For the next few weeks I'm going to look at examples of "social justice" in what is called the "faith community" with the intent to demonstrate how, while well intended those who preach social justice are being mislead, and thus ultimately distracted from what should be our true calling as Christians.
Week One: We start with a big one, a quote from Pope Francis.
“A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table, but above all to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness, and respect for every human being.” – Pope Francis
I truly love the part about "respect for every human being". He'll get no argument from me to suggest that isn't extremely important and clearly part of our calling as Christians.
But taking his statement in its entirety I see what should be an obvious problem except that this false concept called "social justice" is clouding so many minds and dare I say hearts.
His first six words pretty much strike right to my point. "A way has to be found." For the Pope to say about the world's sufferings, "a way has to be found", is like a doctor in the midst of a medical emergency saying, "if only someone here had some medical knowledge." I'm pretty sure Pope Francis knows quite well that a way has been found and that way is Jesus Christ. I'm also as confident as I can be in a fellow human being that he intends to reach as many people as possible with that message that Jesus Christ is the way.
To be fair to Pope Francis I will grant him that Christ works through people and we as Christians are not called to just be fans in the stands of God's mercy. We are called to be the instruments of His mercy in this fallen world.
But here is where "social justice" separates us from Christ. Christ uses us, His followers and by the fact the church universal is a set defined as all of His followers, He uses the church. But no government is the church, no geographical community is the church, no group other than the church is the church. The church is a set that intersects with but never encompasses any other group except for those specifically defined as such like congregations and Bible-study groups. One can no more expect governments and communities to do something because it is what a good Christian would do than one can expect a car to be a train. And to demand it through a political process is to make a joke of our calling.
Now to get down to some of the details in this quote.
"... to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table"
There are places in the world where the rich and powerful own everything and consciously work to keep the poor destitute. This is clearly wrong. Forbidding or working against economic mobility is something no Christian should participate in. And in a secular context I believe Christians should favor governmental reforms that allow for greater mobility. But such reforms should not be made at the expense of, as Pope Francis said, "respect for every human being." Forced redistribution isn't Christian. It is just one step away from unjust execution. It demeans the individual to treat private property as something under the control of some larger community. Voluntarily giving of one's surplus to assist those in need and potentially better their lives is Christian, but governmental policies of wealth redistribution are anti-Christian.
"...above all to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness, and respect for every human being.”
As long as that word justice is not perverted to apply to groups instead of individuals I can say amen to this much. Unfortunately "social justice" does just that. Once we start to seek justice for groups not defined by having a common individual victimizer but instead another group we make victims of members of the other group who did nothing wrong in this case.
This false concept called "social justice" should rub all Christians the wrong way since it perverts and distorts so much. Most distastefully it distorts our relationship with Jesus Christ. I pray more of us will come to this realization.
Week One: We start with a big one, a quote from Pope Francis.
“A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table, but above all to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness, and respect for every human being.” – Pope Francis
I truly love the part about "respect for every human being". He'll get no argument from me to suggest that isn't extremely important and clearly part of our calling as Christians.
But taking his statement in its entirety I see what should be an obvious problem except that this false concept called "social justice" is clouding so many minds and dare I say hearts.
His first six words pretty much strike right to my point. "A way has to be found." For the Pope to say about the world's sufferings, "a way has to be found", is like a doctor in the midst of a medical emergency saying, "if only someone here had some medical knowledge." I'm pretty sure Pope Francis knows quite well that a way has been found and that way is Jesus Christ. I'm also as confident as I can be in a fellow human being that he intends to reach as many people as possible with that message that Jesus Christ is the way.
To be fair to Pope Francis I will grant him that Christ works through people and we as Christians are not called to just be fans in the stands of God's mercy. We are called to be the instruments of His mercy in this fallen world.
But here is where "social justice" separates us from Christ. Christ uses us, His followers and by the fact the church universal is a set defined as all of His followers, He uses the church. But no government is the church, no geographical community is the church, no group other than the church is the church. The church is a set that intersects with but never encompasses any other group except for those specifically defined as such like congregations and Bible-study groups. One can no more expect governments and communities to do something because it is what a good Christian would do than one can expect a car to be a train. And to demand it through a political process is to make a joke of our calling.
Now to get down to some of the details in this quote.
"... to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table"
There are places in the world where the rich and powerful own everything and consciously work to keep the poor destitute. This is clearly wrong. Forbidding or working against economic mobility is something no Christian should participate in. And in a secular context I believe Christians should favor governmental reforms that allow for greater mobility. But such reforms should not be made at the expense of, as Pope Francis said, "respect for every human being." Forced redistribution isn't Christian. It is just one step away from unjust execution. It demeans the individual to treat private property as something under the control of some larger community. Voluntarily giving of one's surplus to assist those in need and potentially better their lives is Christian, but governmental policies of wealth redistribution are anti-Christian.
"...above all to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness, and respect for every human being.”
As long as that word justice is not perverted to apply to groups instead of individuals I can say amen to this much. Unfortunately "social justice" does just that. Once we start to seek justice for groups not defined by having a common individual victimizer but instead another group we make victims of members of the other group who did nothing wrong in this case.
This false concept called "social justice" should rub all Christians the wrong way since it perverts and distorts so much. Most distastefully it distorts our relationship with Jesus Christ. I pray more of us will come to this realization.
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