Social
justice is the hot topic these days. Many prominent people are lining up to
raise the banner of social justice. They are quick to vilify anyone who
disagrees with their stand. Obviously, anyone who does not approach social
justice in the same way that they do is unintelligent, uninformed, and unworthy
of consideration.
Social
justice and morality go hand in hand. Yet, in reality they are often at odds
with one another in the real world. Most people today have a self-authorizing
view of morality. Because our secular world refuses to acknowledge any ultimate
authority outside of ourselves, then morality becomes very individualistic and
fluid. Yet, many secular people are quick to assert moral outrage over what
they deem as injustice. This is a very arrogant and near-sighted view, because
it declares that Western values and morals are superior to every other culture,
and they have an obligation to fall in line with us.
We
need to be very clear that social justice is at the heart of our Christian
faith. Throughout both the Old and the New Testaments, we are commanded to
stand up for the poor, the orphan, the widow, the outcast, etc. It was
Christianity that introduced the idea that every individual has value and
worth, regardless of their social status or ethnic heritage.
As
God instructed the people of Israel how they were to live, He included
instructions about the alien, the orphan, and the widow.
"Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in
Egypt. "Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they
cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. Exodus 22:21-23
Jesus
stressed the importance of social justice in Matthew 25. For I was hungry and you gave me
something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a
stranger and you invited me in, I needed
clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison
and you came to visit me.' Matthew 25:35-36
This
raises two issues that separate the social justice that the Bible talks about
and the social justice our secular world talks about. The first issue is our
motivation for seeking social justice. The secular world has many very moral
people. But as Luc Ferry, a French philosopher and proponent of secular
humanism, points out, secular humanists are motivated by “a feeling of
satisfaction and superiority when we contemplate… illiberal societies.” Social
justice makes people feel good. It gives them a feeling of power, as they seek
to change the world for the better. Nietzsche has contended that social justice
activism in modern society is largely powered by hatred and contempt for
others.
Christians
are motivated by agape love. Agape love is founded in humility not arrogance.
It seeks to serve others, because of the love and grace we have received from
God. Christians are motivated by the Great Commandment: Love the Lord your God
with all you heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as
yourself. This view does not say that we are superior to others, but that we
are just like them. We value others because God values them.
The
other stumbling block in the social justice debate is obligation. As I already
stated, a person does not have to believe in God to be moral. Yet, the question
remains, why should a person be moral. If there are no absolute standards that
are outside of ourselves, why should I care? Again Nietzsche points out that if
all our moral beliefs are really just the product of evolutionary biology, then
while some things may feel wrong, they aren’t actually wrong.
Christians
embrace social justice because there are absolute moral standards, established
by God, that govern our world. Just like natural laws, moral laws exist outside
of us as humans. We do not get to decide right and wrong for ourselves. In
fact, without an absolute standard, there is not right and wrong. Therefore
social justice becomes a personal choice that can be accepted are rejected
without consequence.
On
the surface, there can be a façade of morality and social justice in our world.
But without God, there is no solid foundation upon which to build. Other,
non-western cultures, that do not hold the same standards of social justice as
we do in the West, have just as much right to their view as we do. In reality,
the very foundation for what people think of as social justice came from God a
long time ago, and has been passed down, in one form or another, from
generation to generation.
Exodus 20:2-17
"I am the Lord your God, who brought
you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
"You shall have no other gods before
me.
"You shall not make for yourself an
idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the
waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord
your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers
to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a
thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
"You shall not misuse the name of the
Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his
name.
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it
holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a
Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor
your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor
the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the
earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
"Honor your father and your mother, so
that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
"You shall not murder.
"You shall not commit adultery.
"You shall not steal.
"You shall not give false testimony
against your neighbor.
"You shall not covet your neighbor's
house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or
maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
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