Blog
In Denial
I have seen a number of things in the past month I didn’t expect to see in my lifetime.
A booming economy has ground itself to a near halt voluntarily. Our economic engine was revving at high speed with nearly every market sector thriving: travel/tourism, sports, real estate, retail, restaurants, leisure/recreation – you name it. Business CEOs who live for profit and expansion have uniformly shuttered their companies. Financial investors riding a bull market and optimistic about the future have transformed it into bear.
Politicians who crave high poll numbers and goodwill of their constituency have made highly unpopular decisions. Sports figures who thrive on competition, fame and ego stroking have seen cancellations of the NCAA "March Madness," the Masters and PGA (golf majors), the Indianapolis 500, and portions of the NBA and MLB seasons, and the rescheduling of the Olympics. It’s all come to a screeching halt.
To date 26 states have issued curfews/stay-at-home orders. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock declared, “I’d rather be accused of overreacting than having a health care system overwhelmed and unable to help our most-at-risk Montanans when they need it the most.” Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said: “I know this is hard, and I can’t tell you how much I wish it weren’t necessary. But we have a small window to ensure that Kansas does not suffer the same terrible fate of other hard-hit states like New York and Missouri.”
At the same time, epidemiologists, pharmaceutical companies, doctors and nurses, and other medical and scientific experts have mobilized en masse to develop vaccines, open makeshift hospitals and clinics, and learn how to effectively treat the infected. Those on the front lines are endangering themselves to care for their neighbors.
All of these difficult decisions and humanitarian sacrifices have been made to curb a pandemic, save lives, to defeat a deadly enemy.
The question is: Where is the zeal in fighting against sin and its deadly effects?
* Coronavirus is invisible to the naked eye; so is sin.
* You may be infected with coronavirus and be asymptomatic; the same with sin.
* As of today almost 740,000 have contracted COVID-19 worldwide; sin infects everyone.
* Our nation has almost completely shut itself down to prevent further spread of coronavirus; but we act as if sin is a myth, a religious bogeyman, and we not only fail to prevent it, we do everything imaginable to celebrate it, market it and expose our children to it.
It took some convincing to persuade the masses that coronavirus was real and deadly, but the politicians and scientists have pulled it off. They have introduced quasi-draconian measures to prevent a catastrophic global pestilence. Even the once-skeptical have become true believers.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee lamented: “This is a human tragedy on a scale we cannot yet project. It’s time to hunker down in order to win this fight.” If only he and others had the same determination against sin. However, we are in complete denial about it and its deadly effects.
