Should Christians Mask Up (Again)?

Romans 13 and the Limits of Civil Authority

One of the things you can see, just particularly on Twitter, is you person after person after person saying I refuse to ever wear a mask again. I will not wear a mask and I and I'm largely encouraged by that kind of thing.

But then I do think people need to say hey lord willing I won't.

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People are tired of hearing nothing but doom and despair on the rich of christianity is that salvation is found in christ alone. And any who reject christ therefore forfeit any hope of salvation any hope of heaven.

The issue is that humanity is in sin and the wrath of almighty god.

Is hanging.

Over our head.

They will hear his words. They will not act upon them. And when the floods of divine judgment when the fires of wrath come they will be consumed and they will perish god.

Wrapped himself in flesh Condescended and became a man died on the cross for sin was resurrected on the third day. Has ascended to the right hand of the father where he sits now to make intercession for us.

Jesus is saying there is a group of people who will hear his words They will act upon them and when the floods of divine judgment come in that final day their house will stand.

Welcome to bible bash where we aim to equip the saints for the works of ministry by answering the questions. You're not allowed to ask. We're your host harrison kerrigan pastor tim mullet and today we'll answer the age-old question Should christians mask up again.

Now as we kick this episode off tim, what bible verse do you have for us to read?

All right, romans 13 1 says let every person be subject to the governing authorities. But there is no authority except from god and those that exist have been instituted by god. Therefore whoever resists authorities resists what god has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment.

So you see it says it right there. Mask up bigot.

Mask mask up. So your argument. So your argument is yes, you ought you ought to mask up or you violate or you risk violating romans 13.

I mean, that's what essentially what people are arguing for. Um, so I don't think that's right.

Okay, so you don't think that's right. What why don't you. Why don't you think that? Refusing to mask up at the government's behest.

Uh is a violation of romans 13, it's funny. I mean i've um, you know as i've talked to people about this. It seems like most people they really they don't have a category for the government going beyond their authority in any way possible so almost what they've done is they give the government basically a blank, you know blank check to Come up with any kind of laws that they want to come up with.

And you know there is a certain kind of christian and they commented on plenty of our posts related to this topic in general. But they they essentially say that if the government isn't asking you to sin.

Then you must comply and that's what romans 13 means. So being subject to the governing authorities means that As long as they're not asking you to sin you must do it and that that's basically how their understanding of authority Relationships work in general is that there's basically a blank check for the person who is in authority.

To tell the person under their authority to do basically anything, you know, unless it's a husband unless it's a husband. In which case yeah, he um, you know, it doesn't really work that well in that case for sure.

But yeah, so I mean their understanding is basically just the government has a blank, you know check to tell citizens to do whatever possible and really I mean there is it's very hard to Come up with an absurd scenario that they won't actually You know cave on.

So one of the scenarios i've come up with that I ask people on a regular basis is that if governor if the government mandated taco tuesday. Would you be in sin if you didn't eat tacos? on tuesday. You know every week.

And you know the kind of person who is making this argument. I mean they will be consistent on that and they'll say yes I mean that's um. You'd be in sin if you don't have government mandated taco tuesday.

So they they actually swallow the reductio they go with it, you know, they go with it. But then um, you know, you do have to think about as you're you're talking about a subject like this. You do have to think about what is the purview of government?

What is government ordained by god to actually do? And thinking, you know more broadly in terms of how this subject actually works. God has ordained certain spheres of authority.

Um.

Within the world and within the home, you know, so you have the sphere of government you have a sphere of church the sphere of the family you have um. You know within the family there's authority structures.

You have a husband who's in charge of wife and kids. You have parents who are in charge of children and then you have the sphere of the individual. And so you have to think through some of these things and ask, you know, what?

What responsibilities has god given to each sphere? And then you know with the idea of something that government mandated taco tuesday or something absurd like that what's happening is you have the government who is.

Basically.

Acting in a lawless way, they're basically. Uh usurping the authority of the family and particularly the husband. Um to make those kind of decisions. Which I mean it's most often delegated to the wife anyways.

Because she's someone who is um going to be cooking and everything else if you're in a biblical home for the most part. So what what's happening there is you have different spheres of authority that god has ordained and.

Sometimes they come into conflict and there is like the sphere of the individual sphere of the family sphere of the government sphere of the church and. So then you have to ask well, what is due to the government?

You know, what are their responsibilities in that kind of way. And when you think about something like just. Is it their responsibility? To you know, basically be a nanny state to. Come up with laws that are designed to protect you from self-harm in that way.

Are what they deem to be self-harm?

Then you're really getting into murky territory at that point for sure, you know, and and I don't really believe most people when they say. You know whenever they make these arguments and they say hey as long as the government's not asking you to sin.

You know, you must do it. I don't I don't even believe that they hold true to that. Right because because I mean just look just look back at at what happened in 2020, you know. And the government is mandating churches to shut down.

And most christian most christians just go along with it for like over a year. Right, you know and and I mean there's like legal battles over these things and and the past and pastors getting arrested.

And then other christians are coming along and essentially saying yeah. Yeah serves you right for trying to open your church, you know. So so I just I don't even believe people when they start bringing up.

Oh as long as the government's not asking you to sin like hey, look, here's the deal. They did ask you to sin and you still went along with it, you know, so So I just you know, I I find a hard I find it hard to believe you.

When that's the response that we got from most christians when anyone decided. Hey. You know, we're looking around and this thing doesn't seem nearly as serious as cnn is telling us it is so We're gonna go back to meeting on sunday mornings because that's what god has commanded us to do.

Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a joke when you think about that kind of thing uh, meaning, you know, they they've almost you know, what you have is you have many christians who. They really are ascribing the authority of the government to like god God's authority to the government in that way and they're viewing government and as if they're almost god with no checks and balances whatsoever.

So they'll say hey, you know you should. If as long as the government isn't asking you to sin you should do what they're saying. But then when push comes to shove it actually is a blank, you know check that they're giving to the government.

That almost has no breaks whatsoever. You know, you you would think that A government stepping in and telling a church they're not allowed to meet. That would at least be a bridge too far for the kind of person that we're talking about.

But it didn't seem to be in the last uh case. And in fact, I mean they would gleefully hand you over to be persecuted and killed in that way just as the bible describes and and then they would think that they're doing god a favor as they're actively ensuring your persecution because.

Because what's happening is in these kind of scenarios? They know that god expects something of them that's going to be costly. And then when individuals do stand firm and say hey, you know enough is enough.

No, like we're going to obey god rather than men in those kind of cases. I get shames them and it makes them feel Um, like it like violates their guilty conscience essentially so that's what's happening those kind of scenarios and.

But I mean when you think about what's what's actually happening as it relates to this topic in general you are in a situation where god has delegated to the government certain responsibilities and Predominantly the responsibilities he's delegated to the government is to ensure, you know property rights in that way.

And and really I mean they they're given the task to punish evil and to praise those who do good. And so when you think about you know, their actual purview of the government along these lines I mean most of what they're doing is is Going to be to secure property rights and there has to be some sort of victim for there to be actually some sort of crime.

And so what you have in these kind of scenarios is you have the government who's acting like a parent to you, right? They're overstepping the authority of like the individual overstepping the authority of family so they're basically Taking on way like taking on the responsibility to keep you safe in that way and to come up with laws that There's no victim right?

There's no victim in these kind of laws. They're basically just telling you wear these masks. We know that these masks aren't effective as fauci told us, you know, we we know that they're not um, you know.

We know that wearing a you know cloth Strip over your face is not doing anything whatsoever to You you know stop the spread of a airborne virus in this way I mean, it's like throwing a you know, a bb through a tennis net or something that ridiculous like that I mean like that's the way it works, you know, you can spell things to these.

These claw strips. Um, I mean, I think you know, lissa. Milano was on twitter. Um, You know bragging about her um crocheted mask she was wearing. Which had like obvious Visible holes in it, you know, like it had obvious holes in it.

Like uh with no sense I was like a you know A fishnet mask or something ridiculous like that and she had no sense of self-awareness that this actually is not doing anything whatsoever. You know, so it's just you know, logic is not the strong suit with these kind of individuals.

So but. But I mean, you know you you are and you are in a murky territory here. So I mean essentially what's happening is the government is mandating that people Do a pointless gesture in order to make people feel better.

So that's what you're talking about Do a pointless gesture in order to make people feel better and then that gesture might actually have like safety. You know hazards to it as well um than everything else so You know, it's just it's absurd.

So.

Okay, so it's the so the government's Overstepping their realm of authority that has been given to them by god. Uh the second question I want to talk through and this is something I see brought up a lot when it comes to wearing masks.

Uh, so so let's just put like the government aspect of it aside and just you know. Like hey when i'm considering for myself should I wear a mask or not? Something a lot of people bring up is like hey.

You know if you want to love your neighbor you need to you need to mask up. For you know for their safety or you know, whatever it is. So so what what's your response to that kind of? Assertion that that masking up is a form of loving your neighbor.

Well, you know it isn't about that because I mean like what we're talking about in these kind of scenarios is that Any facial covering will do? So it doesn't even matter like what kind of facial covering that you're wearing at this point as long as it Gives people the impression that you're taking this thing seriously.

And so you think about what actually happened during this, you know Plandemic or whatever. I mean when you think about what actually happened like you're in scenarios and you're in situations where You're walking into restaurants wearing a facial covering for 10 steps.

And then you're sitting down at the table And able to take your facial covering off as you're sitting down on the table with a group of people who are sitting You know within six feet of you, right? And so I mean you think about this like there's I don't see what's the what's the problem there?

There is nothing logical in these moments, you know, and then if you know if I mean you can look at the studies that are done on this kind of stuff and they prove They basically show that that these are not effective.

You know fauci knew that these are not effective which is why he told people like in video form not to go Buy all the masks, you know later on he basically told said that he only said that in order to keep people from You know buying up all the you know n95 hospital mask or whatever for the second hospital.

But which which one are we listening to you know, the first lie or the second lie at that point? But I mean like the issue is everyone knows this isn't about safety. Everyone knows it's not about safety because if you can just you know wear a Shirt like a cut-up shirt over your face and make everyone feel good.

Or you can wear you know Like a hospital mask or you know you like It got so absurd at a certain point where russell moore is wearing two masks to show that he is Sufficiently cowed by the government and by everyone else like sufficiently double the virtue double the virtue at that point.

But I mean everyone knows virtue times two.

Simple math equation.

One equals loving your neighbor. Two equals really loving your neighbor. But I mean the issue though is that everyone knows it's a farce. Everyone knows it's a farce. Like all the rules were arbitrary.

They didn't make any sense. They they didn't serve any logical rational reasonable kind of purpose. Like if you know anything about the size of the virus and you know, you know about that in comparison to.

The.

Holes in these masks. Which you can actually smell out of and breathe out of. Right they cut off some airflow but I mean Like look, I mean we had babies and diapers at that point and you change a diaper with a mask on and you can smell.

It you know, so none of this is about the science. None of this is about logic. None of this was about reason. So then if you're asking me is that like well, isn't it loving to your neighbor to put a face diaper on? or something along those lines it's like well, obviously not like Like what you've done is you've redefined love you've turned love like love in that definition means that you lie to people in order to make them feel better, right.

So like this only works in the kind of society where Lying to other people to make them feel better is seen as some kind of virtue like that's what you're talking about. So like you're not talking about something logical or rational or helpful or reasonable all your all this is reduced to is.

You know, basically just showing your pledge of allegiance to the cause that we're all in this together, right? Yeah that we're all trying to do our best to stop the spread and willing to make sacrifices and whatever else.

So if it's not about what you're actually doing, it's this is just a token that you're offering to the mob in order to help them to Know that you care or something, but that's not that isn't like the way biblical love and biblical care actually works.

Like biblical love and biblical care isn't just like making a show of how compassionate you are. Like disconnected from what you're actually doing biblical love and biblical care for someone is going to be to do no harm to them.

Right.

And so this is like, you know wearing a token mask on your face all that's doing is just um, It's just a means of trying to calm down hysterical people you know, I mean it's kind of like um. You know, it's kind of like when you're on the plane and you like the oxygen mask.

Come down in the plane when your plane is about to crash. You could you you put the Oxygen mask on your face. It's like why are you doing this? Like how is that going to help you survive this like plane crash or whatever?

Like what what what is this actually about? You know, it's like well. Yeah, I mean maybe oxygen makes you a little bit like, you know pure oxygen like that. Well, we'll just calm you down make you a little bit loopy.

But I mean if you're gonna crash you're gonna crash right? So this isn't actually doing what is advertising to do but I mean even more so like with something like a mask, it's just like it's this is basically the um societal wide equivalent of your wife asking you if the dress makes her look fat.

And you just saying no, honey, you know I mean, it's just that kind of thing, you know, and I think when you live in a society. This is if you know feminized is what ours is like that actually becomes reasonable to.

People is to light of them in order to make them feel good.

Well, and and I think in general to just that, you know that command to love your neighbor has essentially been hijacked by people by progressive, you know, quote-unquote christians in the same way like You know, you'll have democrats who are saying like hey, this is a threat against this is a threat against democracy insert, you know, whatever thing that we don't like, you know, whether it's like Hey banning abortion is a threat to our democracy or whatever it is.

Loving your neighbor has sort of become this like trump card that you're not allowed to argue with. And just whatever they decide is loving your neighbor. That is what is truly loving your neighbor. And so you must do it or you're you're really not a christian basically.

Or you're a bad christian. Yeah, like hey love your neighbor say the pronouns love your neighbor make the cake love your neighbor Allow the abortion love your neighbor put the mask on right and so in some of those.

Yeah, I mean in some of those it's like.

Like actually loving your neighbor Is harming them, right? Mm-hmm, and I think in this case like loving your neighbor is lying to them, right? Like so you're just lying to them. So it may not. Yeah, what is it going to hurt to wear a mask?

Well, all it hurts is you're lying to everyone. Okay. And so there are entailments to that. But anyways, what were you saying?

So.

So I was just sort of saying that as an aside, but then uh, the next question I had was you know, so so if as christians if we.

Uh.

If we're supposed to you know, essentially refuse to mask up.

Um.

What do what do you do when you go out somewhere. And you know you go into a restaurant you go to a store wherever you are. And someone asks you to put a mask on and you say No, no, thanks. Yeah, and you just move on but then they're they're persistent about it.

What do you what do you do? How do you respond in that kind of situation?

Yeah, I mean I would say that with this scenario. My impulse is to not lie to people so I don't want to give them the impression i'm doing something that i'm not now, I mean I can conceive of situations where You're you have a gun put to your head and um, you're Like basically you're you're like this it's easier To talk about this depending on the social consequences of what we're even saying at this point.

Meaning like if you're living in the south or something like that. I mean, I think for the vast majority of the first, you know, quote-unquote pandemic. I didn't wear a mask at all. So for the vast majority of it, I I refuse to stop.

I refuse to play ball you know, I did for a little bit because I hadn't sorted through the Implications of it, you know and possibly I mean, you know, maybe it was sinful cowardice on my part too. So i'm willing to acknowledge that as well, but you know at a certain point it became clear to me what was actually happening and I didn't want to do this anymore and.

You know, so.

In those kind of situations, I I think um. There was little social cost to me in doing that and you know, I can imagine people in different areas of the country where If they don't play ball, they lose their job.

And.

You know lose their ability to provide. Um and everything else and so I don't know that I would want to necessarily say that um in those kind of situations There's like You know fundamentally an act of christian unfaithfulness to ever, you know Be forced against your will to do something stupid or something like that or do something irrational um so You know, I think in those kind of scenarios I I do have a category for You know the thug holding a gun to your head and saying, you know do this pointless thing or else i'm going to shoot.

And you say okay. All right. Well, here's my wallet right at that point um, you know, I I I'm only doing this because you're threatening me. But I will do it because you're threatening me and I want to make it known that that's what's happening In those kind of cases.

So I mean I do have a category for that kind of thing and um. You know, I do know that in certain areas of the country it could be easier than other areas of the country to you know, actually, um. Like meaning there might not be any cost to it.

But at the same time, you know What needs to happen is that you need courage in population in general and the more that people are unwilling to play ball. Um. The more that you know, god will reward that and you know, maybe we could push back against the zeitgeist along those lines.

But I mean at the very least I think everyone should be able to have a category for saying you know, i'm not going to lie to you and i'm not going to live in fear and I'm not going to pretend and i'm not just going to you know, do these things.

You know give this pinch of incest in since to caesar at this point and I mean I think particularly as it relates to You know areas that you actually have control over. I mean, you don't have to I mean We have curbside delivery for most of our grocery stores.

So, I mean I think there's a lot of situations where you can Get it taken care of, you know without having to wear your mask without having to go into the store. You don't have to go to restaurants. You don't have to be entertained and I think you know for a lot of What happened in my own personal experience like not wearing a mask in a lot of places.

What I found is that when people turned me away, I just got turned away. I didn't care, you know. So that's fine. All right. Well, you're gonna make a big deal about it. I'm, just gonna go elsewhere. I don't want to you're not gonna get my money then.

So tell your boss that you know, so I think like particularly when it comes to like You know that option. I mean, there's no excuse for it in optional areas in that way. Now, I mean maybe if it's like hey your whole entire livelihood depends upon it and there's nowhere you can get a job.

Unless you do it like maybe you need to be thinking like hard about moving at that point relocating and everything else but um, you know, I do have I essentially I do have a Category for them holding holding a gun to your head so to speak but I think particularly in areas where It's optional Get out of there or don't do it.

Private Employers, Dress Codes, and the Difference from Government Coercion

So do. Do employers have a right to tell you to wear a mask? Because because you know, I mean we would you know, we would say like It's it's a pretty regular thing for an employer to say like hey, this is the dress code.

We expect you to follow while you work here, so.

Um.

Would masks. Fall under that. Because they're you know, they're paying you for your time um an effort. Uh, or is it is it a similar argument to the government? Yeah, I would think that a private employer has it, you know.

Um.

They certainly have the ability to ask you to wear certain uniforms with the expectation that you will wear it. And if you want this this voluntary form of them.

Um of.

Employee, I if you want this like voluntary form of employment. You know, you're not actually a slave to them in that way. Then I would say that they're in stronger footing than the government is like in that way I don't think it's like right for them to.

You know, I don't think it's right for them to ask you to do that if that makes sense but then you know certainly you have to you certainly like that's. Hey, i'm gonna pay you to wear this costume and you need to wear it, you know, if you want to get paid, right?

So whether or not it's like a just honorable good thing that they're asking you to do, you know I don't think that they're asking. Um. Like I think in of itself if you isolate the mask that you're wearing from any extraneous meaning whatsoever.

Like you understand what i'm saying? Like if you can just isolate it as they're just asking you to wear a costume period the end like certainly. Okay. Yeah, I mean that like certain forms of employment require that kind of thing.

Now if you're asking for like the grounding behind it, is that a good grounding for them to ask you to do? Well, no, but I mean like, you know objectively it's not sinful to Wear a costume so to speak right?

So if you got employed by a actor studio to wear a ninja mask or something like that. You certainly wouldn't be in sin by you know Wearing the costume that they're asking you to do and because like you're you're you know an at-will employee.

Then you have to follow the rules if you want to get the job. And so their job is requiring this ridiculous stupid mask. And you know, you're gonna have to think very hard like yeah. Hey like Do I want to get paid or not?

And if you know, there's nowhere I can go where they're going to pay me. They're going to pay me without me wearing this ridiculous pointless costume. Then you have to think about it along those lines, but I think yeah, that would be More within their rights as an employer.

And you know than a government would have at that point and so you have to deal with it along those lines. So I do think at that point you're asking as a condition of my Employment that required me to wear a ridiculous costume that doesn't do anything.

And it's like well, okay, I guess so then right? Um, so I think you're in a difficult. I think you're definitely in a difficult spot there for sure.

When Compliance, Protest, and Gospel Witness Intersect

So is the answer Yes, you should wear it or or no, you shouldn't.

Well, I don't know that it's a yes, you should or no, you shouldn't as much as it's if you want to get paid you have.

To.

You know wear this Costume they're asking you. You I mean you do have a responsibility to provide for your family at that point. So, you know, you might like this might be a good opportunity right now before it happens again for people to shuffle themselves over to places where um, you know like florida for instance where They've already preemptively passed legislation that will prevent them from having to do that kind of thing, you know.

So that may be an impulse for people along those lines to do that very thing. So but yeah, I think definitely I don't think it's a should or shouldn't as much as it's um. If you want to get paid then that may be a hoop you have to jump through to get paid basically.

Okay, you know if that makes sense, you know that or move, you know, and I and I think I would you know I think the best thing that people could do though is like, um You know be pushing their legislators to make laws like florida's making along those lines.

So for christians who are who are refusing to wear masks. What would the what would be? The better response in your mind. To just outright say you walk into. You know a restaurant or something they they say hey, we need you to put a mask on.

Is the better response to say no, I won't do that.

Um or.

Or is it to? Say, okay, and then you put on a mask that you've cut holes into. For your mouth and nose. As a sign of mockery towards the whole idea of masking up which one would be a better uh response.

I I think I think to the extent to which you you um. You can avoid. I mean I think that to the extent to which you can avoid those kind of scenarios is probably better. Like in general meaning like it would be better.

Particularly if you're going to a restaurant or something like that just to say hey, no, thanks, you know I'll go to somewhere that doesn't require me to put this stupid thing on my face. I think that would be a better scenario now.

I mean if you're just forced, um. If you're forced to play ball or something like that. Um.

Then.

I mean, I I think the protest kind of mask might be um I mean at the very least it'd be funny, you know, uh, but then.

It would be funny, yeah.

I mean, I think to the extent to which you can make it very clear to everyone around you that this is a joke. And you know that this is a joke. You know as much as you could push that as possible. I think you probably should you know.

So I would so but maybe don't cut the hole out for your mouth and nose.

I think it I think it'd be better probably to like have like, um the black mesh in there, you know. That's like a big mouth shaped nose shaped black mesh or something that um. That could just you know point to the fact that it's a joke or even you know I mean, maybe even wear one of the whole wing mask or something like that.

Um.

Oh, oh, how could I how could I ever forget. And then you put on like a scream mask or something a jason mask.

I mean, I I think to the extent to which you can. Make it very clear that you are in a scenario like when you can't escape. You're in a scenario that you um like that is going to involve you having to um.

Give the impression that you're deceiving people, you know that you're a hypochondriac person that when you're actually not I think the best thing you can do is to try to push against that for sure. And make it very clear that this is just like obviously this is um.

You're being forced to do something against your will here. But you wouldn't want to send the wrong message, you know.

Fear of Death, the Gospel, and Courage for a Second Round

On a slightly more serious note, don't you think that uh. As you know as christians Being asked to put a mask on Would be a good opportunity to share the gospel with someone. Meaning meaning, um. You know, like hey you walk you walk into the restaurant.

The lady says hey you need to put a mask on. Uh, is that an is that a good opportunity to talk to someone and say like hey, why are you know? Why are you so scared of this thing?

Like.

What what's moving? I mean because it seems like the uh, I mean, I maybe that's kind of hard because there's some i'm sure there's plenty of people especially depending on where you live. Who are who are just asking people to put a mask on because they've been told by a boss that that's what they need to do.