COVID19 CATASTROPHISING

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things (Phil 4:6-9).

Of course many people are anxious in the midst of this pandemic. On the 29th March 2020 Dr. Anthony Fauci (the lead immunologist who has advised presidents from Reagan to Trump) announced that between 100, 000 and 200, 000 people could die from the virus! And millions of others could get sick. Many have referenced the “Black death:”

The Black Death was a plague pandemic which devastated Europe from 1347 to 1352 CE, killing an estimated 25-30 million people. The disease, caused by a bacillus bacteria and carried by fleas on rodents, originated in central Asia and was taken from there to the Crimea by Mongol warriors and traders. The plague entered Europe via Italy, carried by rats on Genoese trading ships sailing from the Black Sea. It was known as the Black Death because it could turn the skin and sores black while other symptoms included fever and joint pains. With up to two-thirds of sufferers dying from the disease, it is estimated that between 30% and 50% of the population of those places affected died from the Black Death. The death toll was so high that it had significant consequences on European medieval society as a whole, with a shortage of farmers resulting in demands for an end to serfdom, a general questioning of authority and rebellions, and the entire abandonment of many towns and villages. It would take 200 years for the population of Europe to recover to the level seen prior to the Black Death.

Many think the world is coming to an end, but it did not then. There is a form of cognitive distortion (Cognitive distortions are dysfunctional thinking patterns) call catastrophizing where someone thinks the worst regarding any adversity. Jesus said in this world you will have troubles, but be joyful because I have overcome the world John 16:33.

Any follower of Christ need not be fearful, because regardless of what happens in this world believers know where they are going. Paul says be anxious for nothing: