Moral Decisions under the Threat of Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Christian Reflection

Moral Decisions under the Threat of Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Christian Reflection

King-tak IP

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has posed an unprecedented threat to humankind in the 21st century. Christians may ask whether COVID-19 is a judgment coming from God upon the sin of humankind and what measures we should take in fighting against it. This essay is an attempt to answer these questions.

The first section introduces a Christian attitude toward illness by appealing to the doctrine of creation, the exemplary ministry of Jesus Christ, and Christian eschatology.

The second section provides an analysis of the factors, both internal and external, that caused the virus spread to become a pandemic.

Before drawing the conclusion, the last section deals with four practical aspects, namely, whether fighting the pandemic is an individual or community effort, what measures need to be taken to contain and mitigate the disease, allocation of scarce resources under the threat of COVID- 19, and the development, effectiveness, global distribution of the vaccine and the problem of mandating vaccination.