{"id":680,"date":"2020-03-03T17:13:59","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T16:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/?p=680"},"modified":"2020-03-03T17:13:59","modified_gmt":"2020-03-03T16:13:59","slug":"4-ways-christians-can-make-sense-of-coronavirus-in-a-fallen-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/?p=680","title":{"rendered":"4 ways Christians can make sense of coronavirus in a fallen world"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Anugrah Kumar <\/a><\/p>\n

Theologian John Piper has offered Christians four ways they can biblically understand the coronavirus, which has infected about 87,000 so far and killed more than 3,000 people.<\/p>\n

The family of viruses\u00a0known as coronaviruses infects mostly bats, pigs and small mammals, but they mutate easily and can jump from animals to humans, and from one human to another, as\u00a0The Wall Street Journal<\/a>\u00a0explained recently, adding that the mortality rate has ranged between 2 percent and about 3.4 percent as of now.<\/p>\n

More than 50 countries have reported cases of coronavirus and the World Health Organization has upgraded the global risk of the outbreak to \u201cvery high.\u201d Amid the outbreak,\u00a0Piper said in his\u00a0\u201cAsk Pastor John\u201d\u00a0podcast<\/a>\u00a0that the coronavirus, which originated in China last year, is not stronger than Jesus.<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus has all knowledge and all authority over the natural and supernatural forces of this world. He knows exactly where the virus started, and where it\u2019s going next. He has complete power to restrain it or not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He shared four biblical realities that could be used as building blocks in developing an understanding and making sense of it.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Sin subjected the world to futility<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Quoting Romans 8:20\u201323, Piper pointed out that when sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, \u201cGod ordained that the created order, including our physical bodies, as persons created in His image, would experience corruption and futility, and that all living things would die.\u201d<\/p>\n

    However, Christians, who trust Christ, do not experience this corruption as condemnation, as their \u201cpain for us is purifying, not punitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe die of disease like all men, not necessarily because of any particular sin \u2026 We die of disease like all people because of the fall,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Sometimes sickness is God\u2019s mercy<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Some Christians can die of illnesses \u201cso that we may not be condemned along with the world,\u201d Piper said.<\/p>\n

      The pastor said his view is based on 1 Corinthians 11:29\u201332, which deals with misusing the Lord\u2019s Supper. \u201cBut the principle is broader,\u201d he underlined.<\/p>\n

      \u201cThe Lord Jesus takes the life of His loved ones through weakness and illness \u2014 the very same words, by the way, used to describe the weaknesses and illnesses that Jesus heals in His earthly life (Matthew 4:23;\u00a08:17;\u00a014:14) \u2014 and brings them to Heaven. He brings them to Heaven because of the trajectory of their sin that he was cutting off and saving them from \u2014 not to punish them, but to save them,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Sickness could come as judgment<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        \u201cGod sometimes uses disease to bring particular judgments upon those who reject him and give themselves over to sin,\u201d Piper said.<\/p>\n

        Referring to Acts 12, the pastor cited the example of King Herod who exalted himself in being called a god. \u201cImmediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.\u201d<\/p>\n

        He said God can and does use illnesses to bring judgment sometimes upon those who reject Him and His way.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. God\u2019s thunderclap<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Quoting\u00a0Luke 13:1\u20135, Piper said all natural disasters are a \u201cthunderclap of divine mercy in the midst of judgment, calling all people everywhere to repent and realign their lives, by grace, with the infinite worth of the glory of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

          He concluded that \u201cthat\u2019s the message of Jesus to the world at this moment in history, under the coronavirus \u2014 a message to every single human being, \u2026 saying, \u201cRepent.\u201d<\/p>\n

          This article was culled from The Christian Post<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          By\u00a0Anugrah Kumar Theologian John Piper has offered Christians four ways they can biblically understand the coronavirus, which has infected about 87,000 so far and killed more than 3,000 people. The family of viruses\u00a0known as coronaviruses infects mostly bats, pigs and small mammals, but they mutate easily and can jump from animals to humans, and from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"0","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":681,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions\/681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}