Which is it? Has the coronavirus been sent by God to punish humanity for its wicked ways (and, let's face it, by any spiritual yardstick, humanity, in that it has forgotten God, is wicked) or is it a test to see how we react to fear and death or is it a lesson to teach us what is real and what important or is it a consequence of our ignorant ways? Has it a purpose or is it an inevitable result of us leading lives dedicated to material satisfaction? Justice, karma, retribution? Or maybe has it been inflicted on a helpless humanity by powers of evil who wish to terrorise and drive to despair?
How about elements of all of those things? God is long-suffering and patient but he has been mocked for too long. However, he doesn't send or allow bad things without some kind of teaching purpose behind them. He is always a God of love and that love never fails. But we should never use the fact of that love as a guarantee that whatever we do, all will be well. Certainly, we can repent of our manifold sins at any time and that, if sincere, is sufficient, but this initial repentance and turning away from the sins of the past is essential. All will not be well unless we acknowledge where we have gone wrong. If we don't do that, efforts will be made to bring us to the realisation that we are not quite as free as we think. Or rather, we are free but if we use that freedom in a way that conflicts with the fundamental quality of being, there will be consequences. We are always free to jump off a cliff. From a spiritual perspective, that is what so many of us are now doing.
The virus could be seen as a lesson to bring people to a deeper understanding of life. But if that just means 'pulling together', the lesson will not have been learnt. Pulling together is a good thing but it is not the main thing. The main thing is always the reality of God. If we accept that reality, we will pull together and we will pull in the right way. If we don't, we may pull together but we will not pull properly. What are we pulling for if we don't have God in mind? Continuation of material existence? That can't continue forever. Alleviation of suffering? That might seem a good thing and so it is but it is not the primary thing for if it were suffering would not exist in the first place. I mean it would not exist in a spiritual universe. Alleviation of suffering can only be a primary concern in a material universe so, to put it as primary, effectively reinforces materialism. That is why I say that without an understanding of the spiritual reality of God, all our good intentions actually work for evil. God first then everything else. Everything else without God is nothing and leads to destruction.
This virus is not sent by God though it can be used by God as can any evil. But God does not send these things. It is possible that it is the result of our own faulty mindset which is a reference to the occult teaching that enough wrong-thinking on the part of humanity can eventually spill over into the physical world in the form of disease, bacteria and viruses that get past the immune system. It is also possible that it has been precipitated by the dark forces who then use it to bring about certain ends, as much psychological as physical. But whatever its source and whatever it leads to in terms of its effect on society, both in terms of health and the economy and also the restrictions on freedom, the important thing to realise is that it cannot touch you within if you focus yourself in God and commit yourself to his care. That does not just mean expect him to look after you and your family whatever you do, but live a life with God at its centre and then, come what may, you will be free. If the virus is being used to bring about the increased servitude of human beings to dark spiritual powers, and that looks a strong possibility, know that this can only affect you inwardly if you let it. In God you can always be free.
@William - well argued case.
ReplyDeleteBy my understanding of Christianity, in terms of what Jesus said and the history of Christianity in the past 2000 years - it is very little directly to do with any 'guarantee' of making life better in this world. It is essentially about what happens after death - and the effect in this life is a consequence of that faith and the hope that derives from it; and the knowledge that love should be primary.
In terms of a 'plague' it depends on whether we think we *are* suffering a plague. If the current proportion of people dying had not been labelled a plague, it would not have been noticeable in the country as a whole (5000 deaths so far is 0.01% of the population).
If the infection was meant as a signal then it is nothing like strong enough; on the other hand the *response* has been catastrophic to Christianity (and many other things) - to all appearances. So it looks as if a 'divine retribution' explanation would mean that God has backfired badly.
Of course, God is at work all the time and in everything; but human agency does most stuff; and that depends on the spiritual state of large numbers of people. My best guess is that God has 'allowed' us to pull things down on our own heads, because of where we were going.
As you say, working together is only Good *overall* when people are working together for a goal which is Good - and the opposite has been the case for a long time. Otherwise working together is a virtue that leads to net-evil - like loyal henchment for an evil dictator (whether human or supernatural).
Exactly, Bruce! The statement made by Jesus that the poor will always be with us can be extended to mean that suffering will always exist in this world. We should attempt to relieve suffering as he did while always having an eye on the bigger picture which, as you say, is eternal life not this life.
ReplyDeleteIn a world in which the media did not report and over-report everything and we were ignorant of what happened in China we might just think there was a particularly nasty version of flu this year and life for most people would have carried on as normal.