Comments on: Social Justice is Not a Program

By: Top 10 Comments of 2009 « A House Church Blog

Top 10 Comments of 2009 « A House Church Blog — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:34:18 +0000

[...] from the viewpoint of the leave the building cause. As I wrote on October 6th about the heart of social justice being in the everyday, ongoing love of personal people (rather than programs), Kathy Bradley [...]

By: Kathy Bradley

Kathy Bradley — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:34:28 +0000

Well, since y’all brought it up… Heb.10:24 – “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” We need to both encourage and receive encouragement toward good – probably because we still mess up. Y’think?
We too easily confuse giving to God with donating to some program or organization. Maybe we want to since that’s the easy task. I’m becoming ever more convinced that giving to God more likely involves the giving of ourselves to one another, and perhaps “stuff” if needed.

By: leavethebuilding

leavethebuilding — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:35:31 +0000

Hi Catherine,

Thanks so much for your comment. It is true that social justice is different for Christians than it is for non-Christians. Of course, for us, the goal is wholistic care: for the body and the soul. You’re absolutely right that the Body of Christ should be addressing the spiritual needs of people. I didn’t specifically address that because it seems like the Church is rather good with that. There’s no shortage of preaching! But there does seem to be a shortage of meeting physical needs and we need to remember that Jesus did both.

Regarding the role of the Holy Spirit, any neglect to mention his role was unintentional. In no way am I suggesting that Christian social justice can be done apart from the Holy Spirit.

I will contend with one point. You said:

“If a person is a born-again Christian sealed by the Holy Spirit, they don’t need ‘community’ to urge them on towards good works.”

I would clarify and say that we need both the Holy Spirit and the community to urge us on towards good works (and other things, too!).

Thanks for the conversation!

By: Catherine

Catherine — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:52:43 +0000

I think before a person can say that the Church needs to be more involved with ‘social justice’, this term needs to be defined. It’s being thrown about hither and yon, yet very rarely is it defined.

Is it equal justice for all? In the Islamic faith, social justice that is spoke of in the Five Pillars of Islam requires that a person give to the poor. However, if you were to look further into this you would see that in certain sects of the Islam faith, the views of women and men are much different. Women are not only not equal to men, but are very much subservient to men. So, their view of ‘social justice’ will not be the same as that of Christ contained in God’s Word. Yet, they do believe in taking care of the poor.

I’ve noticed in what was written here, that the working of the Holy Spirit is completely missing. If a person is a born-again Christian sealed by the Holy Spirit, they don’t need ‘community’ to urge them on towards good works. They are Spirit led and the body of Christ, when it is doing what it ought to be doing, will naturally take care of those in need. Not only meeting their ‘social needs’ but more importantly, giving them the answer to their spiritual need to repent and accept Christ as Savior. So, in that you are correct, it’s not a program and it shouldn’t be a program if all are doing what Holy Spirit is prompting them to do. The Body of Christ functions together without program.