Social Justice is all the rage. It's what's driving the environmental movement and the BLM movement. It's largely behind Socialism. It is the current motivation for anti-racism and anti-sexism. It is the Democrats' way to make things right for the oppressed and underrepresented. It is even embraced in some Christian circles. The problem, of course, is that it's not biblical.
"Now, hang on," some will cry, "you know that helping the poor and defending the weak and all that is biblical! How can you say it's not biblical?" Why, thanks for asking that astute question. I'll try to answer that.
Scripture is clear that we are to love our neighbors. If any Bible-believing follower of Christ would like to deny it, they'd disqualify themselves from being Bible-believing. So we are supposed to "Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy." (Prov 31:9) We are told to "render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart." (Zech 7:9-10) John warns, "If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?" (1 John 3:17) And on and on it goes.
"Okay, thanks for making my point. It is biblical." Doing that kind of good is indeed biblical. I didn't deny that. What I said was that today's "Social Justice" is not. So what's the difference? In today's version, "Social Justice" is defined by the masses and by the government and not by God. Indeed, God is specifically left out of it. Our version today doesn't take into account our responsibility to God. And our version today doesn't take into account our choices. Today's version is coercive. "We will decide what is and is not justice and we will make you do it." So they will define "Social Justice" in their own image and tax you and completely disregard your need to obey God rather than man. They will steal your stuff and your joy and your obedience to God so that you will comply with their definition of Social Justice ... which, by the way, is neither.
It's ironic, then, that Christians embrace modern Social Justice without paying attention to the fact that legal and moral coercion by the state or the society is neither social nor just and call it "Social Justice." We are to do many of the things modern Social Justice demands, but our call is to do it out of love for God and love for our neighbors, and that pleases God. Our society couldn't care less about your love for God or your neighbors; they just require you to submit, or else. That is not biblical social justice.
3 comments:
The guys at that Just Thinking podcast did an excellent job of dissecting what justice looks like in the Bible compared to what SJWs advocate. I think that the biggest difference between the two is the SJW focus on outcomes, as opposed to the Biblical focus on process. This focus on outcomes is a strange way to define justice as it frequently includes actions that are decidedly unjust as a way to provide justice for others. I'd also reiterate that engaging in coercive tactics that threaten violence if justice doesn't happen is not actually seeking justice.
You said in just the right different way.
I try.
Post a Comment