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   June 30, 2010

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   1 Matt @ The Church of No People said:
   

   I find it ironic that “social justice” has been ruined as a term namely by Glenn Beck who claims to be a Christian. I think the “love” idea is great. If we define it as making things “fair,” we’ll end up frustrated, as we’ll never accomplish that. But sharing love with someone is instantly attainable.

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   2 Lindsay said:
   

   Charged doesn’t even begin to describe what this term has become. Some people mean marriage for all. Some people mean healthcare for all. Some people mean eradicating poverty. Some people mean eradicating genocide and terrorism. And on and on and on…

   Me? I really don’t believe in social justice. I believe in God’s justice. And I have no idea what that actually looks like. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how he thought it was just for Christ to die for me.

   And so, instead of focusing on justice, I’m just trying to focus on being loved by God and showing that Love to everyone with whom I come into contact and searching out increased opportunities to share that Love around the world.

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   3 Dave Wilson said:
   

   Brad,

   I’ve been running into this issue lately too. This reminds me of an interesting quote I saw in a book review on Tim Challies’ excellent blog:

   “At the end of Humanitarian Jesus I am as perplexed as ever. Largely I still see things the way I did before. There is a time and a place for humanitarian work, no doubt. Christians can have great ministries serving the poor and the oppressed and in so doing can have remarkable opportunities to share the gospel. And yet still the history of Christianity shows that when Christians do this, the gospel quickly becomes secondary and the work itself becomes the gospel. I still see the Bible primarily emphasizing charity given to other believers; when I look at Acts and the epistles, this is what I see most—Christians helping other Christians as a sign of love and fraternity. Now of course there will be some who engage in humanitarian work outside the context of the local church, but it seems to me that the closer we come to making this a necessary part of the Christian mission, the more likely we are to see the gospel diminish.”

   I would tend to agree with his perspective on the topic. But I’m open to other opinions…

   Dave

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   4 b/ said:
   

   Part of my message on Sunday is on this very same topic and I’m asking the same questions and apparently hearing the same charged answers.

   I think we’re going to have let the Glen Becks make their money and color a phrase how they want to in order to get ratings.

   However, I don’t think that we can not focus on justice. God’s heart is for justice as much as it is for love. It is one of his attributes and so he is not only ‘just’ occasionally, but always.

   And so, as his people I think we should be as much about justice as we are about anything else. Fighting for the broken, fighting for the hopeless (of which we often find ourselves in both of these categories).

   In the Message paraphrase of the Bible, Peterson writes verse 10 like this, “Step out of the traffic, take a long loving look at me, your high God, above politics, above everything.”

   I wish I could highlight the politics part. I think that when we take a long loving look at our high God, who is above politics, above everything, and we see how beautiful he is, we will desire justice. We will desire spiritual justice, economic justice, political justice, social justice and _______ justice.

   We will want everyone to have proper healthcare, it won’t be about liberal or conservative. We will want an end to sexual slavery, it won’t be about radical or apathetic. We will long for people to be free and it won’t be about right wing or left wing, it will be about seeing the kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

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   5 Nick said:
   

   I think for some (probably mostly the younger generation) Social Justice is harmless and it is just the best way to describe caring for the sick, poor, etc.

   For others (Probably the older generation) it has a different meaning and may be a negative. Even Wikipedia says that it has been embraced by the Green Party and many on the left of the political spectrum. So obviously, it is going to reflect “their” idea of administering “Social Justice” and may be avoided by those on the right.

   I think the term is relative to how a church uses it. If a church is using “Social Justice” to push and promote a political agenda, aligning themselves with the government or a political group that leans left, right, or center and they use their church funds to support those groups, then, yes, I would have a problem with that.

   If a church is using the terminology to simply live out the teachings of Jesus and under the umbrella of those terms encourage people to care for others and utilize their funds within the church to care for the needs of the poor and needy, then I think it is harmless. However, some educating may have to be done for some within the church.

   I personally am avoiding the terminology because we are in a very conservative area with a lot of military and we’ve just found other ways to say the same thing to avoid any misunderstandings. I think you’ll know the best way to say what you want to say once you understand the pulse of the people in your community.

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   6 Aaron Dininny said:
   

   Brad,

   I ran into this problem when I was trying to title a series we did in January. In my study of the scriptures and talking with some folks, I just decided to drop “social” and title it “Justice”. I explained the negative connotations of social justice in passing during the first sermon and it seemed to ease the tension
   The bible talks of this topic as simply “God’s justice” and it usually refers to the “poor and oppressed”. If you are interested, I’ll send you my notes from the series. It was four sermons and it REALLY stretched me to prepare. The video archive is vimeo.com/ovbcmedia It was back in January, so click on page 3 or 4 in the archives.
   Good luck bro, grace and peace!

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   7 Bill (cycleguy) said:
   

   One word: politics. Sad it has stolen that but I would agree with your friend. I would try to find another word to describe that ministry. Just my .02 worth.

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   8 Mark Gillim said:
   

   Social Justice holds the people abusing and killing the innocent/defenseless responsible for their actions so the injustices stop. Anyone confessing their faith in God should be thankful for redemption and prove it by helping to relieve the suffering of humanity starting with children.

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   9 Josh said:
   

   For me, it’s simple…

   Social justice means loving the least of these. Loving someone for the sake of loving, and not for the sake of any sort of attention or political acclaim.

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    10 Jay Caruso said:
    

    It’s been stolen by politics and while people are quick to cast stones at Glenn Beck, he was in part right about the term because it has largely been stolen by those on the left. (** On a side note, I think more people knew about what Glenn Beck said because of others talking about it, than actually watched him say it.)

    It’s not just “social” justice either. You hear people use “economic justice”, “environmental justice”, “employment justice”, etc. Janeane Garofolo laughingly accused people that are pro-life of being opposed to “reproductive justice.” She said that. For realz.

    For example, many people who supported President Obama’s healthcare plan framed it in terms of “social justice.” It’s easy to do because who is opposed to justice in the world? And since universal healthcare could help to provide “justice” for those without health insurance, how could you be opposed to such a thing? The term is often wielded like a sledgehammer by those who use it unfortunately.

    I will also say this: People like Jim Wallis and others who are fans of his who invoke the name of Jesus Christ as a means to meet their political ends are no better than those who like James Dobson will use Christ’s name to advance their own political agenda.

    Rant over.

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    11 Becca Clark said:
    

    To paraphrase John Wesley, I believe that there is no holiness apart from social holiness. For me, the clarification of social (rather than just saying “justice”), speaks to the fact that a church or ministry is addressing a justice issue in the larger social context, rather than in either a specific matter or in a broad spiritual it’s-up-to-God-to-decide-on-this-one sense. I refuse to give the term up for lost to the political sphere; if we divorce the gospel from its social implications and reflect only on personal holiness or justice, in my opinion, we have ignored the majority of Christ’s message.
    Then again, I’m a self-avowed, practicing, bleeding-heart liberal, so take that for what it’s worth!

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    12 JamesBrett said:
    

    i may be oversimplifying here, but my small mind requires it. i define righteousness as being in and exercising a right relationship with God. and i define justice and being in and exercising a right relationship with community.

    so, to me, the term “social justice” seems redundant. is there any way to practice justice that’s not social… or in community? i have nothing against the term, though, and it doesn’t conjure up bad images. it just seems like a silly way to say what we’re trying to say…

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    July 1, 2010

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    13 Kyle said:
    

    When I think of Social Justice, I think of people who’ve recieved grace, giving the same grace away.

    I think a lot of the problem with our understanding/practice of justice is that we base it on an arrogant sense of deservedeness as opposed to a humble sense of gratitude.

    We say to the poor kid in Africa (or across town), “I have nice food and a warm house, because I deserve them. And I feel guilty that you don’t have them because you deserve them too.” This isn’t God’s justice.

    What we should say is, “None of us deserves food or a warm house, but God graciously gave them to me and I want to give them to you”.

    That’s God’s justice. Sharing grace not arrogance.

    It may seem like a nuance. But I think it’s core to giving away the Gospel and not just wealthy guilt.

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    July 13, 2010

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    14 Stephen said:
    

    I hate buzzwords, especially ones that don’t really mean anything. “Social Justice” is just that. Nobody knows what it means, it’s just a catch-phrase that makes people think they are “culturally relevant.” (Another meaningless catch phrase … which culture are you trying to be relevant to?)

    Justice involves a penalty phase. Interesting comments about Ms. Garrafelo and the quote “Social Justice holds the people abusing and killing the innocent/defenseless responsible for their actions so the injustices stop.” What should the penalty be for murdering an innocent, defenceless pre-born child? Where is the justice?

    As Christians, of course, we have not received justice. We live by the grace and mercy and forgiveness of God. We shouldn’t be looking for revenge and justice, we should be looking to exeplify humility and mercy, not pride, anger, revenge and justice.

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    July 14, 2010

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    15 Kirstin said:
    

    Thanks Brad, for the great post. The definition you stated about justice being tied closely with love is so true! God simply requires us to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with him (Micah 6:8). My name is
    Kirstin and I’m with Here’s Life Inner City. I thought you might be interested in our iHope Blog at http://www.ihopeonline.org. iHope highlights news, information and perspective about the issues facing America’s poor. Again, thanks for the thought-provoking post. Feel free to also visit our site at http://www.hlic.org or contact me with any questions.