Why would a loving God allow the coronavirus?
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The COVID-19 coronavirus has many wondering not only what's in store for us until a vaccine is available, but why would God allow the COVID-19 disease caused by the corona virus to spread? Dr. Sean McDowell advises Christians not to be scared of the question and care for people in need as Christians have during plagues throughout history. Then he makes four key points related to how to think about this issue from a Christian perspective:
We live in an incredibly broken world, and nothing in this world hasn't in some way been impacted by sin
God allows suffering to draw our focus back to what is eternal.
Jesus has suffered, and therefore can honestly say "I know what you're going through"
Jesus has conquered the world
https://seanmcdowell.org/blog/why-does-god-allow-the-coronavirus-4-christian-insights He ends his blog post with a link to a discussion on the topic.
Watch for 8 minutes:
I appreciate that Dr. Vince Vitale of RZIM answers the question "If God, Why Coronoa Virus," by not trying to give a clear sound bite or philosophical answer. He instead provides different questions to think through, which we as Christians can use like mental shovels to dig into this question.
He wonders if it makes sense to brand a virus evil if it's technically natural, just because it hurts so many people? He says there are many viruses that we'd consider "good," because they keep bacteria at bay. He also says people often wonder why if God is truly good, he wouldn't have just put us in a much better place where things like the coronavirus do not exist. But we often don't consider that perhaps we wouldn't be "us" in that world. There's a reason we're in this place and in this situation, even if it isn't always clear to us. He uses the analogy of holding down his one-year-old son for a medical procedure, despite him screaming in pain, not understanding why his father who loves him would allow it. This video asks good questions worth pondering.
Vitale’s colleague Dr. Amy Orr-Ewing also provides some excellent insight on how a loving God can exist in the midst of this virus and really any natural disaster. She provides some important context. Orr-Ewing says that God originally made everything good, and 99 percent of viruses in our world help the world function. So the 1 percent of harmful viruses is linked in some way with selfish acts that harmed the world and ultimately led to what we view as a natural disaster.
But then she goes on to answer the natural follow up question. Why doesn't God just apply a fix to this one virus? She answers her question by saying if God did it in one situation, He'd constantly be doing that, which would ultimately mean the world that we live in is no longer one in which we have free will.
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Here a Christian microbiologist points out that viruses probably were part of creation, because they keep bacteria in check. In addition to explaining some of the science behind viruses, Anjeanette “AJ” Roberts, a microbiologist and scholar at Reasons to Believe, in this 2018 article talks about viewing it in the same way as viewing Job: admitting that we don't fully understand why God would allow bad things to happen to people, yet at the same time, glorifying God by saying we can trust God in the midst of this. As Christians, these kinds of events also give us an opportunity to love our neighbors in ways that wouldn't typically be available.
Go deeper?
Meditate and memorize some of these 20 verses on coping with fear as Christians in uncertain times.
https://scripturememory.com/verselocker/collections/info?id=99