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COVID-19 and God!
COVID-19 has been deeply traumatic for humanity. It has led to economic setbacks, and social interactions have almost ended. In some unfortunate cases, they do not even allow the family members of those who die from complications to bid goodbye to their loved ones. Given this, it is natural for people to be aggrieved at God for the misery. But let us step back a moment and look at the position that existed in March 2020, when people and governments all over the world woke up in real earnest to this deadly menace. Do you remember the dire predictions of that time? Prominent scientists and virologists predicted that hundreds of millions of people would suffer, and the death toll would be staggering. They said that it would swamp the health systems of even rich countries; poorer countries had nothing but deeply gloomy outlooks. Many people have lost their lives, but somehow, the world seems to be getting back on its feet as we take stock of the situation in November 2020. By some miracle, the poorer countries have far fewer death ratios than many rich countries. The health systems in all countries have a far better grip on treating those affected. Even in the economic scenario, there are signs of a rebound. We are not out of the woods yet, far from it, but the situation is less bleak than it was just a few months ago. So, instead of blaming God for doing nothing, surely we should give him credit for this impressive turnaround? Before blaming God, another question - how did the virus originate? There is plenty of controversy with this, and it generates heated debates. Some say it jumped from animal wet-markets to humans and others say that evil people created it in a lab for biological warfare. Because of world politics, it may never be possible to find the reason for its origin. Yet, the world accepts that the virus originated due to man’s unnatural activities; the debate now is whether the spread of the virus was intentional or not. We cannot blame God for this; the fault lies squarely with humans. A further question - is COVID-19 the leading cause of death worldwide in 2020? Far from it. This is the list of the top causes of death till November; the figures are in millions - coronary artery disease (8.5), stroke (5.2), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (2.7), lower respiratory tract infection, not including those caused by COVID-19 (1.8), Alzheimer and other dementia (1.8), lung cancer (1.5), diabetes mellitus (1.4), road accidents (1.2)... COVID-19 figures at number 15 on this list with 0.8 million deaths. All these deaths are painful, both for the patients and their dear ones. Yet, do we blame God for the deaths caused because of diabetes or road accidents? Let us explore another aspect of this question - unnatural death. Be clear that no death is ‘unnatural’ in the spiritual sense. When the time is up, we will have to go - it is as simple as that. Death comes in many guises, and the COVID-19 virus is just one of them. Our deaths are preordained, written on our foreheads, and nothing can change this. Not even God can change the time and manner of our deaths. But, if we are faithful to him, if our conviction in the presence and compassion of God is firm, our deaths will be relatively less painful. If our faith in him is complete, facing death will be no problem at all. We will be cheerful when the time comes. So, it will hardly profit us if we blame God for everything. Death is lying in wait for us; if not COVID-19, it will be something else. Our job as humans is to be prepared to face death.
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HH Raseshwari Devi Ji
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Nov 12, 2020
