In the latter months of 2019, they have reported an increase in the number of cases of a new virus that causes a disease called COVID-19 in Wuhan China and has been able to spread in almost all the continents in less than three months. Also, it has had a great impact on both social life and it is slow down the global economy. The treatment for such viruses has not yet been found but precaution has been put into place to reduce the increase in the number of cases around the world. Different worldviews have tried to come along with different solutions based on their various beliefs which might help address the pandemic.
The word worldview refers to the different set of beliefs that help in the understanding and interpretation of the world and ourselves. It includes the naturalistic worldview which excludes God from the creation of the world and believes that science can give a solution to any problem; and the Christian worldview, on the other hands, believes in God as being the creator of both mankind and the world and therefore, we believe that he can solve anything because he is powerful. In this essay, we are going to analyze both the naturalistic and Christian worldview through Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcy’s framework to answer the following questions: who are we and where do we come from, what has gone wrong with the world and how do we solve it and that will give us an approach of how both worldviews can address the current pandemic.
In a naturalistic worldview, they believe that everything can be known and explained through nature and the natural world can be experienced through the 5 senses. They do not rely on supernatural beings which they believe is based on ignorance and hence, exclude God from being the creator of both the world and mankind. Thus, the creation of the universe can be explained through the big bang theory which states that the universe started as a tiny point which later expanded and exploded. It also states that mankind was not created by God, but he went through gradual changes which then evolved into more complex organisms, and that at each step of his evolution new characteristics emerged. In other words, values and belief are not acquired but they come as an outcome of the internal bio-chemical and hormonal changes and processes in our natural state of being which explains why a human being can reason and think unlike animals and hence, make the human mind superior compared to other creations.
However, mankind’s evolutionary development is believed to have been proceeded faster than his behavior changes could adapt and that explains mankind’s lack of knowledge and/or ignorance which is believed as being the major problem of this worldview and hence, causes poverty, crimes, diseases wars and so forth. Therefore, they believed that the gap can be filled through the gain of knowledge/education, more technology, medical research education, development of science, and so forth.
As explained aloof, the naturalistic worldview can, therefore, address the pandemic through the help of science and technology. For instance, sanitizers which have been put into place to minimize the spread of the virus. In China, robotics technology has been put into place which is mainly used in hospitals to prepare meals since social distance has to be observed between the patient and the waiters to prevent the spread of the virus and some of the patients were being treated by robots and hence, prevent the spreading. Besides, research has shown that scientists are still working on the cure but in the meantime, people are encouraged to follow the instructions which encourage them to stay home, wash their hands or sanitize, wear a mask and observe the social distance.
On the other hand, the Christian worldview also referred to as the biblical worldview believes that God is the creator of both the universe and mankind based on Genesis 1&2. Human being is created in God’s image and thus, gives them the personality of God. In other words, if God is good, so is mankind, God has absolute freedom and so is mankind because he gave us the freedom to choose. Therefore, everything is subjected to God and has to find the purpose and the meaning in him this means that God has created everything for a purpose. In Genesis, we see the purpose that God had given to mankind which refers to the cultural commission. In other words, God blessed them and told them to multiply and rule over his creation.
However, the freedom that was given to mankind was later abused and that led to a break in God’s relationship with mankind but also mankind’s relationship with others as with himself as shown in Genesis 3. In other words, despite the instruction that they were given which was not to eat the forbidden fruit, they ended up eating and that is when sin started from. The word sin refers to anything that departs us from the moral imperative which is determined by God. Because of our sins, things such as diseases, wars, crimes came into place.
Therefore, we believe in salvation being the solution to sin. Salvation has been given to us through by Jesus-Christ who died and later resurrected for our sins. Through him, our relationship with God was restored because we can pray to him through Jesus our savior; and the same applies to our relationship with others because we seek others’ forgiveness and also give forgiveness thus restoring relationships. Also, the relationship with the creatures was restored as well as the relationship with ourselves. Hence, to have a life, man requires salvation.
Thus, the issue concerning the current pandemic can be solved by God if only we get back to him through prayer because his ability and powerfulness cannot be compared to any creature. To present our request to God, we ought to separate ourselves from sin, repent our sins, and commit our lives to Christ. For instance, during this lockdown, many nations, including Uganda, had organized a day on which believers were encouraged to pray for the country and some countries. Furthermore, as Christians, we believe that this pandemic will come to end because the bible says in Matthew 8:23-26 that Jesus calmed down the waves when there were in the boat together with his disciples. Therefore, in addressing the current pandemic, we are called to stay calm because he will put an end to this if only, we repent and call upon his mercy.
In conclusion, Covid-19 is real and had impacted the whole world. Therefore, all worldviews should come together to fight against the disease which so far, has taken away more than millions of people around the world. Naturalism and Christianity should work hand in hand for this issue because we believe that God has equipped us with the knowledge that researchers can utilize to find the cure through nature on which we are called to rule over. However, we are also encouraged to always seek God’s help because he is the solution.
