Posted on 04/05/2020 4:40:52 AM PDT by C19fan
Dozens of defiant Christian pastors across the country are preparing to open their church doors to their congregations for Palm Sunday, despite strict lockdown orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 'We're defying the rules because the commandment of God is to spread the Gospel,' Louisiana pastor Tony Spell told Reuters Saturday. More than 8,000 Americans have died from the highly contagious coronavirus in recent weeks, prompting officials and medical experts to plead with the public to practice social distancing. But Spell, whose Life Tabernacle megachurch in Baton Rouge boasts 1,000 members, plans on holding three services on Palm Sunday.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Good for them.
JoMa
The problem with this is that we are clearly taught to obey authority in the Bible.
If there is a way technologically to have a virtual service, then that is the right thing to do at this time.
Submission to Civil Authorities (1 Peter 2:13-17)
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.
15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.
16 [Act] as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but [use it] as bondslaves of God. 17 Honor all men; love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
Watch services on TV. Corvid 19 is no Spanish Flu but does and will kill people more than last years ‘flu’.
The quarantine issue, especially applied to religious observation, has many on this forum at each others’ throats.
Does anyone remember what national news story divided conservatives exactly 20 years ago?
Snake handlers say, “If’n you cain’t see them germs, they ain’t gonna hurt ye! They ain’t no sech thang as germs!”
13 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Look at verse 3&4.
"3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:"
"4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil."
ONLY WHEN THE RULERS REALLY ARE FOR GOOD WORKS
And when the virus suddenly starts spiking Christians will be blamed for the surge. Thus fulfilling Biblical prophecy. Keep looking up folks, He is coming in the first heaven to get His own outta here!
Pastors like these remind my of that guy who went to an island inhabited by a primitive tribe to spread the gospel. I believe that happened last year. The man was quickly killed. He had good intentions, but no common sense.
You are welcome to make your own choice to watch services on TV. The problem of all of this is every individual person has a right to risk their life as they want and you have a right not to risk your life as you want. Humans have risked death my virus since the beginning of time and so what if ‘more’ people die than last year.
The data point you provided of “Corvid 19 is no Spanish Flu but does and will kill people more than last years ‘flu’” is just a ‘statistic’ used to fool people into willingly giving up their freedoms and you use it too as a manipulative tool. It is not even a provable statistic because ‘more’ is a relative measure and you even only let me measure it against one year, last year. Are there going to be more deaths this year than in 1968 to 1969? (Yes, I chose those years on purpose). In those years, the USA did not shut its entire economy down to save those people. What is different today?
If you are fearful of this virus, then you can huddle up until the end of time because when the “shelter order” is lifted, this year’s virus will still be out there and you will once again risk getting it by getting near people.
It is the government forcing everyone else to huddle up through the threat of legal action (or even death if you dare fight against the police when they inevitably come for you) that is the problem.
JoMa
There is zero contraction with this of any sort in scripture.
Consider practicing what you preach.
yea because what we need is more of these idiots spreading it to others. Good grief.
More ad hominem attacks of calling other people idiots. Life is inherently risky. Just because modern day life has shielded humans from so many risks born by previous generations does not make current generations of humans who ‘risk’ into idiots. You risk your life every time you get into a car (given the percentages of people who die in car crashes each year) yet you never call yourself an idiot.
JoMa
‘We’re defying the rules because the commandment of God is to spread the Gospel,’ Louisiana pastor Tony Spell told Reuters Saturday.
—
Hopefully, this asshole will be thrown in jail.
When your religion contracts safety and all common sense, it’s time to get a new one.
Spot on!
Right.
I think there was a context at the time Paul said this and it would help to know what that context was and "exactly" what Paul meant when he said this.
Obviously he didn't mean follow Hitler or Stalin or Mao.
If ever there were a verse that needed clarification, this is it.
They are not worthy of attendance and they most certainly are not worth dying for.
> The problem of all of this is every individual person has a right to risk their life as they want... <
I’m not sure if that’s really true. Suppose I decide to sit on my front porch and play a game of Russian roulette by myself. If I don’t kill myself first, I would certainly be stopped by the police. Not 1 person in 100 would criticize the police for doing that.
Now let’s say that I do have the absolute right to risk my life anyway I want. Does that right include doing something that has a decent chance of hurting others?
As for this ChiCom flu situation, I really don’t know what’s going on. One graph says one thing, another graph says something else. So for now I’ll listen to the experts, the guys with the MD degrees. But I won’t be surprised if they turn out to be wrong.
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