Pandemics
Coronavirus
This is a look at how a virus can impact the lives of Christians and our answers through Jesus.
What is it?
It is thought to have began in December 2019, in the region of Wuhan, China. An apparently new virus began appearing in human beings. It was named Covid-19, a shortened form of “coronavirus disease of 2019.” This apparently new virus spread incredibly quickly between people.
It was thought that no one had an immunity to Covid-19. Although most deaths were of people who had other existing health conditions.
Scientists and medical researchers for years have differed over the exact definition of a pandemic (is it a pandemic, or an epidemic), but one thing everyone agrees on is that the word describes the widespread occurrence of disease, in excess of what might normally be expected in a geographical region.
Cholera, bubonic plague, smallpox, and influenza are some of the most brutal killers in human history. And outbreaks of these diseases across international borders, are properly defined as pandemic, especially smallpox, which throughout history, has killed between 300-500 million people in its many thousands of years existence.
How should we react as Christians.
The recent virus caused fear for life, for jobs and fear for general physical and mental health. It brought governments and people into conflict with each other. Divisions emerged between different age groups who were felt to have different levels of immunity and protection against the illness.
Christians need to turn to the bible.
Luke 8:22 to 25 Jesus Calms the Storm
22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. 24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
When fear knocks at the door choose to let Faith answer. A storm is raging at the moment but Jesus is in the boat with you . You are not alone. Don’t keep looking at he storm restrict how much news you watch. Its like watching the storm. Fix your eyes on Jesus and pray. Ask Jesus to calm the storm in our hearts and in the nation.
Christians should not fear death because they know that they have eternal life.
Matthew 6:19 to 21 Treasures in Heaven
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
It is easy to become attached to the earthly things that we have accumulated and to think they are important. The heavenly treasures are the more important. We cannot take earthly things with us and we should not get so attached to them.
Matthew 6:25 to 30 Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
Christians are called to trust in God. Our worrying about a virus will not improve or add a single day to our lives. For many it will do the opposite. At the same time we all need to take care of ourselves and to look after the life that God has given us.
Other Virus Based Pandemics
Over the last 2 thousand years there have been many virus based epidemics and pandemics that have caused fear and disruption around the world.
They include:
HIV/AIDS PANDEMIC (AT ITS PEAK, 2005-2012)
Death Toll: 36 million
Cause: HIV/AIDS
First identified in Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976, HIV/AIDS has truly proven itself as a global pandemic, killing more than 36 million people since 1981.
FLU PANDEMIC (1968)
Death Toll: 1 million
Cause: Influenza
A category 2 Flu pandemic sometimes referred to as “the Hong Kong Flu,” the 1968 flu pandemic was caused by the H3N2 strain of the Influenza A virus.
ASIAN FLU (1956-1958)
Death Toll: 2 million
Cause: Influenza
Asian Flu was a pandemic outbreak of Influenza A of the H2N2 subtype, that originated in China in 1956 and lasted until 1958.
FLU PANDEMIC (1918)
Death Toll: 20 -50 million
Cause: Influenza
Between 1918 and 1920 a disturbingly deadly outbreak of influenza tore across the globe, infecting over a third of the world’s population and ending the lives of 20 – 50 million people. Of the 500 million people infected in the 1918 pandemic, the mortality rate was estimated at 10% to 20%, with up to 25 million deaths in the first 25 weeks alone.
SIXTH CHOLERA PANDEMIC (1910-1911)
Death Toll: 800,000+
Cause: Cholera
Like its five previous incarnations, the Sixth Cholera Pandemic originated in India where it killed over 800,000, before spreading to the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia.
FLU PANDEMIC (1889-1890)
Death Toll: 1 million
Cause: Influenza
Originally the “Asiatic Flu” or “Russian Flu” as it was called, this strain was thought to be an outbreak of the Influenza A virus
THIRD CHOLERA PANDEMIC (1852–1860)
Death Toll: 1 million
Cause: Cholera
Generally considered the most deadly of the seven cholera pandemics, the third major outbreak of Cholera in the 19th century lasted from 1852 to 1860.
THE BLACK DEATH (1346-1353)
Death Toll: 75 – 200 million
Cause: Bubonic Plague
From 1346 to 1353 an outbreak of the Plague ravaged Europe, Africa, and Asia, with an estimated death toll between 75 and 200 million people. Thought to have originated in Asia, the Plague most likely jumped continents via the fleas living on the rats that so frequently lived aboard merchant ships.
PLAGUE OF JUSTINIAN (541-542)
Death Toll: 25 million
Cause: Bubonic Plague
Thought to have killed perhaps half the population of Europe, the Plague of Justinian was an outbreak of the bubonic plague that afflicted the Byzantine Empire and Mediterranean port cities, killing up to 25 million people in its year long reign of terror.
ANTONINE PLAGUE (165 AD)
Death Toll: 5 million
Cause: Unknown
Also known as the Plague of Galen, the Antonine Plague was an ancient pandemic that affected Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, and Italy and is thought to have been either Smallpox or Measles, though the true cause is still unknown.