this is the end of all comments. Thanks for your participation.