Churchgoers Congregate During Coronavirus Pandemic - Video

Something worth talking about. In the United States the Constitution is a revered document, regarded with almost Biblical type authority by many. The US Constitution guarantees the right to assemble and to practice one's religion.

What does this woman mean when she says: "I'm covered in Jesus' blood". Does she think that Jesus' sacrifice on The Cross will protect her from the coronavirus? Perhaps, but I don't think so. For many people living today, this life is all there is.....when this life ends, that's it....its over. For Christians there's another life yet to come, and that is what Jesus' blood sacrifice was for....not to save us in this life, but to grant us pardon so that we can enter into the next one. We're all going to die, everyone on the Earth is suffering from a fatal disease called life, and the mortality rate is 100%.

I can't prove that there's a life after this one, and I cannot likewise prove that by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour that one will gain admittance to the next life....I can't prove it, but I believe it, and I can explain why but it would take too long.

Amazon has fulfillment warehouses still open, employees are complaining that the nature of their jobs makes social distancing impossible, and there's not enough PPE to protect workers. Grocery store and pharmacy workers are still gathering to do their jobs....there are armies of people out there working, just think of retirement homes with all the Nurses, Doctors, Food Service, Cleaners, Technicians....and I promise you not everyone is being 100% diligent in social distancing and other measures. They're out on transit, at the grocery stores, buying gas.....

Why focus on a church? Social distancing existed back in Biblical times with lepers...they were untouchable, and Jesus touched them.

While I disagree with some of the protocols for this pandemic, this is just foolish. We are called to obey the laws of the land unless it directly causes us to be an affront to God Himself. Way to set an example to the non-believers guys!

While I understand your sentiment, and speaking (digitally) as one who is obeying all the directives...which I think are pretty much the same in Canada as in the U.S......I am also trying to walk in the shoes of those who are ignoring these directives to attend worship.

Yes, the Bible tells us to submit to authority. But Jesus Himself defied the leaders of the temple by healing on the sabbath, and allowing His disciples to eat without admonishing them for not washing their hands first. As mentioned in the OP, He touched the untouchable. Christians have defied authority throughout the Christain era....and I don't think its cut and dried when its warranted and when its not.

Obviously I can't look into the heart of every person attending a worship service at this time....but I like these people's rationale for breaking the rules better than the people all over the news who are having backyard parties and inviting people into their homes for drinks in the basement. My own church is closed and is streaming Sunday worship. All the churches in my small Ontario town are closed....CRC, United, Roman Catholic, Anglican (Episcopalin sp? for Americans) and Pentecostal. I don't attend the Pentecostal church but I've been there three times, I play tennis with the pastor and his wife....they were the last church to close. Today I told them on line that if they're open before my church opens, that I'll be there....

During Roman times emperor Julian (known as the apsotate) was impressed that Christians buried the dead during an epidemic....looking after not just their own but Romans as well.

https://biblemesh.com/blog/the-compassion-of-early-christians/

Here's another interesting story I found:

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-early-church-teach-coronavirus/

God’s word is our highest authority, and while Jesus did what you say he did, it wasn’t against Torah but against the Talmud. This is the reason He said the Pharisees are vipers. They held people to a standard they couldn’t keep themselves. We should obey the countries laws until they oppose what God is telling us.

Our church had our Passover service over whatsapp last night, no problem

I understand where you are coming from, but Jesus told the Samaritan women this with regards to worship and locations:

Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
John 4:21-24

Worship is not just about congregating with others. God is fully aware of what’s going on and I don’t think He approves of people who act definitely in His name when there is no need to do so.

Maybe it is time to reflect / search the meaning of 'Church' again.
- Beyond 'nicely packaged services and programs..'
- Most people are comfortable / content with.. nowadays.

Freedom to worship is a blessing. The Constitutional Republic has protected these God given rights by we the people who vote for those who agree and fight to secure those rights.

But many churchgoers vote for parties that want to destroy such rights. I just hope people are getting a wake up call that what we had before was a blessing and could easily be taken away if we didn't protect it. Which means Christians getting involved politically, voting wisely, and actually carrying out the great commission within our country who desperately needs the same missionaries we send abroad.

To many introverts such as myself, social distancing sounds like a welcome reprieve from the extroverts we often find ourselves surrounded by. But, that’s not the point of this post. With the seemingly rampant spread of Covid-19 / coronavirus, governments and infectious disease experts are recommending social distancing as a necessary way to slow the spread of the virus. Interestingly, social distancing in order to stop the proliferation of a disease is explicitly mentioned in the Bible.

Leviticus chapter 13 addresses leprosy, an infectious skin disease. If a person was diagnosed with leprosy after being examined by a priest, he/she was required to separate from everyone else, living outside the camp (Leviticus 13:45-46). Even worse, if the leper had to be around other people, he/she had to shout out “Unclean, unclean” in order to warn everyone. Beyond what Leviticus 13 required, Israelite culture imposed even stronger “social distancing.” People with leprosy were despised and shunned. It was assumed that the only way a person would be infected by such a horrible disease was if he/she was being cursed by God.

So, the idea of quarantining sick people is not foreign to the Bible. It is a proven method to slow, or even stop, the spread of an infectious disease. It is strange to think, though, that approximately 3400 years after Leviticus 13 was written, humanity’s answer to the spread of a pandemic disease has not changed much.

Unlikely leprosy, which usually produces indisputable evidence of an infection, the most dangerous aspect of Covid-19 is that a person can be infected, and infectious, and yet have no symptoms. That is why the coronavirus is so dangerous. People who feel completely fine and have no symptoms could be unknowingly spreading the disease to the people around them.

That’s the only major fear I have about the pandemic. In my age range, I am far more likely to be entirely asymptomatic than I am to experience a significant sickness. My chances of dying from the disease are extremely slim. But, in my family, my church, and my community, there are a lot of people in the danger zone. The idea that I could unknowingly infect them, possibly resulting in their death, is alarming. As a result, I am doing my best to follow the recommendations of the experts. Making sacrifices on the behalf of others seems like a very Christian thing to do.

Thankfully, having to walk around shouting “Unclean, unclean!” would actually be counterproductive to stopping the spread of Covid-19. However, if social distancing for days, weeks, or even, gasp, months could save people’s lives, so be it. I’m just thankful that a quarantine would be in a temperature-controlled, comfortable home with ample food and entertainment options instead of a leper colony. If only I could find some toilet paper… from: gotquestions.blog

I just want to know what the heck this woman is wearing. It looks like she's wearing a mini skirt on top of sweatpants

I'm enjoying our conversation, because even though we're disagreeing somewhat the tone is not just civil, I'd even describe it as warm...as is befitting a discussion between two individuals who proclaim Jesus as Lord.

You are right, that one can worship anywhere....something of which I'm reminded often when driving and listening to Christian music in my car. With that being said there is something special about communal worship....I've gone to many churches, and my current church family is amazing....the best I've ever experienced. With that being said I still on occasion worship in other churches.

As mentioned, I'm complying with all the directives as best I'm able. In Ontario the provincial (like state) police have advised that all unneccsary driving should be stopped....but we're rural and I did take my wife and 6 year old out for a spin just to relieve some boredom.

Keep well brother.

I am going to take a degree of exception to your post, specifically the sentence quoted above, and in particular the use of the word "rampant" which you qualify (thankfully) with the word 'seemingly'.

Listening to the news, the word rampant is almost mild. I'm hearing words associated with Covid-19 like: Tears Through, Devastation, Crisis.....often with eerie and ominous music in the background. The way its being described one would think the death being reported is unprecedented. But is it. If I described to you the biggest building in my town and described it with words like: huge, gigantic, monumental, collassal....your expectation would depend on what you have to reference it against. To someone who's never seen anything bigger than a 2 storey building a 20 storey complex would seem immense and even impressive. But compared to the Sears Tower or other big sky scrapers....you'd yawn.

Seasonal flu is a virus that kills people every year, year after year...we have decades of data. Nobody pays close attention to flu statistics though because, I guess they're boring. They're never reported in the same fashion we're seeing now with Covid-19.

Yet even though we have both yearly vaccines and so called 'herd immunity' the simple seasonal influenza can and does kill upwards of 600,000 people worldwide during a harsh flu season. In the United States the CDC says the common flu can claim 63,000 lives, including many young children. In Italy the International Journal of Infectious Diseases studied the flu season starting in Oct of 2016 when 24,980 lives were taken due to influenza viruses circulating.

So is the novel Coronavirus truly "ravaging" the human population? At this stage I don't think so....could there be a second wave? There might be, there might not be....we don't know yet, there are still too many unanswered questions. If you're really looking for a disease that ravages the human population, rampaging ever year....try cancer, thankfully Covid-19 doesn't look like it will get anywhere near those levels.

My attitude is to dig and see if what's being reported...."this is horrible" is really true. So far, I don't think it is....but I have to allow the possibility that it could become horrible.

Christians disagree, but what sets us part is the love we show for one another.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
John 13:34-35

I think it’s just a long shirt.

Do what my church is doing. My pastor is doing live digital sermons, with his daughter providing English translation, transmitted through Social Media, mostly on Facebook. My mom and step father will watch his hour long sermons on their phones every Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Today he gave a special Easter sermon and those watching from home took part in holy communion. So to those complaining "they are limiting our ways of worshiping", um no they aren't, it's 2020 there are many ways to worship if you can't step into a church. My pastor took a tough situation and is making it work, many other Christian churches can do the same. My uncle who is a pastor is doing the same thing.

well I dunno about playing tennis with the pastor (lucky for some) maybe if you are xtrememly well off golf is a better option.

aside from that...I guess americans dont quite understand while they have a constitution, a national emergency has been declared which is rather like a war and that does impose restrictions.whether they like it or not. I mean put yourselves in your leaders shoes for a moment and sctually think if you were running the country just how would YOU contain the virus which is already IN your country.