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| John MacArthur preaches to a nearly full sanctuary with virtually no masks. |
A number of well reasoned responses to the reopening of Grace Community Church in defiance of the restrictions put in place by the state of California have already been written: When John MacArthur Reopens His Church Despite COVID-19 Orders Civil disobedience, conscientious objection, and what to make of believers defying the government. - by Morgan Lee, Christianity Today
A Time for Civil Disobedience? A Response to Grace Community Church’s Elders - by Jonathan Leeman, Editorial Director of 9Marks
Response to John MacArthur's Statement of Defiance - by Jeff S. Kennedy, Senior Pastor of Christ Community Church / Idaho Falls, ID.
Let me, then, focus in on the brief interview given by Pastor MacArthur to Fox News' Tucker Carlson on July 28th, (to see the interview: John MacArthur on Tucker Carlson) which contains a number of troubling statments.
“First of all and foremost, it is a first amendment right,” MacArthur said. “This is the United States of America and the government cannot intrude into worship. We stand on that amendment.”
At this point, I'm already concerned. Rather than address his primary responsibility to his congregation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, that of a shepherd watching over his sheep, MacArthur chooses to lay claim to First Ammendment rights. What the government can or cannot do legally in America with respect to the Church is primarily a legal issue for politicians and lawyers. What the Church should do is a moral question for pastors and church leadership. MacArthur chooses to focus on what he believes his church can legally do, not what it should morally do.
“The second thing that makes this so sensible is that in the State of California there are 40 million people. 8,500 of them have died with COVID. That is .002 (percent),” MacArthur said. “So, in California you have a 99.99 percent chance to survive COVID. So why would you shut down the entire state?
Here's the thing, let's assume MacArthur's numbers are correct, that as of the end of July 2020, 8,500 Californians have died from COVID-19. But COVID-19 is a pandemic, it isn't over yet, and tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, of Californians will die in the future before it ends. The chance of dying is not static, it can, and almost certainly will, continue to rise as the pandemic spreads. The way in which MacArthur cavalierly embraces these stats without concern for the future, is bizarre. This pandemic is not history, it is an ongoing threat.
A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, unfortunately, neither Pastor MacArthur (nor whomever is advising him) are statisticians or epidemiologists.
If the state is not allowed to meddle in Church affairs, should the Church refraining from administering public health policy? As a Baptist, I continue to warn about the need for separation of Church and State, in this case, Grace Community Church is upset about what they perceive to be the state crossing the line in their direction, while aggressively returning the favor (by belittling social distancing and mask wearing, refusing to meet outside, etc.) in the other.
“We have had 21 weeks with no ministry to a thousand little children, to a thousand university students, to junior high students, to high school students to senior adults,”...“We’ve had no funerals. No weddings. I can’t go to the hospital. I’ve had to go on the phone to talk to dying people at the hospital,” MacArthur said.
When the church can't meet in the sanctuary for worship, does ministry stop? The pandemic restrictions have indeed been troublesome, but the work of the Church continued, as it has always been more than what happens on Sunday morning.
“Finally, I started preaching in an empty auditorium. I did it two weeks, three weeks and then the people without saying anything started coming back. They didn’t buy the narrative,” MacArthur said. “They kept coming back and last Sunday 3,000 of them came back and they rejoiced. They hugged each other and they didn’t wear masks and they sang songs. They understand the reality of it.”
Where is the leadership at Grace? People just starting coming back in, on their own, without the church's chosen leaders considering the implications and having a plan in place? Before we re-opened for in-person worship with social distancing in June, my board met virtually to discuss the issues, until that moment, the only people allowed in the sanctuary were those responsible for making the service happen online. What 'narrative' did his congregation reject? The one where 150,000 (and rising rapidly) Americans have died? The one supported by the CDC? This is a serious issue with modern American Evangelicalism, scientific facts are not a narrative for us to buy or sell, they are facts. This is a dangerous trend that is growing among Evangelicals, and sadly John MacArthur is endorsing it. In addition, why couldn't they have met AND practiced social distancing, AND mandated the wearing of masks? Are these precautions forbidden by the 1st Amendment? Is there no room for caution, wisdom, compassion, humility? By celebrating this decision, and the open defiance of social distancing and mask wearing, Pastor MacArthur has left himself and his church only one chance at a positive end to this path: If COVID-19 is an overblown hoax they'll turn out looking ok, if instead, as doctors around the world continue to warn, this is indeed a pandemic that is far from over, they will have helped spread it, and people will die when a church service at Grace Community Church becomes a super-spreader event. What then will be the value of insisting upon rights while ignoring reality?
After decades of ministry, why risk it all on the hunch that you know more than those who have dedicated their lives to the study of medicine? Sadly, for his congregation and his legacy, John MacArthur has jumped the shark.
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