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Everything Is Essential Except Sin

We are being told certain workers are "essential" and others are not. Therefore it is necessary to explain why, first of all, no authority has the right to deem who is essential and who is not; but furthermore that every job is essential whether granted that classification by the authorities or not.

Any of these reasons alone would be enough to illustrate this point:

  1. Everything, except sin, is essential because freedom is essential. We may not see the necessity of a certain duty in regards to health or utility, but we can at least acknowledge that the exercise of freedom is a God-given right and therefore essential. It is, therefore, essential for someone to continue their work if only to let freedom reign, because we know from experience as a human race what it's like when it does not reign. The freedom to work and go to your job is essential if only to nonviolently fight the rule of tyranny.

  2. We need the freedom to do good things, meaning things that are not sinful, if only because in doing them we are not sinning. When we do not do good, we are made more idle and we know who loves idle hands. It is essential for people to do good. Now, there are many ways to do good, but there are two I would like to focus on here. One way is to make an active effort to contribute to the world in a positive way by producing some good or by doing some good action. Another way to do good is to prevent evil. Doctors do this by preventing illness and death, and police do this by preventing crimes. Since work is good, and the lockdown is evil in preventing that good, any work done in resistance to the lockdown is good not only of its own nature, but also because it is standing against a force for evil.

  3. If a job is not deemed essential due to its service to society, it is at least essential to the one who is working the job and his or her family because they all need money to make a living.

  4. Living life is essential. It has been proven that fresh air and sunshine kills the virus, and that the virus is primarily transmitted indoors through repetitive interaction with the same people. Getting out our door is essential because interacting with the world builds up our immune system, while staying inside makes it vulnerable.

The lockdown that has forbidden so many people to work disregards Jesus' words, "Do not worry. Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?" (Luke 12:25).

Data has shown, it turns out, that our efforts to prevent Covid-19 from wreaking havoc on our society are actually worse than the virus:


"What about the people who die from the lockdowns, from economic devastation, starvation, delayed medical care and canceled surgeries, domestic abuse, violent crime, suicide, drug overdose, alcohol abuse, despair, and fear of going to the ER for heart attacks, strokes, and other fatal medical emergencies?" (One America News Network)

When he said "Don't worry," maybe Jesus wasn't just offering some advice to make sure we had a better day. Stress can be linked to various causes of death, including high blood pressure, drug overdose and suicide. It turns out not worrying, and not reacting to viruses in a worrisome manner, is actually sound health advice.

So the essential workers are any who would help open up society again. There is no such thing as non-essential workers, because work is essential. The way our society functions is essential, and we all contribute to it in a positive way. If a person's work involves sin, this is different of course. But the vast majority of work does not involve sin. So I encourage everyone to get back to their lives, not just in their work but in every way because in doing so you would be contributing to the essential well-being of our society. If enough of us live in accordance with justice and truth, rather than fear of authorities and a virus that is weaker than we are, no regime or sickness can stop us and we will come out of this stronger--just as everyone does when they face their fears.

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