pandemic and sin

   introduction

On Sunday, people of my faith, I suppose by the millions, conducted a day of fasting and prayer. They fasted and prayed that a merciful Father in Heaven stretch forth His mighty hand and allay if not outright halt the devastating worldwide spread of the coronavirus.
 
I have asked myself, “Do I believe God can do so?” Yes, I believe He does possess the capacity.
 
“But,” I wonder, “should He?” “Does He have the right?” Or, put differently, “Would doing so be the right thing to do?” Perhaps we could ask, “Does He possess the will?” These last questions are more difficult, and ones that are above my paygrade. In the end, I can do no more than plead, submissively, “Thy will be done.” I am tempted, I admit, to rebel against this final solution. I am tempted to play God.
 
I have asked myself these questions in light of another question that I asked and answered long ago. “Do I believe God ‘causes’ disasters?” “Does he bring disasters as a call to repentance?” Bringing the questions up to date, I could ask, “Did God ‘cause’ the current pandemic as a call to repentance?” These questions elicit a resounding, “No!” Notwithstanding scriptural rhetoric, I do not believe that God causes disasters in order to call his children to repentance. I do not believe that God has a huge “punishment console” in front of him with buttons he can push when a call to repentance is needed.

Does He have a console to stop them? I don’t know.
 

 
   cause and effect—outlining a process

Now, to be clear, I do not believe that anyone “caused” the pandemic. The Chinese did not cause it. Caligula did not cause it. The electorate’s disastrous decision to elect such a sick and perverted man did not cause it. It was coming no matter who governed where. It was coming to America no matter who was sitting in the white house. Health officials have been vainly warning of this for years—years before Caligula was even a twinkle in the electorate’s eye. The virus is simply part of the natural world. There is no need to blame anyone, no man, woman, child, group, nation, or God for the virus or the pandemic whose charge it leads.
 
Having said all that, I do believe that the severity of the current pandemic is “caused.” The severity of the pandemic is, in large measure, a result of human choices. The choices, decades in the making, in preparation for and response to the pandemic have been pathetic. These choices—preparatory and responsive—have been infused with sinfulness. There can be no doubt. Sin has made the pandemic more severe than it might have otherwise been. I’ll not argue about this assertion. I’ll not hear any arguments against it. Any argument against it is less that a puff of air.
 
My stubbornness might lead the reader to stop reading right here and now. So be it. But, if the reader is curious, I will try to explain. I will do so as simply as I can, for that is the only way I can understand it myself. I am going to outline, in reverse,[1] a process of “cause and effect” that leads to our current predicament. I am going to use my own country, the U.S, as it is the one with which I am most familiar. It may look different in different countries.

Ÿ A pandemic sickens millions of Americans,
killing tens of thousands more than would be the case under a moral and competent leadership[1] Ÿ
 
Ÿ The president and his administration, more concerned with the settling of scores,
propping up the president’s pathetically fragile ego and the ungodly profit margins of the wealthy for purposes of his reelection continues to dawdle Ÿ
 
Ÿ The president and his administration,
more concerned with propping up the president’s pathetically fragile ego,
and propping up the ungodly profit margins of the wealthy for purposes of his reelection
refuses to act early when warned by health and intelligence agencies of a looming crisis[2] Ÿ
 
Ÿ The nation elects an unquestionably and demonstrably
immoral and unprincipled man as its president as he gives voice to their self-induced frustrations Ÿ
 
Ÿ The nation grows dissatisfied and frustrated with its government Ÿ
 
Ÿ Consistent with the new political and religious ideologies,
individual greed, and rejection of community (including racism),
public officials systematically starve government of needed financial resources,
thus reducing government’s capacity to function appropriately.
Agencies so starved include those related to human health and pandemic response Ÿ
 
Ÿ The nation elects public officials who, discerning the nation’s mood,
run on platforms that are hostile to government and contrary to good governance[3] Ÿ 
Ÿ Greedy for more materialistic vanities,
chaffing at the restraints community places on induvial appetites,
less inclined to help others through government tax-based programs,
and heeding idolatrous ideologies and false religions,
the nation’s citizenry calls for less government Ÿ
 
Ÿ Making virtue of vice, calling good evil, and evil good,
secular economic ideologies are developed and “Christianity” corrupted
in order to justify the nation’s appetite for and addictions to materialistic consumption[4] Ÿ
 
Ÿ The nation, addicted to consumption, demands more and more and more. Ÿ
 
Ÿ The nation grows rich Ÿ


[1] At this point, it seems this is the best case scenario. Health officials today warn that the deaths could add up to 100 to 200 thousand. Of course, for too many Americans, “experts” of all strips are not to be believed. After all, it is from the gut that all true thinking and truth comes.

[2] This is beyond rational dispute

[3] “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.”

[4] Economic Neoliberalism and Prosperity Gospel among them.