Is it Christian to wear a mask and follow COVID rules

 

Today, many Christians think it is their duty to fight the power, not wear a mask, go to church, and almost have a total disregard for any and all COVID rules. What's the real story? Thankfully, the Undercover Adventist is here to dissect this with logic and The Bible.

Let's start with not going to church. The argument here is that we should all demand to go to church! We have the right! We are let in at Walmart and other places, so let's riot and go to church!

First of all, believe it or not, going to church is not a necessity. You can have church in your home, as crazy as that sounds. For you and your immediate family. No law says you can't. You can zoom with others. Your church can do Facebook Live. You can record it, put it on youtube or even livestream it. There is no law that says you can't HAVE church. So go and have church. You do not need to be in some special building to have church.

How many of you live where it snows? Floods? Have you even been getting ready to go to church on a Sabbath (or Sunday) morning...only to hear that the roads are closed? What do some of you people do? Get in your cars and defy death and police directives to go to church? You would be there alone, as thankfully, the others would stay home. And we are sure that the local pastor would tell everyone in the church, STAY HOME! It's dangerous getting to church.

And you would not even think that not going to church in that situation was encroaching on your rights. Too funny. Yes, we will begin to call you people out, so beware. We can just imagine....phoning your friends in a snowstorm.....screaming that they had better get in their cars and drive to church! We can claim protection from God! Psalm 91! God will protect us as we drive in a blizzard or flood....or maybe a nice, hot California wildfire. Oh and by the way, don't evacuate either. Just tell the nice patrol officer that you trust in God. Sure, they cannot force you to do anything...but why are you giving up your human intelligence for a right o go to church when it's not safe?

So why do we not think it dangerous to go to church during COVID...or at least wear a mask?

Speaking of masks.......church members seem to dismiss wearing masks in church. Somehow they claim, again, that The Bible emphatically says that Christians are protected! So they refuse to wear a mask.

Where is the Christian love? The mask does not necessarily protect you only, but it protects others. You can pass along diseases without even knowing it.

But let's go deeper. Many, if not all, of these people speak out of both sides of their mouths. They would not dare refuse to do anything required of them in other instances. They are nothing more than people who give Christianity a bad name. How? Read on if you dare.

Masks required by an employer. These silly people, who refuse a mask at church, fall in line with their employer and wear a mask. Why? Because they would be fired. Even though these same people trust in God fully, they obviously do not trust God at work. We dare them to tell their employer the same thing they tell church folks: I believe in God and He will protect me, so I am NOT wearing one at work. Would they do that? Um....no. They don't fully trust in God or they would be unmasking at work. These people have more respect for their employer than they do their fellow church members. Think about that.

Oh I should be allowed to not wear a mask and just get sick. Besides, a mask does nothing to stop COVID.

Seatbelts. Do you wear a seatbelts? Why? Don't you trust in God to keep you safe while driving? Oh but the law requires me to wear one and I don't want a ticket. TOO FUNNY! Where is your trust in God? You should be first and foremost a person to disregard these rule! Or maybe you don't trust God enough...you only want to demand your rights with a mask and COVID!

So, the leaders of states are making rules and laws to keep you safe from COVID. You fully comply with all other rules....but somehow COVID rules are un-Christian.

You people are acting as un-Christian as you can. The Bible does not, in any way, shape, or form, tell you to throw your intelligence out the window. If the law says wear a seatbelt, you wear one. If the law says wear a helmet, you wear one. Many cities and states make bicycle helmets mandatory for children under a certain age. Would you be so stupid as to send your child out on a bike...no helmet.....because you claim some non-existent promise in The Bible? Of course not.

Stop tossing your intelligence out the window. You don't stop taking normal precautions just because you are a Christian. Wearing a mask and not gathering at church are now just normal precautions.

Wake up and smell the COVID.

There are 10 Commandments, Not Just One.

In much Adventist literature and commentary, one would think that there is only one commandment. The Fourth. We seem to ignore the rest, which is too funny. We chide other denominations of ignoring the fourth, while we ourselves never once mention the fifth.

Here's a challenge: Can you even recite, right now without looking, the seventh commandment? Probably not. But oh do you have that fourth one down and loaded for action!

We keep talking about keeping the Commandments....when in reality, we don't give lip service to any one of them except the fourth.

You think the other ones don't matter?

Are you telling....no, not telling...PREACHING to your kids to obey you? Honor you? When is the last time you heard a sermon on honoring your fathers and mothers? Never. In fact, we look the other way at society belittling parents. We have movies, TV, the internet, just telling kids to disobey their parents. And we don't say a word.

And that seventh one? Committing adultery. Again, society glorifies that. Encourages it! Right now the Adventist church allows women to be in a polygamist relationship in many countries. Yeah....the very church that chides people over and over about "keeping" all the commandments!

And gay marriage or relationships. Notice what the tenth one says? Don't covet your neighbor's wife. We talk a good talk about how creation exudes the fourth commandment....but look the other way in many cases about a man and woman. Not man and man. Or woman and woman. And have you noticed something quite peculiar about the mark of the beast? No buying or selling? Ironic that people are having businesses closed down because of their views on gay marriage. The whole Adventist church is in danger of being confronted with their views on gays and the lifestyle. That many laws proposed would make it hard for a church to actually adhere to a public opposition of the gay lifestyle.

But then, many of you approve of the church accepting it. Strange thought as we brow-beat people over the head with the fourth commandment, but are not really keeping all of the commandments.

We have really just gone overboard on The Sabbath. We make people take an oath to keep it. At the same time, we never make them take an oath to promise to honor their father and mother. We don't seem to care about that.

And oh boy do we have idols. From people to possessions. We let them overtake our lives and time. We can't wait to buy a new car. The latest computer. That big screen TV.

And maybe some of you don't know that God gave more commands than just 10. But we don't care about any command except keeping The Sabbath.

Sure. Make sure you mention this as you are standing before the throne. That you kept The Sabbath! That you made sure you had everything done on preparation day. That you made sure you were in church. This seems the basis for your salvation, so do it right. Be proud of that Sabbath keeping! It is the only thing some people tell others about. Jesus told us to go out and preach The Sabbath!

You don't think any others are important? Perhaps you overlooked Jesus calling out the pharisees and other church leaders for dishonoring their mothers and fathers.

Matthew 15

3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— 6 then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:

8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

Jesus thought that commandment was quite important. Too bad we don't. We allow a continuing downfall of the family unit. And we can't but help getting back to the gay lifestyle thing. This commandment talks about mothers and fathers. Not obeying you father and father....keep that in mind as you triumphantly proclaim The Sabbath without any regard for any other commandment.

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Are Some Pastors Selfish?

Many pastors, ministers, and preachers seem to be long-winded. Even to the point of bragging about it. And congregations are, for the most part, to sit and listen as long as it keeps going. Some speakers can't seem to stop on time, if there is such a thing as, "on time."

However, is this the Christian attitude one should take? That a congregation or a listening audience owes the speaker as much time as they want to speak. That a congregation is somehow broken if it has a time limit. That Christians of all people, should just sit still and listen as long as a preacher wants to go on.

And some pastors demand this. They demand the podium as long as they have something to say. That you are not a good person if you think the pastor's time is limited. How dare you have the nerve to stop them? Many demand a captive audience until doomsday, come hell or high water! That if you are in church, you are obligated to listen as long as it takes. That any invited speaker should keep going like the energizer bunny. And you cannot leave!

We would argue that a speaker never has an unlimited amount of time. That they can just ramble on until they are finished. And demand that. Is not a pastor supposed to be humble? Should not a pastor put his/her congregation first? A pastor is leading a flock. Not a dictator. No pastor should be selfish with the time in church.

Many speakers put a guilt trip on the audience.

Oh, you watch TV for hours....you should watch me!

You go to a ballgame for two hours, I deserve the same!

If I have a message, you need to hear it all!

Sorry friends. It just does not work that way. You cannot put your congregation in a guilt trip by demanding that they it needs to sit and listen for what seems forever.

Because someone can preach for hours does not mean they should.

The human body is not made to sit in one place for an unreasonable amount of time.

Making one feel guilty is not Christian.

Abusing your time and audience, and being demanding...is not Christian either.

There should be respect on both sides. Pastors should expect a reasonable amount of time to give a sermon. Congregations should also be given a time limit that all members can handle.

The normal time, it seems, for a human to sit through a sermon, is 30-60 minutes. And we say that as to what seems to be normal.

Remember, we have all walks of life in a church. We have sick people. We have old people. We have young people. We have hungry people. We have medical problems. Our brains just get tired.

How effective do you think a sermon is going to be, when one reaches the wall? Anything said after that is just painful and not getting to everyone anyway. So why antagonize your audience?

There's the rub. Should a pastor be a dictator and antagonize an audience? In Christian terms, probably not.

Pastors, know your sheep. Do not demand from them anything unreasonable. In fact, when you start demanding anything....you are not humbling yourself as a Christian.

Prepare your congregation. Nurture your congregation. Teach your congregation. Lead your congregation.

You won't be successful if you think everyone should just love hearing you speak ad nauseum.