Social (In)Justice

You oppress the poor and crush the needy.
You turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground.
You hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth.
You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain.
You oppress the righteous and take bribes.
You deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
You have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness.

Sounds like a timely tirade for 2012, right?  Well, yes, it actually does.  But these words were actually written closer to 750 B.C. by the prophet Amos.  It seems things haven't changed much in the world over the last 2,762 years.

A key theme of Amos' message was social justice… or the lack thereof in the nation of Israel.  Along with perversion of worship (see previous post!), oppression of the helpless was a major reason God's judgment was about to be poured out.  Even without giving specific examples, the accusations from Amos cited above paint a sufficiently sordid picture of the corrupt culture into which the prophet sopke.

Now, for some steppin' on toes… There is really no need arguing that America, like ancient Israel, often turns a blind eye and deaf ear while the poor get poorer and the rich get richer… at the expense of the poor.  However, what is more disturbing is that, also like ancient Israel, those who should be the first to rise up and stop the abuse are often the most loathe to do so… and are occasionally even party to the injustices.

It has been my experience that "conservative evangelicalism," or at least the more "fundamentalist" segment of it to which I have long been exposed, seems almost afraid to "take up the cause of the poor."  My personal opinion is that this is due primarily to knee-jerk overreactions against what is often called the "social gospel."  Without doubt, there are those (often labeled "liberal") who substitute physical sustenance for substitutionary atonement or replace repentance with rehab.  The sad truth is that there will be a lot well-fed, clean & sober people in hell, and simply meeting physical needs without ultimately sharing the gospel does a great disservice to the very people we're trying to help.

Nevertheless, it seems to me that the time has come for more of those who espouse a conservative theology to recognize the very real physical needs of people around them and serve up the Gospel with a healthy side of meat & potatoes… or coats & shoes… or clean water… or rebuilt houses… or, you get my point!  Obviously it's just as much a disservice to the hungry to let them starve to death while we try to figure out how to get the Gospel to them!