{"id":3906,"date":"2020-10-29T12:45:15","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T11:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/?page_id=3906"},"modified":"2022-06-14T22:56:35","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T20:56:35","slug":"anti-vaxxers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/faq\/anti-vaxxers\/","title":{"rendered":"Christians are Anti-Vaxxers!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"iframe-container\">\r\n<iframe id=\"lbry-iframe\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/odysee.com\/$\/embed\/silly-christian-religious-people-are-all\/0ca6375eef21faacd222b7948e28cf23ef8615f2?r=FAzZWLEo32juNUAVjqRF1DHjcgsjYzoH\" allowfullscreen frameBorder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p>I have heard this accusation\r\non the internet and it kind of intrigued\r\nme. This video is going to be a little\r\nlonger than normal because I want to be a bit more precise in my\r\nexplanation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Am I Anti-Vaxx?<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>Am I an Anti-Vaxxer? Are Christians per definition Anti-Vaxx? For\r\nme personally I can answer this with a \u2018no\u2019. As Evangelical\r\nmissionary I would say that I belong to the more conservative groups\r\nwithin Christianity.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>My Approach<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>Still, when we as a family moved abroad, we did\r\ntake some vaccinations. We had some good\r\ntalks with the Dutch health services about what they thought what was\r\nneeded for our specific country. They were very helpful in providing\r\na list. We went through all the recommendations and determined that\r\nwe didn\u2019t need some of them.\r\nOn example was typhoid\r\nfever, not to be\r\nconfused with Typhus. We found that, if\r\nyou\u2019re in good\r\nhealth, this infection can be overcome rather easily.\r\nEven, when the infection lingers on, we can\r\ntreat it with a good antibiotic. The vaccination for typhoid gives\r\nsome protection with an efficacy of about\r\n55\u201372%. We decided to get a natural\r\nresistance by slowly introducing us to local eating and drinking\r\nhabits. Most locals in our area don\u2019t even realise that this\r\ndecease is around. After a while working and living among them we had\r\na blood test. Antibodies were found in two of our family member\u2019s\r\nsamples. The human body is amazing!<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Biblical Stance on Health<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>So, why did I go through all the hassle of\r\nreading about vaccines? Surely, I had better things to do with my\r\ntime, right? That\u2019s\r\nwere you\u2019re\r\nwrong! God has given us our bodies as a precious gift. 1 Corinthians\r\n6:19-20 says the following: <i>\u201cDo\r\nyou not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is\r\nin you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you\r\nwere bought at a price. Therefore, honour God with your bodies.\u201d<\/i>\r\nThis means that we are to\r\ntake care of our body ourselves. Despite the growing opinion in the\r\nWest, that we are responsible for the health of others, many\r\nChristians firmly believe that\r\nthey are first and foremost responsible for their own health. Yes, I\r\nagree that we need to try to help others if they want to, but only if\r\nthey want to. So, as soon as someone gives me some advice about my\r\nhealth, I have the task to check whether I really believe this advice\r\nto be valuable. \r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>God also gave us our minds. I\r\nwould even want to go a step further. I believe that Christians\r\nshould excel when it comes to rational decision-making.\r\n2 Timothy 1:7 <i>\u201cFor God hath not given us the spirit of\r\nfear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.\u201d<\/i>\r\nThis means that we should always examine the pros and cons. It\r\nis no secret that a good deal of medicine, certain treatments or\r\nvaccines, all have their downsides. The question than\r\nis whether the pros are\r\noutweighing the cons.\r\nWhen I for example, examine\r\nthe pros of being vaccinated against hepatitis B, I might\r\ncome to the conclusion that\r\nthe pros\r\noutweigh\r\nthe cons. And while I am\r\nsaying this, I know others would want to shout to me not to take it!\r\nWhich is perfectly fine, but in the end it is my own responsibility.\r\nIn the same way I would like to tell someone not to eat that big\r\nfatty hamburger with too\r\nmuch mayonnaise. That\u2019s all I can do. I can not grab that person,\r\nand force him or her to throw\r\naway this delicious hamburger\r\n(which it is\u2026 I mean I love\r\nhamburgers with too\r\nmuch of everything. I just don\u2019t eat them that often).<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Non-Religious Anti-Vaxxers<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>Now,\r\nlet\u2019s go back to the main topic. Are Christians Anti-Vaxx?\r\nWell, it might be true that religious groups\r\nuse to be\r\nmore anti than non-religious groups. However, over to past years\r\nwe\u2019ve seen a big change when it comes to which groups are critical\r\nabout vaccinations. A few\r\nmonths ago I met an old friend. He is a convinced atheist and a very\r\nzealous Anti-Vaxxer.\r\nI was surprised about all his arguments. Obviously, he did not use\r\nthe typical\r\nChristian arguments but mostly scientific and moral objections.\r\nMy old friend is not alone in\r\nhis ideas. Some\r\nwould like you to believe that the group of Anti-Vaxxers\r\nis biggest in the USA, and despite public shaming of Anti-Vaxxers,\r\nthe anti-vaccine movement remains fairly strong in America. Yet, it\r\nhas nothing on the Anti-Vaxxers\r\nin France, a country where over 40 percent of its citizens believe\r\nvaccines are unsafe\r\n\r\n<a href=\"#sdendnote1\"><b><sup>i<\/sup><\/b><\/a>\r\nFrance was followed by Bosnia &amp; Herzegovina (36%), Russia (28%),\r\nand Mongolia (27%.) Greece, Japan and Ukraine all had 25%. Still,\r\nmany would like to blame religion.\r\nBut it\r\nis a bit of a stretch, to say it mildly, to assume that all these\r\npeople are religious. And it is interesting to see that\r\nphilosophical, non-religious exemptions in America&#8217;s anti-vaccine\r\nleader, California, outnumber religious exemptions 100 to 1.<a href=\"#sdendnote2\"><b><sup>ii<\/sup><\/b><\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Biblical Commands Against Vaccines<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>I will\r\nnot go into all the Bible verses that Christians use to justify their\r\nstance against vaccines. These texts vary from not being allowed to\r\nmingled unrelated matter as mentioned in Leviticus 19:19 and Luke\r\n13:1-5, to the all the verses\r\nabout having to trust the\r\nLord in everything. It will\r\njust take too\r\nmuch time to look whether these texts stand or not. The truth of the\r\nmatter is that most Anti-Vaxxers don\u2019t even base their opinion\r\nsolely on the Bible. Most sceptics have done their homework and based\r\non that knowledge they decide. I\r\nbelieve this is the way forward when you say you\u2019re a Christian.\r\nYou use your brain! You use your God given responsibility when it\r\ncomes to your own health and that of your family. It\r\nis up to parents to care for their children&#8217;s welfare, according to 1\r\nTimothy 5:8 parents have every right legally and by religious beliefs\r\nto make decisions on behalf of their children, and not the state or\r\nan\r\nindividual doctor or any other person for that matter.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Love You Neighbour<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>Now for the last thing to think about. A Christian ought to hold\r\nto the Golden Rule: Love Your neighbour as you love yourself.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Anti-Vaxxers will have heard this often enough. They are not\r\nloving, since they are not working with others to create herd\r\nimmunity, which is needed to protect the community. \r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>People will quickly say this to be a non-issue because vaccinated\r\npeople will not get sick\u2026 They are immune right? Well, yes and no.\r\nSomeone who is vaccinated ought to be better protected than people\r\nwho did not receive the vaccination. At least that is the theory.\r\nWhether this is always the case is a whole different debate.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>However, the problem is more for those who can&#8217;t get vaccinated\r\nbecause their immune system is weak and vaccines might make them\r\nsick. This includes people with vaccine allergies, and anyone with an\r\nimmune-suppressing disease like HIV or cancer.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Who is responsible for whose health?<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>But with this argument we\u2019ve returned to the biggest question.\r\nWho is responsible for whose health? As a child I did not receive all\r\nthe vaccinations children receive nowadays. That meant that when I\r\nbecame sick, my mother called the school and told them that she would\r\nkeep me home. Most of the time a child was not the only one. It came\r\nwith waves. They stayed home for a while which made sure that some\r\nweaker children were more or less protected against a\r\nmassive-infection. In the end they became sick as well but mostly\r\nmore graduate than the others. Sometimes, the parents of the\r\nvulnerable children decided to keep their child home to protect it\r\nagainst the first massive wave that was coming. These cases were\r\nrare. I can only remember one child in my class. He had a heart\r\ncondition, and he had an overall weak physique. Mostly, health is a\r\nmatter of common sense of every individual. It has always been normal\r\nto tell people you\u2019re not coming to their party because you feel\r\nsick. Likewise, you would tell someone that you do not greet with a\r\nkiss because you\u2019re having a cold.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>We can not demand others to undergo a certain treatment because we\r\nwant to feel safe. The only time we, as society, do that, is when\r\nsomeone is a real physical threat to us or the world. A knife\r\nwielding person does not belong on the street, right?<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Finally<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>You see that this topic is not nearly as clear cut as others. One\r\nthing is for sure: The Anti-Vaxx movement is not only religious\r\ndriven. Many others are sceptical about vaccines. \r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>A very important thing for Christians however, is that a Christian\r\nshould always live life in honour of God. In doing so, a Christian\r\nmight decide to get vaccinated or at least get partly vaccinated.\r\nBut, it can also be that others say they honour God by putting all\r\ntheir trust in Him and refuse the vaccinations. In both cases we are\r\ncalled to be one in Him who gave all on the cross, so we can be\r\nsaved. Even though Christians might disagree on whether they should\r\nbe vaccinated, they may argue among each other, and they might think\r\nthey have all the data on their side. One thing they should never\r\nforget: Christ died for all and in doing so we, as Christians, should\r\ntrust that one day all these signs of living in a fallen world will\r\nbe in the past. \r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Revelation 21:4 <i>\u201cHe will wipe every tear from their\r\neyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for\r\nthe old order of things has passed away.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>This is God\u2019s promise to those who put their trust in His Son\r\nJesus Christ. I sure hope you will be there with me!<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><br><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>\r\n<a id=\"sdendnote1\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/ebiom\/article\/PIIS2352-3964(16)30398-X\/fulltext\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/ebiom\/article\/PIIS2352-3964(16)30398-X\/fulltext<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<a id=\"sdendnote2\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencemag.org\/news\/2016\/09\/france-most-skeptical-country-about-vaccine-safety\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.sciencemag.org\/news\/2016\/09\/france-most-skeptical-country-about-vaccine-safety<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have heard this accusation on the internet and it kind of intrigued me. This video is going to be a little longer than normal because I want to be a bit more precise in my explanation. Am I Anti-Vaxx? Am I an Anti-Vaxxer? Are Christians per definition Anti-Vaxx? For me personally I can answer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3908,"parent":1086,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[225,308],"tags":[264,262,258,265,267,263],"folder":[98],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3906"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3906\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3906"},{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=3906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}