Who's to Blame for Coronavirus?

Every time there's some kind of calamity we have people offering their opinions about why this is happening to us. In recent weeks I’ve seen a few versions of the idea that this virus outbreak is God’s way of punishing or correcting our love of money, sports, busyness, etc. Such as:

In three short months, just like He did with the plagues of Egypt, God has taken away everything we worship. God said, "you want to worship athletes, I will shut down the stadiums. You want to worship musicians, I will shut down Civic Centers. You want to worship actors, I will shut down theaters. You want to worship money, I will shut down the economy and collapse the stock market. You don't want to go to church and worship Me, I will make it where you can't go to church."

It’s a compelling idea — we went from idolizing athletes to having all sports canceled in just a couple of weeks. It sounds very Old Testament.

Which is the problem. We’re not in the Old Testament. Praise Jesus, we do not live under the old covenant!

Under the old covenant, there were very clear rewards for obedience and penalties for disobedience. If an invading army or a plague swept through ancient Israel, it was accompanied by some prophet saying, “God warned ya!” The Pentateuch spells out exactly what the Israelites should expect if they disobey God, and the script plays out out exactly throughout the rest of the OT.

But that’s not our world. Neither the United States, China, Italy, nor any other modern nation have a covenant like that with God. All of that died with Christ on the cross.

Jesus taught that bad things are not necessarily tied to what we’ve done (cf, Luke 13:1-5, John 9:1-3). In fact, bad things happened to very faithful people. Remember Paul's recounting of his hardships?

I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. (2 Cor 11:23-27)

God is in control of everything, so when bad things happen, it’s natural to want to know why he allowed this. Most of the time, he doesn’t tell us. We should not feel free to guess. Unless you have a literal special revelation from God, don’t tell people you know why the bad thing happened. You don’t.

People around us do not need to hear that God is taking away their livelihood and possibly life because Americans like sports too much. What people need is to hear the Christians around them talking about the hope they have in Christ Jesus and to see them loving sacrificially.