Questions naturally abound: Are those the words that come to mind when you think about Hitler and Stalin--social justice? Does Beck understand the biblical tradition? He says social justice is the forced redistribution of wealth--Does he honestly believe that's what Christians mean by social justice? (No church tradition I know of supports this.) How many Christians will follow Beck's advice? What does it mean that a conservative is threatened by Christ and the teachings of His church? These are some of the questions that I have rolling around in the back of my mind.
Regardless, there are two points that must be emphasized: First, to be a Christian is to be concerned with the left out and the left behind, the lost and the last. This is an undeniable truth. If you eliminate all of the references to caring for the poor (some 3,000 verses), you'd have a much thinner bible. Furthermore, you can't escape the call in scripture to be passionate about justice. Israel's prophets and Israel's messiah both addressed justice on a regular basis (cf. Amos 5.24; Micah 6.6-8; Luke 4.14-19--Jesus' inaugural sermon).
Secondly, for the church, there is something that takes precedence before the state. We're not called to serve God and empire. Instead we're called to pledge allegiance to Jesus and his way. At times this stance will turn us into both friends and enemies, depending on the situation and context, to the political agendas of our world. We must always remember, we are called to seek first God's kingdom and his justice (Matthew 6--justice is implied in the biblical word righteousness).
On that note, I'm starting to wonder if there isn't something much deeper at stake in this conflict--who or what will ultimately shape our allegiances? More on that later . . .
Peace.
4 comments:
I might be wrong, but I don't think he is asking believers to leave Christianity. For sure, Liberation Theology which hijacked the concept of "justice" and perverted it, as practiced by some Catholic groups and others, is not faithful to the word.
Politicians seem to do this all the time. (Unless We The People call them out on it.) It botherd me that our current President, secularized the concept of HOPE making a mockery of it's Christian tradition during his campaign. The vanity to think his empty promises with lying lips could be the cornerstone of a "prosperous future" for our nation is tragic to say the least. I just pray we don't reap the whirlwind that seems to be already brewing.
I agree with “Anonymous”. If anyone has watched Mr. Beck’s program for any length of time, you will know that he is referring to the kind of “social justice” that pushes towards equality in terms of economic power, individual wealth and such other things as the redistribution of wealth itself, progressive taxes and eminent domain. These things are in fact documented founding principles in both socialism & communism. But I believe that Beck is talking about the liberation (radical) type of Churches and their meaning of social justice. Beck constantly refers to “Our Founding Fathers”, and their dependence on God. So why would he literally want people to leave their Christian Churches? I don’t believe that is what he wants. He is talking about the Churches that follow in the foot steps of (Radical) social teachings and their respective social gospel advocates which included the likes of Washington Gladden, an Ohio congregational minister, Walter Rauschenbusch, a New York Baptist preacher; and Charles Sheldon, whose (In His Steps) sold 23 million copies and was a precursor to the twenty-first century WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) movement. Most social Gospelers endorsed minimum wage and child labor laws, favored redistribution of wealth, and generally embraced State regulation of business. (Child labor laws certainly can be embraced by all, we can agree). And for them to follow radical social justice teachings involved significant revisions of the Bible, and many (though not all) social Gospelers abandoned any claims about scripture’s literal accuracy. Instead, the social Gospelers viewed the Bible as a moral guide book, but no more then that. These modernists also abandoned theological dogmatism for greater tolerance of other faiths. (See pages 497-498 of A Patriot’s History of the United States, by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen).
The prophets of the Old Testament were champions of “social justice”. During those days, justice was often perverted through bribery and favoritism or partiality. But God’s rewards come to those who practice justice in all their dealings with others. (Nelson’s Bible Dictionary)
Does this form of “social justice” sound familiar, maybe like our Government in Washington today? I think that is Beck’s point. Just look at the Health Care Bill and the process it went through with all the closed doors, back room secret deals and bribery that involved the White House, Congressmen and Senators.
May we be united in our prayer that the "political social justice" that Beck talks about will never hinder the Church and one of it's purposes; “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”. (Eph 4:12-3) Amen.
Yes, I agree. Both of you are touching upon my concern. The church should not be co-opted by any political movement from the left or the right. The church is called be the church, faithful to Christ and the message of his kingdom. Thanks for the insights.
Mr. Beck has followed up on this and expanded what he was trying to say.
He again is referring to the "radical" liberation theology that is found in Black liberation leaning churches and even in some white liberation churches. They see social justice as a means of distribution of wealth, from the rich "oppressor", to the "oppressed" by way of the Government. In other words, the Government TAKES from the well off and gives to the less fortunate. It is done against their will. The story of the "good Samaritan" in Luke 10:25-37, teaches us the example of loving choice. To love one another and to be willing to "freely" give and care for those that need help (no Government intervention here). It is by choice. Whereas, the radical liberation churches have perverted this message and use it to say that it is ok for the Government to TAKE from the well off, so they can give to the least. These churches also teach a perverted form of Salvation, collective salvation. The rich oppressors must give all they have to the least in order to obtain salvation, that collective salvation. They also paint Jesus as a victim of the oppressor, not as a conqueror. We all know that salvation is found only by way of an individual personal choice, not by the collective perversion that some of these Churches preach. These are the Churches Mr. Beck says to run from, and we should run very fast if we ever heard this perversion of the gospel taught.
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