As the COVID-19 situation begins to rapidly escalate across the United States, many states, counties, and municipalities are beginning to implement mask mandates, making it mandatory to wear a mask in public. I have seen many people on social media saying that they simply are not going to comply because masks don’t work or because this is a free country and these mandates violate their civil rights. I would like to take a moment to address this from a Christian prospective.
I would like to look at this issue in light of two passages of Scripture.
Mark 12
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
In order to prepare to apply this Scripture to the mask situation, I want to address what appear to be some common misconceptions concerning the wearing of masks. I am not a doctor or scientist and so I will not try to get deeply into the science behind the things I am about to talk about but I am going to briefly address the science. I am going to do that because I believe that the science does support that masks are effective and that has direct bearing on whether wearing them actually helps us to show Christ’s love.
Many people appear to believe that masks are intended to protect the wearer of the mask. However, masks, of the type that we are being asked to wear, are not primarily intended to protect us from the virus. They are mostly intended to protect others by keeping us from spreading the virus. Not only the CDC but also research done by multiple universities and other organizations tells us that this is a very effective method of reducing COVID-19 transmission.
There is some information making the rounds out there on social media, purportedly from someone who is OSHA certified, saying that regular masks are not effective protection when dealing with aerosols in an industrial environment and that this means that they are not effective protection against COVID-19. It may be true that regular masks are not effective protection when dealing with aerosols in an industrial environment. I have no idea, as I myself am not OSHA certified. However, that has nothing to do with the COVID-19 mask issue. On the medical side of things, the researchers have said for months that, if the virus becomes aerosolized, perhaps from something like yelling or singing, a mask will not stop it. However, the virus is usually not aerosolized. Rather, it is generally spread through the spread of tiny droplets and the research indicates that masks do impede the spread of those droplets.
Many people who do understand that the mask is intended to protect others appear to believe that others will be sufficiently protected if someone begins to wear a mask as soon as they feel sick. There is a great deal of research that tells us that people are contagious before they are symptomatic and much of the spread of the virus occurs during this pre-symptomatic period.
There appears to be some confusion concerning this. The WHO did say, on 6/8/2020, that asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 is rare. That has been spread around a lot on social media. However, the WHO retracted that statement a day later and you don’t see that mentioned much. This is how I understand it. There is a difference between asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic. People who remain asymptomatic and never have any symptoms may rarely spread the virus. They aren’t really sure about that yet. However, people who are pre-symptomatic, who do not yet show symptoms but eventually do develop symptoms, do definitely spread the virus for a day or two before they have symptoms and it is believed that at least 40% of the COVID-19 infections in the United States come from people who are pre-symptomatic.
You can certainly find some information that contradicts these assertions but, from what I can tell, the overwhelmingly vast majority of research firmly supports all of these conclusions. If this is a conspiracy to control us through the spread of misinformation, it involves not only the United States government, but also many, many private labs and universities, some of them in other countries. Why would they do that? That just doesn’t appear to me to be a realistic assumption. The vast majority of research seems to support that pre-symptomatic spread of the virus is, in fact, pretty common and that masks, in fact, do work to curtail the spread.
So, It is possible that you have the virus and don’t know it yet but are already spreading it. Granted, given the relatively small portion of the population that is currently infected, this isn’t very likely, but, as the virus spreads, it will become more and more likely. If the virus continues to spread at the current rate, the portion of the population who is infected won’t remain small for very long at all. If you do get the virus, by the time you know you have it, there is a very good chance that you will have already infected someone, especially if you have not been social distancing and wearing a mask. Wearing a mask does not guarantee that you will not infect someone, which is why social distancing is also necessary as an additional precaution, but it does significantly reduce the chances of your infecting someone else.
So, you see, you wearing a mask isn’t about you, it’s about others. Jesus told us that we are to love others as much as we love ourselves. He said that this is the second most important commandment, second only to the commandment to love Him. The masks are primarily intended to protect others, not you, but if you love others as much as you love yourself, then your motivation to wear the mask should be the same as if it did protect you. So, regardless of whether it is mandated where you live, it just makes sense to wear a mask and social distance in order to show Christ’s love.
You may read the above paragraphs and say “I really do want to show Christ’s love to others but I just don’t believe the researchers who say that this will help to slow the spread of the virus and so I don’t believe that this will help me to show Christ’s love”. As I have said, I am not a doctor or scientist. I won’t try to convince you of the science behind these claims. I do believe in the prevailing research but I don’t claim to understand the science behind all of it myself. However, if you are in an area where the government mandates mask wearing, then I have another very compelling Christian reason to wear a mask and that is, well, that the government mandates it.
Romans 13
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
We live in a time when there seems to be an extraordinary amount of contempt for government and, really, for authority in general. I am especially disturbed by the fellow Christians who currently show contempt for the governing authorities. The above Scripture makes it clear that Christians are to be subject to the authority of the government. When we show contempt for that authority, we show contempt for God’s authority. This is not a political statement and this is not a political issue, though people keep trying to turn it into a political issue. Regardless of who holds any government office, we owe them a certain amount of respect and allegiance, just because they do hold the office. The same is true for those who work for all government agencies. We should treat these people with respect and, unless what they are telling us to do directly contradicts God’s Word, we must support and obey them, if we are to truly follow Christ and live as a disciple of His.
If what government tells us to do does directly contradict God’s Word, then God’s Word wins, absolutely every time. Acts 5:29 makes that clear. However, nowhere in God’s Word does it say anything about not wearing masks or anything that could be stretched to pertain to not wearing masks. So, Romans 13:1-2 applies and we must submit.
I am not saying that we must agree with everything government does and I am not saying that we should act as though we do. Respectful presentation of our grievances and respectful debate is fine. Even pushing hard for change is fine, if we do it respectfully. However, being openly hostile to those who govern us is not fine and, when they tell us to do something and we don’t like it, as Christians, we simply don’t have the option of saying “I will not”.
There is a lot of talk out there that being forced to wear masks is a violation of our civil rights. I do not believe this is the case but, even if it is, God did not give us an out if we feel that our civil rights are being violated. Jesus had a civil right or two violated the day He was crucified and He certainly could have resisted (Matthew 26:53) but demonstrating His love for us and being obedient to the Father’s plan was more important. Absolutely everything else was secondary. As in all things, we should follow His example.
As Christians, we are to love others as much as or more than we love ourselves. As Christians, we are to obey and respect the authorities which God has set over us. So, as Christians, if asked to wear a mask, unless we have a medical condition that will absolutely not allow us to wear a mask, then we should wear a mask. It’s as simple as that.
I know that this is a very polarizing issue, one that many people will disagree with me about, and I am not trying to be argumentative concerning this. Many people perceive this as a political issue. I make it a point to stay away from politics but I do not see this as a political issue. I see it as a Christian issue. That is why I have chosen to address it.
Right now, people seem particularly prone to see everything through the lens of their political beliefs, perhaps because this is an election year. I challenge Christians to look at everything through the lens of their Christian beliefs, first and foremost. Sometimes our Christian beliefs influence our political beliefs and that is as it should be. However, all too often, the opposite happens. Our political beliefs get in the way of us living out our Christian beliefs. In the end, it won’t matter if you were a Republican, a Democrat, a conservative, a liberal, or any other kind of political label. Jesus won’t care if you served or impeded any particular political agenda. He will care only if you served Him or if you impeded His work. We need to remember that and approach every decision from that prospective. If we can concern ourselves with pleasing Him, first and foremost, and push the politics to the background, we will serve Him much more effectively and we will also have much greater peace in our own lives. Don’t blindly support a particular political candidate or party or ideology. Support Jesus, the Christ, first and foremost. Let whatever else you do or don’t support flow from that and, most importantly, let His love flow through you. If we all do that, everything else will fall into place.
