Get Involved

Receive the Newsletter

Enjoying our resources? Receive our monthly newsletter and more from BioLogos, tailored to your interests!

Join Now

Donate to BioLogos!

BioLogos relies on grassroots donors like you to help sustain our mission. Make a donation today, or contact donorsupport@biologos.org with donation related questions.

Give Now


BioLogos Voices is a speakers bureau featuring top scholars and communicators in the BioLogos community. Book a speaker for your next event!

Learn More
See All Events


Join the online community! We welcome you to be a part of the growing group of people who are seeing science as the study of God’s creation while upholding the authority of the Bible!

Join Now
About BioLogos

About Us

Our Mission
Our History
What We Believe
Annual Reports
Endorsements


What We Do

Conferences & Events
Speakers Bureau
Language of God Podcast
Insights Video Series
INTEGRATE Curriculum
BioLogos.org Resources


Our Team

Staff
Board of Directors
Advisory Council
Francis Collins
Careers

ForumsGive
https://biologos.org/series/should-christians-take-the-vaccine/resources/should-christians-trust-the-vaccine-when-the-system-is-flawed
Browse Common Questions

Biblical Interpretation

How should we interpret the Genesis flood account?

How long are the days of Genesis 1?

How should we interpret the Bible?

See All
Christianity & Science

What is Evolutionary Creation?

Should Christians get vaccinated?

Should We Trust Science?

Are science and Christianity at war?

See All
Scientific Evidence

What does the fossil record show?

What is the genetic evidence for human evolution?

Does the Cambrian Explosion pose a challenge to evolution?

See All
God's Relationship to Creation

Why should Christians care for creation?

What do “fine-tuning” and the “multiverse” say about God?

What created God?

See All
Human Origins

Did death occur before the Fall?

How could humans have evolved and still be in the “Image of God”?

Were Adam and Eve historical figures?

See All
Explore Faith & Science Resources

Get Started

Use the links below to browse content carefully curated for BioLogos beginners.

Common Questions
Insights Videos
Language of God Podcast
Integrate Curriculum
Resource Centers
Impact Stories
Recommended Books


Featured People
Francis CollinsFrancis Collins
Katharine HayhoeKatharine Hayhoe
N.T. WrightN.T. Wright
Deborah HaarsmaDeborah Haarsma
Praveen SethupathyPraveen Sethupathy

Resource Centers

K-12 Educators
Pastors
Youth Ministry
Campus Ministry
Small Groups


Explore All Topics

Bible
Science
Theology & Philosophy
Church & Culture
Views on Creation


By Type

Common Questions
Articles
Series
Videos
Podcast Episodes
Audio
Books
Impact Stories

What are you looking for?

  • Forums
  • Give

 
Part 7 of 9 in Should Christians Take The Vaccine?
Video

Should Christians trust the vaccine when the system is flawed?

Featuring Curtis Chang 
On March 10, 2021
  • COVID-19
  • Medicine & Bioethics

Before You Read ...

Dear reader,

A new poll shows that for young adults in particular, belief in God is plummeting. From research, we know a primary driver behind a loss of faith among young people is the church’s rejection of science. To put it bluntly: Young people aren’t leaving the faith because of science, they’re leaving because they’ve been told to choose between science and God. That’s why BioLogos exists—to show that science and faith can work hand-in-hand. And although the challenge is clearly daunting, our work is having an impact!

As a nonprofit, we rely on the generosity of grassroots donors like you to reach those who are being told, “It’s God or evolution!” or “It’s God or vaccines!” or “It’s God or science!” In this urgent moment, we need your help to continue to produce resources such as this.

Give Now

Why give to BioLogos?

If you’re new to BioLogos, we encourage you to learn more about our work and the impact of your gift, and watch our video below. Your gift to BioLogos is tax-deductible!


This content was provided courtesy ChristiansAndTheVaccine.com, a project of Redeeming Babel. For more information, visit ChristiansAndTheVaccine.com.

Anyone living in the world cannot avoid the reality that many of our systems are broken. The George Floyd murder revealed systemic racism in police departments; the sex abuse scandals of the Catholic Church exposed deep flaws in that institution; the election and other crises revealed how fragile our national political institutions are. I could go on and on.

Now as the COVID vaccine program gets underway, we are already seeing a string of delays, snafus, poor planning, and other flaws in the various agencies involved. These system level flaws risk causing some people to doubt getting vaccinated for themselves.

How do we respond as Christians?

My name is Curtis Chang, and welcome to Redeeming Babel, where our mission is to provide Biblical thinking in a confusing world. In this video, I want to propose that the Christian response to systemic problems in the world should look very different than the world’s standard responses. In particular, we Christians have an opportunity with the COVID vaccine to embody a response that points the world to Jesus.

What is at stake

Let’s start with what it means when we say “a system is broken.” Really, what we are saying is that the institutions that make up a system are flawed. The Biblical language for this flawed condition is “sin.”

As Christians, we actually are equipped by the Bible to expect that sin affects all human institutions. Human institutions are well, human. And the Bible teaches us that sin affects all of humanity. So, it is not just that all individuals that are sinful; all institutions are as well. For Christians, institutional sin should be an expected reality.

We should also expect that the world will offer three standard responses to institutional sin. None of them will be fully satisfying. And this is where as Christians, if we can think Biblically about the issue, we have an opportunity to offer to the world a Jesus shaped response.

The world’s responses

I believe the world offers three standard responses to institutional sin, which can be summarized as Isolate, Ignore, and Insist.

Interestingly, all three of these responses are grabbed by both the political Left and the political Right in a haphazard fashion, and in ways that ultimately reveal these standard responses as unsatisfying.

Let’s start with the first option: Isolate

Isolate

The Isolate response is to focus on removing any contact with institutional sin. No association is allowed. With the COVID vaccines, the Isolate response can take a number of forms. If the institutions involved end up making the vaccination process confusing, frustrating, or feel unfair, some people may just decide, “I don’t want to have anything to do with that mess.” In particular, Black Americans and Pro-life Christians may isolate themselves from the vaccination program out of fear that such government programs are tainted with a past connection to racism or abortion.

This Isolate response is tempting not just with the COVID vaccine. It’s tempting on most any issue, and is grabbed at by both the political Left and the Right.

On the political Left, a prime example of the Isolate response is the “cancel culture” that is especially powerful in higher education. In “cancel culture,” there is the tendency to expel anyone that has even a taint of racism or sexism. Any suspected individual or institution faces the threat of being immediately cut off from acceptability. On the political Right, historically the Isolate response gets focused on abortion. In this vein, it is never acceptable to vote for anyone that is Pro-Choice. There must be no political association whatsoever.

The Isolate response is tempting for anyone. We naturally want to keep our hands clean. But the problem with this response to institutional sin is that it is impossible for anyone to maintain pure moral quarantine in any consistent fashion.

Let me give you a personal illustration. I’m a Chinese American Christian living in California. As a pro-life Christian with Chinese heritage, I am grieved at how the Chinese government promotes institutional abortion, even enforcing it on religious minorities.

However, if I trace all the lines of my consumer purchases, I have to admit that I am actually supporting the Chinese regime. Right now, I’m wearing multiple clothing items made in China. As you’re watching this video, you are probably using electronic components made in China. All of those purchases ultimately sent some money into the coffers of the Chinese government. It would be incredibly difficult – practically impossible – for me or for you to stop buying any product made in China.

This is just one example of the larger point: we cannot isolate ourselves from institutional sin. We’re fooling ourselves if we think we’re keeping ourselves pure of any contact. We’re always touching and even relying on some institution that has a history of sin.

Ignore

So, what then about the second option? If we can’t isolate ourselves from institutional sin, should we then just ignore institutional sin? The Ignore response is where one is willing to participate in flawed institutions – so willing in fact, that one is fine with ignoring its flaws.

With the distribution of the COVID vaccine, the Ignore response could be to just care about getting vaccinated yourself, but ignore if institutional dynamics mean certain racial groups are missing out, or whether the wealthy are getting unfair preferential access.

The temptation to just ignore how others are affected is such a strong human temptation. It is in fact why we are so divided in our country between Left and Right. This is because no one actually can consistently ignore all institutional sin. Some institutional sins affect us more directly and more personally. We don’t ignore those. We just ignore the ones that affect other groups.

This is why, to generalize a bit, Christians on the Left will tend to focus on institutional racism but ignore institutional abortion. And Christians on the Right will focus on institutional abortion but ignore institutional racism. Each then ends up thinking that the other is blind or uncaring.

For a Christian, ignoring sin is just not an option. To ignore sin is to say it doesn’t matter. Which means we are saying to the people affected: you don’t matter. This response is about as far away from Jesus as you can get. And it is dividing our country and our church.

Insist

The third type of response to institutional sin is Insist.

By “Insist,” I am referring to the response that insists “someone must fix this.”

But the key here is that the insistence is that “someone” is “someone else.”

Again, both the Right and Left latch on to this response in their own ways. Take for example the ways that our economic institutions are creating greater and greater levels of income inequality. The classic argument of the Left is that it should be the government that fixes this with redistributive policies. The classic argument of the Right says that it should be the poor people themselves that fixes this by pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps.

Systemic problems like inequality are complex and I don’t presume to have an easy answer myself. My point here is that when people make loud proclamations about something wrong with a system, they rarely place the responsibility on themselves for the problem or the solution.

The next time you hear someone insist loudly on something wrong in the world, pay close attention on where they locate themselves. Far too often, the speaker locates themselves outside the problem and the solution. The Insist mode is all about finger pointing and finger wagging. It’s those people that are the problem, it’s those people that should do something about it.

“Finger pointing and finger wagging” can feel emotionally satisfying at first. But the Biblical understanding of original sin is that that sin ensnares everyone, even the people pointing and wagging. And when that reality becomes exposed, we recoil at the hypocrisy. This is why there was such moral outrage in the pandemic when government leaders insisted on isolation and not seeing family during the holidays, and then we discovered a number of them had done just that. These leaders were locating themselves outside of the problem and the solution: they were wagging their fingers and insisting everyone else must fix it.

The Jesus Response: Incarnation

All three responses – Isolate, Ignore, or Insist – are tempting, but ultimately unsatisfactory responses to institutional sin.

This is why I believe we humans need God. And this is why I so love the God revealed in Jesus. In Jesus, God chose a radically different response to human sin: the response of Incarnation.

God could have chosen to Isolate Himself from humanity and how messed up we are. But in Jesus, God himself came as close into contact with humanity as possible. In Jesus, God took on humanity into his very being: he became human. One can’t get any closer than that.

When God became human, he did not ignore human oppression and injustice. Jesus did not look at the institutional sin of his day – that of the broken Temple system and the oppressive Roman regime – and look at the people being affected, and then shrug, “Well, that doesn’t matter to me. Those people don’t matter to me.” Instead of ignoring, he confronted those institutions so directly that these institutions conspired to crucify him.

Finally, on the cross, Jesus was responding to the problem of original sin by taking responsibility for it himself. He did not wag his fingers at humanity and say, “You all must fix things!” Instead, he stretched out his arms and said, “I will fix all things.” I will fix things by bearing the sin, suffering the sin, and eventually transforming the sin into healing for the world.

The Incarnation was God’s response to all sin, including institutional sin. And the Incarnation sets the pattern for how Jesus followers are to act in the world. How Christians can practice Incarnation in our organizational life is an exciting topic that we will return to over and over again in future videos. In many ways, this topic is at the core of Redeeming Babel’s mission.

Incarnation and the vaccine

But let me close here by inviting you to consider how you can follow Jesus and his model of Incarnation in your engagement with the COVID vaccine rollout.

Perhaps you are someone who is still unsure about the vaccine because you fear it is tainted with some institutional sin – whether that sin is abortion, racism, the government’s tendency towards over-intrusion, or something else. Would you be open to the reality that everything is tainted with some institutional sin, that it is impossible to isolate ourselves?

Perhaps you are someone who always was planning to take the vaccine and have been frustrated with friends and families who are suspicious. Maybe you’re tempted to just pull back into a shell and go into Ignore mode with them. Would you be open to re-engaging them on the question of whether they are open to getting the vaccine. If it helps, you can send them these videos to open the conversation.

Finally, as I’ve said, as hundreds of millions of us do go through the vaccination process, many of us are going to encounter institutional problems. This kind of world wide roll out is incredibly complex and unprecedented. It is going to expose all the ways that our government, health, and institutions are human and fallible.

When that happens, the natural instinct will be to go into Insisting mode. Can we as Christians be people whose first instinct is instead Incarnation mode? Instead of the spirit of finger pointing and wagging, can we be the people who like Jesus, stretch out our arms? Maybe it is stretching out our arms willingly and patiently, waiting for when our assigned turn comes. Maybe it is stretching out our arms to help our own companies, schools, and nonprofit agencies figure out how to play their role in the overall process. Maybe it is just stretching out our arms to pat on the back tired and overworked health care workers who are doing their best and saying to them, “Thank you.”

This is a moment of great opportunity for Christians to reflect Jesus, the one who chose not to Isolate, Ignore, or Insist with our own sin. Let’s follow Jesus, the Incarnation of God.


Previous in Series

Should Pro-lifers be Pro-Vaccine?
Video
By Curtis Chang 

Should Pro-lifers be Pro-Vaccine?

Pro lifers in fact have strong reasons to be pro-vaccine.

Next in Series

Can Black Americans trust the COVID vaccine?
Video
By Curtis Chang 

Can Black Americans trust the COVID vaccine?

Can Black Americans trust the COVID vaccine? This is a crucial question that will impact the future health of our African American community.


Related Videos

Should Christians take the COVID-19 vaccine?
Featuring Curtis Chang 

Should Christians Take the Vaccine?
Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe?
Featuring Curtis Chang 

Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe?
Is the COVID vaccine a form of government control?
Featuring Curtis Chang 

Is the COVID Vaccine a Form of Government Control?
How can Christians spot fake news on the vaccine?
Featuring Curtis Chang 

How can Christians Spot Fake News on the Vaccine?
Is the COVID vaccine the "Mark of the Beast"?
Featuring Curtis Chang 

Is the COVID vaccine the "Mark of the Beast"?
Should Pro-lifers be Pro-Vaccine?
Featuring Curtis Chang 

Should Pro-lifers be Pro-Vaccine?
Can Black Americans trust the COVID vaccine?
Featuring Curtis Chang 

Can Black Americans trust the COVID vaccine?
See all videos 

01/06

Related Resources

If you enjoyed this resource, we recommend you check out one of the following:

All Resources
  • Mother and daughter sharing a tender moment
    Blog Post
    By Ciara Reyes-Ton 

    Mothers and Children: The Kingdom of God Belongs to Such as These

    The human body is wired for survival in the face of stress and trauma, and mothers who experience pre-term birth are a testament to this. We are called to care for and support mothers and their children.

  • Blog Post
    • By David Anderson 
    • and Ciara Reyes-Ton 

    Praying for Scientists and the Science of Prayer

    Prayer might be difficult to study scientifically, but that doesn’t mean that scientists don’t pray or that prayer doesn’t work. Dr. David Anderson invites us to pray for scientists, healthcare workers and researchers.

  • Video
    By Francis Collins 

    With All Your Mind: Finding Truth and Love in the Midst of a Pandemic

    Watch Francis Collins’s full talk from the Faith & Science 2022 conference, titled, “With All Your Mind: Finding Truth and Love in the Midst of a Pandemic.” In his talk, he reflects on the pandemic, vaccine development and how to find hope in dark times.

  • Iv pole on blue background
    Podcast Episode
    Featuring guest J. Todd Billings 

    J. Todd Billings | Good Servant, Tyrannical Master

    Todd Billings shares his depth of thought on healing, medicine and chronic disease, which is informed by his own experiences with cancer.

  • Tender moment between patient holding family's hand
    Article
    • By Terri Laws 
    • and Ciara Reyes-Ton 

    Terri Laws: Caring for the Humanity in Others

    For Dr. Terri Laws the Gospel cannot be decontextualized from our society and the lives that we live. It has very practical implications that compel us to care for others and love our neighbors well, especially the marginalized.

  • A trey of soil and baby plants
    Article
    • By Norman Wirzba 
    • and Ciara Reyes-Ton 

    Norman Wirzba: Sabbath, Soil and the Sacred Life

    What can soil teach us about God? How can the sabbath help us recover delight and find rest? What is sacred about our wounded world?

  • Mother and daughter sharing a tender moment
    Blog Post
    By Ciara Reyes-Ton 

    Mothers and Children: The Kingdom of God Belongs to Such as These

    The human body is wired for survival in the face of stress and trauma, and mothers who experience pre-term birth are a testament to this. We are called to care for and support mothers and their children.

  • Blog Post
    • By David Anderson 
    • and Ciara Reyes-Ton 

    Praying for Scientists and the Science of Prayer

    Prayer might be difficult to study scientifically, but that doesn’t mean that scientists don’t pray or that prayer doesn’t work. Dr. David Anderson invites us to pray for scientists, healthcare workers and researchers.

  • Video
    By Francis Collins 

    With All Your Mind: Finding Truth and Love in the Midst of a Pandemic

    Watch Francis Collins’s full talk from the Faith & Science 2022 conference, titled, “With All Your Mind: Finding Truth and Love in the Midst of a Pandemic.” In his talk, he reflects on the pandemic, vaccine development and how to find hope in dark times.

  • Iv pole on blue background
    Podcast Episode
    Featuring guest J. Todd Billings 

    J. Todd Billings | Good Servant, Tyrannical Master

    Todd Billings shares his depth of thought on healing, medicine and chronic disease, which is informed by his own experiences with cancer.

  • Tender moment between patient holding family's hand
    Article
    • By Terri Laws 
    • and Ciara Reyes-Ton 

    Terri Laws: Caring for the Humanity in Others

    For Dr. Terri Laws the Gospel cannot be decontextualized from our society and the lives that we live. It has very practical implications that compel us to care for others and love our neighbors well, especially the marginalized.

  • A trey of soil and baby plants
    Article
    • By Norman Wirzba 
    • and Ciara Reyes-Ton 

    Norman Wirzba: Sabbath, Soil and the Sacred Life

    What can soil teach us about God? How can the sabbath help us recover delight and find rest? What is sacred about our wounded world?

  • Mother and daughter sharing a tender moment
    Blog Post
    By Ciara Reyes-Ton 

    Mothers and Children: The Kingdom of God Belongs to Such as These

    The human body is wired for survival in the face of stress and trauma, and mothers who experience pre-term birth are a testament to this. We are called to care for and support mothers and their children.

  • Blog Post
    • By David Anderson 
    • and Ciara Reyes-Ton 

    Praying for Scientists and the Science of Prayer

    Prayer might be difficult to study scientifically, but that doesn’t mean that scientists don’t pray or that prayer doesn’t work. Dr. David Anderson invites us to pray for scientists, healthcare workers and researchers.

  • Video
    By Francis Collins 

    With All Your Mind: Finding Truth and Love in the Midst of a Pandemic

    Watch Francis Collins’s full talk from the Faith & Science 2022 conference, titled, “With All Your Mind: Finding Truth and Love in the Midst of a Pandemic.” In his talk, he reflects on the pandemic, vaccine development and how to find hope in dark times.

  • Common Questions

    Resources

    Christianity and Science
    Scientific Evidence
    Biblical Interpretation
    God’s Relationship to Creation
    Human Origins

    Getting Started
    Common Questions
    Resource Centers
    BioLogos Basics Videos
    Language of God Podcast
    Impact Stories
    Recommended Books

    By Type
    Common Questions
    Articles
    Series
    Videos
    Podcast Episodes
    Audio
    Books
    Impact Stories

    By Topic
    Bible
    Science
    Theology & Philosophy
    Church & Culture
    Views on Creation

    Resources by Audience
    Pastors
    K-12 Educators
    Small Groups
    Youth Ministry
    Campus Ministry

    Get BioLogos Resources


    About Us

    Our Mission
    Our History
    What We Believe
    Annual Reports
    Endorsements

    Get Involved

    Open Forum
    Homeschool Forum
    Attend an Event
    Donate

    What We Do

    BioLogos Conferences
    Resource Centers
    Events
    BioLogos Voices (Speaker’s Bureau)
    Language of God Podcast
    INTEGRATE Curriculum

    Social Media

    BioLogos on Instagram BioLogos on YouTube BioLogos on Twitter BioLogos on Facebook

    © BioLogos 2019  Terms of Use   Privacy   Contact Us   RSS

    It looks like your cart is empty!

    Subtotal: $0.00

    Sign up or log in to continue checkoutBrowse All Units