Perhaps the most astonishing thing about the past two years for me has been the many actions that are direct echoes of the not-so-distant past, human rights abuses that we swore we’d never repeat.
For example, here in Canada, thousands of people have lost their jobs for refusing an experimental medical injection. Some of them were fired, or were forced to vaccinate a second time to keep their job, even after suffering serious harm from the first injection. Many of them worked entirely from home and never met with coworkers or clients.
Those who remain injection-free are hated by society. This hatred emanates from the very top, from our Prime Minister who called the unvaccinated “extremists, misogynists and racists” who “don’t believe in science”, who are “taking up space”, and posed the question, “do we tolerate these people?” The echoes of genocidal rhetoric are unmistakable.
The unvaccinated in Canada cannot board a commercial plane or train. They cannot leave the country, with limited exceptions. Until recently, they could not eat in restaurants or work out in gyms, which is still the case in BC. Although Ontario lifted its vax pass requirements, businesses can still choose to enforce it. Quebec mulled a special “health tax” for the unvaccinated, before thankfully scrapping it. New Brunswick was set to allow grocery stores to refuse entry to unvaccinated customers, before public outcry forced them to also scrap that.
It is now not only socially acceptable but mandated by the government that a certain sector of society be segregated from the rest, discriminated against, and fired. In case you think a body called something like the Ontario Human Rights Commission could help you with this, think again: they don’t think the unvaccinated should be protected from human rights abuses.
How can that be, you think? Haven’t things like this happened before? Didn’t we condemn them and swear never to repeat them? And yet, here we are again.
In the most recent moral panic, the Russia-Ukraine war, people of Russian heritage are being cancelled and fired, even if they have condemned the Russian invasion. This has uncomfortable echoes of Japanese-Canadian citizens having their properties seized and being sent to internment camps during World War II. We publicly apologized for that injustice and recompensed the victims, yet here we are doing something very similar. As the saying goes, history may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme.
Why is this? We are used to sayings like “the right side of history” with the implication that history is an inevitable forward march of progress. You frequently see comments online about how much better things are now than the dark days of the past with their racism, misogyny, homophobia, etc. And yet, the same people who condemn historical injustices are the ones clamoring for discrimination and hatred against the new classes of “untouchables”, the unvaccinated or Russians.
For Christians, this fact actually shouldn’t be surprising. We have solid theological bases for understanding what is happening. The reason these evils repeat themselves is that their source isn’t “the past”, and the mere passing of time is not their remedy. History itself is not some kind of force for moral progress.
These evils repeat because their source is the human heart. Human nature has not changed; it is still rooted and steeped in sin, and thus we fall into the same traps of our ancestors, despite vowing not to repeat them.
And he [Jesus] called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” ….And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matthew 15:10, 15-20)
We do evil because we are evil. The root of our actions is within us, and what is within us emanates outside of us. No external force such as the passing of time can amend the human heart and make it good. Only God can do that, through the transforming power of his Holy Spirit in a heart which has recognized its own evil, sincerely repented of it, and trusted in him for salvation, forgiveness, and change.
We can’t do this on our own. A little attempted moral reform is like trying to put out a raging brushfire with a cup of water. The power has to come from outside of us, from the One who is good himself. This is a humbling but liberating fact.
This not a one-time event when someone turns to God, but an ongoing necessity due to the reality of remaining sin in our lives. The life of a Christian is a continual one of repentance, as Martin Luther said. This is a reality I’ve dealt with many times in my life and likely will many times more. Although I’ve been a Christian for nearly twenty years, I am certainly not invulnerable to temptation.
Western nations such as Canada were great because they were founded in a recognition of God and his law. We, however, have departed from God and any public acknowledgement of him, and as a result, are slipping into moral decadence. Without an external, higher standard, what is “good” and “evil” becomes what humans define them as. Given the darkness and evil of the human heart, these definitions don’t fit reality and thus we end up with destructive public policies and human rights abuses.
What’s the answer? Only the redeeming power of God and the cleansing of the Holy Spirit through the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That’s all that can really change a human heart. I am encouraged by the many people who are seeing that, and recognizing that dusty old Christianity might actually be more relevant than they’d thought. Even if not 100% of society becomes believers, a turning back to the principles that our nation was founded on will do us all good. We are seeing the frightening fruits of our rejection of God’s ways.
Thank you so much for your faith and clear expression of it. May God bless you.
Thank you for this. Perhaps this is the awakening that has been needed for so long Since I realized I ONLY have God after most if not all of my comfortable biases were blown to hell last summer, I have a remarkable peace and renewed faith and comfort in putting ALL into God’s loving hands. I feel certain of His promised protection for me and my family. Never felt this calm in my life. Plus a strength I thought impossible for me from me but it isn’t from me. 🙏🏻🙏🏻