Posted by:
Nightingale
(
)
Date: April 03, 2020 11:52PM
Solid Rock Church in Cincinnati is ignoring social distancing guidelines (now mandatory in many of the states in America as well as in Canada and many other countries). The church is planning on continuing to hold mass gatherings. A reporter recently spoke to several people driving into the church parking lot, asking them why they were ignoring expert medical advice that people avoid congregating in large groups. "Because I'm covered in Jesus-es blood" one woman responded, with a big smile. "But what if you contract the virus and/or are asymptomatic and you go back into town and infect someone else?" the reporter asked. "What if they infect ME?" was her reply (which doesn't answer his question and makes no sense).
He asked another woman driving in and got the same answer "Jesus-es blood, baby" she shot back, and quoted a scripture about the blood of Jesus. "Look it up!" she called out merrily. The reporter asked her the same question about any concern she may have that she could contract the virus and then pass it on to someone else. "They could give it to me!" she said. (Again, this makes NO sense. What possible justification is that to take a chance on infecting another human?).
The piece then showed the reporter speaking to a Jesuit priest, Father Martin and asked him what he thought of this church and its followers. The priest replied that it is "a false distinction between faith and science". He said "They are selfish - they will infect others if they are sick". He said it is a strange idea of God - that only "sinners" will get sick. It is "an immoral action" he went on - "unnecessarily dangerous" and "not pro-life". The latter comment is one I hadn't thought of but it's a very good point. If you say you care about preserving life why are you taking a chance with not only your own but that of anyone else you may come into contact with and may inadvertently infect, including strangers and loved ones?
Father Martin said "There are many creative ways to love and serve one another" - that don't include being bone-headed enough to continue to mass gather as if your religious belief renders you immune to a killer virus, he didn't say.
From Journal-News, Butler County:
...
“Any pastor who brings people together in close proximity to each other, a large group of people, is making a huge mistake,” [Ohio Gov] DeWine said. “It is not a Christian thing to do. It is not in the Judeo-Christian tradition to hurt people.”
"He noted that many other faiths and congregations have cancelled their in person services and have gone to remote or virtual services during the pandemic."
(Still from Journal-News): A church statement read, in part:
“If there has ever been a time in the history of our world when we all need God’s help, it is now. For that reason, we believe that the doors of Solid Rock Church should remain open. It is in these times of crisis that the church should play a critical role as a place of refuge … A place where anyone can come to pray, to worship, and to find healing and hope.”
What about not needing refuge or healing if you don't expose yourself to the exceptionally virulent and contagious virus in the first place?
Re "the blood of Jesus" - from one religious web site:
"Compared to the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the most valuable things of this earth (like silver and gold) are reduced to meaningless, perishable things. That is because the blood of Jesus gives Christians salvation of their souls, forgiveness from sins, access to God, victory over the enemy, and the power to live with a clear conscience, something that the gold and silver items in the Old Testament temple could never do. (Kevin Halloran, Minister)
A popular fundamentalist Christian hymn states:
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! Precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus…
The phrase "blood of Jesus" appears often throughout the Bible. Here is just one verse of the many similar ones that some Christian denominations take and morph meanings:
Ephesians 1:7 says that, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
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Perhaps because I wasn't raised to be intensely religious or maybe from being a squeamish nurse, I don't find a huge emphasis on blood to be spiritual or inspiring in the least. The way the fundamentalist believers referred to above interpret the concept of being "covered" or "washed" in his blood, almost literally in some cases, and the fact that they seem to glory in the idea appalls me. It's so very distasteful. All that warm stickiness. And the splashing. It's gruesome. And undesirable. And potentially germy.
If even one worshipper from this church is asymptomatic at the moment they enter that building but has contracted the virus and is shedding it and contaminating others, who then go out into the community and also pass it on, it will be gross negligence, at best, on the part of the pastor, and exceptional ignorance on the part of the congregant. And a potential tragedy for the innocent victim of a careless contaminator.
The reporter asked a man passing in a truck the same question he had asked the women, with much the same response. The man insisted nobody at the church was sick or would get sick. "How do you know?" asked the reporter. "Because I'm the pastor" was the unexpected answer. "And if you publish any fake news about me, you'll be hearing from me" he added, with a big fat phony smile.
It is to cry. And wail. And gnash one's teeth. The sheer stupidity is astounding. Of the pastor. Of his flock. Of anybody in that town in power who could Make It Stop.
Does not public health trump stupid?
It takes a lot for me to be angry and baffled enough to refer to someone as stupid. But in this case, it's no contest. They are STUPID with a capital S. I guarantee one night with a fever of 104 and the chills and the rigors and the chest constriction and the fear will wipe that stupid smile off their stupid gobs.
Thus says Nightingale.
On the somewhat more rational side of the religious spectrum. (At least, in my own mind!)
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2020 11:56PM by Nightingale.