Years ago I had the privilege of having lunch with a group of pastors of underground house churches in China who were visiting Wheaton College, where I worked. I asked what is the main difference they see between the Chinese church and the American church. Without hesitation one of them responded “we have suffered and we have grown through that suffering.” The others nodded emphatically. This was a stark reminder, both of the ubiquity of suffering in this fallen world and of the tragic waste of not growing through our inescapable pain. I couldn’t help but feel a little “soft” at that moment.
This is why Jesus repeatedly said that it is nearly impossible for a wealthy person to fully acknowledge their desperate need for God. Wealth creates a sense of entitlement to comfort.
This is also why you find the most distrust of vaccines, and of science in general, in wealthy countries people that are familiar with the death and devastation of poverty and untreated disease are not lulled into false complacency
It is not money, itself, which causes this of course but rather the comfort and escape from many forms of suffering that wealth enables. It is human nature to begin life believing in magic and in a just world. Children can easily believe thoughts and words can make things happen or prevent them from happening. Likewise, playgrounds and backyards are where you will most often hear shouts of “that’s not fair!” Life is not gentle with such beliefs and part of growing up is accepting that many of the things we imagine or wish for are not realistic.
Some people’s lives do not fully teach those lessons leaving them feeling superior and entitled to an extra share of good things that is unfair to others. Both life experience and mental illness can also cause vulnerability to fantastical theories and to an addiction to certainty, a psychological\neurological state in which one is incapable of entertaining the possibility of being wrong. The most certain people I have ever met were experiencing psychosis. That is why involuntary hospital commitment is sometimes necessary when a person with mental illness is a danger to self or others.
What do we do when people are endangering themselves and others but they don’t fit the definition of mental illness and they claim a right to freely express themselves?
Arrogant dogmatic certainty is becoming a threat to the health of more than just those who believe in magical conspiracies. What do the rest of us do about those who insist they have the right to their belief that no danger exists and that they have no responsibility to protect anyone?
We are being forced to address these questions now when armed protesters stand on capitol steps to protest being told that they must obey laws put in place to address the pandemic.
In a culture that has stooped to new lows of shaming and hatred on social media videos of such protests are being posted and discussions ensue. Are these “very fine people” exercising their rights or are they irresponsible scofflaws putting lives in danger. Some have cited the example of our own president, who refuses to wear a face mask as their inspiration for dissent.
