The Mask Issue Unmasked

 

Let me open with a line from the great Mac Davis movie Possums; "...it makes me vomit." Now while the character in the movie was referring to football; I'm referring to discussions of why Christians should dutifully wear masks. The arguments are pretty much all the same, but I'll use the article written by Brett McCracken of The Gospel Coalition entitled, 4 Reasons to Wear a Mask, Even if You Hate It as a template for rebuttal. He makes some good points and its entertaining; definitely worth a read. But I feel it is tainted with false premises, false assumptions, and straw man arguments.

While McCracken hates (as do I) the politicization of the issue; I don't like the spiritualization of it either. He leads off with reason number 1 we should be wearing masks (cliché and predictable): to demonstrate love for our neighbor. This naturally infers that if we don't wear one; we aren't demonstrating Christian love. That's a pretty judgmental view from his high horse. He admits the science behind wearing a mask has been fluid with still no definitive consensus. Those reasons, along with the actual risks of contacting Covid and its mortality rate being highly inflated (finally publicly acknowledged by the CDC) prompt me to forego a mask whenever I have the option; not my "hate" for my neighbor. I may hate the politics in this (and in general), but I proudly identify with the President and countless others who refused to be shamed into masking. Christians of all people should recognize the insidious nature of the far left-wing embracing this opportunity of desensitizing the populace to such control of their everyday lives. Follow McCracken's reasoning out a ways; where does it end? Should Christians mask up every cold and flu season, should we not do anything that in some way could possibly endanger anyone else? What about driving cars, flying planes, serving unhealthy food at a fast-food joint; no more ridiculous than his assertions. His glaring faux pas in his opening paragraph is his lamenting over the lost world pre-Covid and the new normal. Well, I'm not giving up that easily, and anything I can do (including not wearing a stupid mask) that reminds of the less insane world of a few months ago is a good thing. How about demonstrating our love for each other by not kowtowing to false news and faulty science?

His second point about respecting authorities is also predictable, but doesn't actually apply. As the other three points deal with voluntarily behaving as a Christian should (in his view); this point is about not following the law. I wear a mask when required; not when it's optional. So I guess I pass his Christian litmus test in that regard

The third point regarding honoring the weak, may be his weakest. I have attended church and visited secular establishments where masking is optional and people who choose to or not get along just fine. He even goes as far as to play the "stumbling block" card. Anyone with cursory knowledge of Scripture knows that passage deals with who Jesus is. To equate not wearing a mask with hindering someone's salvation is a gross perversion of the passage. I don't know where McCracken stands on alcohol consumption, but I would like to know how many of those who agree with him on this point would also declare total abstinence from drinking too. There is a stumbling block that way too many evangelicals seem very content to leave right in the middle of the road.

In his last point he contends that sharing the Gospel can be hindered if you don't wear a mask. It's really just a continuation of point three with the addition of our selfish attitudes manifested in our freedoms being more important than the lives of others. It's hard to take him seriously when he uses words like "super-spreaders", when I've already stated that so much of the emotional response to the virus is based on erroneous numbers and shaky science. Even John MacArthur declared it is not a pandemic at all if you use the factual data. Those of us who don't follow false news and did some research, realized that there was (and is) no direct correlation between masking or not and the spread of the virus.

So, where does this put us? As Believers it should put us squarely in God's Camp. We know that ultimately, He is in control, so all of this white noise we're all generating means squat. However, since we are learning that the whole "pandemic" tsunami has been driven by political falsehoods and fuzzy math; Christians should exhale and chill. If you don't want to wear a stupid mask (and they're all stupid, some less so; but all stupid) and you have the choice; don't. You (and I) are just as loving as the masked marvel next to us in the pew (maybe more so?). Our freedoms aren't selfish desires. Most are God given and all our precious, and many have died to preserve them. If we can be conditioned to wear a mask today; who knows what we can be conditioned to accept tomorrow?

Things that make you go hmmmm?