Should Christians take the COVID vaccine?

don't you worry i know everything roll it fellas this is earnest i'm gonna die give me a hug here we're gonna love this hello and welcome to a wretched special my name is todd friel i know everything i'm an epidemiologist a virologist a biologist a theologian extraordinaire and i'm here to tell you exactly what to do with your body and the bodies of your children not that is the last thing that we are going to attempt to do here on this wretched special is to tell you exactly what to do with an issue that is very contentious these days vaccinations what if our government determines for the safety and health of humanity you must take a vaccination an injection into your body which historically has always had a very special place in the hearts of our supreme court they have determined there should be conscientious objections to receiving vaccinations but what if those objections are no longer considered and you've got to take one needless to say our country is really split on this subject just read the most recent poll 54 of americans are saying thumbs down if i'm forced to take a vaccination i'm not going to do it more conservatives a much higher number give or take about 70 are saying there is no chance you're gonna put that needle into my body or the bodies of my family question how does a christian think through this issue that is what the agenda and objective of this program is to just help us think it through if at any time you think i am telling you this side or that side you're hearing it wrong my role is to simply present and lay out how a christian might think through a very complicated issue so if at any time you go hey quit telling me to this or that stop hold the phone rewind the tape and do not hear for a second i'm going to tell you what to do i'm just going to encourage you to think through a complex issue as we do perhaps by the time we are done with taking seven steps regarding coveted vaccinations that you will then be able to go yep i've now got this thing sorted out and if you don't at least we're going to be able to understand oh this thing is maybe more complex than i thought no wonder why so many christians have a difference of opinion on this subject and maybe just maybe we can have a little bit of grace for one another do we have the ground rules established let us begin where in the beginning because that's a very nice place to start typically there are seven steps that you must consider as you go about the business of making your way through any sort of worldview issue these will all become quite plain as we go so let us start with our first step in determining world view and that is our pre-understandings please note pre-understanding is different than presuppositions a christian presupposition is i believe that god exists father son holy spirit three persons one god revealed in the inspired infallible inert sufficient word of god i believe that jesus christ is my savior he rose from the dead those are your presuppositions you never let those go however pre-understandings those have got to vamoose you have got to be a human etch a sketch to shake your brain a little bit and make all of your pre-understandings go away the thoughts that you think the ideas that you have on a subject the preconceived notions you know when you mention this subject i automatically think that whatever drove you to conclude that just make it disappear for a moment now don't panic these pre-understandings that you possess we're going to revisit later but for now if you're going to be a biblical thinker everything has got to go why because we want to think like god we want to have his mind on this subject he knows exactly what should be done regarding coveted vaccinations and if we are going to arrive at that same destination then we've got to lose our ideas what we think is right or correct so perhaps you have some pre-understandings let's take a look at just eight because there's a just tons of these that you might possess we'll make our way through them but you're gonna lose them before we get to making a biblical decision on covet vaccinations here's some pre-understandings perhaps you think vaccines cause more harm than good maybe vaccines cause more good than harm is your position vaccines are made with aborted baby cells or perhaps you think you better keep your laws off my body big government house about the people who think well praise god for the polio vaccine that was a good thing maybe you think scientists lie perhaps you think the vaccine is being rushed to the market and that little piggy needs to stay home or maybe we just don't need a vaccine covet ain't all that perhaps all of these perhaps none of these are true perhaps you adhere to some of these maybe all of these lose each and every one of your pre-understandings etch a sketch right now we'll revisit these later why because we want to take a look at explicit bible verses there's a distinction between explicit and implicit explicit bible verses these are bullseye if we had a bible verse that said in this year you should act like this regarding that subject well that would be really clear and easy but these bible verses don't do precisely that but they are in the bullseye of addressing our subject are there any explicit bible verses that talk about this issue yeah there are let's start with romans 13 1 let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from god and those that exist have been instituted by god everybody agrees on this particular verse in romans 13 god has all authority and he loans some of it to different institutions the government being one of them note all authority comes from god the government represents god in their very specific role that we agree on please note there are varying shades now of understanding of the rest of this very crucial verse that you must land on you must render a verdict where you stand what is the authority of the government where does it begin where does it end please note different people have differences of opinion i've got one i'm just going to try to share everybody so that you can decide what yours is romans 13 2 therefore whoever resists the authorities resist what god has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment again authority from god to the government if you resist you're going to get judged by them or by god it is imperative we understand is this an all-encompassing command no matter what the government says if the government tells you to put on big floppy shoes and a clown nose when you go outside you must do it do you have to do that if the government tells you to do whatever it is they determine is best you must do it there would be some people who say yes there are other people who would say not so fast and that's because there are more contested verses in romans 13. romans 13 3-4 rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad when you have no fear of the one who is in authority then do what is good and you'll receive the government's approval for he is god's servant for your good but if you do wrong be afraid for he is does not bear the sword in vain for he is the servant of god an avenger who carries out god's wrath on the wrong doer there are people who read this section of scripture and say aha romans limits government authority to just being an avenger the government is given the sword to deal with evil doers that you and i might live in peace and there are people who approach this section of scripture and say therefore that is their only role they can tell us to not do something in order to keep everybody safe and punish those who disobey them but that's the end of the story others would say no that's not the end of it the government because god has put them as a minister in authority they can tell us to do anything you're going to need to figure out which side you are on in that debate romans 13 continues verse 5 therefore one must be in subjection not only to avoid god's wrath but also for the sake of conscience this is our key phrase right here that if your conscience tells you you've got to obey it even if the law seems dopey do it because you don't want to be sinning against your conscience finally from romans 13 for because of this you pay taxes the authorities are ministers of god attending to this very thing so pay to what's owed pay taxes revenue to whom it is owed respect to whom it is owed honor to whom honor is owed they are ministers of god for this very thing what's the very thing all laws and rules of the land or just the issue of bearing the sword please note i'm not telling you which side i'm on on this issue and we're going to see historically the difference of opinion on this section of scripture but here is one thing that we do agree to government does have authority limited or otherwise over people and we should in general strive to obey them but there's another explicit verse we've got to take a look at this is acts chapter 5. peter and the other apostles replied to those in authority we must obey god rather than men context peter and john they're preaching in the marketplace the authorities they don't like this proclamation about jesus christ they arrest them and they tell them knock it off this was the response sorry we can't obey you we must obey god this tells us and i think every camp on romans 13 that exists would agree on this the government has authority but when they act in a way that causes a christian to sin we do not need to obey them we obey god not man please note it's imperative that we understand what it is to sin you cannot like a law but the authority tells you to do it in general we obey those laws so we can't just have preference issue it must be an issue where the government is saying sin here's the question is the government forcing us to sin if they force us to take a vaccination you really need to think that through one last caveat to all of this some people in the romans 13 debate would say not only can we disobey the government when they tell us to sin but if the government itself is sinning as a minister of god then we do not have to obey them those people would tell you therefore if we decide that the laws of the land are unjust they are not acting therefore as a government minister of god so we don't have to obey them there are a large number of evangelicals who believe that you need to render a verdict on it please note trying to share all sides of this other people would counter and say well that's problematic who decides what is a good law and a bad law it would make every human being a lawyer and an imagistrate where we would render a verdict you know what i don't like that law or our church doesn't like that law therefore we're not going to obey that law the opposite side of those people who say you don't have to obey if the government is sinning are the people who would say yikes who makes that decision wouldn't that lead to chaos again these are the crucial texts for you these are the explicit bad boys if you do not figure out where you stand on this broad spectrum of understanding of submission to the authorities allah romans 13 it's also in first peter 2 titus chapter 3. you're going to struggle through the issue of vaccinations however we now must tackle the implicit bible verses what are implicit verses explicit well explicit they're more in the bull's-eye it's like you know i can see that well we've got to figure out the authority business with the government when the government tells us to do something that seems pretty explicit implicit they're kind of tangential it's like they have to do with it it's like the explicit view versus they're the sun and the rest of these verses well they're smaller planets they're just kind of revolving around but we need to figure them out too so let's take a look now at some implicit texts starting with or do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy spirit within you whom you have from god you are not your own in context this is talking about sexual sin don't use your body which is a temple the place that god resides the third person of the trinity for sexual sin does that mean this verse doesn't have some additional applications like you maybe want to not eat crummy food put things into your body that are bad for you yeah i think actually that it it can imply that and we can apply it to things like fitness and health what you eat what you drink vaccines that's the question so answer it is putting a vaccination into your body marring damaging your temple is it sinning to take that vaccination you need to figure that out and i suspect one of the places where this particular verse is going to be resolved is in one of our pre-understandings is it safe that's a valid question there are more implicit verses protecting your family likewise husbands live with your wives in an understanding way showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel since they are heirs with you of the grace of life so that your prayers may not be hindered live with your wife in an understanding way the role of the husband is to be the one who puts his armor on the wife and protecting manner ditto with your kids so now pop you need to ask the question am i protecting my wife and children from this particular vaccination that is going to be a tricky part of this discussion is this thing safe because if it is not safe if you render that verdict and that is a contested issue at this time then you would not be protecting your family if you allow it if you determine that it is safe that it's okay for my kids then i don't think you'd be sinning against this particular verse more verses for you form my inward parts you knitted me together in my mother's womb i praise you i'm fearfully and wonderfully made wonderful are your works my soul knows it full well my frame is not hidden from you when i was being made by god in secret intricately woven in the depths of the earth god knits together human beings in the womb at conception question do you know if this particular vaccination if it's manufactured if it's mandated did it come from image bearers of god this is a subject i would encourage christians to study like nobody's business is it easy no because resources wow there's a lot of clamoring voices competing voices that are saying one thing or another you're going to have to figure this one out it's not easy some vaccinations are used manufactured from aborted stem cells others are not what is the case with the cove vaccination i believe because of this implicit bible verse also that our bodies are the temple of the holy spirit we do need to know the answer to that question another implicit verse conscience each one should be fully convinced in his own mind is it a sin for you medicine is a blessing every good gift it comes from god who's never changing medicine is a blessing we look at the polio vaccination and go wow that saves so many people from a debilitated life or even death praise god for medicine remember i'm not telling you what i think about anything on this issue covet vaccinations or otherwise but because we're confronted with the issue of conscience on this subject knowing that medicine is a blessing if i'm just stating a position to consider if this vaccination is a blessing from god that is a medicine that does indeed keep you and others from getting sick you could look at it and go wow then it's a blessing remember though we got a lot of balls up in the air right now are you starting to see the complexity of the subject and why it's like what with this and then what about that then i think like oh but then there's that precisely more implicit verses about loving your neighbor love your neighbor as yourself no other commandment is greater than these if a vaccination remember we've got all the other complexities all the other balls are up in the air here we're just talking about this one point and i'm not telling you what to do remember that's our rule here but if you can take a vaccination that keeps you from getting or spreading a contagion that could result in the death of people or putting them into a bed or onto a ventilator you'd want to love your neighbor please note i didn't just say therefore you got to take it what i said is that this is a consideration another would be know this my beloved brothers let every person be quick to hear slow to speak and slow to anger if you are not taking the time to consume and think about all of these things you're not rendering a verdict in a christian way clearly just based on these verses alone we're starting to see okay there's a lot going on here and different christians have different shadings and you got a little shade here and you got a little shade there a little little bit different here a little bit different there and wow you've got all kinds of complexities and you've got all types of christians with different sort of understandings you're going to get some different verdicts be slow to think all of these things through and whilst you might say okay free you're stretching it on this one this might have just a touch of an implication about doing things slowly and wisely in general pondering considering testing might this verse have an implication about how quickly this vaccination is taken to market and that there's wisdom and doing things slowly and wisely and assuredly yeah i suspect so now those are all of the explicit and all of the implicit bible verses but those are just really the first few steps and wrangling through the issue of a covet vaccination if and you're looking at the screen and you're going okay i'm following along the gospel what does the gospel have to do with this subject that's the question what does the gospel have to do with this the centerpiece of the universe not just the christian faith but the centerpiece of everything that is happening in existence it revolves around the cross of jesus christ 2 000 years ago that the god-man would die for sinners that we might be reconciled to god that's the purpose of the universe certainly we should consider the most important thing there is when we're considering something that is of well lesser importance than the cross itself how does the cross speak to this subject how does it influence it how does it inform it most certainly it does let's take a look at the ways the gospel says my body is not my own there's two implications with that first of all you should on the one hand recognize look if i'm going to die i'm going to die because my life is not my own if god wants to give if the lord wants to take away blessed be the name of the lord my body is not my own on the other hand your body is owned by god he's purchased you that means you want to use this thing well you don't want to harm it you don't want to risk anything risky behavior isn't something the christians should be about why because on the one hand i don't care because look it's my body and i'm going to go to the ground and i'm going to be resurrected and that's the big shebang on the other hand god owns me i need to take care of this thing the gospel tells me that consider that during vaccination ponderings number two i don't want to appear to be unloving the gospel tells me that jesus died for sinners and i am an ambassador for christ the world right wrong or indifferent they have an opinion if i do or don't take a vaccination they're going to think hmm about me they're going to think oh about you if you do or you don't now having said that the gospel frees me from really caring ultimately about what the world thinks why because we want to do what is right nevertheless we do need to consider what will the pagans think if i do or don't take a vaccination number three my family's feelings come first well the gospel tells me i have responsibilities my family is first that that's that's that's that's that's my primary consideration in all of life those that are closest to me then it's my church then it's my neighborhood then it's my county then it's my district then it's my state my nation the world we go out in concentric circles the gospel tells me my primary consideration in all of this is um i've got to love my family and i've got to put them above all of these other circles the gospel tells me that more i truly want to love others as much as i have been loved permit me to challenge you based on this gospel implication are you feeling a little bit like right now if if not i'm not sure you have erased your pre-understandings specifically if you happen to be a person who thinks over my dead body i'm going to take a vaccination mandated by the government let me just address you for a moment just to challenge you to work through this if we are not remembering that god died for me laid down his life for my spiritual health should i not be willing to lay down my life for others to love others as i have been loved which simply means this i'm not trying to change your mind i'm just trying to help you engage with these issues should you not right now be going all right if there's something about this vaccination that i can utilize in order to love my neighbor if it means taking this thing so i can demonstrate love you should be wrestling with this did i act as the referee to tell you who should win the match no i'm not trying to do that at all but i am trying to encourage all of us to genuinely engage with these things and let it start to impact my thinking on the issue there's a lot going on here and so as these arrows start to land there should be a lot that is swirling around in your brain not the least of which is if i do this will i be loving others as i have been loved having said that if you automatically said absolutely therefore i'm going to take the vaccination so in other words you're on the other side of this wrestling match then hold on then then you're not wrangling with these other issues you're not letting them sink if at this moment in this presentation there isn't anything that is causing you to at least consider something other than what you brought to the table i just want to encourage you let this sink in you're not compromising your position you're not becoming squishy you're becoming a biblical christian who is wrestling through a complicated issue biblically let's continue another gospel consideration i now esteem others as more important than myself death doesn't control me anymore two implications same as number one my body is not my own death ha where's your sting you don't scare me no more on the other hand people are gonna die and go to hell if they don't hear the gospel and it's better for them if i stay just like paul felt a tension about death affected by the gospel we should feel it too in regard to vaccinations if and you don't have some sort of tension going on right now where you're not going okay well this is getting a little tricky for me now then i would like to suggest to you you're still clinging too tightly to the view that you had when you entered this conversation please just let these land and don't forget our rule i'm not trying to tell you to change your mind i'm just trying to encourage you to erase what was in your mind so that your mind can be filled with god's way of viewing these issues we have tackled hopefully getting rid of our pre-understandings explicit bible verses implicit bible verses how the gospel affects our understanding of covet vaccinations but what about dead people are we really going to suggest that we are smarter than the old dead saints will we have chronological snobbery epistemological arrogance our generation knows everything those dead people can't teach me about nothing yes yes they can therefore we are going to take a look at what the church has thought about such issues and we're going to we're going to take a look at two different biggies inside of the umbrella of historical views on vaccinations how did they see things like disease and plagues because they lived through those second how did they deal with government impositions and laws those are the two historical considerations we're going to take a look at starting with martin luther by god's decree the enemy has sent us poison and deadly awful disease and sickness therefore i shall ask god mercifully to protect us we trust him but then i'll fumigate help purify the air administer medicine and take it see what he's doing i'm going to trust god if he's going to take my life he's going to take my life i'm also going to take my medicine and i'm going to fumigate he's got a balance going on here he continued i'll avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed what social distancing in order to not become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others and so caused their death as a result of my negligence one wonders what would luther say about a vaccination and if you conclude from this he'd automatically take it not so fast because i'm sure that luther would consider those other issues like role of government we don't have to obey god if they're causing us to sin nevertheless this little statement right here i want to be thinking about others and loving my neighbor and taking medicine if it does them good he continued if god should wish to take me here's his view of death he's going to find me and i have done what he has expected of me and so i'm not responsible for either my own death or the death of others do you hear all of those verses contained in these sentiments luther wrestled with plague because he was dealing with a really big nasty luther was describing the time when the bubonic plague was taken you just dropped it oh look at larry just fell dead in the street bring out your dad that's what was going on and this was luther's balanced approach to the subject and especially if you're a lutheran you might want to think about what this very smart guy had to say now let's turn our attention to the issue of the role of government basically two camps remember this is the biggie that we wanted to be wrestling with let's see what two different big minds thought both martin luther and john calvin about the role of government magistrates are to be honored because they are ordained by god there's your romans 13 human laws whether enacted by magistrates or by the church are necessary to be observed watch the parenthetical i speak of such as are just and good ah remember when we were debating romans 13 there are some who would say only if the magistrate only if the government is behaving in a good and just way then you obey them but if they're not then you don't have to john calvin held that position he continued but do not therefore in themselves bind the conscience remember romans 13 because the whole necessity of observing them respects the general end and consists not in the things commanded john calvin in his rather challenging way as he tends to be is saying if the government is behaving good they are being just these are laws that are reasonable that promote human flourishing you obey them but if they don't you do not have to because the government doesn't have authority to be naughty and impose something that is sinful or evil or bad or that is just downright dopey question do you agree with calvin or don't you this is so crucial this is the i think really the the crux of the debate here what is our attitude toward government what is their limitation a lutern would say something a little different than john calvin from the augsburg confession christians are necessarily abound to obey their own magistrates and laws save only when commanded to sin for they ought to obey god rather than men in other words if the government tells you to put on a clown nose and wear big floppy shoes when you go outside you obey because it is not a sin to command you to dress like a clown if they tell you to sin you don't obey so this is this is pretty straightforward obey unless acts chapter 4 and 5 they're commanding you to sin one more confession all the way from westminster the divines wrote it is the duty of people to pray for magistrates to obey their lawful commands and to be subject to their authority for conscience sake infidelity or difference in religion doth not make void the magistrate's just and legal authority nor free the people from their due obedience to them from which ecclesiastical persons are not exempted ah where do you stand might i simply introduce to you a more recent historical position that's a little bit of both of these particular tracks on obeying the government there are a pretty big number of evangelicals who would say you submit to the government unless they command you to sin or they overstep their authority that can be a little bit tricky so let's just dive in for a moment how might the government overstep their authority how's about if the government they summon you to court or into the magistrate's office and tell you your sermons must only have three points and two of them have to be from oprah winfrey's book sorry you've overstepped your authority ain't going to obey you furthermore that would be commanding you to sin but if they told you how long your service could be they told you how often you can administer communion you see the government does get involved in church business with things like exit signs egress fire codes and we're okay with that because that's keeping us safe that seems to fall within romans 13 but as soon as they try to dictate perhaps what's coming from the pulpit or church polity then they would be overstepping their authority and people who say uh you don't have that right would say therefore we do not have to obey those are really the big positions historically i must stress this you simply must render a verdict on romans 13. first peter 2 titus 3. if you don't you're not going to figure out mandated vaccines however we're not done now that we've seen what great saints have thought let's see what the world thinks what my question is under personal testimony if i do take the vaccination if it's mandated or if i don't how will it affect my testimony why because the gospel tells me i'm here to be a disciple maker i'm here to proclaim the good news of the returning king who died for sinners and that you can be reconciled to god that is my desire that that's really what we're here for these are the works that we're to step into is to proclaim his mercies to sinners who deserve wrath therefore if i don't ask myself the question how does my behavior influence or affect my testimony i'm not being a thoughtful christian so let's take a look at a few ways vaccination whether you take it or not could affect your testimony starting with will the world perceive i'm loving if i don't get the shot will people even talk to me if i don't get the shot can i even witness to them finally will people think i'm counter cultural in a good or bad way different people are going to view your decision differently does it afford you a hearing or does it cancel a hearing is this the definitive consideration my personal testimony and how the world will think about jesus christ based on my decision no it's not because remember my obedience is to god first my obedience is to jesus christ and his gospel and his explicit and implicit bible verses on this subject but that doesn't mean we don't think about what the world thinks about us now do you remember the first step which you were supposed to apply all the way through the other steps which is getting rid of your pre-understandings you know all the stuff that you brought to the table you were supposed to lose those guess what you can bring them back to the party now because we're going to deal with common objections and guess what these common objections tend to be the very things that we thought about the issue in the first place so now let's go revisit those eight pre-understandings that you were supposed to lose in the context of common objections at this moment you should be getting close to rendering a verdict it might be the same one that you had maybe it's different you've altered it tweaked it you've softened you're maybe kind of thinking well i guess i could go both ways whatever it is we want to be bringing these pre-understandings back in to use them as a pressure test for where you're at with the issue you're supposed to be ruminating on all of these considerations you're getting kind of close to going all right this is what i'm going to do my family's going to do this or they're going to do that now take a look at these common objections and and and test your understanding of the issue there are eight first of all vaccines cause more harm than good if that is indeed the case remember all those verses about your body is the temple of the holy spirit we're to be protecting our family we're supposed to be loving our family making sure that nothing harms them including if it's the case a government mandated vaccine we got to figure this one out and this one is going to be a big determiner when we take a look at a lot of these objections do we at this moment know about the safety of the vaccine this is big because with all of those other verses that we've taken a look at we don't want to be doing dumb things with our body we don't want to be risking and and and being people who are not aware that we've got a responsibility to take care of ourselves and others so the question is is this particular vaccine good or not answer yeah what website did you just go look at yeah this can make you nuts you go to one website and it doesn't look wonky it looks like you know what they do a pretty good job there hey they've got all kinds of sources that are cited at the end look at they've got like 50 sources at the hey all kinds of doctors and epidemiologists they say this they say and then you go click to the next one and they say the opposite thing please note you are going to appeal to an authority you're gonna have to do it the safety of the vaccine is indeed a very important issue for the christian i mean it's common sense and put something bad in your body obviously nobody wants to do that especially the christian has a reason to not want to do with that is it good for you or bad for you now here's here's what's going to happen in this debate you're going to appeal to an authority some are just going to say if the fda says it i'm fine with that other people are going to go find other authorities and these are not people who are crackpots we're assuming these are people with degrees that are in science that say no that's not the case so both are appealing to an authority both sides are making an argument based on the same framework that should provide some grace this should cause us to realize why another christian is coming up with a different decision than mine they're just appealing to a different authority than you are i'm not telling you to which authority you should appeal i'm just saying we're gonna have to do it and different christians are just gonna find different sources to determine is this thing good or bad common objection number two vaccines cause more good than harm the opposite of number one vaccines are made with aborted baby cells indeed some are what do you know this issue gets tricky too so let me present two sides no way if you're telling me that somehow this vaccination only exists through the courtesy of a dead baby's body not a chance it's a sin that is just too grievous that was committed against another human being to benefit from it that is reasonable and that is right and that i think is a very biblical consideration on the other hand there are those who would say hold on take for instance the mmr the measles mumps and rubella vaccination these were obtained through stem cell lines from aborted babies in 1962 in germany that the understanding some would say is they were not intentionally aborted for the sake of producing a vaccination they were aborted and then scientists they took those stem cells and they created the mmr and now because of distance and the circumstance some christian philosophers would say the christian while recognizing this is not ideal shouldn't feel like they're sinning and this this is how they explain it if your teenager needed a kidney or they were going to die and you're waiting for the phone call that hopefully there's going to be a kidney before your child perishes the phone rings lo and behold another teenager has a kidney to offer your child to save your child's life but that teenager's life was taken by a drunk driver question would you accept that kidney chances are you would what does that have to do with vaccinations and aborted stem cell lines in this same sort of scenario there's there's a parallel here you benefited your child's life was saved at the death of another child that was taken sinfully but because that child wasn't killed intentionally you are not participating in the sin of the drunk driver those are some considerations that you need to ponder now here i'm afraid is where it gets even dicier at the moment remember history happens in time what we know today we didn't know yesterday and we won't know tomorrow there were a number of vaccine lines give or take about 40 that were being considered government money going to fund them came down to about four then three there seems to be some conflicting information among the experts this is our our call to authority our appeal to authority here some are saying yeah we think there's one that has aborted stem cells but we don't know how old they are and others are saying no they're not inside of there oh what do we do we might have to wait and see so here's here's a scenario for you i believe it's very valid for the christian to not want to participate in the intentional taking of the life of a child for the sake of creating a vaccine if that's the case some people are going to argue if the government mandates it we're just going to have to wait if they then might say it's concluded a child wasn't intentionally killed for the manufacturing of this vaccination then they can participate just not now that could be very valid you need to think this through and you need to recognize different christians are going to come to different conclusions another common objection number four keep your laws off my body unfortunately romans 13 exists and the government can apply laws to your body and that's why you need to figure out where you stand with submission to the government allah romans 13. i told you it was important another common objection praise god for the polio vaccine indeed what a blessing as long as it was not taken from an intentionally killed infant in the womb we can praise god for medicine question just a question remember we're just trying to work through this i'm not trying to tell you how to think but we're dealing with this objection about vaccinations and their safety and assuming all of these other spinning plates now have resolved themselves is it possible in five years let's just say covet is raging it has become a part of our globe we always need to deal with it people die from it let's say all of those things are true and we have discovered that there's a vaccination that was not taken from aborted stem cells intentionally and that little piggy hasn't been rushed to market it's been tested and it's safe would there be any reason to not take the coveted vaccination anymore then there would probably be a reason to not take the polio vaccination if it met all of those criteria in other words time might change your verdict so know that there might be more information these objections many of these are really really valid and i think there's some objections here like the stem cell issue from aborted babies we've got to get that figured out because we don't not want to be participating in that sin that's just not an argument that we should be having no we're not going to do it safety i think is another valid consideration and we might not know the answers to those things at this moment but it might change in time back to our objections number six scientists lie you say yup some scientists have lied it's a fact they have in virtually every realm why because scientists are sinners and yet medicine is a blessing remember so how do we find this balance we praise god for genuine science but we're still skeptical because we realize that scientists are sinners so we've got to have a healthy skepticism i don't think a black helicopter skepticism but indeed a healthy skepticism as well as recognizing they do some really good stuff too where do you stand number seven this vaccine was rushed to market at this time it certainly appears that it was the project is called operation warp speed which historically would make any epidemiologist go what epidemiologists historically they go very slowly when it comes to testing to rolling it out to the general public it goes through animals people in random studies it takes time to determine if a vaccine is going to have an effect on our kids and our grandkids and at the moment it appears that there has not been the historical time used to make those conclusions do we know if in 20 years your grandchild will have a foot growing out of the left side of their head don't know because it has been operation warp speed this is one of those objections that time is required the christian should be responsible with their temple the christian must protect their family from inflicting damage and you need to determine what is the risk guess what we return to our appeal to authority there are going to be some christians who say not get off the fda what do you think they're trying to kill people come on these people they've been in business for a long time to help people and the evidence is there they do help people this is not a conspiracy and so they would appeal to the fda and they would feel just fine taking it because even though it was rushed to market they don't feel that it's safe because they've appealed to authority on the other hand there are people who are going to appeal to other authorities and so it is i think we're coming closer to categorizing what the issue of mandated vaccines is if you're feeling with this this call to authority difference understanding of the government how we're supposed to treat our temples what our responsibilities to the world and the gospel are can you can you feel that there can be some reasonable and valid tension here you should let's get to our last objection number eight we don't need a vaccine how do we know the answer is an appeal to an authority some people will appeal to an authority who says it's a scamdemic the other authority will say how many more people need to die we are both looking out to other experts to render a verdict you are going to have to render yours you're going to have to appeal to your authority and believe that you are being informed correctly and that should at this time cause us to perhaps reach the finish line on a conclusion that i believe that we can be absolutely unified in are we all going to believe we should or shouldn't take the vaccination nope i don't think so but i do believe that we can have unity on identifying what this subject is i would suggest to you that we are dealing with an issue of adiaphara what's an adiaphora if you're martin luther you'd call it a a mittle dingan it's it's a middle thing it's a disputable dispensation it's a gray area it's a conscience issue would it be possible that as we make our way through these steps of figuring out christian worldview that as we do it and we should do it because we want to make sure our consciences are clear that we recognize it is a conscience issue indeed paul gives us the option in romans 14 first corinthians 8 through 10. there are some things we're just going to disagree on and you can cling to your understanding and belief that you are right and that is perfectly fine but we don't condemn those who disagree have we not seen that there are many spinning plates have we not seen that an appeal to an authority is indeed something that we are going to have to press into as we make our way through this debate do we not see that coming from different backgrounds different christian maturity different denominations different form of bible teaching that we're going to come up with different answers on so many variables and ultimately we are left with adi afarah perhaps maybe possibly we can conclude this by at least recognizing that different christians are going to come up with a different conclusion and i'm not going to draw a line in the unity sand i'm not going to separate from my brother or sister i'm not going to think they're stupid they have drunk the kool-aid whatever color you think it happens to be and i will not bind the conscience of another believer i will not make a law where there is no law please utilize all of these considerations i have not tried to tell you what you should think and if you think that i've been tipping my hand one way or another some night when you and i have dinner together i'll tell you where i stand on this but this absolutely was not the point of this exercise it was not to tell you what to think but perhaps simply how to think through it and as we do let us do it charitably and until next time go serve your king [Music] thank you for joining us for this wretched special for more things wretched please visit us online at wretched.org wretched amazing grace amazing gospel

Channel: Wretched

Views: 524,431

Rating: 4.4909515 out of 5

Keywords: Todd Friel, Wretched TV, Wretched Radio, Evangelism, Gospel, Christian, Jesus, Theology, Bible, Christianmedia, Witnessing, Religion, Preaching, God, Teaching, Media, Openair

Id: iOb9wKzlEi4

Length: 55min 7sec (3307 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 09 2020