A Christian Response to COVID-19

The title of this post begins with the word “a,” meaning that I think there are many ways for Christians to respond to the coronavirus. What follows is one Christian’s response.

Let’s start with the shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders which have become so pervasive. While I believe there is a place for them, especially to protect those who are most vulnerable, like the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions, there needs to be concern for the rest of humanity. In early March, my family and I agreed that there would likely be a rise in suicide as people sheltered in place. Two months later, I read federal agencies and experts were warning that a historic wave of mental-health problems was approaching, including PTSD, substance abuse, depression, and suicide. In the context of COVID-19, some of these issues are brought about by isolation, while others are brought about by economic hardship as well as other factors. We’ve all heard about–and in some cases experienced–small businesses closing, people losing their jobs, and a resultant sharp spike in the unemployment rate.

I don’t think we should ask which is more important: protecting the lives of the most vulnerable among us or reopening the economy. A better question is: how can we balance the needs of everyone? For the sake of comparison: depending on your age, you may have heard of the Hong Kong flu of 1968-69, which killed somewhere between one million and four million worldwide; by comparison, COVID-19 has killed about 300,000 so far. During the Hong Kong flu, there were no shelter-in-place orders in the U.S. (Remember Woodstock?) Why has the reaction been so strong this time? I believe one of the main reasons is the 24/7 news cycle. Back in 1968, the “news” was mostly in newspapers and on the 6:00 TV news. I’m sure there are many other reasons that people can come up with as well, including the blame game that politicians and the rest of us like to play. However, I believe there is also a deeper reason, which is a different attitude toward death.

50+ years ago, families were larger and lifespans were shorter; the prevailing attitude seemed to be that death was something natural that happened to everyone–and everything–sooner or later. In our comparatively sanitized lives now, the average person is less likely to see a dead animal close up, for example. Furthermore, people are less comfortable talking about death than they used to be. Now there are increasing efforts to extend life as long as possible, partly because of so many amazing advances in health care. I believe that all of this explains the fear and panic I observed during a shopping trip to Costco on March 6; you could see the fear on people’s faces, and you could observe the panic with which people were buying mass quantities of various items. This was six days before the CA governor imposed the stay-at-home order, and the panic buying quickly worsened.

In Scripture, there are many verses that tell us not to be fearful or anxious. There are some pastors who have taught that these are “normal” feelings but not necessarily sin. Well, they are normal, but they are also sinful because they reflect a lack of trust in the Lord. It was very refreshing recently to hear a guest pastor of our new church say that fear is selfish. He didn’t explicitly say why, but I believe it’s because fear tends to be paralyzing, which makes it less likely we will serve others.

I have my own fear of bees and other stinging insects, but that does not prevent me from mowing the lawn with bees buzzing around flowers on the edge of it. I can sometimes become anxious about other things as well, but as Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” If you have become fearful and anxious in the age of the coronavirus, take these verses to heart.

A relative that I have a lot of respect for mused in early March about whether COVID-19 could be one of the end-time “pestilences” mentioned, for example, in Luke 21:11. At the time, I didn’t think so, but now I think it may very well be a forerunner of much worse plagues to come.

A final comment: Several weeks ago, I saw a list of movies and shows in which the apocalypse is brought on by nuclear war or plague. Missing from the list was The Stand, a wonderful 1994 miniseries. If you want to watch an ultimate battle between good–with a Christian theme–and evil in the aftermath of most of the human race being wiped out by plague, this is for you. Because of some violent content, don’t watch with young children.

How Many Christians Are There in the United States?

One of my biggest questions from the past 20+ years was this one. I decided to start with this question because of the name of this blog: To the Remnant.

It used to puzzle me in the 1990s when I saw surveys that estimated 90% of Americans believed in God. I soon understood that there are a lot of gods people believe in. Then I saw estimates about the percentage of Christians in the U.S., which was almost invariably between 60% and 70%. Taking it a step further, the percentage of evangelicals was typically estimated to be between 30% and 40%. It seemed to me that I was getting closer to finding out what percentage of Americans were Christians. However, 35% still seemed to me to be inflated for two reasons.

First of all, the American church seemed to be very anemic. If one third of Americans were Christians, why weren’t we having more of an impact on society? Why was American society moving further and further away from virtue? Why did it seem that “tolerance” was becoming more and more “virtuous,” including in the church? Why was it that causing offense to an unbeliever was becoming one of the worst things a Christian can do? To be clear, I’m not in favor of causing offense for an unbiblical reason, but I Peter 2:7-8 says, “But to those who do not believe, ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,’ and ‘A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.'”

Second, the Lord Himself said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Notice the words “many” and “few.” It is certainly possible that in a given society at a given time, the majority of people are on the narrow road to heaven, but it didn’t seem like the U.S. fit that conclusion. Instead, it seemed like “few” was much closer to the truth.

In 2008, the Pew Forum published a research study about the American religious landscape. One very important question that American evangelicals were asked was, “Are there many religions that lead to eternal life?” A very disturbing 57% of the respondents answered, “Yes.” Since by that time, the number of Americans who claimed to be evangelicals was ~25%, that meant about 11% of Americans believed that Jesus was the only way to heaven. I should add that there are American Christians who do not claim to be “evangelical,” including some Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox. I estimated at the time that perhaps 13% of Americans were Christians.

In 2013, John Dickerson wrote The Great Evangelical Recession. He cited four different research studies (one from 1998, the other three from 2008-2011) that sought to determine what percentage of Americans were evangelical Christians. Three of those studies came up with 7%, and one with 8.9%; do the math, and you come up with 7.5%. If you add in Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox who don’t claim to be “evangelical” but who are true Christians, perhaps the number of American Christians is between 9% and 10%.

One caveat about these numbers is that how the word “evangelical” is defined is not always consistent. However, the 2008 Pew Forum study that I mentioned includes both belief and obedience. Regardless of whether the four researchers cited in Dickerson’s book agree precisely on the definition of “evangelical,” the fact that three came up with the same percentage and that the fourth was not drastically different give me confidence that the percentage of American Christians is probably below 10.

I do not take pleasure in the likelihood that the vast majority of Americans are on the road to hell. I also believe that things will get worse before they get better. It wouldn’t surprise me if we “bottom out” at 4% and then start to reverse course. I also believe that the American church, meaning the Lord’s people in the U.S., will emerge much stronger.

About This Blog

The word “remnant” means a small remaining quantity of something. In the Bible, the word “remnant” refers to a small remaining number of people who are faithful to the Lord God. In the Old Testament, those people were predominantly Jews, who were God’s chosen people. In the New Testament, God’s people were, and are, those who put their faith in Jesus Christ.

I grew up in a Christian home and went to a Christian elementary school, high school, and Christian college (my first four years). Although I had a good amount of head knowledge, it didn’t penetrate to my heart until I was 20, when I became a Christian. As a teen, I had my first “big” question, and I have had many more since then. I have gotten answers to virtually all of those questions so far. In this blog, post by post, I plan to focus on answers to those questions and also to give a Biblical perspective on issues. Sometimes the subject of a post will be based on something random that I have heard or read. Another kind of topic for this blog will be certain verses or passages in the Bible that are difficult to interpret. I have no specific plan for how often I will post. However, since I have very recently retired, I have much more time than I used to! I also envision a wide variation in length of posts.

My intended audience for this blog is Christians. However, if you are a non-Christian, you are more than welcome to read as well. I welcome comments from any and all readers. The main thing I ask is that if you disagree, please do so respectfully. Among other things, that means to use appropriate language. I reserve the right to delete any comments that do not meet these guidelines.

If you have a big question or an issue that you would like me to respond to, please let me know, and I will attempt to tackle it as well.