Imagine if you will, that you are under siege in Jerusalem in AD 70, having ignored Jesus' warning to flee to the mountains when the Roman army began to gather outside the walls.
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| Destruction of Jerusalem by David Roberts (1850) |
Now imagine that you have two choices: 1) to go outside the walls to escape/face the Romans or 2) stay in Jerusalem and be starved to death, maybe killed and eaten, or if you are "lucky" you survive all that and get slain by soldiers or burned to death when the Romans finally break down the walls.
Well that is a sort-of analogy to the siege we face with this pandemic. However, our chance of survival is much better outside the walls of our dwelling places.
If we all stay in our homes we would literally die in siege-like fashion because there would be no food in the pantry. So we make exceptions for "people we need" to feed us, keep our electricity on, treat us for illness and disease, protect us from thugs and looters, etc. This seems like a very elitist solution.
If we all go outside our walls and return to "normal" maybe up to 20% of the population would become seriously ill and maybe up to 1% would die, many of whom would die soon anyway due to age or other conditions.
If we stay "locked in", our governments will drown in debt, our businesses will suffer a cascading spiral of bankruptcies, and those who will suffer and die will be the youngest of us - who will live to see the consequences of our profligate self-indulgence for many years hence. This is much like the siege warfare scenario where the youngest become victims of cannibalization.
But the good news is that the risk of going outside and back to "normal" can be greatly improved with medicines and practices to improve our odds against the virus. And most of all, we can count on God's mercy because -TRULY-, this unseen enemy is an act of God and ultimately under His control. All we really need to do *that has not been adequately done* is to acknowledge God and ask for His mercy. I would much rather cast myself on the mercy of God than to face the wrath of a society gone mad within its own desperate walls!
