fearfully and wonderfully made

 

At this point in time most Americans are being conditioned, via public institutions and policies, into believing that their health rests on a very weak, and even, feeble, immune system that, without proper support by pharmalogical and governmental interventions, will not have the capacity to endure. And many people are buying into this, based on what they believe to be medical data and a general sense that those in healthcare would only advise to what is best for everyone.

Yet, those with eyes open are seeing something very different, for it doesn't take any medical degree, training in investigative journalism, or even academic research skills to see that the data is being manipulated — and/or being selectively shared with the general public. Thousands of doctors and nurses are being silenced for raising their concerns, and we now live in an age where deplatforming is an increasing response to those with whom we disagree. No, it doesn't take much observing to realize something very wrong is happening in the halls of medicine.

And yet this also has had a certain impact on the faith of the American people. The current public pulse ranges from hysteria to nonchalance, with most people landing somewhere in the middle. But the notion that our bodies must be saved by an experimental therapeutic drug (that must masquerade as a tested-and-approved vaccine, which is simply not true), runs counter to who we are as human beings. While we are worrying about surviving this virus, we are in much more danger of losing our sense of human dignity and worth in the midst of this storm.

Many have already written on the dehumanization that results from not being able to see one another's faces, along with the development of children being impact in numerous ways. And there are certainly other issues that could be explored in this overly-extended pandemic. The majority of these perspectives will focus on Nature: what is and is not "the way things are, or should be." And we often use phrases like human nature to evaluate our own situation. But, as theologian Alister McGrath has written, "'Nature' easily slips from a description of what is observed to a prescription of what ought to be the case."*

Anyone who examines what sort of medical and public policy has been adjusted, rewritten, and then pushed on the the general population will see that McGrath's description of Nature is what has been occurring underneath the reported 'science.' The study of Nature has shifted from observation to prescription and humanity has, once again, placed itself upon the throne of Nature, thinking that our prescriptions have control over Nature itself.

Thus we arrive, not for the first time, to the need to speak not of Nature but of Creation. The difference is vital, not only to scientific inquiry but to our identity as humanity. This is a Christian statement, because Christians see Nature as Creation. And behind Creation Christians see a Creator. 

"The Christian doctrine of creation possesses more explanatory potential than is often appreciated."**

Within this is the human experience, which occurs entirely within the physical human body. And our bodies have been created by the Creator who has brought forth all Creation. Thus, there is a magnificent design that has been produced by an infinite intelligence and wisdom. One can hardly examine the human body, with all its complexity, and not marvel with delight. The psalmist gives poetic expression to this in describing himself as being "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139).

As such, we have been created with the capacity to exist in this world — even when this world can be quite dangerous. No, the individual cannot survive anything and everything, for we are a) finite creatures and b) our present earthly experience is one that must navigate bodies that are unable to fully live up to the Creator's intended design. As a result, not all of our bodies are working as they were intended, sometimes because of our choices and sometimes due to no fault of our own. This means that on this side of eternity there are those who are weaker than others, in which case it is always duty for the stronger to watch over and care for the weaker in whatever ways are appropriate.

But as a whole we are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made, with bodies that are adaptable and sustainable within the natural state of Creation. We were Created to exist on Earth at this particular time in history, and we have been internally equipped to evolve against whatever threats we may face. Some forces are more powerful against us than others but, on the whole, this remains true even now. The loud and powerful voices that are pushing the present narrative often shout "Science!" as justification for their lockdowns, masking, distancing, and injecting. But that cry is another way to claim "Nature" and thus claim mastery over it.

We are not masters over Creation. At best we are representative caretakers of Creation, which is the charge given by the Creator. But this does not imply that we have right to take the place of the one Master over Creation, and make prescriptions over what Creation ought to be. (This is why it is so vital to move from the assertion of Creation to that of Nature, so that the objective moral center might be replaced by subjective human experience.)

The fear that is now widespread throughout our nation (and also the world) highlights the challenge of faith. It is fear that our bodies are not equipped to handle this coronavirus, and that our immune systems are helpless without pharmaceutical (and governmental) intervention. It is a fear driven by those who seek to control, rather than to serve, and who hide behind a manmade wall of Science — a Science that has placed itself as Master over Nature, and displacing the Creator in the hearts of many. It is a Science that demands it not be questioned, rather than a Creator that beckons us to come and reason together.

Among the so-called faith-based healthcare systems in our country this same mentality of Nature is driving the decisions that are being made, with little appreciation of how we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. Billions of dollars are being shifted from here to there, between the government and hospital and pharmaceutical corporation, all to push drug and jab and policy. Yet, virtually nothing is being said to the American people about how our created bodies can be cared for so that our immune systems can operate in the very ways they were intended to — what we used to refer to as health.

How have we come to the place where healthcare is not primarily focused on our individual health?

We are fearfully and wonderfully made to live, not to be locked up or locked down. We are created to be free, and to live in this world, taking on all the risks of this life, for the pleasure of the One who made us. It is in him that we live and move and have our being, and find our purpose and fulfillment.

*Alister E. McGrath, A Scientific Theology: Volume One: Nature (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001), 87.

** Ibid., 209.