Thousands of people have been working day and night to fight the Covid-19 virus that that taken over 4 million lives globally. After a lot of hard work, the top pharmaceutical companies in the world have now developed effective vaccines to help us build immunity to this deadly virus. Instead of doing our part to help slow this global pandemic by getting ourselves vaccinated and preventing further deaths, some Christians choose to make statements such as these-:

• God does not want us to be vaccinated!
• The vaccine is the mark of the beast!
• Christians don’t need vaccinations. We have God!

Let us take a look at the truth of some of these statements. Romans 11:34 says “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” This means that there is no way any human being can tell you that “God does not want us to be vaccinated”. You don’t know whether God wants you to be vaccinated or not cause you are not God and you don’t have the ability to know what God is thinking so do not make this statement as a Christian.

Now regarding the vaccine being the mark of the beast let us look at Revelation 13:15-17 “The second beast was given the power to give breath to the image of the first beast so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.” None of the events that lead up to the mark of the beast have happened yet. In fact, the mark of the beast is supposed to be either on the right hand or on the forehead. The vaccine can be administered on either arm, not just your right hand or forehead. Also, once the vaccination is taken, there is no physical mark left behind. Good luck trying to find that mark again to use it to buy or sell something cause nothing will be there and also this is not happening anywhere. No Bible-believing Christian should ever believe in this theory nor should they spread this rumor.

The next statement is more of a faith-based statement. “Christians don’t need vaccinations. We have God.” This as a statement by itself is true. God has the power to heal everyone and protect who he chooses. He also promises to protect those who trust in him. But remember being a Christian is more than just self-preservation. If you are someone who believes that God will protect you from the virus without the vaccination then that is your decision and I applaud you for your faith. However, choosing to avoid the vaccine knowing that your decision could affect the lives of others who may not be protected by faith as strong as yours is just plain selfish and not what God expects from us.

Jesus said in Mark 12:30-31 to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” This is why we as Christians need to take the vaccine. If we truly want to follow what Christ told us about loving our neighbors(not just Christians) then we need to take the vaccine to protect not just ourselves but also those around us. We can choose to believe in false propaganda or we can use the wisdom that God has given us to make an informed and wise decision to protect not just ourselves but also our community and those around us.

In the end the question  “Does God want us to be vaccinated?” can only be answered by answering this question that Christ asked of us? “Do you love your neighbor as yourself?”