Posted on 04/12/2020 3:36:51 PM PDT by Kaslin
Easter Sunday is one of the most important days of the year for Christians around the globe. Yet the holiday will look much different this year during the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of celebrating with fellow worshipers, most Christians will be celebrating Jesus's resurrection from their living rooms. Including Vice President Mike Pence. The CDC wants it that way, having issued guidelines that Americans avoid gatherings of more than ten people.
However, some churches are defying those guidelines on Sunday and holding Easter services as previously planned. Louisiana Pastor Tony Spell, for instance, was charged with half a dozen misdemeanors last week for defying government orders and proceeding with his in-person church services.
It's making officials justifiably nervous because COVID-19 is extremely contagious. But, did Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear go a step too far when he announced that authorities would be writing down the license plate numbers of anyone they see attending church this Lord's Day?
"For those who decide to participate in a mass gathering of any type of which the state is notified of, the license plates of those individuals will be recorded and given to health department officials," News Channel 5 Nashville reported. "They will then visit the individuals home bringing with them an order to quarantine for 14 days."
Conservative critics Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY) thought Beshear was overstepping his authority.
Taking license plates at church? Quarantining someone for being Christian on Easter Sunday? Someone needs to take a step back here.
Kentucky Governor Announces Plan to Record License Plates of Easter Church Goers and Force Them to Quarantine for 14 Days https://t.co/z7U42liQRh— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) April 11, 2020
When Dem officeholders are sworn in, do they issue jack boots at that time, or do they arrive later in the mail? #StopPersecutingFaith https://t.co/X8HCcTtnUk— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 11, 2020
Beshear did not, however, completely oppose drive-through church services. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron encouraged religious Kentuckians to use the method for their Sunday worship, arguing that they should have that right as long as drive-through services are still available for liquor stores, restaurants and other businesses.
"As long as religious groups and worshippers are complying with current Centers for Disease Control recommendations for social distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19, we see no problem with these drive-in services," Cameron said. “Religious organizations should not be treated any differently than other entities that are simultaneously conducting drive-through organizations, while also abiding by social distancing policies."
Judge Justin Walker, who was recently nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court, issued a restraining order on Saturday allowing for drive-through church service in Louisville. Kentucky Republicans Mitch McConnell and Sen. Paul approved.
Grateful for this strong, eloquent ruling defending Kentuckians’ religious liberty from Judge Justin Walker, @POTUS’s outstanding nominee for the D.C. Circuit. Of course church parking lots cannot be singled out with unfair standards that differ from other establishments. https://t.co/uS0V9lJ2uX— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) April 11, 2020
Thank God for a judge who understands the First Amendment prevents the government from prohibiting the free government exercise of religion.
COVID-19 in Kentucky: Judge grants church's request to hold services https://t.co/FMPfOe9GB0— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) April 11, 2020
Sanity. https://t.co/1s2y7fWZor— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 11, 2020
No matter how or where you're celebrating this Sunday, a very Happy Easter to you all!
Thinking through something is not one of Gov. Beshear’s strong points. Actually, I ain’t sure he’s got any strong points.
Well yes, but they are always spring loaded to the SS/Gestapo mode and love to say "we're just following orders". Law enforcement is attractive to those types, and their ranks are filled with them. It's a corrupt profession top to bottom for the most part.
Hey Biden make Bashear your VP pick. He’s almost as stupid as you are.
Hung? The grammatically correct word is hanged.
THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING!!!
Oh wait thats the Chicken Little Syndrome. < /never mind >
Actually, hung is correct.
Sing....sang.....sung....
Hing....hang.....hung....
Bring...brang...brung...
;^)
An excerpt from Bill Wylie-Kellermanns classic Seasons of Faith and Conscience (1991).
The sealing of the tomb is, I believe, notoriously misunderstood. I grew up with a Sunday School notion that to seal the tomb was a matter of hefting the big stone and cementing it tight. The seal, in my minds eye, was something like first-century caulkingputtying up the cracks to keep the stink in. Not so. This is a legal seal. Cords would be strung across the rock and anchored at each end with clay. To move the stone would break the seal and indicate tampering.
The event conspicuously echoes the story of Daniel sealed in the den of lions. And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel (Daniel 6:18). As there, this is a legal lock on the tomb doornot air tight, but politically tight. To move the stone and break the seal is a civil crime. The resurrection is against the law.
The seal is also a recurring theme in the book of Revelation. Remember the scroll of history sealed with seven seals? Only One is worthy to break them and look upon or unveil the truth: that One is the Lamb who was slain. The seal is a claim of ownership and authority. Its meaning in Revelation is at least that God in Christ reigns sovereign over all history and in all events.
Caesar, in Pilate, on the other hand, violently disputes the claim. He has set his seal of approval on Jesus death, and now he guarantees it with troops. Secured by security forces. When the seal is broken in the resurrection, it stands among the signs that the power of the powers (death in all its forms) has been broken. The dominion of political authorityespecially inflated, aggressiveand imperial authority has been cut to the heart.
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