Questioning Conventional Wisdom in the CoVid Crisis

by Steve M. Schlissel  

Originally posted April 02, 2020

Questioning Conventional Wisdom in the COVID-19 Crisis, with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya – YouTube

A reasonable discussion, a glimpse of the situation as it is. A reminder to all of us to include IMPLICATIONS in our thinking processes. As Dr. Van Til never tired of repeating: there are no BRUTE facts. Everything which appears to us, has appeared in a *context,* on a “platform,” etc. Fruitful consideration of “Y” requires consideration of “X” and “Z”– and more. To cases: Assessment of COVID-19 is mere roulette and can’t unless the denominator in a lethality assessment is a known, reliable number. We (so far) are without that number. Therefore, we do NOT know the force against which we are currently leveling EVERYTHING. It may turn out that our actions were wholly warranted. It may turn out that they were irresponsibly out of proportion to the actual threat faced.  But even if it turns out we, essentially, “erred on the side of caution,” we should AT LEAST understand that we took that course out of IGNORANCE. Knowing what it is we do not know (yet NEED to know) should reinforce for us the TENTATIVENESS of so much now whirling about us; make a difference in our focus, i.e., where we ought to direct our attention; make us fittingly humble, and profoundly grateful for the glorious fact that, though we do not know everything, we can know Someone who does. When that piece of knowledge comes to us in the context of His love for us, love not abstract but concretized, demonstrated in the unspeakably great price He paid for our redemption, well, then we will discover our minds occupied far less with worry and much more with irrepressible gratitude. As the Scripture says, “In all things, give thanks.” That’s usually easier, or at least more natural, when our assessment of our circumstances is formed within “The Big Picture,” i.e., real life under the REAL God. COVID-19, whatever its lethality is found to be, will be remembered by us as another occasion in which our life-enriching faith–or our death-loving unbelief–were busily at work. Faith–or disbelief–are NEVER unemployed, never confined.

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