In the recent outbreak of coronavirus, I have expressed my concern to Church leaders in Seoul on how the churches should temporarily close its doors for the believers to congregate.
Fellowship of believers is truly essential and we are not avoiding it (Hebrews 10:25). Nonetheless in the light of the situation, Jesus does not command us to act foolishly and go about assembling when there is a huge risk of contaminating one another. In fact, Jesus commands his disciples to be wise as serpents (Matthew 10:16), for the purpose of being preserved from danger and execution.
The President Moon has asked the public, religious groups and civic organizations to refrain from engaging in collective events for public safety. In spite of the call, the Churches are still opening its doors to their congregation. The fact that most of the COVID-19 cases stemmed from a religious mass gathering of Sinchonji Church in Daegu should wake the Christian leaders to protect their Church members by temporarily suspending the Church services. But shockingly, the Churches are still wide open for services (even here in Seoul). Some pastors are insisting believers to attend the Church services.
As a seminary student in Korea, I find it baffling when church leaders are defying the laws of the land. This is plain disobedience to God’s command. As Christians, we believe that the Government is established by God. So, we are called to voluntarily submit to the authorities of the land (Romans 13:1, 2). For the Christians, worship is quintessential but when we disobey the authorities set up by God, we are out rightly disobeying Him.
In linking with Mark 16, Jesus promises protection for His followers: "they will pick up snakes with their hands and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all." Now, the text doesn't validate Christians to start handling snakes or drink deadly poison to showcase their trust in God. We are not commanded to drink poison or pick up snakes with our hand (literally) (Acts 28:3-6, Example of Paul was purely unintentional), to show that we have strong faith in God. That is purely illogical and irrational, to say the least.
God does protect when we accidentally or unintentionally come across dangers on our path, but Jesus does not authorize us in any way to start putting ourselves in danger by claiming that nothing can harm the believers (Luke 10:19) (that’s not Biblical).
As Christians, we need to act rationally and wisely. We should think about the image of the Church (body of Christ) to the outside world and maintain order and obey the laws of the land too. Therefore, in this critical juncture, I call upon Church leaders in South Korea to be wise and temporarily shut its doors for the sake of the good of the Church and the community.
