Bible, Vaccine and Christians

By James Kalong

1. In the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation, there is no reference to “vaccine” of any sort, literally or metaphorically.
2.  
3. The reference to 666 or “the number of the beast” in Revelation 13:18 has nothing to do with vaccine. The use of 666 in Revelation is an ancient practice of gematria for coded numbers which is accurately deciphered as “Nero Caesar” to refer to the cruel Roman emperor Nero who lived in the first century AD. The author of the book of Revelation was equating Nero with a ferocious mythical beast because of his extreme cruelty, and hence, “the number of the beast” which is “the number of a man,” namely, Nero. Nero is long dead—two millennia ago, so his power of cruelty died with him 2000 years ago and has no effect today. So any reference to Covid-19 pandemic and prophecies against vaccinations in the Book of Revelation is totally unfounded. 666 is not the number of a vaccine!Equating 666 with Covid-19 vaccine is unbiblical.
4.  
5. Be weary of the many doomsday false prophets and pseudo soothsayers around us, which is biblical (Matt 7:15; 24:24; 2 Pet 2:1; 1 John 4:1)! God in His own time used prophets to communicate His Word to humanity. But with the sending of His incarnate Son Jesus to this world and to us humanity, God has reached out and spoken to us directly through His Son so we do not need another “intermediary or a prophesier” other than Jesus Christ. If our salvation is affected by a vaccine or an injection, the sacrificial death of Jesus for us on the cross is rendered useless. In other words, Christ died for nothing! For we have been saved by grace through faith—it is a gift from God, God’s gift of His Son for us on the cross (Ephesians 2:8).
6.  
7. God’s grand wisdom endowed upon humanity has enabled many scientific inventions, discoveries, and technologies to develop good things for human sustenance, and one such amazing thing is medical sciences. If a simple Stopache tablet can give us relief from headache and a tetanus injection can protect a wound from getting septic, vaccine enables our human body to boost our immunity as well as protect us from infections of particular diseases at any given time.
8.  
9. Vaccine has eradicated polio in India. Smallpox has been eradicated from the world because of vaccination. Covid-19 vaccine has been developed and tested for months and administered now to curb the pandemic and also for safety for us all just like many other vaccines that have so far prevented humanity from numerous other diseases and illnesses. Most children are apparently not getting infected by the Covid-19 because these days most of them are adequately vaccinated for many other forms of diseases and their immunity is apparently working very effectively.
10.  
11. Reliable medical data shows that those who are hospitalized and are severely ill, or those who die of Covid-19 are mostly those who have not been vaccinated. Those who have taken both doses of the vaccine rarely get sick, hospitalized, or die of Covid-19.
12.  
13. People who hardly read, who are not well informed about the Bible, and who are ignorant about current affairs and scientific advancements, they are easily wont to rumours, myths and prophecies. These people are easily brainwashed and emotionally manipulated by half-baked preachers and fake prophesiers who have no other job but to go around invoking fear psychosis among the people on all kinds of matters. People whose faith in God is shallow and who are biblically misinformed are usually the ones who believe on these kinds of preachers and prophesiers and not on God. Such people of superficial faith are the ones who are usually against taking the vaccine.
14.  
15. Christian faith is a faith of hope, not fear. So also, medical science effectuates hope to bring healing through various forms of treatments and medications. Many good doctors, nurses, and medical practitioners are committed Christians, both in their lives and in their professions, and their touch in our bodies gives us hope for healing. We trust them, we trust their treatments and we trust the medications they prescribe and provide for us. So also, the Covid-19 vaccine is a prescription from the medical fraternity bringing us hope to be safe from this deadly pandemic.
16.  
17. As Christians, it is our personal responsibility to be safe, and as well, we must practice responsibility towards our neighbors (family, friends, colleagues, shopkeepers and many more whom we encounter in our daily intersections of life) to keep them protected and safe.
18.  
19. The vaccine is safe and it will keep each one of us safe and our communities safe. Get the vaccine shot to save yourself and save humanity towards a safe world.

The writer is a senior faculty member at Oriental Theological Seminary, Bade, Dimapur, Nagaland