A Pepper Grinder Post

Virus of Judgment?

An article I recently came across in The Atlantic got my attention. The author, Jonathan Merritt, starts out with the provocative statement that, "If the coronavirus is a test of our collective character, some American Christians are flat-out flunking." The first example he gives of this failure is none other than John Piper. Piper has always struck me as a careful and orthodox Bible teacher, so I was curious to know what horrible thing he had done. According to the article, when asked about what he would say to pastors who claim that the pandemic is God's judgment on sinful cities and arrogant nations, Piper said, "God sometimes uses disease to bring particular judgments upon those who reject him and give themselves over to sin."*

I'm baffled. This statement is what earns Piper an F on Merritt's report card? I could see it if Piper had implied that everyone who died from the virus got what was coming to him and was going straight to hell. Or if he had said that anyone who tried to stop the spread of the virus or who helped people suffering from it was going against God's purposes. But Piper didn't even say that the coronavirus was God's judgment, just that sometimes God uses disease as a means of judgment.

Okay. Time for a little Bible fact-checking. Is it true that God sometimes uses epidemics as a tool of judgment?

Remember when David decided to count the fighting men in Israel? Joab, the head of Israel's army, didn't like the idea and warned that this would bring guilt on the nation, but David insisted, and the counting was done. We are told, "This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel." (1 Chronicles 21:7, NIV)

angel with swordThis seems to me like one of those mysterious things in the Bible, where we aren't given all the details. When Moses was leading the Israelites toward the Promised Land, he was commanded by God to count the fighting men, yet when David decided to do the same thing, it was sinful. My best guess is that when David did it, he wanted to glory and take confidence in the strength of his army, rather than trust in the Lord, but that is just my opinion. Whatever the case, God sent the prophet Gad to David with a choice of punishments. He could have three years of famine, three months of military defeat, or three days of a plague. David chose the plague, because he saw this as being the option most directly controlled by God and he had confidence that God was merciful.

The plague came and we read that 70,000 men of Israel died. That's less than the current Covid-19 death toll in the U.S., but I'm sure it's way higher in terms of percentage of population. David was given a vision in which he saw the angel causing the plague with a drawn sword extending over Jerusalem, indicating that the epidemic was about to decimate the city. David pleaded that the plague would fall on him and his family rather than the common people, since he was the one who had sinned. At this point, God relented and the plague was stopped.

David didn't get everyone to shelter at home and wear masks in public to try to flatten the curve. He turned to God, because he knew that the plague was a judgment sent by him.

"Ahh," we say. "That was because the Israelites were scientifically ignorant and didn't know the true causes of diseases like Covid-19." That is one interpretation. Another interpretation is that, while we know many things about the physical causes of diseases, we know less than David did about spiritual causes. I am not saying that we have not made a great deal of progress in understanding the physical world. What I am saying is that if we assume there are no causes beyond physical causes, we are missing the most important dimension of existence, and we have ceased to think biblically.

It is clear that what Piper says passes biblical fact-checking. If God used a plague as judgment on a whole people for one man's sinfulness and arrogance, doesn't it make sense that he could use a global pandemic to bring judgment upon "those who reject him and give themselves over to sin?" And I'll point out again that Piper doesn't claim that Covid-19 is God's punishment, but only suggests that it could be.**

So, what Piper has said makes sense biblically. What was the horrible thing he did in making this statement? Here, in my opinion, are the "sins" that Piper committed.

  1. He failed to uphold the creed of the modern world that science is king and that the physical reality is the only reality. For now, at least, Christians are allowed to have their funny beliefs, but they must never question or add to the explanations of science. So, to imply that God might have brought Covid-19 on the world for reasons of his own is utterly unacceptable to someone with Merritt's mindset. It is okay and even admirable for Christians to sew masks and deliver meals to shut-ins (while maintaining social distance), but they should never ponder a spiritual cause of the pandemic we're going through.
  2. Piper talked about sin and judgment. Doesn't he know that God is love? Doesn't he understand that love means that God just accepts everyone exactly as he is? (Well, as long as he isn't a racist, or a homophobe, or something else modern society doesn't like.) Piper has had the unmitigated gall to suggest that God might not like some of the things American society has decided it's perfectly okay to do, and, even worse, he has suggested that God might send a harsh punishment as a result of society's evil actions.

In other words, the horrible thing John Piper did was to think about Covid-19 in the same way that the Bible talks about epidemics, famines, and the like. He thought biblically, and he didn't keep his faith in the little box Christians are supposed to keep it in. How awful.

-
Posted

*

**Piper addresses this topic in much more depth in his book Coronavirus and Christ, which is where the quote Merritt uses appears.

***Image Credits: warrior angel by

Footer