It’s Sunday, so it’s the perfect day for a Twitchy story about one of the odder arguments we’ve seen to try to convince (shame?) Christians to support COVID vaccines. Many … most … Twitter users weren’t buying what looked to be theological acrobatics by Curtis Chang to make a pro-vaccine argument to Christians.
Disclaimer: This editor is not an ‘anti-vaxxer’, has not taken a COVID-19 vaccine, is a Christian, and fears that Curtis might strain something trying to connect all these dots.
Curtis Chang’s argument is that the COVID vaccine is an ‘image’ of Christ’s redemption (Jesus saving us from our sins and the consequences of those sins). Jesus is the vaccine that does the saving in his metaphor, and the vaccinated are the redeemed (originally ‘sick’ in our sins and needing saved). That much might serve as a good illustration for a pastor to teach about Christ’s redemptive work, but as a tool to convince people to take the COVID vaccine? Nah.
Then it got weirder.
Russell Moore, David French, and this guy👇join forces to create a new curriculum for churches to use to teach congregants about politics. Here, Curtis Chang argues that the COVID vaXX "redeems an abortion" just like Jesus redeems us. pic.twitter.com/RPZyECBETC
— thedissenter.substack.com (@disntr) March 17, 2023
Curtis then attempted to relate the origins of the vaccines in abortion (an issue he knows is of concern to many Christians) to the original sin of mankind taught by Christianity.
Suddenly, the vaccines became the unredeemed in the metaphor, with a beginning in original sin.
The logical wheels sort of fell of the bus entirely at this point. It seemed mostly like Chang wanted to introduce the abortion topic he knows Christians feel passionately about to bolster his pro-vaccine pitch, and not necessarily because it was logically consistent. It was a messy attempt to diffuse concerns about fetal stem cell research and turn it into a positive in the story.
Curtis Chang closed his argument with a message to ‘pro-life Christians’ who distrust the COVID vaccine:
‘Please remember that the Christian story is the story of redemption. Every one of us has an origin story in sin. None of us can avoid this. Yet each one of us has had our story reworked by Jesus into new life. That’s what it ultimately means to be pro-life. To be pro-life is to be pro-redemption, and to be pro-redemption, in my view, is being pro-vaccine.’
Nod … nod … okay … nod … wait … huh? … WOW.
That closeout at the end … big yikes. At least he said ‘in my view’.
— Jennifer Buck (@JenniferBuck65) March 17, 2023
Yeah, it was sort of like that for many of us.
https://twitter.com/SeanBannion/status/1637288865227751424?s=20
LOL. Well said.
For the record, being ‘pro-life’ means being opposed to abortion, which kills tiny humans in the womb. That’s all. Nothing else. Please stop trying to make it something else to serve other agendas.
This might have been the low point of this doctrinal disaster, and it’s not the first time the David French crew has played the ‘you’re not really pro-life if you’re not pro-vaccine’ card. It’s not a fair or accurate claim.
(Whew! We need to take a moment and breathe deeply. Christian charity and stuff … the struggle is real with this one.)
This is blasphemy
— 𝕂𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕊𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕝𝕂🇦🇽 (@CallMeK1123) March 19, 2023
Many took a pretty hard line on Chang’s message. Is it blasphemy or heresy?
We don’t know, but this is not the way to make your case.
Do Christians sometimes try to use scripture to convince you of some argument they really want to make anyway, even if it ends up looking like three octopuses playing Twister? Yeah, we’re definitely guilty of that. LOL.
such weak & winsome elevator music theology.
I prefer my heresy loaded with Metal. pic.twitter.com/0McFIuDBpQ
— LCW (@SDG1031) March 18, 2023
LOL! Okay, that’s funny.
We don’t know anything about Curtis Chang, to be fair. Others were skeptical immediately.
America's Dream Team. pic.twitter.com/B8EGlDjFUL
— thedissenter.substack.com (@disntr) March 18, 2023
Yeah, we cringed when we saw that too.
Holy scriptural acrobatics, Batman.
— Phil Hunt (@JPhilipHunt) March 19, 2023
That’s what we said!
Absolutely not. https://t.co/dedxoxdrHT
— Heather In The Middle (@MomTo6Lambs) March 18, 2023
It’s like that.
Downright weird… we should stick with the scriptural descriptions of redemption the apostles gave us!
— Jethro (@Jethro356) March 18, 2023
That’s usually the wise route.
I watched it. Bruh what. https://t.co/uV2e9qWbAx
— Jon 🔬 (@JonnyMicro) March 19, 2023
Points awarded to everyone who made it through.
This is quite possible the worst thing I have heard on this topic. And I heard a pastor "preach" wearing a mask was a proof of salvation https://t.co/0u9T5GsaMK
— Jess (@MiddleBlake) March 19, 2023
Seriously, pastors, you’ve got to stop this stuff. LOL.
I hate this.
So much.
Not only is the whole "vaccines redeem us" stuff is sheer gibberish, but the guy is pretending that he's using politics to teach religion, when in reality he's using religion to teach politics.
People like this need to be removed from the pulpit. https://t.co/9FMqawEwMr
— Mandrakos (@Mandrak0s) March 19, 2023
Great point. As we said above, you might use the concept of a vaccine to teach about Christianity. Using the gospel message as a tool to convince people to take a particular vaccine … meh.
Us Christians can be weird sometimes. This is weird.
— Todd Smith (@pastortoddsmith) March 18, 2023
Perfectly stated. LOL.
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