Should We “Forgive and Forget” When It Comes to COVID-Era Sins?

On a pristine spring Sunday morning in 2020, our church leadership met before people started arriving for service. There was tension in the air. No one quite knew what to expect, as we were potentially violating recent New York mandates concerning gatherings of more than 10 people. We had sent a letter to the local police department, informing them of our intention to meet for a “parking lot service,” and had received no reply. We knew the risks. Only weeks before, parishioners had been fined $500 for attending a similar service – not in blue-state New York, but in red-state Mississippi. Our security team was on full alert, placed throughout the property. 

We were all ready to bear the consequences, whatever they might be, for gathering together, as commanded in Scripture, to worship God and obey His ordinances. 

The service continued without interruption, and we met every Sunday thereafter. Within a few weeks, our security team was no longer on alert for the authorities, but rather for any potential violent BLM/Antifa protestors, who were starting to make a habit of defacing church property, harassing parishioners, and even showing up at their places of business to threaten them with violence. Over the next few months, many conservative churches began to wake up to the absurdity of the situation and started to open their doors again. 

The Sins of State

It’s difficult, if not impossible, to quantify the evil perpetuated against citizens around the world during that period. The situation in the US in 2020 was significantly better than many nations throughout the world, but varied depending on state and locality. As someone who traveled extensively from 2020-2022 throughout the US, I can say without hesitation that there were essentially two Americas. If you had the unfortunate position of residing in a strict COVID-mandate zone, your basic freedoms were significantly affected. 

In many ways, it was a particularly evil age where the time of the Judges mixed with 1984, and Christians were especially impacted. Not only did they fall under general mandates, but there was a particular animus towards the Body of Christ, both subtly and blatantly, through COVID mandates and BLM targeting. If we were to examine the whole saga in theological terms, most nations essentially took the Romans 13 charge that governments are to “punish evil” and “reward good,” and flipped it on its head. Sadly, many Christian leaders chose to unite with the Spirit of the Age instead of opposing it. 

The specific lies and sins of the age are now commonly accepted, though, to this point, little to no consequences have been dealt. Antonthy Fauci, the architect of not only US lockdowns, but likely the pandemic as a whole, was called this week to testify to the origins and draconian measures enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. As he “pled the fifth” again and again, any hope of his taking responsibility for his prominent role slowly evaporated thanks to his pardon by the Biden Administration. 

While much of the media attention has been on Fauci, American Evangelical Christians suffered a much more Judas-like betrayal at the hands of Francis Collins, former director of the NIH. Collins gave hearty approval and endorsement to each facet of the COVID mandates, including the draconian vaccine mandates. Collins, a self-professed Evangelical Christian, maintained a winsome posture throughout the period and continues to advise on having “gracious conversation” concerning “our differences.” It doesn’t take an excellent memory to recall the lack of ability for conversation between those who were terminated for not receiving the vaccine and those who tried to force it on them. A man like Collins should have understood more than anyone in the federal public health sector the responsibility of a Christian in an influential role. But Collins is the same man who defended the use of aborted babies in scientific research, research that happened under his watch.   

Live and Let Live?

Christians will have various takes on rehashing COVID-era sins, and there are several issues at play. For some perspective, around 80% of Americans received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Most went along with lockdowns and mask mandates. Of course, many Christians were included in this number, and many have understandably been reluctant to recall their own choices and actions during the pandemic. Following the collapse of vaccine mandates in early 2022, a rapid memory-holing of the entire fiasco took effect. Unfortunately, many Christian leaders who have had ample time to repent of closing their churches, going along with senseless lockdowns, and pushing the vaccine on their congregants have also been noticeably quiet in the years since. 

Another, smaller cohort of Christian leaders stood against much of the madness from the beginning, or at least began to change course and oppose it when the BLM riots began. These stalwarts continue to be vindicated with each post-COVID revelation, most recently with Fauci’s pandemic-era diary being made public. These include pastors who refused to close their churches and wrote vaccine exemption requests for their congregants, as well as parishioners who chose to be fired from their jobs rather than receive the vaccine. 

For those who were wronged by COVID policies and pressures, and that includes a wide range of individuals and institutions, what should the expectation of justice be over half a decade later? Some might point to Scriptures like “turn the other cheek” or “as much as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” Or, as Christianity Today recommended in 2023, we ought to “forgive each other for our pandemic sins.” Many will seek to “just move on and stop talking about it,” as rehashing what happened is uncomfortable and can open old sores. 

You Can’t Forgive for Others

Here is my understanding of what our outlook ought to be as Christians: If you experienced mistreatment at the hands of not only the COVID regime, but on an individual level from friends, family, church, community, or workplace, then you have the freedom to forgive and not hold those sins against those who wronged you on an individual level. You can “turn the other cheek” when it comes to personal affronts, as the passage indicates. But you, as an individual Christian, are not in the position to forgive for others, especially when the sins committed were at a mass level coming from nearly every level of governance. This would be akin to personally forgiving the Nazi regime for perpetuating the Holocaust, or the Soviet Union for the Holodomor and Chornobyl. 

Rather, Christians ought to continue to advocate and lobby for accountability and justice for the wrongs committed against themselves and their neighbors. There ought to be consequences for sin, and Christians in positions of authority should push for them. This includes Dr. Fauci, Francis Collins, and everyone who greenlit and administered pandemic injustices. 

The Coming Reckoning

As Christians, we know that no one ultimately escapes the consequences of their sin. Justice will be administered, if not in this life, then in the life to come. This should instigate both peace and holy fear in us – peace, that all wrongs will be righted, and holy fear for those who will fall into the hands of a just God without repentance.

Our job is often difficult, but remains fairly simple: Proclaim Christ and Him crucified, call sinners to reconciliation with God, teach the truth of God’s Word in all the places it applies (so, everywhere), and stand for righteousness in every sphere of our influence.