A believer’s conscience represents his or her understanding of God’s will and Word, and what he or she believes to be right or wrong based upon their understanding of God’s Word.  To go against the conscience then, is to willingly do what you believe to be sinful.  Therefore, to go against one’s conscience is to sin against God (Romans 14:14, 23).

Vaccine mandates are real. As a Pastor, I’ve had too many conversations with faithful church members facing perhaps the biggest decisions of their lifetime.  God promises to give wisdom to those who ask (James 1:5).  I’ve been asking.  I’ve been encouraging those faithful church members to ask as well.  I’ve also been going to the Scriptures, a faithful storeroom of God’s wisdom for answers to help the brethren God has called me to serve.

Of course, I have also been speaking to faithful Pastors I trust and reading up on the latest offerings from faithful Pastors I trust, but do not know personally.  That pursuit has opened my eyes to a troubling reality.  In short, politicians pushing the mandates have been appealing to the Christian virtue of love to convince hesitant Christians to get vaccinated and shockingly, many of the so-called leading evangelicals of our day have been carrying their eisegetical water.

It recalls perhaps the most famous question of the mid—80’s: What’s love got to do with it?  The average Baptist church could wallpaper the fellowship hall with the sheer volume of articles written in defense of the mandates reminding Christians they must love others as Jesus taught, and therefore take the jab.  It seems a curious use of the term.  You see, while the Bible does command us to “love thy neighbor”, that command cuts both ways.  Simply stated, I can’t say I love my neighbor while forcing him to sin and truly love him at the same time.  What most people invoking love mean in this discussion is really the opposite of biblical love.

Let me explain.  Consider 1 Corinthians chapter eight.  Paul introduces a solution to a similar problem in Corinth.  The church in Corinth was divided and unloving, with members filled with pride and in conflict with each other. There were two groups of people in this church.  Those who knew food sacrificed to idols could be eaten freely because there is only one true God, and those who knew there was only one true God, but still believed it to be sinful to eat those foods given their prominent place in pagan worship.  One group was pro-food, and one group was anti-food.  One group had a weak conscience, and one group had a strong conscience.  The chapter is about the way Paul responded to the weaker conscience of those who believed it to be sinful to eat food sacrificed to idols.  This is where we should be going to learn how to love one another in the face of sharp, personal, and meaningful disagreements like we face today.

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