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I think that you should get the COVID-19 vaccine; I do not think that you should get the COVID-19 vaccine.
As a former pastor, I get to agree with everyone and disagree with everyone. You can’t leave my church because I don’t pastor a church. With this Interruption, I can offend everyone or no one.
If you disagree with me, I will still pray for you or call fire from heaven down upon your head.
My choice!
I have been asking almost everyone if they are getting the vaccine. Some get a glimmer of hope while speaking of getting a card that allows them to travel. Others, eyes dim or glare, talking about lack of testing and potential unknown and down-the-road side effects.
I listen and agree with both sides. Here is my opinion: you should not get the vaccine; you should get the vaccine!
I love you or do not love you and it doesn’t depend on your opinion. I recognize the need for herd immunity while realizing that the Biblical and American ideal of freedom… is … is… you decide. You can have an opinion. You shouldn’t be ridiculed or hated or dismissed because of your opinion!
Opinion. How about truth? There is truth in some matters and there is no universal truth in other matters.
Your choice!
The Apostle Paul writes whether a person should get married during times of tribulation, “I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy” (1 Corinthians 7:25).
Yes, Paul had an opinion and gave it freely, while allowing everyone to form their own conclusions.
I am aghast at how bona-fide-professing-Jesus-as-Lord-Christians, can’t speak in grace to other bona-fide-professing-Jesus-as-Lord-Christians with whom they disagree. Shame on you, shame on me! Love means understanding the difference, like the Apostle did, between matters of ultimate truth and those of opinion.
I work with a medical doctor who has spent hours researching all things COVID-19. He works at our community clinic that dispenses vaccines. He believes the vaccine is safe.
I’ve listened to other Christians, concerned about the quick origins of the vaccine, while considering the implications of lining up for mass vaccines, with the upcoming “666 chip on the hand or forehead” predictions in the Book of Revelation.
I wear a mask; I hate wearing a mask; I slip it down below my nose too often, so that I can breathe. It was torture wearing a mask during a recent three-hour flight. I am immune as a recovered Covidite, but I still wear a mask.
The Apostle Paul writes about a “COVID-like issue” to the Corinthian Church (figuratively speaking). It wasn’t COVID but food sacrificed to idols. To the Corinthians, it was an intense issue, with some believing you could eat food sacrificed to idols while others thought you would lose your salvation by eating the same food.
To eat or not to eat!
Paul writes to both sides 0f the issue:
If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. 1 Corinthians 8:2-3 ESV
Then Paul kills it with:
Whether you get the vaccine or not, do not offend unbelievers with your words or actions. Do not fight with other believers. Make your own decision and give glory to God. Do not act according to stubbornness or pride. Do not cling to being right but act in such as way so that many will be saved. 1 Corinthians 10:31-33 OGV (Old Guy Version)
I believe that God is teaching the church in 2021 to truly love one another. A divided church manifested itself in 2020. Love allows freedom in matters of opinion. I realize that allowing freedom in matters of “masks and vaccines” could place others at risk.
That is why I mask and why I will get the vaccine, but I love and respect those who do not.
To anyone who gets mad because you disagree with me, I have the freedom, since I’m not the pastor of a local church, to both care about what you think and not care about what you think.
To care or not to care about what you think? In love, I will not reveal which way I’m leaning.