Often, I’ve counseled patients (Christians and non-Christians) who are unsure of whether to take the Covid-19 vaccine or not. Most of them are ordinary people, not physicians, pharmacists, immunologists, and vaccine researchers. They often have strong opinions one way or the other about things they have no training or experience to understand. When they ask me how they should go about making their decision, I tell them to use the wisdom that many of our wise grandmothers used to make decisions like this.
Select 2-3 trusted people who can read and understand the research and evidence. Choose people who know you well, understand your faith, and can speak the truth to you without fear. Ask them individually to read the literature, consider the evidence, and tell you whether they think you should get the vaccine or not. Give them a few days to consider the evidence. In that time, pray to God. Say, “Father, you know that I’m a common person and have no experience and wisdom to understand the evidence that is needed to make this decision. Please help my advisers and guide them to tell me what the truth from you is. Whatever they tell me, I will do because I believe they know more than I do, and I have asked you to guide them and trust that you would because you love me. Amen.” If you are skeptical about people of other faiths, then, by all means, choose wise and people from among members of your faith to help you make these kinds of judgments. When those people come back to you with their responses, do what they say if they all say the same thing. If they are divided, carefully choose the side you feel is most accurate.
However, you must be sure not to cherry-pick the kind of jury that will give you the kind of verdict you want to hear. God can see your heart. This practical example of corporate guidance is how wise elders go about deciding whether they should get a heart transplant that the heart surgeon they just met is recommending or not. The heart surgeon may have a financial incentive to do the surgery. So, such wise people call their trusted primary care doctors who have taken care of them for many years and ask them if they should do the surgery or not. They may even call a couple of brothers or sisters from church who can read medical evidence about the proposed surgery and advise them. When both prayerfully consider the evidence and say they think she should get the surgery, the wise woman gets it. That kind of decision-making has greater success rates than the smartest person making their own decisions when the stakes are high.
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