NRHDennae Pierre, writing at Facebook:
“A lot of pastors chose trying to defend the chruch from some kind of “false social justice teaching” (that isn’t even being embraced by Christians in their church) at cost of learning how to reconcile and be in unity with Black Christians. Had they chosen the later, they could have become the kind of disciples who could rightly divide the word of truth AND strengthen their witness to the gospel. But because they chose the former they’ve only stepped away from tables and caused harm to the very people their church has been segregated from for generations.”
I appreciate this so much. Is there a kind of teaching out there in some churches that elevates social programs and human problem solving over deeper spiritual truths and the need for ultimate redemption by no one but God in Christ? Yes, of course.
Nevertheless the defensive and accusatory posture in regards to any mention of justice (including “racial justice”), as if this is not a core theme throughout the Scriptures, that I have personally encountered by many “evangelicals” (that purportedly take a high view of the Bible), has been baffling and heartbreaking. A “gospel” that neglects or denies real implications for justice–first in the church and second in the wider society–as a necessary outworking of the Christ’s redemptive work is less than biblical.
“He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, * and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, * and the rich he has sent away empty.”
–the Magnificat (Mary’s song)