Surrendering social justice to the liberals

Pick an issue. Any issue (almost) and conservative Christians will go charging into battle against their liberal foes. Not only will conservatives rise up to defend their position against liberals, often we seek out fights if none are forthcoming. When Rob Bell tries to redefine the concept of hell, Christian conservatives came out of the woodwork to squash him (and probably helped double his book sales). Suggest that maybe gay marriage isn’t something the church needs to concern itself with and plan on getting jumped on with both feet. On virtually every issue there are defenders of the faith and apologists of all stripes willing to stand in the breach….

With one major exception…

When it comes to poverty, to caring for the poor, the widow, the orphan, the sex slave, the imprisoned? In that fight, an issue with far deeper Biblical basis than squabbling over U.S. politics or Ten Commandments monuments or prayer in secular schools? In that fight, the conservative often goes silent or mumbles angrily about liberalism or shrugs it off with "you will always have the poor with you". Guys who once looked like Richard the Lionhearted turn into Brave Sir Robin. Even in churches where there is some care and concern for the poor, it seems to be an "add on", something else we do when we aren't listening to sermons or having VBS or working on building improvements for "the church". In our quest for doctrinal precision and standing fast for the faith, making sure people understand the eternal nature of hell and justification by faith alone, it often at least appears that we cannot be bothered to worry about issues that fall under the umbrella of “social justice”.

We cannot claim to take the Bible seriously and ignore the places the Bible makes demands on us that make us uncomfortable. It is far more comfortable for me to argue the fine points of theology over coffee (or better yet safely behind my computer keyboard) than it is to get out in the unpredictable world of people, especially people with problems. Fleeing the field when human suffering in this life comes up but rising to the challenge when eternal suffering is the topic is inconsistent and disingenuous.

That isn’t to say that most of the “solutions” put forth by our liberal brothers are rock solid. Income redistribution, government subsidies, etc., the sort of stuff advocated by the Jim Wallis crowd, have done more to create a perpetual dependent class and incentivized behavior that leads to generational poverty than any evil Wall Street tycoons. So I am not advocating for liberal social engineering dressed up in religious language. I am saying that we need to not only win the war of ideas but put action to our words in the lives of real people with real needs. When Biblically orthodox, visible leaders like David Platt start to (very gently) question why we are so unconcerned with human suffering, they get shouted down as promoting a works righteousness. That is not even remotely true but it allows us to brush off calls to look up from our keyboards and books to see the real suffering of people in the world, people who need our love and our help more than we need a new building or more denominational bureaucrats.

Conservative, “Bible believing” Christians should be leading the way when it comes to matters of human suffering, not fleeing the field to hide behind our orthodox creeds and confessions.