LEAven Blog

Seems that governing bodies have been messing with health issues in every age. Also seems like many of our tribe are too careless, too foolish, too suspicious, or too skeptical to take care of themselves. Today, it’s railroad crossings, seatbelts, distractions, sexual orientation, masks, COVID, vaccines, and the list goes on. Way back in time—maybe 3,500 years ago—it wasn’t much different or less detailed. Look at this:

“If there is in the skin of one’s body a boil and it heals, and in the place of the boil there comes a white swelling or a reddish-white spot, then it shall be shown to the priest. And the priest shall look, and if it appears deeper than the skin and its hair has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a case of leprous disease that has broken out in the boil. But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in it and it is not deeper than the skin, but has faded, then the priest shall shut him up seven days. And if it spreads in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a disease. …”

From the oft-exposed priest, I imagine the topic and treatment stumbled on to some ancient version of CNN, eventually making it all the way to a government mansion where it wasted months of legislative salaries and underwent several conflicting fake news examinations, and maybe even killed a bunch of people. In the meantime, the masses got caught up in the conflict and kept their offspring out of school and threatened lawsuits while their kids lost academic ground, eventually leading to them to fail at becoming politicians and lawyers, or worse, bad ones.

If that doesn’t paint a dark enough picture, you might imagine a group of people who thought boil prevention and cure was a hoax, conspiracy, or in conflict with Scripture—that people shouldn’t prevent or treat the malady if they didn’t want to be treated or really didn’t care if others got what they gave them.

Now if you haven’t had enough of the bog, then go ahead and wallow in a pool of pus….

What, wait…

Oh, I must have misheard Denise when she asked me to write a blog. I thought she said…. Hmm. I wonder if the Bible says anything about hearing aids.

Okay, so let’s jog around the bog and get to something more positive about the topic of regulations.

Scripture says that regulations are important. They protect you from yourself as well as improve the quality of life for you and your neighbors. If you obey them. Sound familiar? It should, it’s even more than 3,500 years old. But does the “if you obey them” part still leave you flailing in a bog?

That’s understandable. It should. Sin ruins lives and kills—and isn’t it amazing how many people, including us sometimes, love to sin anyway? Or is it that we don’t trust God’s judgment and want to be our own little gods? Murky bog, spiritual fog, here we come.

Except for one thing.

Jesus died to take away our sins. He absolves all the spiritual boils and careless—even rebellious—behavior that threatens our lives. And so, the moral of the story is—ta da—obey the regulations. God tells us to do that as long as the rules don’t conflict with His rules. Abiding by the rules may seem sacrificial or just simply an annoyance, but wouldn’t it be silly to get kicked out of a school or lose accreditation over something a trivial as a mask or even as important as getting a vaccination?

Wow. Please forgive me for turning that corner so fast. We’ll go straight when we must, and the time is coming when we must, when the laws of the land become in direct conflict with the laws of God. But don’t let that get you bogged down. God made and obeyed His regulations for you. No mask, social distancing, or vaccine (fully approved, of course) required.

All opinions expressed herein are his (hopefully not alone).

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