Our Worldview Determines Our Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic
Stephen McDowell
The coronavirus pandemic is revealing much about the character and worldview of the American people, as well as mankind in general. Trials prove our faith; they show what is inside us (1 Pet. 1:6-7; James 1). Our response to calamities reveals who we are as individuals and the nature of the corporate man. It shows what we think, which reflects what we have been taught.
As this pandemic progresses, we can continue to learn from this world-changing event. I have written of some of these lessons previously.[1] From the first I have expressed concern that the draconian response of many rulers in the nations would in the long-run pose more harm than good. This is proving to be correct. But this is not unexpected because rulers are acting according to their view of life, which is generally man-centered and, hence, void of a biblical understanding.
In the big picture I think the devil has pulled a fast one on mankind. He has pulled the wool over the eyes of the world. His goal is to kill, steal, and destroy. He has used his minions most effectively in advancing his nefarious purpose. It is not that he has possessed these minions and is pulling their strings to do his bidding. He hasn’t needed to. They are just acting upon their pre-suppositional world and life view, which is rooted in their religious faith (and secular humanism is a faith).
Having said that Satan has executed a great blow against mankind does not discount that God has allowed (or even perhaps authored) this for His ultimate purposes. Satan only operates under the sovereignty of God (Job 1:12; 2:6; Luke 22:31; 2 Cor. 12:7). Therefore, we must continually ask God what we can learn and what we can do in response to the coronavirus pandemic. And God is most certainly doing many things in individual lives as well as history at large through this pandemic.[2]
But it is certain Satan and his minions are at work. Who are these minions and how have they been involved in mankind’s destruction?
The foremost minions are the communist Chinese leaders. The coronavirus originated in China, perhaps in live meat markets or in their labs through biological experiments. Whether intentional or accidental (and I will give them the benefit of the doubt of it being accidental), when the coronavirus got out, they certainly lied and covered up its existence and danger, to their own citizens and to the world at large. Furthermore, they allowed people to carry this all over the world, unleashing death and fear. They have attempted to cover-up their part in this and have also tried to benefit financially by selling medical supplies that the world is demanding.
In all this they have been acting upon their philosophy of life. They lie and act deceitfully with the goal of inflicting pain and destroying their enemies, especially the free nation of America, which they see as their greatest enemy.
Liberal leftists are also unwitting minions helping to advance Satan’s oppression of mankind. Concerning the current pandemic, they are responding as they do in all situations, with the belief that they are the masters of their own fate. They are the savior, not just of their own lives, but all of mankind. They are the enlightened ones who know what is best for everyone.
They implement their utopian policies through big government, attempting to mitigate the pandemic through micromanaging everything including: deciding what jobs are essential (churches are forbidden, but abortion chambers, liquor stores, and pot shops are fine), who and how many people can gather together, whether beaches and parks can open, decreeing you can’t mow your lawn, deciding where people can and cannot go, jailing some business owners who seek to earn money to feed their kids; all the while, they enlist citizens to report neighbors who violate their dictatorial policies.
At the same time they are destroying people’s businesses and livelihoods, they are creating money (stealing it from citizens, now and in the future) to pay off the people who they claim to be helping. Their action treats people as if they are slaves, forbidding people to choose how they should live, and not believing individuals know what is best for their health and well-being.
Big government always enslaves. The action of the liberals reveals they are the masters of the government plantation. They believe individuals cannot be trusted to know what is best for their health and safety. Only they – the all-knowing ones — can make these decisions. And they will enforce them for your own good.
And this is done in the name of saving lives, of being compassionate. Yet, these same people have disregarded the most vulnerable – the unborn – for decades, tossing aside millions of lives as if they were rubbish.
They claim they are following the advice of experts. We are only following the science, they say. Everyone else cannot be trusted (and their voices must be shut down). But these experts’ models have proven to be wrong. And most of the experts they consult are wrong about the most fundamental issues: they deny life in the womb, they deny the biblical and historical understanding of the family, and they deny basic morality. If they cannot discern these basic truths of life, we should be very wary of trusting them in other matters.
Liberals issue oppressive governmental decrees, while many of them at the same time violate their own directives: Like the mayor of Chicago who shut hair salons but got her own haircut, and the mayor of New York City who walked in the park while mandating everyone else stay at home, and the California congressman who pushed the shut-down of beaches but was seen at the beach himself. Their view is that as government elites, rules don’t apply to them, only to the common peons they oversee.
The restrictive and unconstitutional actions of liberal civil leaders during this pandemic reveals how easily many Americans will go along with big government stealing their rights and liberties. This, along with the great blow to the economy, will have dangerous long-term effects.
It is not surprising that the communist Chinese and the leftist liberals have acted in accordance with their man-is-savior, big government worldview. It is more surprising that some conservatives who believe in individual liberties and small government have responded with a heavy hand.
Many conservatives have tried to respond by trusting people to act responsibly for their and others well-being. Some have been consistent from the beginning and kept the government’s actions to a minimum (a half dozen or so states, all governed by conservatives, did not close). But some conservatives acted in excess, quarantining everyone and not just the infected.[3] Why? Some were influenced by the unknown, some responded to doomsday scenarios presented by flawed models, some listened too intently to only some experts and did not receive a wide range of opinions. And others are big government in their hearts and went along with the ideology that big government knows best.
All in all, people have responded to this destructive pestilence in accordance with their worldview. Your worldview determines how you think and act. No surprise here. This is true for the societal response, but is also true for the individual response. Our worldview will also determine how we act in the coming months and years as we try to restore life to normal.[4]
Many people are very fearful of this virus. What they really fear is death. This pandemic has made death much more of a reality to them. For the communists, secularists, liberals, and conservatives who have no faith in the afterlife, fear motivates many of them. To the biblical Christian who knows we have eternal life through Christ, there is no fear. We can pursue life in a responsible but active way, understanding that this virus is a real threat, as are many other things in this fallen world, but we are not to live in fear as we pursue our God-given mission to bring His Kingdom to earth as it is in heaven.
A person’s worldview determines his actions (Prov. 23:7). Those who teach us, shape what we think and how we act. This was true before the pandemic. But the pandemic has magnified the consequences of the importance of these biblical ideas. Learning and obeying the principles of the Bible has never been more important. The coronavirus pandemic is reinforcing one of the most taught ideas in the Bible: if we obey Him and His word we will be blessed, things will go well for us, personally and in society; but if we disobey Him we will have great troubles and live in much fear. Today is a good time to choose to obey the Lord, to choose life that comes from obedience to Him.
[1] See Stephen McDowell, “Coronavirus and the Providence of God:” https://providencefoundation.com/coronavirus-and-the-providence-of-god-what-can-we-learn-from-this-pandemic/ and “The Coronavirus Outbreak, What is Going On?” https://providencefoundation.com/the-corona-virus-outbreak-what-is-going-on/
[2] God often uses pestilence, disease, and calamities to advance His purposes. (see my article “Coronavirus and the Providence of God” for Scriptures on this.) For some general thoughts on what God is doing in this pandemic see, John Piper, Coronavirus and Christ, Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2020.
[3] Some argue that since asymptomatic people can spread the coronavirus, it is impossible to quarantine all those who are infected. Hence, we must quarantine everyone. But violating biblical principles of quarantine (and work) is not the best solution. We don’t have to violate some biblical principles to adhere to others. We can close nursing homes and those housing the most vulnerable, and perhaps shut down certain areas with a high concentration of infections, but we should seek other methods of implementing quarantine without destroying lives. The long-term effects of shutting down the economy throughout the entire nation (where half the counties in the U.S. have had no deaths) has and will kill many more than the virus itself. People have died from missed surgeries. People are starving in many nations and the effects will only get worse. Fear and despair have ruined many lives. And there are many other destructive consequences occurring due to the draconian governmental actions.
[4] One thing, no doubt, that God is doing is seeking to let us know that much of what is (and was) part of our normal life is not how God intends us to live. He wants us to get our lives, personal and national, aligned to what He says is normal in the Bible.
