The last post was on persecution. It occurs to me that often we think of persecution as an "outside" attack.. That is true, however recently a national talk show host has been making statements that are enraging Christians around the country. He says "I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church website. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice are code words [for Communism and Nazism]. Am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!"
I am posting this quote because its important to understand that voices claiming to be from 'inside' the church can be far more damaging to it that voices from outside. We are a people about social justice. We also need to be a a global church who cares deeply about the justice issues that repress people around the world. Those aren't code words for anything. Sure they can be misused, but so can the blessed name of Jesus. I believe that the Jesus who healed, cared and showed us how to love would wear the causes of justice as a badge of honor. People aren't leaving the church because they see these things, they are choosing to reject he church because they don't.
If we become a Church that fails to love all the world deeply then at that moment we fail to be the Church. We lose our identity.
Our hope comes from the fact that God cared so much for us that he didn't reject us because of our condition. The Great Physician came for the sick. As His Church we bear the responsibility of carrying on that mission.
2 comments:
Great post Adam! Growing up at Bethany Covenant I really learned a lot about God's call to justice through the Sudanese refugees that began to attend Bethany and through the Covenant World Relief soup can.
As James says (2:14-17) What good is it my brothers and sisters if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead."
It's also very challenging to read the words of Jesus in Luke 4 when he says that he has come to "declare jubilee". Jubilee (Lev 25) was set up so that on a regular basis the government would redistribute wealth and forgive debts.
The fact that the Covenant Denomination and BCC wrestles with (and lets people disagree about!) tough verses like these is a big part of why I am a proud Covenanter. Check out the new department of Compassion, Mercy and Justice! http://www.covchurch.org/cmj
Tim King
www.twitter.com/tmking
http://blog.sojo.net/author/tim_king/
And yet, a great deal of mischief in the church, including our own denomination has been put specifically under the "social justice" category. Social justice is of course a wonderful thing, and eminently Christian. But not everything that calls itself social justice actually is, even if it is Christians saying it. For example, ECC materials just a few years ago called minimum wage legislation "social justice," ignoring the fact that it is decidedly a balancing act versus employment. And now we need...employment.
Calling well-meaning people nazis and communists is certainly a red flag that we are listening to someone who is a bit fevered. But the easy equation of government action with social action has been a serious problem in the mainstream denominations. The refusal to consider government action as a possible expression has been a serious problem with evangelicals. As a denomination in-between, we are in danger from both sides.
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