For Jesus, assertions of personal rights never even make it to the honorable mention list of priorities. John MacArthur may think the most important thing he and his congregation can do in this crisis is assert their doctrinal beliefs and legal rights - but that’s not what his Lord and Savior says. And it is, ‘Love others as much as you love yourself.’ All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40 CEV). The second most important commandment is like this one. This is the first and most important commandment. When Jesus, the “author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2 KJV), was asked by a religious legal expert what was the greatest of all God’s commandments, Jesus answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. If mask-wearing prohibited anyone from being faithful to Christ, MacArthur’s pastors and elders might have a valid point - but masks, along with other reasonable precautions to stop this virus, are actually all about being faithful to Christ’s commands. MacArthur, along with the church’s pastors and elders, defended their decision in a statement, saying that civil leaders “have exceeded their legitimate jurisdiction” and asserting that “faithfulness to Christ prohibits us from observing the restrictions they want to impose on our corporate worship services.” John MacArthur, one of several California evangelical megachurch pastors who have defied the state’s ordinances restricting religious gatherings, led an indoor service on July 26 the church’s livestream showed congregants sitting close together and very few people wearing masks. Why, then, do certain people, including conservative Christians, object to masks or outright refuse to wear them? Research data show masks significantly reduce aerosolized saliva that emits from a person while speaking, coughing, or sneezing - and keep those droplets from carrying the virus to someone else. Consequently, 200 of his parishioners and church staff were ordered to quarantine for two weeks. Leading up to that fateful morning, the pastor had expressed skepticism about restrictions related to the pandemic and had appeared in public without a mask. A white pastor I know was recently hospitalized with COVID-19, but not until after he had served communion to his mostly African American congregation - a population that has suffered more severely from the disease due to ongoing racial disparities in U.S.
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