A Theology of TP

by | Apr 6, 2020 | Inspiration | 0 comments

A few weeks ago when it became obvious to Americans that the COVID-19 virus was something to be taken seriously, a most amazing thing happened in the US.  Americans began a run on toilet paper along with other items which each deemed a necessity. At the end of that first week of binge purchases of TP, in his weekly sermon our pastor told of a cartoon he’d seen that week.  In the cartoon a man who had just been told by his doctor that he had tested positive for the virus, declared, “But Doc, there’s no way I can have the virus. I have 300 rolls of toilet paper in my house.”

As I pondered people’s behavior during the run on stores for toilet paper, I developed “A Theology of TP.” On the surface the driving motivation for stockpiling toilet paper appears to be a fear of being caught with no toilet paper.  But let’s face it. Though being caught without TP is worthy of concern, in no way does it warrant a fear worthy of the panic that caused people to sprint from the store doors to the toilet paper shelves. 

Could it be that there is something deeper, though unrealized, that has fueled the hoarding of TP and other essentials? I believe there is.  I believe that because a deadly virus is lurking among us, beneath a fear of insufficient TP and other essentials is a fear of death. And no matter how many rolls of toilet paper one has, that fear cannot be adequately appeased by TP alone.  

Is it possible to erase one’s fear of death?  Absolutely, but only if one’s theology of death leads to a living hope and not to a hope-so of wishful thinking.  Knowing the following can lead you to that living hope.

  1. Death is the most natural thing we do in life.  Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 says, “There is an appointed time for everything.   And there is a time for every event under heaven – a time to give birth and a time to die….”  The coronavirus is a vivid reminder that death is a certainty for us all. Short of the second coming of Christ, if not the corona virus, something else will take us out of this life.  Death, because of the brokenness in the world due to sin, is a given for each of us. Death is our enemy.
  2. Death is the most unnatural natural thing we do in life.  Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He [God] has made everything appropriate in its time.  He has also set eternity in their heart….” Why do you think, when times are normal, our hospitals and doctors’ offices are filled and lines in our pharmacies are steady?  Why, in these unnormal days in which we’re now living, do you think people who have contracted the coronavirus are fighting so hard to live? It’s because God has placed eternity in our hearts.  Deep down we know we were created to live forever. Instinctively we know that death is the most unnatural natural thing we do. Thus we fight with all that is within us, using all resources available to us, to live as long as possible.
  3. Because we don’t know when death will come for us, we better be ready to meet God at any moment.  Ecclesiastes 8:8 says, “No man has the authority to restrain the wind with the wind, or authority over the day of death….”  As COVID-19 continues its journey across the globe, daily we are reminded that death for any of us could come at any moment.  Because we could meet God at any time, we need to be ready to do so at any moment.

Yes, we need to respect death, but do we need to live in fear of it?  Thankfully, no. God’s word tells us how that is possible in 1 Peter 1:3-5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

By confessing and repenting of your sin to God, and by putting your faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, fear of death can be replaced with a living hope of eternal life.  Contact me at [email protected] if I can help you understand more clearly what that means.