Whither Our Nanny Police State?

There is a lot of debate about how to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak even within the church. It is important for Christians to have these discussions because we are all susceptible to being blinded by the Enemy and our individual sinful flesh and thus are all in need of opportunities to overcome our blindness. So I don’t mind when the conversations get hard because God’s grace abounds as iron sharpens iron.

If I had to pick one problem in the church catholic that has frustrated me more than all others it world be a blindness to how the world is assaulting God’s Word and His church. Near the center of this assault is the lie that we need to listen to experts when evaluating what God had told us in His Word, rather than using God’s Word to evaluate what the experts are telling us.

This reliance experts shows itself in many ways, including the areas of governance and medicine. And goes beyond just an over-reliance on experts. We are often unwilling to believe that these experts are just not wrong at times but in fact actively misleading us.

But in either case, we often don’t really comprehend how much the hatred of God by unbelievers affects their ability to accurately understand and portray what is going on in the world. Yes, there is common grace. But all else being equal, believers will ALWAYS have a greater understanding of how the world works because they have access to the knowledge of God and His wisdom because they fear him.

I write all this in this context of perhaps the greatest period of expert worship in my lifetime. Please don’t misunderstand me: I’m not accusing anyone of making idols of experts because you have a certain understanding of the current situation. But I do think it is obvious that in general the world is engaging in some serious expert worship related to COVID-19.

Then, of course, there are many who are promoting what the experts are saying not because they are worshipping–or even believing–them, but because they are worshipping and lusting for the power of big government and the experts make a handy hammer to impose their desires on others.

One of the ways this has become obvious in recent years is in the censorship of opinions that differ with those of the experts, the elite, and those in power. The two articles below do a good job of highlighting the censorship and presenting an alternative set of facts and thoughts about the path forward on how to deal with COVID-19:

Whither Our Nanny Police State? The Case of Dr. Jonathan Geach: Is it impermissible to argue for lifting the lockdown?

Tennessee physician Jonathan Geach, M.D., describes himself as “a simple country Anesthesiologist with big ideas.” Working with a group of distinguished colleagues, he recently wrote a well-reasoned and compelling article calling for an end to the destructive COVID-19 lockdown, which has wrecked the nation’s economy and threatens the health and well-being of all Americans. The article, “Eight reasons to end the lockdown now,” was published by the Medium website on April 10, 2020. Although it received approximately 50,000 pageviews, within 24 hours of publication Medium took it down and posted this statement

Read the entire article

and

Moving the Goalposts — Four Reasons it is Safe to Open America
Jonathan Geach, M.D.

Original Goal: Flatten the curve

The curve of new infections is declining and we do not need to wait for additional testing or a surveillance apparatus to be in place to reopen America.

In response to warnings that millions of Americans could die and the carnage COVID-19 created in Italy, state and local governments instituted drastic social distancing in America. In the meantime, the epidemiological curve in the US has followed the trend seen in Europe and is well past its peak.

Read the entire article