You might recognize the title from a verse in Hebrews chapter 10:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Hebrews 10:25 (KJV)
I have been told by several friends that this government “social distancing” mandate — meaning groups of more than 20 or so have been banned in many places to prevent the spread of the coronavirus — is a form of religious persecution, in that obeying the mandates would be tantamount to disobeying God (specifically the scripture cited above), and thus would be sin and therefore wrong. Some churches have definitely disobeyed the government mandates, and held services anyway. Other people (including friends of mine) have left their churches specifically because of the perceived compromise of the church leaders in bowing down to these “ungodly” rules.
I have touched on this subject in a previous post, but I believe it deserves more careful scrutiny both because of the seriousness of the disease/pandemic and the responses to the governmental authority that I see happening.
So, first of all, what is the scope of the governmental mandate? Based on well-known epidemiological guidelines (that is, what has worked in the past to curb widespread epidemics), it is a good thing for people not to congregate, in order to curb the spread of a contagious disease. That would seem to be common sense: why should I risk spreading disease myself, or of contracting a disease from someone else if I could avoid it? It could be argued (and I’m not going to do it) that some measures have been a draconian overreaction. And there have been cases where governments didn’t exact harsh lockdowns, but used other means to achieve “social distancing” to reduce and even eliminate the disease (cf. Australia, South Korea, and others). It is way above my pay grade to judge the various different approaches taken, or to weigh the effectiveness vs. severity. I suspect that cultural and demographic differences could play a major role in determining what kind of policy would be the most effective in a given area. But again, that is far beyond my expertise.
So, in most parts of the world, church services are “large” gatherings of 20 or more people, and so largely have been banned, frowned upon, discouraged, or otherwise curtailed during this time. Most churches have been complicit with this, but a few have not, and within churches that are complying, there are individuals and groups within those churches that feel this is not right, and have taken drastic steps to show their disagreement. These people tend to be very vocal in their disagreement. And there are groups within non-compliant churches that have stayed away nonetheless out of concern for their own or others’ health. I haven’t heard as much from these folks, for whatever reason.
Now, also banned have been sports events (think NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, FIFA, etc., etc.) As have music concerts, plays, weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs, even City Council meetings, TED talks, you name it. The mandate, as far as I can tell, is agnostic, being equally applied to gatherings of all kinds, and any purpose.
So, how can we put this into perspective? How does this Hebrews 10 scripture apply? Should my church be holding services anyway? Is it obeying God to defy the governmental orders? Or is it foolishness to put people’s lives at risk unnecessarily? Are we overreacting??? (Well, I said I wasn’t going to argue that point, but maybe we can discuss it a little bit.)
In response I want to look a little bit more at the context in Hebrews chapter 10 to try to get a sense of the reason for this commandment, and what that might imply in the current atmosphere. Of course, the letter to the Hebrews was written almost 2,000 years ago. Times were certainly different. Human nature hasn’t changed (much, maybe gotten worse) since then, but a lot of other things have changed. But according to the general principles of Bible interpretation I think we have to start from the premise that the scripture still applies (somehow) no matter the time or season (remember, God doesn’t change).
Earlier in Hebrews 10 the writer challenges us to draw close to God through our Great High Priest, Jesus, who has made a different kind of sacrifice than the ones mandated by the Jewish religion, namely a one-time sacrifice of Himself, that has put an end to sin, and every other sacrifice for it, and opened the way for anyone who wants to draw near to God in faith in that atonement. Whew!
This discussion goes from verses 1 to 23. Then in verse 24 we are told to consider how to provoke one another to love and good works because of our Great High Priest, and to facilitate that by not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.
So, my understanding of what Jesus has done gives me the ability to worship God in spirit and in truth anywhere and anytime I want. There is no need of set times or places to do that. So, in a sense the idea of “assembling together” at a set time and place (Sunday morning, or Saturday morning if you’re Adventist or Messianic Jew, and the local church/synagogue/school gymnasium) is not at all mandated by the Scripture. Or am I missing something? The assembling together was to be a natural thing, the outgrowth of our love for one another, and not a law to be written in stone, and punishable by death. The custom of the early church was that they gathered together pretty much every day (see Acts 2:46) and in various places (the temple, their homes) because they were so eager to hear the preaching and teaching, and to fellowship with each other, and with God. Hey, Paul met with the women in Philippi down by the river bank (Acts 16:13) and had a prayer / praise meeting in the jail (Acts 16:25).
So, what does “assembling together” mean? And how does it apply to church services being canceled in the year 2020? For me, I think, the key is Hebrews 10:24 to “provoke unto love and to good works”. For a first-century Christian, the only good way to provoke another was to go meet with him or her. There was no telephone, television, radio, or internet with which to communicate. Mail would have been expensive, slow, and out of reach for many. So, in order to have meaningful conversations, exhorting one another, and encouraging one another, you had to come together in some kind of meeting, or assembly. And if you were not doing that, you were missing out on a vital part of the Christian life, that is, fellowship, and frankly disobeying the command to exhort or provoke one another.
So, is this necessary physical gathering together still strictly necessary in order to obey the commandment? Well, let me ask a few questions. If you are in church, on Sunday morning, but “checked out” thinking about the Super Bowl, or the World Series, or the World Cup, are you “assembling together to provoke to good works”? Or let’s say you are sick and in the hospital or at home, but dialed into a live stream of the service, are you not assembled together because you are not in the same room? Or you faithfully attend every service, but never talk to anyone, never say more than a few words of greeting at the door, and disagree with most of what the preacher says, are you assembled together with the saints? Or what about this: you attend once in a while, preach sometimes because you know your Bible, and, of course, loudly correct others who aren’t acting according to your interpretation of the Bible; are you assembling together when you do come?
Jesus Himself said that where two or three are “gathered together” in His Name, He is there (Matthew 18:20). At the end of the Old Testament, God says through the prophet that He remembers those who fear the Lord and think upon His name (Malachi 3:16). These are the ones He calls His own…. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were proud of the fact that they obeyed all the commandments, even to praying on the street corners to show their devotion, attending every service, making every sacrifice, making sure the tassels on their garments were the correct length, tithing down to 1/10 of the mint leaves…. But Jesus was not impressed.
I have been terribly saddened by several events during this pandemic, that I think are factual (but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong). One of the most serious outbreaks, I am told, came in South Korea from a woman who had traveled, been infected with the virus, but without knowing it, then went to a large church service, and thereby infected hundreds of others there. I heard of a church in the U. S. A. whose pastor openly defied the orders and held a large service anyway. He died of COVID-19. Many others were sickened and many died as well.
Were these people really loving their neighbors? I suppose for ignorance, one could definitely be excused…. But, how tragic…. “Obeying the commandment” to assemble together caused much illness and death. Is this what God wants for His children?? Would you as a parent want this for your children?? What kind of god are we portraying here?
I have been in a church where if you missed one meeting, even if you were sick, it was pretty suspicious behavior, and almost worthy of public censure. Or if you were 10 minutes late to music practice, you had grievously sinned. And I have heard close friends say that not meeting together at church services on Sunday morning was tantamount to compromise and idolatry, presumably putting the government above God. And, of course, for Adventists, meeting any time other than Saturday morning was also compromise, going against God’s will….
See a trend?
I think all these things are a serious misunderstanding of both the Scripture and the heart and power of God (cf. Matthew 22:29 for another example). Which is why I have taken to writing this post: I fear for my friends; I fear for those who heed them. I fear that in their zeal to be correct they “strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:24). And in their passion for orthodoxy they miss the real intent (the “heart”) of the law, and fall prey to conspiracy theories, to misunderstanding and misinterpretation of other kinds, and lose love in the process; effectively nullifying the Word of God by their traditions (Matthew 15:6).
What is that serious misunderstanding? The problem to me isn’t that someone or some group has a different understanding than I have, but that we tend to take our differences and “weaponize” them against each other; making our opinions and understandings into reasons for separation and division in the name of God. And in doing so, we are trading the spirit of the law for the letter of the law; trading genuine love for religious correctness; trading authenticity for orthodoxy; trading our Abba Father for a religion.
The friend I mentioned earlier who has left our church because we are not meeting at this time (in person, we are meeting via internet streaming), is also one who was noticeably absent from church earlier this year for long stretches. Sometimes for family or sporting events; sometimes because they didn’t feel well. I tried not to judge, but was concerned, nonetheless. But now, all of a sudden, “we must not forsake assembling together”, and because YOU guys are I’m going to take my assembling somewhere else….
Does that sound like “provoking to love and good works”? Or simply promoting division and dissension, and distracting from what we really need now, which is more of Jesus, more love, more encouragement, more patience and gentleness, more perseverance…
I left off fellowship with churches that I was deeply involved with, not once, not twice, but three times, and a fourth time we were told to leave quite strongly. So, I am no stranger to such a scenario. Every time it was a blow; every time I felt both wrong and wronged, in greater or lesser measure. Every time I have questioned my salvation, my sincerity, the sincerity of others, even my sanity. I have questioned God, have questioned His Word, or my interpretation of it, or others’ interpretations. Even the apostle Paul had a sharp disagreement with his close friend Barnabas over the young John Mark (Acts 15:39), and they separated. Jesus is no stranger to dispute, to dissension, and to division. But His heart was and is for unity, for oneness of heart (John 17:21). And the reason? “that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”. So, in a larger sense, apart from the personal angst of separation and division, is the sorrow of God over a people who He desperately longs to be one, continuing to be divided, and thereby losing the opportunity to really evangelize a lost and dying world.
Can we EVER get over ourselves and get into Jesus? Can we have His heart for others? Can we see past our superficial reading of the Scriptures and find out what His real intent is? Can we ever get to the unity He desires and stop squabbling over non-essentials? Can we ever see past the distractions of this world and into the world beyond?
Thanks for reading!