In the stillness and sadness of the Covid-19 pandemic, God may be gifting us an opportunity to study the Bible

(His letter can be read here: ‘Covid-19 is not a punishment of God for our personal sins but it might be the revenge of nature’)

How Mr McClinton might decipher the mind of a God, whom he probably does not believe in anyway, is a fascinating aside. It is not clear in my mind, if Mr McClinton possesses some sort of prophetic gift, or if his conclusion is reached exclusively through logical reasoning.

Having said all of this, Mr John Carson of the DUP did raise difficult and uncomfortable questions, with his suggestion that Covid-19 might be related to specific human sins. And Mr McClinton’s response, may have been a reaction to the fear or bewilderment many of us are feeling around Covid-19.

As a member of the Church of Ireland, I find it helpful to examine the systematic theology outlined within the Book of Common Prayer, when considering the tension between Mr Carson’s and Mr McClinton’s differing perspectives. Taking Holy Scripture to be our guide, we are advised not to-”expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another”-.

A balanced examination of scripture, helps us try to make sense of how Covid-19 might mysteriously be both a force of evil and a biological phenomenon. As Christians, believing in divine sovereignty, we might even dare to hope (or expect) that God will bring some good, and achieve some positive purposes through Covid-19.

Although a private study of scripture is ever helpful, we really cannot beat the counsel of a godly Gospel minister. I am indebted to Pastor McKeag, who recently directed me to psalm 119:71-’It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees’. We cannot know to what degree Covid-19 is entirely a natural evil, or if there might be some force of supernatural evil at work too, in the origin or propagation of the virus.

Reports on the environment where the virus possibly originated, potentially alluded to some elements of spiritual darkness. The message of Holy Week is surely that suffering features in the plan and purpose of God.

We cannot know, who will be disabled or die, as a result of Covid-19. Some may have an illness which is trivial, or even asymptomatic. Many will have a very unpleasant, but not a life threatening illness.

When we read-’One Solitary Life’-we are assured of the powerful supernatural impact of Jesus Christ on history. It puzzles me greatly, how a man of Mr McClinton’s literary and intellectual genius, can fail to see the Cross of Calvary when he studies Isaiah 53.

Might Mr McClinton more surely understand the mind of God, if he started reading the word of God, reverently and regularly? A 1950’s Sunday school bible of my mother’s opened my eyes to the truth. Millions upon millions of people have had this same experience.

The gospel is sometimes described as the anvil which has worn out many hammers. Scepticism and atheism are eminently curable, when we slow down our lives and study the Bible.

In the stillness and sadness of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, God may be gifting some of us an opportunity to do exactly this.

James Hardy, Belfast BT5