Big Pharma = Jesus.
Got it.
So, these three “conservative” brainiacs got together and decided to convince us rubes that the vaccine is just like Jesus. No, seriously. That’s what they’re saying.
“Well, those folks sure do seem to love Jesus.”
“Perfect! Let’s tell them that the vaccine is like the new Jesus.”
This one will blow your mind folks. Curtis Chang, a professor at Duke Divinity School, posits that even though the vaccine may be the result of testing on an aborted fetal line of cells, it doesn’t matter because the intentions of Big Pharma are sooooooo pure that the goodness of the vaccine actually redeems the original sin of the abortion because…because.
Seems to me it sounds like the ends justify the means but hey, what do I know? I’m no elite.
Russell Moore, David French, and this guy👇join forces to create a new curriculum for churches to use to teach congregants about politics. Here, Curtis Chang argues that the COVID vaXX "redeems an abortion" just like Jesus redeems us. pic.twitter.com/RPZyECBETC
— thedissenter.substack.com (@disntr) March 17, 2023
Is this what passes for Christian thought nowadays?
HT Hot Air
March 22, 2023 at 7:40 am
Yeah, that was a ridiculous attempt on their part. It’s at least borderline blasphemous, but then so are all attempts to use God as a mere rhetorical device, and that has been ubiquitous for a very long time.
I think an argument could be made that although we must never do evil that good may result, we can (and should) attempt to make the best of a bad situation. For example, there is no untangling American history from the abuse of American Indians. There is no undoing of wrongs done to people who have been dead for decades, even centuries. Even ethnically cleansing North America of all non-indigenous people, which would be based on the idea that two wrongs maybe make a right, would not only be wrongheaded, it would also be impossible, since there are few if any “ethnically pure” American Indians left in North America. We have to do the best we can with the situation as it is.
If you don’t like that example, there is no shortage of other examples.
March 22, 2023 at 8:34 am
I should have said that the better analogy would be to food offered to idols, as discussed in 1 Corinthians. For St. Paul, the evil of idolatry was too obvious to mention; the question was not whether food should be offered to idols, but whether food which had been sinfully offered to idols could be consumed without sin. The answer is that yes, it is possible for the meat to be eaten without sin, but that if this otherwise acceptable act leads someone else to conclude that (a) maybe idolatry is not REALLY sinful, or (b) maybe sin itself is not a big deal, then we should avoid it.
This parallels the covid vaccine debate reasonably well. I’ll set aside for the moment the question of whether the vaccine is safe, just as St. Paul did not consider whether the meat was spoiled and might result in food poisoning. If a vaccine is developed through the use of cell lines from aborted children, it MUST NOT be taken, let alone promoted, in such a way as might lead others to conclude that (a) maybe abortion is not REALLY sinful, or (b) maybe sin itself is not a big deal.
March 22, 2023 at 11:10 am
Note that this is not “redemption” of anything in particular. The sinful act of idolatry was still sinful; the sinful act of abortion remains sinful. Likewise, the sin of Adam remains a SIN, even if it has become a happy fault that merited so great a Redeemer. Christ redeems PEOPLE; an inanimate object like a vaccine cannot itself be redeemed, nor can any person be redeemed by making, distributing, or taking a vaccine.
March 22, 2023 at 6:24 pm
Listening to that was simply painful…
Such eisegesis from a “theologian” reminds me of my favorite quote from St. Irenaeus in reference to the Gnostics, “carefully crafted plausibilities”. Mr. Chang sounds profound and deep on the surface, but when you dig down – his words are really superficial.