[I'm imagining a Christian on their judgment day, meeting their maker (or duly appointed representative). I'm assuming you can't, like, talk shit to Jesus (or God, or St. Peter, or whoever is the acting bouncer to the afterlife) and they'd just be like, "Yeah, I guess that makes sense." No, I'm assuming he can see inside your heart, all the way through to your most authentic soul. I hope so, because if They're judging you for an eternity of heaven or hell, it better be legit.
And He's paging through his little record, and he pauses, looks up and says, "Oh, you decided not to be vaccinated?"
And you say, "Yeah, I didn't think it was really that effective."]
Jesus: But, I know you heard the testimony of the doctors and the nurses who said they were burning out in the COVID care clinics and hospitals. And you saw that news report where the ICUs were getting full and some people where actually being turned away because they were full, and so some of them died. It says here you heard that on the radio. And that 90%+ of the patients were unvaccinated -- you knew that, too.
You: But, I didn't believe it.
Jesus: Um, I can see through to the bottom of your soul, and you clearly thought that there was a possibility it could be true. After all, why would all the doctors and nurses caring for people through outrageous hardship be lying? I'm looking at your soul again, and you actually DIDN'T think they were a bunch of whiny babies. You thought there might be some truth to it. But you wanted to ignore it. Can you explain?
You: Forgive me, Father for I have sinned.
Jesus: You know that I told you love your neighbor, take care of the sick, all that? You had ONE JOB! Well, two, but that was the main one.
You: But they tried to make me do it and take away my freedom...
Jesus: Yeah. No. There were months where it was just encouraged. You didn't take advantage.
You: But there were serious side effects. I read it on the internet. It was rushed through.
Jesus: Did you forget who you're talking to? You maybe could convince your friends you believed that, but I TOLD you -- don't BS me. You know damn well that the rare side effect was utterly trivial compared to the ravages of COVID. You saw the intubated patients. I warned you to have no other Gods before me...or did you forget that? You put your fear of needles and the inconvenience of getting two tiny arm pricks ahead of the lives of your neighbors. What do you think I should do with you? Just say, "Great, ignore my main rule, go on into heaven, enjoy," when you thumbed your nose at my "Love your neighbor" thing?
You: Well, what can I do to make it better?
Jesus: Not much there on Earth. You're dead now. Maybe you can explain this: You didn't pray to me for guidance on this issue. I mean, dude! I was rejected, tortured, and crucified by my people for YOU. And you can't face a tiny needle? Or the exceedingly rare potential side effect? If you HAD prayed to me, what do you think I would have said?
You: To get the shots.
Jesus: Mm. Do you want to know how many people you were responsible for killing?
You: Not really.
Jesus: Right. You don't. But does that really matter? You could have been one of the unvaccinated people that contributed to the 100,000 extra deaths, easily preventable. I'll just tell you: some. You killed some. Oh, and you killed some doctors and nurses, too. The work got them, some of them to COVID, some to suicide. Can you imagine if everybody was like you? It would have been millions. Go sit over there. I'm going to let you sit with your decisions for awhile before I tell you what I'm going to do.
[1000 years later...]
Jesus: OK, I made up my mind. You're going to have a discussion with each of the people who were killed by people like you, who decided not to get vaccinated knowing deep in their heart that they should. It could take awhile. And when you're done, we'll have another chat and go from there. This is your chance to make up for being a CINO (Christian in name only). You want to continue or just head on down to hell?
* What Would Thomas Aquinas Say? TA would sometimes entertain hypothetical religious ideas.
