Chilliwack Free Reformed Church on Yale Road (seen on Dec. 1, 2020), along with Free Grace Baptist Church, continues to hold in-person services despite the Nov. 19 public health order banning indoor gatherings. (Jenna Hauck/ Chilliwack Progress)

LETTER: Love thy neighbour; don’t kill my mother

'You don't need to go to church on Sunday in order for God to hear you'

This letter is directed to the parishioners who are continuing to go to church on Sundays in Chilliwack, in direct violation of Dr. Bonnie Henry’s Public Health orders.

Do you read the Bible? Do you believe in the word of God? Do you believe that God is everywhere? Do you believe that when you pray to God every night, before you go to bed, that he hears your prayers? Do you believe in the Golden Rule: thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself? Do you believe that thou shall not kill?

READ MORE: Chilliwack RCMP confirms investigation of in-person church services

If so, and if you are a true believer, then why do you need to go to church every Sunday to pray to God? Why can’t you pray to God at home, until the pandemic is over?

Why do you need to go to church on Sunday. and put everyone else’s lives at risk, of contracting COVID-19, including you own and those of your neighbours?

My mother lives within walking distance of the Chilliwack hospital. She is a 79-year-old senior. She has spent most of the past nine months, alone in her apartment, in order not to catch COVID-19. She gets most of her essential needs delivered to her door, but that being said, it’s no way to live indefinitely. I’m sure that we’d all like to get back to normal life, sooner than later.

A couple of weeks ago, I heard that all of you were still going to church on Sundays, despite being advised not to do so, by the Provincial Health Officer, Dr, Bonnie Henry.

I immediately called my mother, and urged her not to go outside her building, for any reason, because I didn’t trust that she might “bump into” any of you on the street, or in a local store, etc. She just might get COVID-19 from one of you, and die a horrible lonely death.

I said this to her because, despite your public protestations to the contrary, I personally don’t believe that you can read the Bible, that you can believe in God, that you can believe that he is everywhere, that you can believe in the Golden Rule, or that you can love thy neighbour, or that you can believe in thou shall not kill.

Because if you were truly Christians, and true believers in God, then you would already know that you don’t need to go to church on Sunday, in order for God to hear you. Or for him to see, that you are now behaving in selfish and arrogant ways, that are potentially putting your neighbours’ lives at risk.

Perhaps now is a good time, for all of you to reflect, on whether or not you truly love thy neighbour as thyself. Or whether or not it has all been just lip service. Because from my point of view, it sure looks like it is.

Love thy neighbour; don’t kill thy neighbour.

Don’t kill my mother, who is one of your neighbours.

If you do, then I believe that not only will her death be on your conscience, but her blood will also be on your hands.

A. Cameron

Delta

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