is this idea that since we don’t know every possible thing that we want to know about it, we should there- fore automatically “err on the side of caution.” This is, at the very least, shoddy thinking. For one thing, we know plenty after nearly 6 months who are the most susceptible to get- ting hit hardest by the virus, and who are very likely to incur no significant damage. Life cannot be lived in any productive way by basing one’s deci- sions primarily on what one does not know and then speculating that your ignorance means you are in grave danger. Life for millions, even bil- lions, of people cannot be lived trying to protect every last individual from every possible or perceived danger. Actual life entails risks; they are un- avoidable. No, I did not claim that life entails recklessness. But it also does not entail the attempt to eradicate all possible dangers. To think otherwise is utter foolishness. Frankly, it is an attempt to live apart from trust or faith in God, and to fail to own up to human mortality. At one point in his earthly life, Je-


By Dr. David P. Smith, Pastor of Covenant Fellowship


proper fear, or one will likely not live long. It is why good parents teach their young children not to do foolish things like touch a hot stove, or stick a metal object in a light socket. Dangers abound. But there is an equal and opposite end from the foolishness that does not have a proper respect for actual dangers. It is the life-paralyzing fear of what might possibly take place. Phobias. Irrational fears. These can paralyze people, not only in a moment,


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but also for normal healthy living. Of course, we live at a time when the gener- ally accepted principles or laws that have held for hundreds, even thousands of years for rationality are getting called into question. Large numbers of people, even perhaps a significant sector of American culture is descending into a dark- ness of irrationality. It needs to be stressed all over again that there is an objec- tively empirical, verifiable reality that is what it is regardless of what anyone thinks or feels about it, or does in relation to it. If this were not so, you would not be able to read this essay. But according to Romans 1:18-32, people would rather live in a world of their own imagination. One of the chief problems with some of the thinking surrounding COVID-19


November/December 2020


ornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, lightning—these should be feared; one should take life preserving precautions when having to deal with them. There are actual dangers in this life of which to have a


sus was in a boat with his closest dis- ciples on the Sea of Galilee. A storm whipped up, the boat was taking on water and the disciples were genuine- ly afraid they were going to die. Here was an actual, legitimate fear, because it was an actual physical storm; they weren’t afraid of a possibility. Jesus was asleep during the storm. Must have been pretty tired and a really good sleeper. The disciples woke Je- sus and asked him if he cared at all that they were perishing (Mark 4:38). They thought Jesus did not care, be- cause Jesus was not responding to the actual threat to their physical life in the way they wanted him to, or thought he should. And, quite obvi- ously, they concluded that he did not care about their fear. What did Jesus do? Did he say, “Oh, no, guys, I care,” or “Oh, no, guys, you’ve misunder- stood, let me explain again”? Cer- tainly, he did not apologize. No, Jesus rebuked them! He stopped the storm,


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