Misusing the Bible against Vaccination | Alan Dershowitz

While I disagree with Dersowitz's position on same-sex sexual relations, he makes some good points re the anti-vaxxer movement.

These are God's words, as recorded in Leviticus, Chapters 13 and 14. "The priest shall isolate" the contagious person for seven days and then an additional seven days if the contagion persists. "And he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp." Nor was this quarantine voluntary. The priest could compel it.

Anti-vaxxers are free to cite science, philosophy, law— but do not miscite the Bible or God. It is irreligious and insults the intelligence of those who have actually studied the Bible by assuming, as many do, that the Bible opposes everything they oppose.

Invoking the Bible and God is intended not as a stimulus to further debate, but rather as an argument- stopper: God is against it; no further discussion, research or argument is necessary; the debate is over.

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Christianity, Science and Scientism

Conspiracy Theorists are mad scientists

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, a number of people have sent me messages promoting conspiracy theories.  

Bill Gates, Jews, Tasuku Honjo...  

All fact checked by reputable news agencies and discredited.  Yet some tenaciously cling to them. 

The rise of fake news hasn't helped.

The truth is what’s at stake.

Science is the best method by which we can arrive at the truth.

Science and Scientism are not the same.  

Science is just a method of discovering information and evaluating whether it is truthful.  

Scientism is the religion that believes science can answer every question even though it can’t.

I’ve been reading John Lennox lately and it struck me that just because there is a commitment to science, it doesn’t mean the truth has been attained.

Everything is a hypothesis and the straw man hypothesis we classify as “fact,” is just the best there is until it’s credibly disproven.

But we should be cautious about when to classify a hypothesis as fact.

Some hypotheses can be re-classified as fact because it’s well evidenced, over a long period of time, and is therefore considered reliable.

But others are not and should remain mere hypotheses.

Even then, something credibly classified as fact, should be open to re-evaluation if new credible evidence comes to light.

Most conspiracy theories are just hypotheses with little supporting evidence. 

Sometimes they are just supported by other hypotheses masquerading as facts but are actually hypotheses unproven.

Conspiracy theorists jump to conclusions too quickly.

And in so doing, they cause great harm, to others as well as themselves.

The recent and tragic death of the flat earth “researcher” in his home-made rocket is a salient example.

Christians should be committed to the truth, and so 

if the scientific method is the best way we can investigate a matter to find the truth,

then we need to be good scientists, curious, open-minded, detached, cautious, methodical and not quick to jump to conclusions, guarding against confirmation bias, confident to call it either way: 

i.e. if there is insufficient evidence then we say its unproven; 

if there is sufficient evidence then we say its either proven or disproved.

According to John 14:6, when we seek the truth, we seek Jesus, and through Him, God.

A commitment to truth, is a commitment to God.

Pandemic Economics

I like everyone else, have been pondering when it is the right time to ease off on business closures so that we can go back to earning a living.

The economic consequences have been harsh, some comparing the damage to the economy to the 1929 Great Depression.

The economic wisdom of the NZ Government has therefore come under fierce scrutiny.

Economics and the Bible are not often said in the same breath. 

But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have anything to say about it. In fact, it has a lot to say about it.

The economics of the kingdom of God are different from how the utilitarian world would normally see economics.

For example, Gareth Morgan, a prominent NZ economist appealed to Pharmac's use of around NZD 10,000 per life as a standard by which we should decide public health policies.

Using this standard, the billions spent to prevent COVID-19 from overloading health systems and causing mortality rates such as that seen in Italy, Spain and the US, makes no sense.  

The Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:1-7) gives an example of how God sees economics.  The shepherd leaves his flock in order to find the single lost sheep.  

To God, every life is precious even if it means allowing the many to be vulnerable for a time while the few are saved.

COVID-19 means we are now entering a phase in our economy where there are going to be many unemployed and therefore needy.  

The bible says, true religion is the care for the widow and the orphan.  In other words the poor and needy.

You could say that this means that whatever you think you’re doing for God, if it doesn’t ultimately lead you to helping the poor and needy then you’re fooling yourself.

Within Judaic thought, charity is given high priority.  Equally important is not just charity but how this charity is given.  

Amongst the many ways one can give charity, the highest form is the kind that enables the recipient to re-establish their financial independence and dignity (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot matanot aniyim ("Laws about Giving to Poor People"), Chapter 10:7–14).

So if you can hire someone to do your gardening then please do, if your oven needs cleaning then hire someone to do it, if you can, if you can give someone a job even for a short period, then do it.  If you can invest in someone and get them started in a business, then invest.

Therefore, don't just give, but hire.  Don't just give, but invest.  Don't just give, but restore.