when glenn beck says “hello america”, those are code words for “hello my brown-shirted minions who share my contempt for freedom of religion and the bald eagle”.

Social justice, like evangelism, is not optional for the follower of Christ. We cannot slip into the pathology that says, “Oh, that’s nice that someone is paying attention to that”, or make sweeping generalizations because of another’s abuse of the concept. In my opinion, comments like the one from Mr. Beck are symptomatic of a writer who is too insulated from his subject.

Yo Chris? Well said, brother. Well said.

I would really love answers to these -
1) Did Jesus ever talk about justice in a social sense? all I remember is him saying in a world of slaves, slaves obey your masters. In a world of taxation without representation, give unto Cesar what is Cesar’s.
2) Did Jesus ever condemn non religious leaders?
3) Is our salvation justice or the antithesis of justice?
4) Is not “you will know a tree by the fruit it produces” a sweeping generalization?
Lastly, how come the comments both here and on Roberts facebook page are spending so much time on Beck’s comments on social justice but spending very little time on economic justice. Probably because we are all fairly well off conservatives. That being said, Jesus regularly told people to give EVERYTHING they had to the poor and follow him, even communists think that is going to far.

Hey Ben…
1.a. Lk 4.18-19 would be a good start
b. Paul said that.
c. … and unto God what is God’s… but do you remember how he got the money?
2. Sure, Lk 13.31-32
3. Have you read Romans?
4. Not if it is accurate.
Oddly, your last paragraph is spot on…

Ben,
Your point is well taken in that we are not receiving justice when we receive salvation. Your questions make me think though that we are dealing with different categories…apples and oranges.
Social justice is not about receiving the good news but whether or not the gospel calls us to BE good news.
Think of it in terms of this familiar parable: a person is standing on the banks of a river an sees a baby in the water in need of help. They jump in and no sooner to they save that child when they see another and another…he hollers at people passing by to get in as well to catch the continuous stream of children. Eventually, one person gets out and starts walking up river and says I’m going to figure out who is throwing all these children in.
That’s the social justice question: Most would agree that Christians should jump in the river but are we also called to walk up river as well? Do we just adopt children from the foster care system or are we also supposed address the issues as to while there are so many children in the system to begin with? We have prison ministries but are we also to ask my the US is the most incarcerated nation in the world?

Mr. Becks’ comments on “social justice” and “economic justice” refer to the way the “Progressives” of the world feel they have to “level the playing field” for the poor by TAKING from the rich. These are code words used by them to tap into the guilt feelings of those who don’t understand how charity and compassion truly work. The “social programs” of government have never brought anyone out of poverty on their own, as they were so naively intended. They may have enabled some in poverty to get an education and then pull themselves out of poverty, but they typically just enable someone to remain in the “system” and therefore in poverty for life. Justice, as seen by these “progressives”, is something that must be provided by man. They see this the same way as they see “rights”. They don’t understand that God has given us all our “rights” and only God can provide “justice” as well. They have replaced the word “fairness” with “justice”, and the only way man can provide social or economic “fairness” is by force. The Constitution and the Bible inform us of our “equal rights”, but also show us that there is no guarantee of “equal results”.

Much of the controversy surrounding Glen Beck’s comments has to do with a conversation between Beck and Jim Wallis of Sojourners, of which Brian McLaren is intimately involved with. Much of what Beck said has been totally taken out of context, or misstated, then whole commentaries/blogs are being dedicated to points of view about these “out of context, misstatements”
The term “social justice” has its roots in Marxism and is not in the Bible. Helping the poor, oppressed, widows etc. is NOT what the term “social justice” at its inception means, which is the phrase that Mr. Beck was referring too and called us to reject. Social justice is a political ideology that subscribes to progressive taxation, income redistribution, or even property redistribution. In other words: SOCIALISM. In that context, Mr. Beck was correct in saying what he said. Christians need to be able to differentiate between what our government is sponsoring as “social justice” and a Biblical understanding of “justice.” God’s justice and “social justice” (i.e socialism/Marxism) are NOT the same.
Beck’s main point is to ask questions about the meaning behind politically-loaded phrases being used in our churches and ask yourself if you agree with the definition being used by those who influence you and your family. He said, that if you are in a church that sponsors/preaches this type of “social justice”……run or speak up, because it isn’t Biblical.
Many of these types of conversations seem to expose how our political ideologies inform our spiritual theology, and not the other way around. It also speaks to how much our political ideologies have become our “belief systems”. “Social Justice” as a term has been hijacked. If we aren’t clear on what we mean by social justice, all of us will continue to go around in circles.
Much like your post on health care being the responsibility of the “most powerful nation”, justice is our responsibility too. We shouldn’t prop up, empower and expect our government/politicians to do our job as Christians.
Much of what I read from Brian McLaren and guys like Jim Wallis of Sojourners, is that they’d like to change the political ideological connections of the church. They see it rooted in “traditional, outdated, religious-right ideological connections” which they deem as racist, oppressive, bigotry and out of touch with our “new society”, yet what they promote, especially on the Sojourners web site is replacing it with a more democrat/liberal/progressive ideology, because it is “more rooted in Biblical theology”.
McLaren, tones it way down in his first books and interviews like this one, but read/investigate his stuff in Sojourners and his agenda becomes clearer.
I would hope that we’d do the same “research” on both guys like Beck and McLaren.

Thanks to Bryan for perfectly articulating my thoughts on this !!!