Lessons From the Story of COVID-19

By Dr. Doug Kayler and ChristianWeek | April 2, 2020

The story I am about to tell describes how things went wrong in the Garden of Eden and the ages since. Along with progress and growth, we have come to our present circumstances.

Before COVID -19, we were already facing the consequences of global warming and environmental degradation, with its damaging effects on human health individually, and humankind in general.

Through following threads woven throughout the story of Eden, we just may discover how to respond to our present reality.

In the beginning there was harmony among God, man and woman, and the environment. The Garden of Eden of Genesis was an abundant, lush and fertile environment in balance. Plagues had not entered the picture, and the economy was not based on scarcity.

Joni Mitchell, in her 1968 song Woodstock, wrote and sang that “We’ve got to get ourselves back to the Garden.” Well, back then, in Genesis 2:15, God gave Adam the same directives each of us still has today.

Adam was told to work and look after the Garden, referred to in some translations as having dominion, or authority and control over the inhabitants. In order to do so, he was equipped and directed to name all the animals, meaning that he had to understand them, and their relationship to him and each other.

He and Eve did this together, making them the first collaborative team.

God gave them the plan and enabled them to do their part.

But, as it is with our human nature, it soon fell apart. The couple disobeyed, failed to take responsibility, and so lost their perfect situation in the Garden.

In a 2015 TED talk, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates warned that a global viral pandemic was the greatest immediate threat facing the modern world, and that we were not ready for it. The steps he laid out to prepare were straightforward and affordable. We did not do it and are reaping the results of that failure today.

Today the world is in the grip of a pandemic, and the global economy has been largely paralyzed.

Look at the US, for example. Despite the fact that they spend a greater portion of their wealth on health care than any other industrialized developed nation on earth, they are still the world leader in confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Adam and Eve’s responsibilities remain ours today. Since the Garden of Eden, we have worked through the sweat of our brows, and the pain of broken relationships to arrive at this point. As individuals and societies, how can we make the best of our current situation?

Follow along with us through the next chapter of the story.