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Tuesday, September 7, 2021

God's Perspective on Fear and Freedom

If you actually stop and listen to the folks who are opposed to mask and vaccine mandates, the two rationales that you will most often hear put forward to justify their opposition are fear and freedom. "I don't think fear is a good motivation for wearing a mask or getting vaccinated - that's an emotional reaction, not a logical one," I've heard them say. OR They are just as likely to say something like: "It is an infringement of my personal freedom to force me to wear a mask or receive a vaccine!" Moreover, if those of us who support mask and vaccine mandates are completely honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that fear and authoritarian measures are NOT the best justifications for what we support! And it is certainly true that emotion-based arguments are inferior to those based on logic and reason.

Unfortunately, the same folks who are quick to point out the fearmongering and authoritarian impulses of the proponents of mask wearing and vaccination are very often guilty of using the exact same tactics to oppose them! Let's take just a moment to consider some of the commonly heard objections to wearing masks and getting vaccinated: "Mask wearing can actually be detrimental to your health," "Requiring someone to wear a mask or receive a vaccine violates their freedom to choose what an individual feels is in his/her own best personal interest," "Anyone who receives an mRNA vaccine will be dead within a year or two," "These vaccines are unproven and untested, and their use will lead to catastrophic future health problems," "The NEW mRNA vaccines will change your DNA or render you unable to have children." Talk about fearmongering!

Over at The Conversation, an article was posted by Amy Fairchild and Ronald Bayer titled "Why using fear to promote COVID-19 vaccination and mask wearing could backfire" In the article, the authors recount the long history of how public health officials have used fear to motivate people to do things in times past (e.g. "lifestyle diseases," anti-tobacco campaigns, anti-obesity campaigns, etc.). In other words, the thinking has often been the old notion that "the end justifies the means." The authors, however, go on to suggest that this may not be the best approach for the issues related to the current pandemic. They observed: "Health officials have faced armed protesters outside their offices and homes. Many people seem to have lost the capacity to distinguish truth from falsehood. By instilling fear that government will go too far and erode civil liberties, some groups developed an effective political tool for overriding rationality in the face of science, even the evidence-based recommendations supporting face masks as protection against the coronavirus. Reliance on fear for public health messaging now could further erode trust in public health officials and scientists at a critical juncture."

Nevertheless, from the perspective of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, it is clear that fear and personal freedom are NOT the kinds of things which should be motivating Christian behavior. Paul wrote to the saints at Rome that they had not received a spirit of bondage and fear, but one that enables us to reach out to God the Father (Romans 8:15). Likewise, in the second epistle to Timothy, we read: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." (II Timothy 1:7) In John's first epistle, he wrote: "God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear." (John 4:16-18) And, with regard to Christians looking out for their own interests, Paul wrote to the saints at Philippi: "Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too." (Philippians 2:4) Finally, Paul wrote to the saints at Corinth about the freedom which they enjoyed in Christ on this wise: "you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble." (I Corinthians 8:9)

Hence, using Scripture as a window into God's perspective on the appropriateness of fear and freedom as tools for motivating "His" people, we can see that God doesn't think much of them! Unfortunately, humans have proven how very stubborn/willful and selfish they can be, and we can certainly understand the temptation to use fear and intimidation to motivate them to do the right thing. However, Scripture makes very clear that Christians should scrupulously avoid using these tactics - the end does NOT always justify the means. Frankly, if love for others and a desire to do what is in the best interest of the wider community is not enough to motivate someone to do the right thing, I don't hold out much hope of anything being able to penetrate their stony hearts!

1 comment:

  1. Excerpts from some comments posted to my private e-mail account:

    I completely agree that we should be motivated by positive rather than negative thoughts and emotions.

    I have often reflected on how many people joined WCG because of the fear instilled by Basil Wolverton's macabre and nightmarish depictions of 1975 in Prophecy. They wanted assurance that they would be taken to a place of safety to escape the Great Tribulation of the Day of the Lord. So, fear can be a useful initial motivator. But I think it has to move beyond that, grow and mature into something positive, such as seeking ways to promote peace and battle injustice, etc., etc.

    In some ways, this whole brouhaha seems to me like the classic making mountains out of molehills. If Donald Trump and his whole administration had just taken to wearing masks as a routine thing, in the same way that people wear shoes in public, no biggie, and no one in a position of power and influence had made a big deal of the matter, would things have turned out differently? People take their cues from leaders, for good or ill.

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