Letter from the Editor
Christians Care
In light of the current emphasis on societal injustices , Cornerstone has come together as a staff to produce our first thematic issue , titled “ Christians Care .” Our faith compels us to address deep-seated injustices in society . But before you dive into the collection of literature in the pages to follow , allow me to present a somewhat radical view of the intersection between social justice and the Christian faith .
The Gospel provides us with the firmest of foundations for why we should have a desire to display God ’ s justice , love and mercy to disadvantaged and abused groups in our communities and around the world . We should care about suffering , and this is an essential part of our faith . But even more so , we should care about eternal suffering . This means that as Christians , we should harmonize our advocacy efforts with evangelism , because the former deals with what ultimately are temporary afflictions . Lastly , the Christian fighting for social justice should do so in tandem with personal holiness . God cares just as much about both justice in the world and our holiness , and so should we .
The Bible clearly calls us to care about people for whom questions about poverty and justice are more than ink on pieces of paper but concerns life and death . Many passages speak to this but I want to focus on one I feel is instructive - Amos 5 . Amos was a prophet from the southern kingdom of Judah . He was called by God to pronounce judgment on the prosperous northern kingdom of Israel . After declaring God ’ s punishment on various nearby nations , including Judah , Amos turns to judge Israel in Amos 2 : 6-8 and the rest of the book is a proclamation of God ’ s justice and His condemnation of oppression . In Amos 5 , God rebukes Israel for turning “ justice into wormwood ” ( v7 ), afflicting the poor for individual gain ( v11 ) and refusing to help the poor ( v12 ). Notably , however , insofar as God ’ s rebukes go , they are focused on the oppression that the Israelites conduct on the poor , rather than the fact that there is inequality at all .
Incidentally , the concluding exhortation of the chapter for justice to “ roll down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream ” ( v24 ) was made famous by Martin Luther King Jr in his speech “ I Have A Dream .” Five years later , just a day before his death , King delivered another speech where he said ,
Bull Connor next would say , “ Turn the fire hoses on .” And as I said to you the other night , Bull Connor didn ’ t know history . He knew a kind of physics that somehow didn ’ t relate to the transphysics that we knew about . And that was the fact that there was a certain kind of fire that no water could put out . And we went before the fire hoses ; we had known water . If we were Baptist or some other denominations , we had been immersed . If we were Methodist , and some others , we had been sprinkled , but we knew water . That couldn ’ t stop us .
King alluded to the Biblical sacrament of baptism as the point of resolve and unification for the Civil Rights Movement that could not be quenched by opposition . He did this because he knew that it was the firm foundation upon which he could rest his movement . King strongly believed in the words of Paul to the Colossian church that in Christ , there is no distinction between nationalities , ethnicities and socioeconomic statuses ; Christ is all , and in all . This should very much propel us to combat oppression in our various circles .
Why , however , does God not seem to explicitly rebuke the disparity between the rich and the poor , but only active abuse of the latter ? It is because ultimately , the disparity stems from a sinful heart that would justly result in eternal judgment while the abuse is a temporal affliction . This is not to say that God is not concerned about issues of poverty . He calls His followers to commit themselves to the betterment of society , but we should do so out of compassion , not necessarily an effort of undoing an injustice . More importantly and clearly put forth is the call to evangelism . As much as we are concerned about the issues of this world ( and rightfully so !), we should be all the more concerned about the pending eternal judgement that many would face in the age to come .
There is no distinction between nationalities , ethnicities , and socioeconomic statuses ; Christ is in all .
This is why when Jesus describes His mission quoting from Isaiah , He said ,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me , Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor . He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives , and recovery of sight to the blind , to set free those who are oppressed , to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord . ( Luke 4:18-19 , NIV )
Note the verbs used by Jesus : “ preach ,” “ proclaim ,” “ set free ,” and “ proclaim ” again . The third of these , “ set free ,” is directed at the oppressed which once again echoes God ’ s condemnation of oppression . The other three , however , are verbs of speech , and the focus here is clearly on the preaching of the Gospel . Christians should be as concerned about the eternal fate of the people in the world as they are about their present well-being . Our primary mission as disciples of Jesus should be to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the world .
2 CORNERSTONE Magazine