{"id":7527,"date":"2023-05-15T12:13:36","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T18:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?p=7527"},"modified":"2023-05-16T09:47:04","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T15:47:04","slug":"slamming-social-justice-is-christianity-without-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2023\/05\/slamming-social-justice-is-christianity-without-suffering.html","title":{"rendered":"Slamming Social Justice is Christianity Without Suffering"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/a>

Social justice short.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\nhttps:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/230\/2023\/05\/Social-Justice-and-the-Bible.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<\/p>

I still remember when Glen Beck told viewers of his (then) daily FOXNews show something to the effect of: if the pastor of your church talks about the importance of social justice<\/a>, then you need to find a new church. That was years ago, and I\u2019ve heard it said time and time again by conservative commentators. The phrase social justice has functioned in much the same way the word \u201cwoke\u201d now functions. It\u2019s just a way to label and dismiss anyone who does not distill Christianity down into an impotent Americanized Christian fundamentalism or Christian nationalism. This short clip includes a comment I made off the cuff in a recent talk I gave. It wasn\u2019t in my manuscript. I think it gets to the unconscious reason social justice is often so maligned. Consciously, it\u2019s just a culture war thing. Unconsciously, slamming social justice and those who promote is an attempt to create Christianity without suffering, without the cross.<\/p>\n

Justice is Where History is Headed<\/h3>\n \ In the bible, to do justice is to surrender to the current of what God is ultimately doing in the world, to surrender to the future God has for us. The prophet Amos wrote: \u201cLet justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!\u201d (Amos 5:24). The type of justice Amos is talking about refers to the basic human obligations we owe to one another. Justice, in the biblical sense, is not about punishing criminals. It\u2019s about everyone having enough of what they need to flourish, to find wholeness and peace. To pursue justice is to surrender to the flow of where history is headed. This flow is taking all of history somewhere particular, and the name of this destination is justice and peace.<\/p>\n \ Justice is Relational First, Then Systemic<\/h3>\n \ God\u2019s justice is not primarily systemic. It is relational. Justice is inseparable from rightly ordered relationships of mutual concern and neighboring. This inevitably includes the the creation of just systems to govern how we relate to each other. God cares deeply about justice because justice is connected to right relationships, which is the heart of shalom<\/em>, or peace. At the same time the systems that structure our society are powerful. They are like Amos\u2019 mighty river that can sweep whole societies into their flow. So the systems do matter. Amos says that the future God has for us involves systems that function like a mighty river that pulls people into a flow toward social justice. He sees a river that will sweep the people off their feet, disarming them, pulling them into a dynamic flow called justice and peace. Faithfulness involves surrendering to this current, learning to flow with God\u2019s spirit, to \u201clet justice roll like a river.\u201d<\/p>\n \ Justice Is More Central Than Religious Piety<\/h3>\n \ The Hebrew prophets railed against the impulse to make one\u2019s faith about religiosity or piety, while neglecting everyday concerns of justice, especially for those on the margins of society. What good is our piety when our neighbor suffers under oppressive systems from which we benefit? The pursuit of social justice is a defining characteristic of the people of God. There is no piety without justice, especially with regard to the poor. My favorite example of this comes from the prophet Ezekiel\u2019s interpretation of the story of Sodom. While fundamentalists love to point to the story of Sodom as one of judgment around homosexuality, Ezekiel identifies the true reason for God\u2019s displeasure: \u201cThis is the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were proud, had plenty to eat, and enjoyed peace and prosperity; but she didn\u2019t help the poor and the needy,\u201d (Ezekiel 16:49).<\/p>\n \ Justice Isn\u2019t Blind, It is Bound<\/h3>\n \ Abraham Joshua Heschel would often say that God doesn\u2019t care about justice as a principle. It\u2019s not that God loves justice for justice\u2019s sake. God loves justice for humanity\u2019s sake. Heschel wrote, \u201cGod\u2019s concern for justice grows out of His compassion for man. The prophets do not speak of a divine relationship to an absolute principle or idea, called justice. They are intoxicated with the awareness of God\u2019s relationship to His people and to all men.\u201d God\u2019s heart is not attached to an ideal of justice. God\u2019s heart is attached to people, especially those on margins. God\u2019s desire for justice flows out of God\u2019s love for people. So when people suffer, God moves God\u2019s people to respond. When they do, what they find is that doing justice will always require personal sacrifice. Justice will always require us to operate from a place of neighboring, a place of sacrifice, a place of generosity, mutuality, and love, not from a place of safety and security.<\/p>\n \ Justice Requires Sacrifice<\/h3>\n \ God wants God\u2019s people to care about justice and to pursue justice. The problem is we all want justice without sacrifice or suffering. We want a perfect system that works in every case. So, we try to take the people out of our systems of justice. We take relationships off the table. \nJudges recuse themselves if they know people personally. The rich and poor don\u2019t talk to each other. They live in different neighborhoods, different worlds. Criminal justice systems are supposed to be blind, but they are not blind! They treat people differently because of race, income, status, and so on.<\/p>\n \ Follow Me on:<\/h3>\n\nTwitter: @Tim_Suttle<\/li>\nInsta: timsuttle<\/li>\nYouTube: @1969tls<\/li>\nFacebook: facebook.com\/SuttleAuthor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \ I still remember when Glen Beck told viewers of his (then) daily FOXNews show something to the effect of: if the pastor of your church talks about the importance of social justice, then you need to find a new church. That was years ago, and I\u2019ve heard it said time and time again by conservative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":7533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1611,1999],"tags":[869,1722,2139,2136,220,2142],"class_list":["post-7527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-justice","category-politics","tag-abraham-joshua-heschel","tag-foxnews","tag-fundamentalism","tag-glen-beck","tag-social-justice","tag-woke"],"yoast_head":"\nSlamming Social Justice is Christianity Without Suffering Social Justice and the Bible<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I still remember when Glen Beck told viewers of his (then) daily FOXNews show something to the effect of: if the pastor of your church talks about the Slamming social justice and those who promote is an attempt to create Christianity without suffering.\" 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