Social Justice and the Word of God
He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD. (Proverbs 17:15)
God is a just God and He demands that human beings treat one another justly. So why aren’t the Social Justice Warriors of our culture falling back on the Bible as they fight their battles? Its because the battle is not really about justice, and it is not rooted in the word of God.
Without truth, justice cannot exist.
This is not just about not facing up to the truth, it’s about acknowledging the even truth as an attainable or worthy idea. Katherine Maher, the new CEO of National Public Radio and former CEO of Wikimedia Foundation (the internet’s most popular online encyclopedia) said the following in a TED talk in 2021.
our reverence for the truth might be a distraction that is getting in the way of finding common ground and getting things done’. ‘That is not to say that the truth doesn’t exist’, she added, ‘or to say that the truth isn’t important… [but] one reason we have such glorious chronicles to the human experience and all forms of culture is because we acknowledge there are many different truths’.
If there is no common truth, then there can be no common justice. The entire justice system is built on the pursuit of truth and the appropriate response to the truth discerned. Without truth, justice simply becomes the tool of the most influential and most powerful. It becomes just about who wins and who loses. This is the failure of post-modernism. It leads to anarchy and eventually dictatorship. The scourge of post-modernism has become much more than the thought experiment of literature professors in a college someplace, it is now the mode by which our government and justice system operate.
If everyone has their own truth, justice cannot exist.
The Bible constantly and consistently condemns the sin of giving false witness. This is a corrupt practice bent on punishing the innocent or justifying the guilty—usually for selfish means. It is the primary application of the 9th commandment (Exodus 20:16).
A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who speaks lies will not escape. (Proverbs 19:5)
A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who speaks lies shall perish. (Proverbs 19:9)
A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a club, a sword, and a sharp arrow. Proverbs (19:28)
If a justice system does not consistently punish—and punish severely—those who commit perjury, the hope of an effective justice system is lost.
Without a common sense of morality, justice cannot exist.
While our nation is not sectarian, it was founded upon values demonstrated in the Bible and the Judeo-Christian ethic. These include the sanctity of human life, the corruptibleness of human nature, the right to private property (and stewardship of personal possessions before God), the sanctity of marriage, and the sanctity of the family. If there is no acknowledgment of these ideals then all justice becomes a enforcement of the changeable of the whims of the masses against the individual. Individual human rights cease to exist and the anarchy of the days of the Judges reigns.
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 1:25)
All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way. (Isaiah 53:6)
This is how we get to the point where the legal system becomes a club used to beat political opponents into submission. It is how we get to a point where the law is used in its tiniest detail to punish people of faith, while it is completely ignored concerning people in power.
Without impartiality, justice cannot exist.
Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, and the peoples with equity. (Psalm 98:8-9)
Racism is partiality. It has been a scourge on our culture since before the founding of our country. It was used as a justification for the sin the Bible calls “man-stealing” and was a capital offense (Exodus 21:16). However, impartiality is not resolved by more impartiality. And yet we allow the scourge at the root of the wickedness of slavery to continue. Justice is reserved for the wealthy, the connected, the politically “in” group, and the party in power—this is wickedness before God.
Without self-discipline and selflessness, justice cannot exist.
King Lemuel had a drinking problem. I am not saying he was a drunk, I am saying that if he did drink, he could not rule justly. This is a general principle of life. His mother made this clear to him with the words of inspired scripture. (Proverbs 31:4-9)
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink;
lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted.
Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
Selfishness, lack of self-control, addictions, laziness, and incompetence impede the march of true justice. This is not just for kings, but for all who put their own pleasure and comfort above their responsibilities to civic rule, and the well-being of others in their culture.
What the previous generation of spiritual leaders told us was coming, is now in full bloom.
This is how we got to the point where our children shout for genocide, gleefully celebrate the dismemberment of babies in their cribs, excuse the rape and murder of women in front of their children, and think of themselves as just and moral. The minds of our children have been corrupted as parents have long ago turned from God.
Fall on your knees and repent. The judgment of God is here. You might not escape the trial that is coming in this life, but you can escape the judgment of God for eternity.
Our souls are desperately wicked, and without the redeeming work of God, we have no hope.