the blog
Self-righteousness can feel really good…for awhile.
by bruce
September 24, 2009 | Religion | 4 responses
Confession time. You ready? Classify this post as a rant. I don't know what else to call it.
I've been kind of steamed today. See, The House is working on some plans to spread the word about us, about The Kingdom Experiment, and about our upcoming products. So we've been contacting bloggers seeing if anyone wants to be our friend. We've talked to some print publications seeing if anyone thinks what we're doing is worth writing about. Thankfully, some say they are interested. People like us!
But some people…well, they're just not really our kind of people I guess. We talked to one person who represents an influential Christian magazine. It's a magazine many of you would know. When we suggested their readers might be interested in knowing about what The House is up to, the spokesperson for the magazine told us that its readers didn't appreciate articles on social justice and stuff like that. Excuse me? Can you repeat that please?
So I've been on my high horse all day, getting myself more and more worked up. How can you call yourself a Christian publication and intentionally avoid any discussion of justice, any articles on redeeming the world? I have spent a lot of time today being angry about this. But I'm not really angry anymore. Now I'm just ashamed.
I'm ashamed because I realized that while I don't verbalize these same sentiments myself, my actions probably send the same message. Would anyone who followed me for a week have any inclination that I care about anyone other than myself? How does the way I live my life indicate that justice for the oppressed is important to me? And as I realized all this, I saw that the anger I was heaping on someone else applies to me as well. And the real kicker–God still loves me. He is ready and willing to speak gently to my heart and help me do better. His divine charity is always in plentiful supply. Why is it so hard for me to give that same grace to others?
source: d_rod
Tags: Inspiration, Religion, self-righteousness
Bruce, thanks for the transparency. Incidentally, I have some ideas about how to foster willing and fruitful conversations about social “justice” with those who might not “get it”. Drop me an email if you are interested in hearing them.
I think this article might shed some light on the issue:
http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2009/09/five-reasons-missional-churche.html#
I suspect the publisher of the magazine is concerned that social justice is the antithesis of evangelism. It isn’t of course, but we have to do the right thing for people’s bodies AND their souls. Historically the church has oscillated between the two while rarely doing both well. The publisher may well see the word “social justice” as code language for “salvation by works” or “if you do enough good things you will go to heaven” or “do good works and it will substitute for personal holiness and integrity”
I think this quote says it well from the blog “As we engage to deliver justice, we must also deliver the gospel regardless of anyone’s status in a culture.”
that’s a wise interpretation Kevin. yesterday another reader emailed me personally (he was too kind to thump me publicly) and said it kind of looked like I was building my own kingdom rather than God’s kingdom. He was nice enough to point out that the fact that I caught myself was a silver lining. Too bad I can’t catch myself more often!
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