By Stephen Kangal
April 14, 2020
The Honourable Mr Justice Frank Seepersad in his electronic Easter Message to the PCTT (Express 13 April, p.17) would seem to posit that the current exponential and unprecedented rate of the destruction of human lives now nearing 100,000 wrought by COVID-19 would appear to be, inter alia, a grim manifestation/reminder of the sovereignty of God over all things.
Does God need to remind us human beings, with such brutal infestation of COVID of His undisputed sovereignty by bringing the world to a screeching halt and a virtual threat to human existence?
This is in my view and on the contrary, a horrific manifestation of the unleashing of the forces of evil- of darkness contending against the forces of good and the divine symbolised by Easter celebrations and the Hindu Festival of Divali.
I wish to submit that God has no part in the COVID-19 pandemic because God has love and caring for all humanity whom He made in his own image and liking.
Is this also the response and current belief of the Presbyterian Church of T&T on this pandemic that has reduced human life especially of the aging to mere nothingness buried in mass graves without a funeral note and a prayer of committal?
Some religions such as Hinduism are based on a pantheistic doctrine of God and may regard this destructive viral outbreak as a brutal act of Nature to bring about balance, rationality and a new equilibrium given the rate at which the planet earth is being disfigured by excessive use of fossil fuels and depletion of finite resources.
It is as if Nature in its brutality is sounding a warning alarm to humanity to stop the rape and pillaging of Dharti Mata (Mother Earth) or it is taking its own unilateral draconian action.
According to the learned and inspired Judge, is God displeased with our lack of faith since COVID is no respecter of religions, faiths and ethnicity?
How is our faith in God strengthened and renewed when millions are going to die and perish without ceremony, rituals and the tears and final good-byes of their loved ones? Human life it appears has been reduced to mere meaningless nothingness by the ravages of this pandemic.
All the optimism we cherished as a global village society seems destined to be interned into unnamed graves.
The learned Judge Seepersad must give us more explanations for his thesis that God is behind this catastrophic destruction of human lives for the sake of flaunting his sovereignty and indeed His imperialism that we have never disputed in the first instance.
“This is in my view and on the contrary, a horrific manifestation of the unleashing of the forces of evil- of darkness contending against the forces of good and the divine symbolised by Easter celebrations and the Hindu Festival of Divali.
I wish to submit that God has no part in the COVID-19 pandemic because God has love and caring for all humanity whom He made in his own image and liking.”
If the pandemic is a “horrific manifestation of the unleashing of the forces of evil” against the forces of good and the divine, then are the forces of evil more powerful than the power of God? Because that is the implication of what you are saying.
My thesis is that the evil inherent in the outbreak of COVID-19 may appear to be in temporary ascendancy because of its innovation and lack of knowledge by man of its characteristics but God (Who is all-pervading knowledge) will work through human instruments(Scientists) to understand the biological intricacies of the viral infection and to engineer an antidote or Vaccine that will bring a halt to what appears to be the transient dominance of the infection as has been done previously with curing other pandemics. This is the consistency that underlies my own belief in God as well an expression of His sovereignty in eradicating threats to Creations Lord we give Thee thanks that this thy world is incomplete…
Stephen Kangal, you ask: “Does God need to remind us human beings, with such brutal infestation of COVID of His undisputed sovereignty by bringing the world to a screeching halt and a virtual threat to human existence?” As a purely theological matter, has not God seen it fit to remind human beings of his sovereignty when they forget and disregard that sovereignty? Is it not noted in the Bible instances of that reminder, even to the extent of the Flood? To speak about the flaunting of God’s sovereignty and his “imperialism” seems to be a questioning of God’s omnipotence, and I am speaking from a purely theological perspective. And what does the Book of Revelations say? Again purely from a theological perspective.
My concept of God is one that is slow to anger but plenteous in mercy and He does not have to be cruel to be kind. There is God and there is mammon- good and evil. COVID-19 is a manifestation of the forces of evil ranged against the forces of good- of a temporary darkness over permanent light
I hold the view there is much more to contend and maybe the omnipotence, omniscient and omnipresence of our Creator would reveal such later.
What amazes me is the unleashing of the virus from Wuhan supposedly the wet market and not even Shanghai nor Bejing have been affected at all possibly because of the lockdown policy implemented. If such how did this physical distance was realized so early and not Italy, Spain or the UK and Canada and the US took time to figure this out i.e. what was implemented by them in 1918 re- Spanish flu.
Is there then a strong possibility that China was dabbling with potent biological micro organisms to bring about such a global upheaval for political, economic gains? SARS was not so destructive but effecting mutations in the lab by genome manipulation is not far-fetched. How it got out remains to be answered. Therefore the causative agents bats and snakes are distractants.
Yes, whilst we look at the pestilence that was brought on to this earth during biblical times that can take our attention in a different direction, we are still to figure out why has China now updated the deaths that actually occurred in Wuhan? Is the global deaths of this contagious disease so worrisome that consciences are being acted on presently. Maybe divine intervention is necessary to reveal the wicked ways of man.
As you speak about mammon, mammon in Hebrew means money. Here is the Oxford dictionary definition of mammon: “wealth regarded as an evil influence or false object of worship and devotion”. It don’t think it is false to say that we are living in a world where the highest value is the pursuit of wealth, do you remember in the scriptures when Moses came down from the mountain top and the people were worshiping the golden calf; they rejected God for mammon, do you remember what happened? Here again I am speaking in theological terms, it doesn’t matter if you believe it or not. Love thy God with all thy heart and love thy neighbor as thyself (Matthew 22), was it not said that on those two commandments hang all the law and the prophets? Are we following those commandments? Or are we living in a world as Gordon Gekko says in the movie Wall Street, “greed is good”. We have seen health care professionals risking their lives to save others, isn’t that what Christ spoke about when he said there is no greater love than this? So doesn’t this pandemic make us re-examine our values, our civilization? Will it change us so that instead of thinking “greed is good” we realize that love, compassion and empathy are good? Will the pandemic teach us that human beings are a fragile lot, subject to illness, suffering and death and that in this world that we are thrown into, what is important is love, compassion and caring? The great playwright, Samuel Beckett, who is the author of that famous play “Waiting for Godot”, wrote some lines that speak to us today “In the ending days and nights of unending melancholy, love it is at last unites”. Let us hope the pandemic make us re-examine our values as civilization itself has been asked some unprecedented and fundamental questions.
I would encourage each to seek out the answers for this current pandemic Barry viewing the old and the New Testament of God’s word. Look at the brutal destruction and devastation in the scriptures and see what brought it on. Man sin and constant rebellion against God’s war word. God does not deliver the devastation nor the destruction but he steps back and allows it. When we flaunt our disobedience and rebellion in the face of and all sovereign God who loves us and gave the greatest gift that heaven could ever give and the suffering and life of Jesus Christ common God steps back allows us to see and receive the fruit of our rebellious and disobedient behavior. We are clear that this destruction and devastation is Calls by evil that’s in this world and it is not cause or done to us by a loving God. We are free to choose our path. It appears that the majority of human beings have chosen a pair directly oppose to the will and love and mercy of a gracious God.