Popular evangelists, Walter Kim and Russell D. Moore, have thrown their weight behind the COVID-19 vaccine. They stated that it is an example of God’s common grace and people should take it out of love for neighbor. He also advised Christians to reject the conspiracy theories and get the vaccine.
Kim is the president of the National Association of Evangelicals while Moore is the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. They made this statement in a column for the Washington Post.
“The vaccines are a cause for Christians to rejoice and to give glory to God,” Moore and Kim wrote. “The Bible, after all, speaks of medicine as a common grace, discovered by human beings but given by God. The Apostle Paul prescribed wine for Timothy’s stomach ailments (1 Timothy 5:23), probably recognizing the disinfecting properties of wine in settling the stomach and preventing dysentery. Vaccination, likewise, is a preventive measure, except that in this case the prevention is not simply for the one taking the vaccine but for the entire community.”
They also said that the vaccine is consistent and it aims at protecting lives as affirmed by Pope Francis.
“We agree with Pope Francis and leading bioethicists from across the religious spectrum that the use of these vaccines is not only consistent with a pro-life ethic, but is itself a recognition of the value of protecting life — especially that of vulnerable elderly and those with compromised immune systems,” Moore and Kim wrote.
The two leaders also talked about how some persons have discouraged others from taking the vaccine with their conspiracy theories.
“Some have found on their social media feeds or in their email inboxes articles by anti-vaccine activists making wild and unsubstantiated claims about the dangers of the coronavirus vaccine. Others have seen even more bizarre claims, such as that Bill Gates is seeking to implant microchips of the Book of Revelation’s mark of the beast into our bloodstreams.
‘’The net result is often that even those who are not given to conspiracy theorizing can just assume that seeing so many alarms about vaccines ought to make one wary. After all, most people do not have medical expertise to answer every floated claim.
“These conspiracy theories, however, are not rooted in reality. Indeed, many of them come from the same sources that previously told us that the coronavirus itself was a hoax or, even worse, a ‘plandemic’ mapped out by the government for some purpose or another. These sources told us that no more would die from COVID than from the seasonal flu or that after the presidential election we would hear no more about COVID or social distancing or masking. These claims were demonstrated to be false, and the dark claims about the vaccines are, too.”
In conclusion, they said that getting vaccinated is an act of loving your neighbor especially those that are sick and the elderly.
Post a Comment