The Acts of Men Vs. The Acts of God
(Part II of II)
In the first of two parts blog post titled “The Acts of Men Versus (Vs.) The Acts of God,” based upon my rational thinking and scientific evaluation and explanation, I concluded by stating that COVID-19 is the “Acts of Men” rather than the “Acts of God.”
It is a known fact that human beings failed to contain the spread of COVID-19 at its source or origin, and now this deadly disease has spread across six continents, leaving people with illness and in financial ruin.
In December 2019, when the virus outbreak surfaced for the first time, Wuhan, China’s health officials believed it started at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. Even Shi Zhengli, head of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), agreed that “the Huanan seafood market may just be a crowded location where a cluster of early novel coronavirus patients was found.”
In early February 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that “it no longer uses the pandemic category, but the virus is still an emergency.” Moreover, WHO also noted that it did not use previously applied six stages classification to describe the process by which a novel influenza virus moves from the first few infections in humans through to a pandemic.
As per the WHO, a novel influenza virus moves through the following 6 phases to become a pandemic:
- Phase I: Animal to animal infection only;
- Phase II: Animal to human infection;
- Phase III: Sporadic or clustered case in human (no outbreaks);
- Phase IV: Community outbreaks;
- Phase V: Outbreaks in 2 countries in 1 WHO region; and
- Phase VI: Outbreaks in another WHO region.
Based on the WHO’s information, an initial stage of the virus is at Phase I; however, at Phase II, human beings could have stopped the spread (i.e., epidemic), but failed to do so. It’s ironic that humans can tame a wild animal but could not control a virus, which is thousands of times smaller than a mote of dust. Now it is apparent that the human acts of failures led to this pandemic crisis.
No doubt, this virus has humiliated and humbled the most powerful political, business, and religious leaders, including the celebrities, wealthy, and famous scientists in the world.
Undoubtedly, the pandemic crisis has brought each one of us to our knees, pleading for help from the Creator.
Surprisingly, over 6 billion people in 97 seconds are searching for COVID-19 information online.
Furthermore, over 2 billion people in 53 seconds for a phrase, an “act of men,” and over 1 billion people in 48 seconds for the words an “act of God” are online searching when writing this paragraph. Besides, according to my research, over 3 billion people online in less than 70 seconds searched for the word “God.”
As we know, in the secular world, some people are not concerned with religion. However, my quick online search indicated that over 9 million people in less than 47 seconds are searching for the phrase “I don’t believe in god,” which is less in search number than the phrase an “act of God.” Why is an act of God’s words in high search figures?
I think, for the most part, an online search for this phrase is business-related. Because business owners need help from God to avoid a civil lawsuit resulting from the breach of a contract, when an unexpected event delays or prevents one party from upholding their end of the deal with a clause known as “force majeure,” often referred to as an “act of God.”
Surprisingly, companies affected by COVID-19 are searching for the word “God” in contract terms to minimize their financial losses as the pandemic forces closures and cancellations and fails productivity in many industries. In other words, during this pandemic crisis, God is being recognized in contracts for help, even though, in my opinion, the cause and source of the virus are human beings.
For instance, the American Bar Association (ABA) stated that “coronavirus-related real estate litigators are getting often today is whether force majeure (“superior force”) or “Act of God ” clauses justify the suspension of performance of their duties under contracts.”
Moreover, ABA also stated that “most courts required the party claiming force majeure to show that the event was not foreseeable and directly caused the failure to meet its contractual obligations.”
As we can see, “foreseeability,” which means to see or know beforehand, is a significant factor and whether it is possible or impossible to perform the contract’s terms. In this context, as I indicated above, WHO knew that an infectious disease then is known as SARS-CoV-2, and now known as COVID-19 was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China is a deadly virus but failed to take immediate actions to avoid the spread.
I believe, even though the cause of COVID-19 is an “Act of Men,” but an “Act of God” through His grace saved us in this deadly crisis. In other words, the COVID-19 pandemic in my religious belief and faith context seemed not the “Acts of God,” but rather “Act of Grace,” based upon the “Holy Bible,” life experiences, an act of faith, and comprehension of human behavior, and basic needs, respectively.
In his recent article titled “Coronavirus: Is it an act of God?” published in the Jerusalem Post, Raymond Apple stated that “Disasters have attacked human beings and nations – not least the Jewish people – throughout history. They tend to come in two forms: natural and moral. He says moral disasters are hard to cope with, but at least we know that they are the result of human beings wrongly using their free will to harm other people and themselves.”
Throughout human history, there have been several pandemic diseases such as the Black Death (a.k.a. The Plague), which killed approximately 75-200 million people in the 14th century. Furthermore, six generations of people born from the Depression Era (i.e., 1912-1921) through recent Generation Z (i.e., 1996-2010) have witnessed and survived during the epidemics crises in their lifetimes.
At this juncture, one can recall the 20th century’s three striking worldwide pandemic outbreaks known as the Spanish (1918), Asian (1957), and Hong Kong (1968) influenza, which occurred and claimed millions of lives.
Now I am old enough to understand one of the worst pandemics in my lifetime, known as “The 1961-1975 cholera pandemic,” also known as “The seventh cholera pandemic.”
I witnessed as a young boy people dying like flies during the “Pandemic,” while my father Rev. N. Mark and mother Subhadramma as a country preacher couple serving our Lord in a village known as Bheemanahalli in Yadagiri Methodist District in Karnataka State, India.
In the early 1960s, in Bheemanahalli village, families infected with the seventh cholera pandemic. People would come to our parsonage to get treatable medicine from my father, who on his horseback used to ride approximately 39 miles (i.e., 25.5 kilometers) one-way distance through a thick forest, faced with all kinds of wild animals and risked his life to get medicines from the Holston Hospital (i.e., Methodist Hospital) in Yadagiri, where I was born.
Sadly this well-known hospital is closed in recent years, which is the “Acts of Men!”
Those days in this and surrounding villages had no health clinics, telephones, paved roads, automobiles or electricity, and a quick transportation system to manage any health crises in the remote areas. For sick people living in remote regions like Bheemanahalli village, Holston Hospital was one of the primary medical treatment sources.
A voluntary service, during this pandemic crisis, my father was requested and guided by the Holston Hospital medical professionals under the supervision of the Methodist Church District Superintendent (DS) to provide medicines to virus-infected people in this village.
During each trip, as my father brought medicines on his horseback from the Holston Hospital, sick people waiting in line would come to meet him in our parsonage’s veranda for free medication. As a young boy, I was not aware of the pandemic crises; however, my mother kept me inside locked doors to avoid meeting with my father.
Since my father’s daily routine was meeting the sick people, and my mother kept him in a separate room and treated him like a leper, she and I would not contact him. I remember those days my father neither had proper personal protective equipment (PPE) nor sanitization fluids, other than regular bar soap to wash and protect himself.
As a hyper child filled with curiosities, sneakily, I used to peek in through locked and any cracked doors or windows to see what my father was doing with people on the veranda. A couple of times, I glimpsed my father through the slightly open screened windows as sick people vomiting on his body and dying in front of him.
Even I watched through windows, dead bodies piled up and carried in bullock carts for mass burials. My mother would drag and keep me in both locked doors and windows to avoid these deadly scenes. As a young boy, surviving during a deadly pandemic crisis was a sobering experience for me.
However, I fully understand my mother’s common sense and knowledge supporting my father and parenting her children during these crises, such as the Plague or cholera pandemic. It was the first “quarantine” in my life, and she saved our lives.
Yes, my memories of the cholera pandemic are still vivid and disturbing and often make me think about how my parents did their services during the worst pandemic crises, which I witnessed as a young boy.
Undoubtedly, they set an excellent example as believers in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. I know they believed that “For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s (Romans 14:8 NKJV).” My reminiscences of their services in remote areas during the pandemic crisis are always mindful of others’ needs.
From childhood to this day, I have witnessed notable outbreaks such as cholera, influenza, typhus, measles, tuberculosis, leprosy, malaria, yellow fever, and HIDS, respectively. Moreover, I have seen how great Christian missionaries and country preachers like my parents provided services during these crises and saved thousands of lives.
Now when I look back and think about previous pandemic crises and survivors, including our family, there is no doubt in mind that it was an “act of faith” and “God’s grace” that saved us!
In the secular world, human beings have a hard time grasping any disasters or pandemic crises. Even religious people, most of the time when faced with crises such as pandemic or disaster either doubtful or contemplate, whether it is an act of God or an act of men? However, based upon my life experience, observation, scientific evaluation, faith, and belief, I provided the reasons in Part I of this post as to why COVID-19 is the Acts of men rather than the Acts of God.
In Part I, I stated that our reminiscence of the day driving through a rainbow during the COVID-19 pandemic crises reminded us of God’s sign of the covenant. That is, “I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth (Gen. 9:13 NKJV).” It shows God’s act of love towards humankind, despite our sinful nature. As we know that “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD (Gen. 6:8 KJV).”
Yes, in my opinion, the “Acts of God” are His “Act of Grace” for all of us. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8 NKJV).”
I think the Christian faith, based upon the “Holy Bible (or Book),” leads one to the belief that “eternal life and death” is in God’s hand. Moreover, according to the “Holy Book,” His promise of blessings is bestowed to us who fear, obey and worship Him. As per the same Book, His retribution for those who disobey Him (or Word) clearly stated. In other words, His promise of blessing and retribution are two options, if you will, left for us to choose.
Based upon the Holy Book, the “Acts of God” in the context of pandemic crises could be either God’s discipline, punishment, or both for the wrongful “Acts of Men” in His sight.
For instance, to discipline and punish God plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife (Genesis 12:17 NKJV). As we know in this situation what Abram, Sarai, and Pharaoh did (i.e., “Acts of Men”), how God disciplined all of them for the wrongful acts (i.e., “Acts of God”).
Similarly, there are 10 plagues related to Pharaoh, namely 1st Waters Become Blood (Ex. 7:14), 2nd Frogs (Ex. 8:1), 3rd Lice (Ex. 8:16), 4th Flies (Ex. 8:20), 5th Livestock Diseased (Ex. 9:1), 6th Boils (Ex. 9:8), 7th Hail (Ex. 9:13), 8th Locusts (Ex. 10:1), 9th Darkness (Ex. 10:21), and 10th Death of the Firstborn (Ex. 12:29), respectively. The reasons and solutions for these crises are clearly stated in the “Holy Bible.”
In short, according to my short research, I noticed in the Bible a total of 109 plagues (KJV), 19 storms (NKJV), 17 earthquakes (NKJV), 48 pestilences (KJV), 86 afflictions (KJV), 64 diseases (NIV), and 197 wraths (KJV) related to God’s (94) blessings (NIV) for (206) obedience (NIV) and (64) retribution (NIV) respectively, as a result of human beings disobediences (i.e., Acts of Men).
In these natural and moral crises, how one can faithfully respond and act is a testing ground, if you will, for one’s faith in God of the Bible. For instance, Job says, “He would crush me with a storm and multiply my wounds for no reason. He would not let me catch my breath but would overwhelm me with misery (Job 9:17-18 NIV).”
We know that God speaks to Job out of the “storm,” and finally, his three (3) friends also listen to the Lord, and God restored Job’s fortune and gave him twice as much as he had before.
When faced with the storm, Jesus Christ said to His disciple, “where is your faith (Lk. 8:25 KJV)?” Yes, this faith has been handed down to us by our forefathers; let us pass it on to our children and grandchildren.
Yes, the “Acts of God” and an “Act of Faith” go hand-in-hand. Let us focus on “Faith” rather than on the storms of life crises. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8 NKJV).
Yes, God of the Bible is a loving One, and His “Act of Grace” has saved us; otherwise, by-this-time His wrath would have wiped us away with all kinds of deadly storms and plagues. “But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath (Jer. 10:10 NIV).
Yes, believers have a life, not wrath, because “he who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:36 NKJV).” We know that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28 NKJV).”
Finally, in my opinion, let there be any crises in our lives, for believers, our motto should be as stated in the Holy Bible, that is, “For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s (Romans 14:8 NKJV).”
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned (Rom. 5:12NKJV),” which is the “Acts of Men.”
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved John 3: 16-17 NKJV),” which is the “Acts of God.”
“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:17 NKJV),” which is the “Act of Grace.”
However, I think an “Act of Faith” is required for all of us to know the “Acts of God.”
Shalom!
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