Cynthia L. Eppley, MA
How Should We Then Live?
A Pandemic
We are in the midst of a Pandemic: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
It is not the first that the world has endured.
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) was first reported in 2012.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus caused a severe outbreak in several regions of the world in 2003.
The 1918 influenza pandemic (H1N1)was the most severe pandemic in recent history.
COVID -19 is an infectious disease caused by a new virus. Its scope is broad and international in nature.
This invisible threat is very real, and it is very frightening.
Many of us are scared; even those with faith. Questions remain—
What if I am exposed to the virus? How will this affect my family? Where is Christ in all of this?
Theologian Francis A. Schaeffer asked: How Should We Then Live?
How Should We Then Live?
This is the question before us. Our theology is strong, and we trust in Christ as our Savior and Lord. Our functional theology then comes into question. I confess Jesus as my Savior and my Lord, and yet I may function daily on a different belief system.
Our Only Comfort
The Heidelberg Catechism gives us a foundational answer:
Q. 1.What is your only comfort, in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own, but belong—
body and soul,
in life and in death— to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven;
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.
—The Heidelberg Catechism
Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Truth
This rings true to our hearts and spirits. This truth comforts us in life and in death.
How do faith and a pandemic intersect to give us a robust life?
As the Pandemic spreads, how do we understand practical questions as well as spiritual ones?
The series of articles that follow will examine these questions.
Counseling from a Christian View 