Vaccines, it’s a very controversial topic these days and this will be a very controversial post for some I am certain. I have already received much grief over my decision and I know there will be more and that is okay. This is just my thoughts and my beliefs, I think each of us should pray about it and do our own research concerning this topic.
With the HPV vaccine becoming more and more controversial and some states including Florida proposing to make it mandatory I am really feeling led to post about this.
Up until a few years ago I was like many people, lining up to be vaccinated and vaccinate my children with anything and everything the pediatrician recommended as “normal vaccines” or my favorite “required”. It is sad we as parents are actually shamed into such by others. However, as I began to grow closer to God I actually started to feel some conviction concerning certain vaccines.
My son had hit an age where vaccines that are not “required” were “suggested”. I felt as though I needed to pray about it and declined. Over the next year I prayed more and more about it and began to research these vaccines. My conviction grew stronger and I soon was led that the choice should be no.
I recently had to face my conviction concerning vaccines for myself personally. I never thought as an adult I would have to decide to face a mandatory vaccination or stand up for my beliefs and convictions. For my children, yes, I know at some point there will be paper work, but for me, who knew.
I am in healthcare and as a healthcare professional this is a very controversial topic because I am “supposed to” stand behind all things health, right? As a healthcare worker many hospitals make the influenza vaccine mandatory every year or you have the option to wear a mask if you do not receive it. This has always been the case in any facility I have worked at. This past year I was planted in a new job which I know God opened a door and has placed me where I am. Except this year at this facility I was told it was mandatory everyone have the vaccine no matter what. Unless you have a documented severe allergic reaction and by allergic reaction I mean anaphylaxis or an “approved” religious declination you would be required to have the vaccine. Approved religious declination meant to be approved by a board of people typically, risk management (a lawyer), HR, employee health and heaven only knows who else, who from my understanding were not even local but corporate. I have never faced this situation before and given the conviction I have over vaccinations I did not even know how to begin to respond to a “religious declination” of any kind.
So the next curve ball was that if your religious declination was not “approved” you would be forced to comply with getting the influenza vaccine or resign from your job with the facility by a certain deadline.
So I did the first thing I knew to do, I prayed and prayed some more. I knew God was asking me to stand up and to write this declination. I have never written a declination and I had no idea how to even respond to the questions asked, but I knew what God was asking and I knew He would provide every answer and I knew He would come through.
My first suggestion to you before you write one is to pray. Then research. I found that when you write a religious declination it must be only that. No facts, no medical knowledge, strictly “religious”. For the record I hate that word “religious”. That’s another post……
So I sat down with my worship music on, my heart of prayer and my Bible and I began to pray and research. I began to write and when God starts to flow in my writing it’s incredible. God continued to remind me through the whole process that “what door I have opened, no man can shut.” Seven days before the deadline of comply or resign I received my declination approval. Something I know only God could do, and with the prayers of many and help of my Pastor also backing me, God came through!
So I recently have been led to share this writing with you. I have been led to share why I choose to no longer vaccinate according to the scripture. I have been led to share what I felt God showed me.
Below are the questions I was asked and the answers given. It is lengthy!!!!! I pray that this will help you make a more biblically based decision concerning vaccines in your future.
To Whom It May Concern:
Description of Religious Belief that is contrary to Influenza Vaccine.
- I am not to defile my body and I am keep my body free from intentional blemish. Injecting the influenza vaccine exposes my body to direct disease. When I chose to follow Christ my body became his temple and I am ordered to keep it pure because He lives within me. God gave me my body as a gift and I do not belong to myself but to Him.
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” (1 Corinthians 3:16)
“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your Spirit, which are Gods.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
- Injecting the influenza vaccine or other vaccines contaminates my body and blood with toxic chemicals, neurotoxins, carcinogens, viruses, and/or foreign proteins/DNA from other animals. This is in direct violation of Gods directions to me to keep my body (HIS Temple) pure and defiles my body. (See scripture above)
Blood is the source of life for both humans and animals, within the blood and organs is our DNA. Human Blood is to be kept pure from these contaminates and not cross-contaminated with that of animals or other toxins.
“For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Leviticus 11:44)
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11)
“but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.” (Acts 15:20) The importance of this is again repeated in Acts 15:29 “that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, and things strangled, and from sexual immorality.” (Acts 15:29)
Description of how use of influenza vaccination is a violation of my moral conscience in light of this religious belief:
- As a believer and follower of Christ it is against the principles and doctrines set before me in the Bible as listed above.
The Bible says “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
As a believer that follows the God-breathed word of God I am instructed to “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” James 1:22
”Therefore you shall keep My commandments, and perform them: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 22:31)
- There is no scripture that tells me injecting a virus into my bloodstream cures or prevents disease, there is only scripture that states following his commands for my life will. Therefore injecting such again violates the laws set before me as a Christ follower.
“……………There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to Hid commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptian. For I am the Lord who heals you.” (Exodus 15:25-26)
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make is good?” (Numbers 23:19)
- It is against my moral conscience to inject anything that violates my body because I was made in Gods image. I was not made in the image of any animal nor should my blood be contaminated with the DNA of any such animal. He made each after its own kind in the beginning. If I am made in his image then my body functions just as he intended, in His image with His breath in my lungs.
“And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:20-21)
“And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1: 24-25)
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and morning were the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31)
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living thing.” (Genesis 2:7)
“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.” (Psalm 139:13-16)
- It is against my moral conscience because it is a direct violation to keep my body blemish free and pure because His Spirit lives in me and it is through His sanctification that I may remain pure. When I chose to follow God and His laws I was called to be separate and to not allow my temple (body) to touch that which is unclean based on His word.
“And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:16-18)
I will leave this final scripture which I feel further defends my moral beliefs to follow in obedience to keep my temple holy.
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
The following definitions were taken directly from the Merriam-Webster dictionary and I feel are pivotal in better explaining the above scriptures.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/
Sanctify – 1. “to set apart to a sacred purpose or to religious use: Consecrate”
- “to be free from sin: purify”
Consecrate – “Dedicated to a sacred purpose”
Purify – “to make pure: such as”
- “to clear from material defilement or imperfection”
- “to be free from guilt or moral or ceremonial blemish”
- “to free from undesirable elements”
Defilement = Defile – “To make unclean or impure”
“to corrupt the purity or perfection of”
“to make physically unclean especially with something unpleasant or contaminated” (ex… defile with blood)
“to violate the sanctity of”
Perfection – “the quality or state of being perfect: such as”
“freedom from default or defect: flawlessness”
“ an exemplification of supreme excellence”
“an unsurpassable degree of accuracy or excellence”
Sanctity – 1: “holiness of life and character :godliness”
2 a : “the quality or state of being holy or sacred :inviolability”
B: “sanctities plural :sacred objects, obligations, or rights”
Inviolability = Inviolable – “Secure from violation or profanation”
Godliness = Godly 1. Divine 2. Pious,devout
Divine = 1. Religion a.) of, relating to, or proceeding directly from God
“He that chooses God, devotes himself to God as the vessels of the sanctuary were consecrated and set apart from common to holy uses, so he that has chosen God to be his God, has dedicated himself to God, and will no more be devoted to profane use.” Thomas Watson
Description of how I live this belief in my daily life that demonstrates it is sincerely held.
I practice this in my daily through healthy living practices as outlined in the Bible as well. Healthy living and self-control glorifies God and makes me more effective in my daily walk with Him, relationships with others and general overall daily and work performance. I do not contaminate my body with things I feel are toxic to my health or break the laws that I feel He has set before me, or convictions he has placed in my heart.
- I do not drink alcohol or smoke hazardous substances such as cigarettes or e-pipes or any other inhaling substance, which is a known toxin to the body.
“And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” (1 Timothy 4:8)
- I exercise to keep myself physically fit. Which is acknowledged in the Bible, though less important than spiritual exercise. But acknowledged nonetheless. Exercise is also a form of caring for the temple that God has given me to keep healthy.
“For bodily exercise profits little; but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” (1 Timothy 4:8
- I avoid over eating and gluttony to control my weight along with exercise. The Bible clearly states what happens to those who over indulge. Gluttony shows a lifestyle that is undisciplined.
“Do not mix with winebibbers, or with gluttoness eaters of meat; For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.” (Proverbs 23:20-21)
- I make health food choices and even Daniel recognized the benefits of such and how it affected nutrition and health.
“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” (Daniel 1:8)
“So Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.” So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days. And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies. 16 Thus the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.” (Daniel 1: 11-16)
- I take care of my physical outward appearance, because our outward appearance can have much to do with our inward appearance. I make sure that my outward appearance also honors God in the things I wear.
“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7, NIV)
- I abstain from sexual immorality against my body as outlined in the scripture above and also in the following scripture.
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given[a] us His Holy Spirit.”
(1 Thessalonians 4:3-8)
“Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18)
- I walk in the wisdom of the Lord by following his commands daily which according to King Solomon is “health to my flesh and strength to my bones.”
“Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.” (Proverbs 3:7-8)
I follow this practice by healthy eating, self-control, exercise, I take my daily vitamins and Vitamin D as directed by my physician, I go get yearly well visits to make sure my body is running at optimum health. I keep myself sanitary and clean. I use soap and water to wash my hands on a consistent basis. I get plenty of sleep at night. I stop when I feel my body telling me I need to rest or slow down. I take extra Vitamin C or Zinc when I feel I am getting ill. I don’t expose myself to harmful chemicals and toxins even within my home. I do all the things necessary without defiling my body before God. Most importantly I follow the commands of God, so I may have a long life.
“You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.” (Deuteronomy 5:33)
Given all that I have set before you and my beliefs as a follower of Christ and His word, I am asking for a religious exemption from the Influenza vaccine and further vaccines in the future. Thank you for allowing me the time to explain myself in detail and for the consideration of such.
Lisa, RN
I know we all have different views, opinions and convictions. However, I want to challenge you to pray and seek God. Do your own research and ask God what He would have you do concerning the matter. Do your research and don’t be afraid to think outside the box or to step outside of the societal “requirements”. God is with you, be strong and courageous!