I think Romans 14 helps us on the matter of wearing masks, though I am not saying that those who believe we should wear masks are weak in faith.

Remember in Romans 14 the strong believed they could eat foods that were unclean according to the OT (Lev. 11 & Deut. 14), and they also believed that the sabbath and special feast days were no longer mandatory.
The weak thought one should refrain from eating food deemed unclean in the OT and also believed the sabbath and other feasts should be observed.
Paul clearly agrees with the strong theologically. No food is unclean now that the new covenant has arrived and Christ has come (Rom. 14:14, 20). The feast and sabbath days are no longer required (Rom. 14:5–6).
Still, when with the weak, they should refrain from eating unclean foods out of love for their brothers and sisters who think differently.
Notice this: the conscience of the strong gave them freedom to eat. They were convinced before God (and they were right!) that they were free to eat. It was part of their freedom in Christ!
But Paul says: your personal freedom isn’t what should determine your actions when you are with the weak. What is more important is sacrificial love, the same kind of love Christ displayed in giving his life for us.
The same principles are at stake when believers are gathered. You may believe masks are worthless and even a government imposition.
My point in this post isn’t to adjudicate the issue of wearing masks. Let’s stipulate, for the sake of argument, that those who say masks don’t do any good are correct (remember this is just for the sake of argument—I am not getting into whether the masks are helpful or not).
Even if the masks don’t help, some believers think they are necessary. They feel that is safer to wear masks. They believe masks protect them from the virus.
Even if you disagree, you should wear the mask out of love for your brother and sister. Paul teaches we are to sacrifice our freedom for the sake of others, to show love for others.
What if you say, but not wearing a mask is a matter of conscience and conviction? But the strong in Romans 14 had the conviction that they were free to eat unclean food. The freedom to eat was a matter of conscience.
Paul says, when you are with the weak, don’t live by your conscience, but theirs! Love them by wearing the mask, even if you think it is silly and stupid.
And notice what else Paul says to the strong (Rom. 14:3). Don’t mock or ridicule the weak. Don’t make fun of those who are more conservative than you are. We love our brothers and sisters by doing what they desire in a situation like this.
The way of the cross, the way of love, is to wear a mask if others want us to do so. And if that’s the hardest sacrifice, we have to make for our brothers and sisters, well it isn’t very hard!

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global health policy in 2020 has centered around NPI's (non-pharmaceutical interventions) like distancing, masks, school closures

these have been sold as a way to stop infection as though this were science.

this was never true and that fact was known and knowable.

let's look.


above is the plot of social restriction and NPI vs total death per million. there is 0 R2. this means that the variables play no role in explaining one another.

we can see this same relationship between NPI and all cause deaths.

this is devastating to the case for NPI.


clearly, correlation is not proof of causality, but a total lack of correlation IS proof that there was no material causality.

barring massive and implausible coincidence, it's essentially impossible to cause something and not correlate to it, especially 51 times.

this would seem to pose some very serious questions for those claiming that lockdowns work, those basing policy upon them, and those claiming this is the side of science.

there is no science here nor any data. this is the febrile imaginings of discredited modelers.

this has been clear and obvious from all over the world since the beginning and had been proven so clearly by may that it's hard to imagine anyone who is actually conversant with the data still believing in these responses.

everyone got the same R
This is a piece I've been thinking about for a long time. One of the most dominant policy ideas in Washington is that policy should, always and everywhere, move parents into paid labor. But what if that's wrong?

My reporting here convinced me that there's no large effect in either direction on labor force participation from child allowances. Canada has a bigger one than either Romney or Biden are considering, and more labor force participation among women.

But what if that wasn't true?

Forcing parents into low-wage, often exploitative, jobs by threatening them and their children with poverty may be counted as a success by some policymakers, but it’s a sign of a society that doesn’t value the most essential forms of labor.

The problem is in the very language we use. If I left my job as a New York Times columnist to care for my 2-year-old son, I’d be described as leaving the labor force. But as much as I adore him, there is no doubt I’d be working harder. I wouldn't have stopped working!

I tried to render conservative objections here fairly. I appreciate that @swinshi talked with me, and I'm sorry I couldn't include everything he said. I'll say I believe I used his strongest arguments, not more speculative ones, in the piece.

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