Question #402

What about immunizations and vaccinations?

I was wondering what your beliefs were on Immunizations and vaccinations.

The Answer:

Obviously this is a question that is not addressed directly in scripture. However, that does not mean that the bible does not contain information from which one can reach a conclusion.

Next, Luke was a physician. While the medical procedures in his day were not those now available, there is no reason to assume that Luke did not use the procedures that were available to him. There is no record that Luke was either condemned or criticized for practicing medicine.

Finally, although not a physician, Paul prescribed what may have been a medical procedure for his day. “Be no longer a drinker of water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities” (1 Timothy 5:23). Even if it was not a recognized medical procedure it was at least a “home remedy.”

Finally (and it actually came first), recall that god created the world as a habitat for man (Isa. 45:18). He made man to dwell upon the fact of the earth and determined the bounds of his habitation (Acts 17:24-26). Man has not “invented” a single medical remedy. It took man centuries to discover the remedies that God placed in the original creation. It can be said that man discovered methods of using the remedies that God created, but even those methods had to follow the principles that God created to govern man’s habitation, e.g., physics and calculus. If God created what we call medical remedies, and if the medical remedies of Biblical times were used without criticism, must less condemnation, does it not follow that God’s medical remedies can be used today, including immunizations and vaccinations.

It is true that God did not create man to live forever on the earth as it now is. Even Methuselah died. In the Psalmist’s day longevity was placed at 70-80 years: "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away (Psalm 90:10). In New Testament days the Hebrew writer reminded us that man has an appointment with death (Heb. 9:27). It cannot be argued that man should not seek to prolong life because God has declared its length. Which length that God prescribed or permitted is binding? If it was God’s intention to prescribe a certain and particular length, why do infants die and others die at all ages along the road of life? Why did God create remedies that, if discovered, would prolong man’s days? Clearly it was not God’s purpose to set a limit that would guarantee either limitation or expectation. Whatever length of days man has, God’s expectation is: "14Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 15See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is (Eph. 5:14-17).