Covid in Scotland: Church magistrates speaking to civil magistrates with respect

New Warhorn Media post by Tim Bayly:

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Thank you for this! Interesting indeed to see Aaron’s signature on this remonstrance, given that he’s three hundred miles away in London :slight_smile: ). Also interesting to see the very wide range church-wise of signatories - every background imaginable, but that is the lie of the land here.

Since 6th January the situation has moved on, and we now can meet, and sing (but still behind our masks - still, people seem to have got used to things). The shift online had an interesting series of consequences, but the church I belong to has run several Alpha courses online over the last year, and according to the pastor, about sixty people have come to faith in as a result. It also helps in the Scottish situation that the national director of public health is a known Christian (Baptist).

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Those who expressed interest in the original open letter were asked to sign on to the this letter as a show of support for their Scottish brethren.

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Yes, it’s fascinating to compare the response of Christians in Britain with those in the States on this matter. For one thing, there is a lot less of the anti-vaxxing attitudes apparent, either in church life or in general discourse. A lot of the population have now been vaccinated, and this is making a difference to the numbers of people being hospitalised, and certainly the numbers of deaths. There’s been a little opposition to, say, mask mandates.

Christians here have been a little puzzled at what we have seen in the States from the likes of, e.g., John MacArthur. Yes, we have remonstrated with the civil magistrate, but there has not been active disobedience, AFAIK. As stressful as the last eighteen months have been, we’ve adapted and ‘got by’, and have had the unexpected win as well. E.g. the church I go to discovered that our online service was actually pretty popular with “parishioners” we never knew we had - people logging in to follow the service from England, Ireland, France, Germany, and on one morning, someone from Doha! It is possible that this service will be maintained, even though we are now back in our buildings.

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