We propose that the underlying cause of fear surrounding the coronavirus is the fear that creation is loveless, whereas the assertion that creation is the outcome of unconditional love will dispel fear.
If you accept, even subliminally, the Biblical account of Adam and Eve, you buy into the dreadful condemnation that you were born into sin. If you subscribe to the Theory of Evolution, you accept chance and the survival of the fittest as your modus operandi. Both of these explanations of creation provide plenty of reason to fear because love is nowhere to be found them. In the first case, it nurtures a state of guilt, and a remote hope for redemption - in the second, it spawns a mode of operation based on probability - no unconditional love anywhere to be found. Plenty of reason to fear!
The words of St John, arguably the most inspired writer of the Bible, give us a healthier way:
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us.”
Let’s look at this more carefully…
1. “There is no fear in love.” Fear and love cannot co-exist, any more than light and darkness can co-exist.
2. “…but perfect love casteth out fear.” Perfect love is certainly not sensual or personal love, but rather unconditional love, divine love with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. Elsewhere in the Bible it states definitively that “God is love.”
3. “because fear has torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” - - anyone suffering from fear of this pandemic can attest that it is torment and is loveless!
4. “We love him because he first loved us.” If we ignore the second part of this “because he first loved us” we are missing the boat. Though we may get a certain sense of self-satisfaction when we profess our love for God, it will not alleviate deep-seated fear.
“Because he first loved us” is the assertion that creation is the product of perfect Love. It flat-out contradicts, both the Bible depiction in Genesis 2 & 3 where God that curses the man of His own creation, and the Theory of Evolution which leaves us with probabilities and no moral element at all!
In Genesis 1 it states that God made man in His image and likeness, and gave him dominion, declaring, when it was done, the whole thing was very good. This is what is meant by “Because he first loved us.” - the unmerited favor of our Creator. ”We love him because he first loved us” is an acknowledgement of who, what, and why we are.
But is not the realm of Spirit depicted in Genesis 1 otherworldly? Well, is God not Spirit? Does that make Him otherworldly?
To illustrate, let’s take a look at the 91st Psalm which describes a place, "the secret of place of the most high" - about a fortress, feathers and wings, of pestilence and arrows, of protecting angels - images of thought.
This Psalm shows us a practical the way out of fear - a place of total protection, of strength, of perfect love which drives out fear.
…where fear is otherworldly, and has no place with us here and now.