NAZARENES’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS CORONAVIRUS

Based on a teaching by Avdiel Ben Oved

We do not want to ignore the current situation that we are going through globally, distress, anxiety, confusion etc. On the contrary we want to convey a message of encouragement, comfort and most of all, an understanding of reality.

First, if we go to the root of the matter we must understand that we can control these feelings of distress, anxiety, fear, confusion.
If we analyse the matter at its root, human beings are used to having a more or less clear idea about the future. When this is not the case, we enter in a state of anxiety and worry. We can control these feelings. How? By applying a principle that the Messiah taught us

Matthew 6:34 [Living Oracles New Testament]
34 Be not then anxious about the morrow: the morrow will be anxious about itself. Sufficient for every day is its own trouble.

Everyday has its own difficulties so let us not worry about tomorrow rather let us get used to dealing with the daily troubles. We have enough with the troubles of today.

Of course, to have the ability to do this we have to create a conscience, a capacity to deal with the present reality. This exercise awakens total trust, total faith. If you have not done this, it is not too late, you can look at every aspect of the Eternal’s creation and know that there is SOMEONE who is in control of everything that is happening. This total and complete confidence in the fact that there is a Creator who is in control of everything can be achieved through a daily exercise.
This does not mean that we will be happy with everything happening around us.

Do we know how this is going to end? We do not. Nobody does.

So, knowing that someone is in control of everything awakens total faith but now this is the question Are you connected to Him? Are you connected to the source of existence?

Matthew 7:9-11 
9 “Or is there a man among you who, if his son asks for bread, shall give him a stone? 
10 “Or if he asks for a fish, shall he give him a snake? 1  “If you then, being wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in the heavens give what is good to those who ask Him!

Are you a son/daughter to the Father? Or are you expecting blessings from the Eternal but you are not behaving as son/daughter of His? How is your life before our Creator?
If we know our Creator and we know, daily that He is in control, what is there to worry about? Faith in the Eternal is the answer to difficult situations.

In religious circles, the tendency is to look for a cause or causes for the present events. There is talk that the Corona virus is the result of immorality and that we stand before the end of the world.
The world does not have an end as represented or described by the world’s religions rather it goes through transitions of eras. A cycle ends and another one begins, this is what human beings have experienced though the ages.
In modern ‘Kabbalistic’ circles, groups that consider themselves as Kabbalistic but that have nothing to do with the Torah which is the source of kabbala,  a message of positivism is prevalent. It is a message of  ‘everything will be alright’.
And at first glance everything is nice and positive but it does not go beyond being a logical positivism. 
Humanity has looked up to the heavens in past calamities but when it is over, it repeats its mistakes once again. In the face of disasters, man is conscious of his vulnerability and that he is exposed to destruction but as soon as the danger passes he repeats his errors.
In difficult moments he asks himself, Who am I? What am I living for? But then he goes back to his mistakes.
The problem lies in the reaction of each and every one of us before a disaster.  Positivism says “Hakol le tova” everything is for good, of course everything is for good, if there is a Creator and is this good for everybody or is it for those who are conscious of a reality? Everything happens for good but we must not be naive in the face of ‘cheap positivism’.

The present world is not very different, in essence, from the ancient world.
The control of the population in general by the great Empires of the past is now in the hands of the elite. We are not saying that the virus was created by the elite, this is not known. What we are saying is that man is taking advantage of this situation, not only the elite but in every level of society. Those who have greater economic power are taking advantage and so are those in the lower levels of economic power. The truth is man has not changed,  not everyone changes, and not everyone takes the opportunity to reflect or meditate on the present events.

For example, in some countries, the banks are taking advantage of those who have taken out a loan to buy a property and are finding ways to repossess these properties. Those who have taken out loans are allowed to ‘not pay’ their monthly dues for three months but the reality is that as soon as you miss one payment your loan automatically enters the status of  ‘delinquent’ and after those three months you are required to pay all three in one go. So this is the question, Is the banking elite going through a humanitarian reformation? It is not! It is taking advantage of the situation for their own benefit.

Now going to a lower level, the everyday people that have to pay the rent are not doing so because some governments have decreed that it is against the law to expel people from their properties. So some people do not pay the rent because they know they will not be expelled. People from all walks of life, the rich and the poor, are taking advantage of the present chaotic situation.

Where are the human beings that are changing? Where are the human beings that are looking after the welfare of their fellowmen? Some are doing good but , in general, that is not so. And this is not something new. If we look at history the same thing has happened through the ages.

Nazarenes at this time must not be naive, we have to be alert. The Messiah tells us

Matthew 10 :16
16 Therefore be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

This combination must always be present in us. “Innocent as doves” because everything is under control but at same time we should not be naive and expect that the world around us will change simply because it is going through a chaotic situation. Man, as historical evidence has shown, has a selfish attitude.

So, should we lose hope in man? No! Not everyone is the same. Paul tells us

Romans 8:10
8  And we know that all matters work together for good to those who love Elohim{the Eternal}, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Not as the ‘cheap positivism’ of today says ‘all works for the good’
No. All works for the good for those who love the Eternal. In other words, for everything that is happening to work for the good, there is a condition, we must do the Divine Will of the Eternal.
So let us concentrate. Let us not be naive in the face of this reality and think that man, starting tomorrow, will be different, good and that the system will change. This is not going to happen. Let us not be naive rather
LET OUR FULL TRUST BE IN THE ETERNAL AND LIVE A LIFE ACCORDING TO HIS DIVINE WILL.

 

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture verses are taken from The Scriptures
Copyright by Institute for Scripture Research.
Used by permission.

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