Yadda Yadda Yadda

Monday, August 07, 2006

12 Comments:

1. Martin Boutros said...
   7:52 am, August 08, 2006  
   Alex M or David S from church might know - they went across there for a whole month earlier this year, remember? Alex has got heaps of pics etc. David and Elly work with the same mission as KKs people.
   Ludicrousity said...
   10:17 am, August 08, 2006  
   Yeah, but when they did their presentation they didn't give us any information on political or military unrest. Do you know anything rev? Isn't it your rellies trapped over there?
   Glen O'Brien said...
   9:32 pm, August 08, 2006  
   Whoah, thing's are heating up on Yadda Yadda Yadda! DBoy's answer to Soldier's Friend goes a bit over the top. OK the latter overstated his case a bit by saying "if you're not into social justice; you're not in the kingdom." However, it's not a "cultish theory" to assert that social justice is part and parcel of the Gospel. The separation of "personal faith" from "social action" is an illegitimate dichotomy that earlier generations of evangelical Christians (those of the eighteenth century, for example) would have found unthinkable. DBoy is to be commended for his passionate commitment to help any needy student in his class. However after addressing the presenting need there is another step to take - asking what social condtions may have contributed to that person's difficulties and can they be changed to prevent others suffering in the same way? A student who self harms, for example, may be from a home where the new workplace laws put her father out of work, in a neighbourhood where the government licensed more poker machines than already gambling addicted community needed, and where there was insufficient funding for rehab clinics that would help her heroin addicted mother. There is such a thing as systemic evil - prevailing social conditions that keep the poor, poor. The church is called to address this, as the prophets of the OT did, calling for a personal response to the message of salvation as well as national righteousness based on the principles of justice and mercy. The problem is we have politicised this as though only liberal Christians or those on the evangelical left do this while conservatives and those on the right do not. This is not about right and left at all but about how the principles of the Kingdom are to be applied on the personal and social levels. Oscar Romero once said. "When I feed the poor, they call me a saint; When I ask 'why are they poor?' They call me a communist." As for only supporting social relief when the Gospel is explicitly preached, the problem with this is that we can slip into an inauthentic form of helping. We have an agenda of our own (to get the person saved) and we only help because of that agenda, which is clearly a less than transparent action. We should help the poor and needy because God gave us the responsibility of doing so. There is no other justification needed.
   Ludicrousity said...
   9:46 am, August 09, 2006  
   So many good points! Where do I start? I'm impressed with how deeply everyone is engaging with this. But I get caught in the trap of just talking about it and engaging intellectually. How about you? I loved this quote Glen:
   
   "When I feed the poor, they call me a saint; When I ask 'why are they poor?' They call me a communist."
   
   We do need to advocate for those who have no voice, especially who aren't even aware what causes them to live how they live. Why is so hard to lobby for those things which we know need to change? It requires us to give of ourselves, and that can be hard. I'd like to recommend Michale Moore's movie 'bowling for columbine'. Awesome film about social change, and the need for it. While he can over exaggerate at times, that's what the mainsteam media do, he's just doing it in the opposite direction, so you find a balance there somewhere. I'm a big fan of Moore.
   Mutt said...
   9:51 am, August 09, 2006  
   Try googling 'darfur' for information on Chad
   Mutt said...
   9:52 am, August 09, 2006  
   Or try here http://www.savedarfur.org/
   Ludicrousity said...
   9:57 am, August 09, 2006  
   Thanks special K.
   Anonymous said...
   10:21 am, August 09, 2006  
   funny i did the same too: Twinged a nerve in my back while was washing my hair, about 2 years back. laid me in bed for 2 days!! shiatsu massage got it back in shape.
   Soldier of Truth said...
   1:01 pm, August 09, 2006  
   i think glen is right that i overstated my point! i did this because of the same thing that he spoke regarding 18th century christians. i just cant seperate faith and social justice.
   Ludicrousity said...
   1:43 pm, August 09, 2006  
   And you shouldn't separate them!
   Anonymous said...
   3:39 pm, August 09, 2006  
   Hey, Glen O'brien, dude! When I said:
   
   "if you're not into social justice; you're not in the kingdom."
   
   You said I overstated the case a bit?
   
   Why is this a 'bit' of an overstatement?
   
   What do you think the Kingdom of God is about if not God's reign and justice? I read my Amos, Isaiah, Matthew, Luke and James, for example and I think that if anything I'm understating it. (My friend, the rich young ruler says he agrees!)
   
   Tell me how you belong to the Kingdom without embracing God's heart for Justice. What are we converted to, other than the personalised gnosticism that goes for white middle class faith of post-modernity?
   Anonymous said...
   12:16 pm, February 15, 2007  
   I have been looking for sites like this for a long time. Thank you! »

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