I Believe the Church is Still One in the Midst of the Ongoing Coronavirus Epidemic
I may not agree with Paul Washer all the time (though these areas for me are very minor) but he has very powerful statements. One of his biggest statements is the truth that the Church is one. I'm referring to the holy catholic apostolic church and not the Roman Catholic institution. The word catholic is derived from the Greek word katholes which means universal. Consider how Acts 9:31 which means "all throughout". The word catholic is synonymous to universal. In the times of a great pandemic - I do have the comfort that the Christian church remains in it catholicity (or universality), apostolic, and holy church. The Bible may refer to "churches" and the Church. How can there be the churches and the Church? It's because the churches may be divided organizationally but they are united spiritually.
How can the churches be united spiritually while being organizationally divided? For one, I'm not a Baptist Brider. I don't consider myself a Protestant while I embrace Protestant Christians who have shown signs of being truly born again. I may be somewhat of a King James Onlyist (moderate) while I embrace non-KJV Only believers as brothers and sisters in Christ. Some non-Calvinist Christians still embrace Calvinist Christians, acknowledge that the King James Version is a Calvinist translation all the while they don't buy unconditional election. John F. MacArthur honors both Vernon McGee and Aiden W. Tozer (who had a strange habit of quoting Roman Catholic mystics while preaching against Roman Catholicism) as sound teachers even if both teachers rejected Calvinism. I even hear a non-Calvinist who still reads through John Calvin's "Institutes of the Christian Religion" while still convinced that Calvin was wrong about the three midpoints of Calvinism.
I think the church's oneness is tested in the midst of the Coronavirus. Churches are currently closed because of the social distancing protocol. I think it's wise to do so considering the virus has a very high rate of being contagious. Hopefully, more liquor bans will be strictly enforced because it leads to chaos. Churches may be separated physically but not all believers are absent. Some are told to stay home while others are at the frontline. Other Christians who are able and fit are commanded to distribute the relief goods to people in need. You have missionaries now spreading the Gospel to a fear-struck population. You may have Christians who are staying home while digital technology is allowing the well-to-do among them to at least give money online. Such a privilege wasn't available during other great plagues like the cholera outbreak in London in 1854 or the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918. Today, we've got it and I've ended up using it to binge-listen a couple of sermons even when it's not Sunday or Wednesday to keep myself calm.
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