Andy Mckee - Drifting - www.candyrat.com

Haven't been astonished for a while? Click play and enjoy.

Why Social Justice Is Not The Goal

I've been reading Donald Bloesch's God the Almighty and have found his distinctions between divine righteousness and social justice helpful. The reason Christians need to understand and make this distinction is that often times temporal social justice is thought of as a part of God's gradual redemption of the cosmos - a step in the right direction. And in some way it is. As Christians work with each other and non-believers for a just society, the poor, the cynical, and the sinner all have more reason to taste and see that God is good and to enjoy some of that goodness, regardless of their posture toward God. However, there are a couple of problems with human social justice: One, it is fickle and prone to confuse its targets. The other problem is that it is impossible.

Bloesch points out some other, severe qualitative difference between the righteousness of God's kingdom and the righeousness of those human structures to which we look for justice. Here's Bloesch:

Human righteousness is conformity to the universal dictates of conscience. It means giving each person his or her due or deepening respect for human dignity and freedom. Divine righteousness is bringing people into right relationship with one another and with God. Social justice is guaranteeing that the rights and just claims of people are duly satisfied. Divine righteousness is making people willing to forego their rights and claims for the sake of another. Social justice is preventing the wounds that estrange people from each other from festering by the resort of law and force. Divine righteousness is bringing healing to those wounds. (1)(emphasis mine)

Bloesch believes that social justice anticipates the righteousness of the kingdom of God. I think he means this: In noticing the plight of an oppressed and helpless person and in seeing to it that she gets justice, you are doing a deed of human righteousness. Your actions reflect the ethical dimension of God's holiness and foreshadow the overwhelming righteousness that comes with his kingdom. But your actions are just the first class in Righteousness 101. Eventually, she needs to be introduced to Jesus, whose paradoxical, divine righteousness welcomed and forgave opressors like Zacheus and the Roman soldiers who crucified him. And in seeing Jesus, she will see the vast disparity between human justice and divine righteousness. Bloesch continues:

Human justice is a worthy goal, for it means a society in which the rights of the marginalized are respected and the weak are protected from the strong. Yet social justice as a viable possibility in a fallen world is not to be confounded with divine holiness - the impossible possibility realized only through grace.(2)

Bloesch goes on, making the distinction between the elavating ethos of humanitarianism (which seeks to elevate the entire class of unfortunate people to a higher level) and the Agape love that plunges down into the wretchedness and squalor of the fall in order to rescue one individual. This divergence between human love and divine Agape must be appreciated by Christians who are passionate about social justice. At this point in God's Story, universal social justice is not the end goal because it's not possible. Eventually, God's justice will make everything right, but for now God is calling a people to himself who see social justice as a mere step in the right direction - but who know that the goal here on earth is to completely die to oneself and to know Christ and to share in the fellowship of his sufferings and to stubbornly offer grace in the face of oppression, even if that oppression brings with it death. Philippians 3.

So, it may be that a Christian working for justice and divine righteousness may find himself increasingly debased, ridiculed, and oppressed. The very people who he has helped may turn on him and persecute him (see Jerusalem, circa AD 33). In that moment he should not despair that social justice is not happening, though he may feel sadness in his suffering; but he should also rejoice and pray that God would reveal His divine mercy and righteousness in the injustice suffered by the Christian. And maybe he will have the strength to forgive and therein "do justice and love mercy," albeit in a way utterly unfamiliar to his opressors. Thus the distinction between social justice and divine righteousness will begin to be made. This distinction marks the departing point for Christianity from all other religions and all other humanistic ethics, and it gives us courage and endurance when social justice is neither just nor possible.

Agree? Deplore? Critique? Please offer some abrasion. This post is only a part of what I hope to write about. It may seem crude and devoid of nuance, but there is more forthcoming.
Slings, arrows, outrageous misfortune - all welcome.


1. Donald Bloesch, God the Almighty. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1995. (P. 153)
2. Ibid.

I'm a Christ Follower (Mac vs. PC Parody) Part 01

A Christian by any other name is still . . . just a Christian. However, as this video illustrates, it's much cooler to be a laid-back, elitist Christian than an uptight, dorky one.

Blogging on a Dare

So, Tim at Speckled Mind has challenged us to blog on beauty - I suppose as some form of resistance or protest against the gloom of winter and melancholy of Mondays. But I think Tim is probably just trying to trick us into irrational optimism. He is, after all, in the flower of his youth, and even the planetary tilt of the season may seem contestable to his overdeveloped appreciation for beauty and general cheerfulness.

I, on the other hand, am a curmudgeon with limited tolerance for such tomfoolery. However, I am also always up for a challenge, so here goes. Some observations on things that some of you might also find beautiful:

While no metaphorical treasury has been plundered as relentlessly and crassly as the seasons, I still find some visceral enjoyment in considering the life cycles of a year. In particular the trees right now - most of them down to their last few leaves and the evergreens slumped in quiet resignation to the burden they will again bear for much of the winter. There are responsibilities that come with being a tree, I suppose. While the coniferous trees dodge the ordeal of defoliation, they carry the aesthetic weight of suspended snow and gaudy lights. The smaller trees learn resiliance under the arcing and straightning of snowstorms and winds; the larger evergreens wince as their limbs droop, but most of the time nobody complains.

Size matters to trees. Well, to most trees. Those freakshow bonsai trees seem to have missed the point. But for the rest of the arbor universe, the goal is always growth, measured in feet and decades, knots and gashes, limbs and layers. And every year, the wind and cold of autumn strip a tree of its covering and its advance or decline is there for all to see. No deciduous tree gets too big and/or important to escape the seasonal disrobing, and in this way the trees enjoy great equality among themselves. In fact, I would guess that a big, naked elm endures much more scrutiny than the scrawny maple sapling.

I don't share many values with trees. I chafe at duty and resent transparency, and if I can convince you of strength without the risk of having my shoulders wrenched from their sockets, I will. The older and (presuambly) wiser I get, the greater the fear that a particularly sharp gust of wind will knock my leaves off and the garish stumps of failed limbs will horrify the people around me. I doubt that even a couple of strands of blue, blinking lights would help. Winter always comes, eventually, and with it the clarifying graces of its Creator.

There you go, Tim (and Sony). I've probably been played, but there will be many more days for crabby posts about the weather.

Drudge Who?

The best news aggregator on the web. By far.

Courage and Discretion

What would you rather be known for - courage or discretion? For that matter, which would you rather have more of? And before answering, you astutely point out that one can quite well be known for both. You also chastise my sloppy syntax with its prepositional terminus.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Just humor me.

The thing about discretion is that artful use of it can preclude the necessity of future courage. In other words, if someone is prudent enough to avoid the possibility of calamity or failure, the need for future courage is greatly diminished. The man who portages around the rapids is assured of a sound canoe and dry gear and need fear neither the eddy nor the evening spent in damp underwear.
Conversely, the man lacking discretion plunges ahead and in doing so must conjure up the courage to deal with his imprudence. He must also sheepishly ask to borrow his friend's dry underwear. Another act that takes guts. Courage necessarily precipitates the need for continued courage.

Courageous behavior also tends to propel a person into situations that also demand increased discretion. In this way, derring-do can provide great opportunities to practice circumspection.
And perhaps this is the link you tried to make earlier: Discretion is at its best in the context of courage. Nervy prudence develops in some correlation with audacity.

For as long as I can remember, I have consistently specifically prayed for wisdom, meaning discretion. And I am beginning to think this prayer may have been mostly motivated by the hope that its answer would ensure some insulation from mistakes.
But true wisdom is not a ticket to avoiding the possibility of misfortune. Rather a widsom rooted in the fear and trust of God will only increase one's likely exposure to risk, adversity, and the label of "idiot." See the folks memorialized in Hebrews 11.

I don't plan on making this blog a diary-like confessional for all my anxieties and epiphanies, but at times it's probably alright to share "a moment." I'll keep begging God for more wisdom, but I hope that wisdom includes a healthy dose of intrepidity.

Inventing Economic Injustice for the Middle Class

Joe Carter at the Evangelical Outpost points out the absurdity of looking for economic injustice in the middle class:

Our churches do not speak out about Christians being such reckless stewards of God’s resources that they become “precariously perched families with no savings, high credit card debt, loans taken against homes of decreasing value.” Most of our economic problems are caused because we serve mammon rather than God. I certainly don’t know anyone whose put themselves in such financial straits because they were overly concerned with helping the needy.

Indeed, even the poor in our country have more possessions than the rich young ruler who Jesus had told to sell all he had in order to find salvation. And the middle class, for all our perceived economic hardships, have an excess of wealth that could feed every poor person on earth. “Woe to you who are rich!” exclaimed Jesus. “For you have received your consolation.” In hearing those words it would be foolish to think He isn’t talking about us. After all, Christ warning isn’t based on a progressive tax scale.

Read the entire article, then take this test.

From A Rich Young (Anxious) Ruler

Christians generally suffer from a whole host of anxieties that are peculiar to the Christian Faith. Christians who walk in the legalistic side of the ditch tend to maintain a perpetual suspicion of the efficacy of grace. Their conterparts in the opposite ditch worry that the Reformation is about to go into remission at any moment, so they crack open another can of Grain Belt and look for an opportune moment to sneak a mild expletive into the conversation.

Other streams of Christianity are engaged in perpetual crises arising from the omnipresent threat of the enemy of our souls and see a 1:1 correlation between physical maladies and spiritual oppression. Other believers live in nervous fealty to the political powers that be, sometimes seeing a 1:1 correlation between the agenda of heaven and the respective agendas of the Republican or Democratic Party. Others of us worry that people like Jim Wallis, who criticizes the aforementioned groups, are not worrying enough about the old-time, propositional theological truths of penal substitutionary atonement and the inerrancy of Scripture.

It goes on. Theological wonks feverishly parse Greek verbs and awkwardly introduce words like "genetive" and "koinonia" in conversations that have nothing to do with the linguistics of the Bible. The rest of us are nuerotic about having quality devotional time with God and Oswald Chambers.

I have to own up to having all of these anxieties in some form or another, but the anxiety that plagues me most often is the ethical tension of being so wealthy in a world of such poverty.



This wouldn't be such a problem if Jesus had simply just gone to bed instead of staying up and talking with that rich young ruler. Nevertheless he did, and he spoke often about money and in doing so revealed the economy of the Kingdom of God.

But did Jesus say what he said so that I would be guilt-ridden and conflicted everytime I plunk down $1.65 for a cup of coffee? Do I do anything to honor him by being nervous and frustrated about the relative affluence I experience? I doubt it.

Jesus plunked down his life at Calvary, and in doing so he ransomed God's people. But he did it for "the joy set before him." Joy. Ultimately, for those who have ears to hear, all of Jesus teachings and examples are supposed to bring us joy as we remain in him. The only answer for the myriad neuroses of Christian life (and in particular, the anxiety of wealth) is to remain in him and to find our joy in him. I think this is the only way to effectively call each other to live more sacrificially in light of Jesus' words. We need to feel the responsibility of our blessings, yes; but we will only discharge those responsibilities well if we are happy in the process.

So, for those of you who visit this blog and wonder if I live in some sort of tormented preoccupation at the evil in the world - I don't. But I do live with some anxiety about how to be a compassionate steward of the wealth that God has given me. And I will take any suggestions or advice you may have for me on how to stay vivdly aware of the needs out there while remaining joyfully passionate about meeting those needs in the name of Jesus.

By the way, here's a good article by Doug Hayes on "Suburbia v. Social Justice"

Brand New Look, Same Inept Blogger

Howdy folks,
As you noticed, I decided we needed some updating around here. The place was looking pretty shabby, as I was getting nowhere with the previous template. Basically I was running neck-and-neck with this blog in the race for the world's most aesthetically grotesque blog.

I'll keep making what I hope are improvements. Have a great weekend, and always remember the power of one.

Darfur, a Primer

It's election season here in the U.S., and much of the country is all a-twitter in pundtry and prognostication. This is customary here in our lumbering, 200 year-old democracy. Our cars are festooned with candidates' bumper stickers and our lawns are perforated by myriad signs silently holding forth our politics. November 7 will come and go, and shortly thereafter an enormous amount of political power will be peacefully transferred to incoming leaders. Our griping will hardly be interrupted.

But for Africa's largest country, Sudan, November 7 will silently fade into obscure infamy as hundreds or perhaps thousands of people will be slaughtered, starved, raped, displaced, and neglected by their own government. While we exercise our civic right to fundamentally affect our leadership, they will simply try to survive their own. The Sudanese government in Khartoum is as corrupt and violent as they come. In 1983 it instituted Sharia law, during the 90's it habored Osama bin Laden, and it responded to a rebellion in 2003 by hiring Arab fighters (Janjaweed) to carryout a campaign to systematically destroy the people of Darfur. They have their campaigns, and we have ours.

This little girl was hit by a Janjaweed bullet. No, it didn't rip that gash in her side. Look below where the index finger is pointing. The bullet went through her tiny lung.


























I know you are busy people, and that the human capacity for concern is limited. The human capacity for outrage is even less. And the capacity to actually do much about Darfur seems almost nil. But you probably have time to click on a few links and learn a few things about the people of Darfur. To that end I've created a little springboard from which you can launch into a couple of the main points about the crisis in Darfur, Sudan.

An interactive grid explaining the nexus of relationships in the crisis

An interview with a Janjaweed defector

A brief Realplayer movie produced by a PBS journalist

Facts and Stats

A Time photo essay

First-hand photos of the atrocities of Darfur *warning: graphic content*

Human Trafficking Stories #1

In April of 2002, Dr. Ernest Taylor first met a few of 1,200 hundred boys who worked as slaves on the shores of Lake Volta in Ghana.


Boys as young as five were subject to backbreaking toil from dawn until dusk, day after day, casting fishing nets into the water and dragging them back in. The boys had been trafficked into the area and many of them did not know where they were from.
Likely some of the boys had been sold into slavery by their families, though often the "sale" happens because traffickers mislead the parents into believing that their children will be taken care of.



These are three of those 1,200 boys.













Dr. Taylor and the International Organization for Migration have worked on freeing many of the boys, and it appears that their efforts are being rewarded. IOM has taken on the entire 1,200 person caseload to free the boys, and, consequently, public awareness is growing in Ghana as more people realize the devastating effects of slavery. Dr. Taylor found that only after he began to free the boys did the slave masters begin to realize the immorality of their actions. Apparently, the wickedness of slavery is not easily recognized by the human heart, or, if it is recognized, is quickly chilled by the icy rationalizations and justifications of human pragmatism.

Check out the photo album of the boys of Lake Volta. Perhaps it sound cheesy, but say a prayer while you're at it. I think it may make up for in sincerity what it lacks in duration.

For more info about IOM's work, click here.

Who Hasn't Conquered the Middle East?

Why Settle Any Longer For Mere Unregenerate Potpourri?

Does your life reek with the stench of sin? Or is that odor in your apartment simply the rancid bacon molting in your fridge? Whatever the cause, do not worry anymore. There is hope. There is redemption for those pugnant particles floating in the air.

The answer your depraved olfactory bulbs have been seeking?

The scent of Jesus himself.

Sorry this post coudn't be longer, I need to go find my credit card . . .


See also, Jesus Junk. [ht: www.evangelicaloutpost.com]

A Message for Bored Christians

This is a simple, rich message from Gary Haugen, the president of International Justice Mission.
His opening salvo:

Writing more than one hundred and fifty years ago, a social theorist named John Stuart Mill was commenting on the way the most radical and startling teachings of Jesus could, over time, come to “coexist passively in the minds of Christians, producing hardly any effect beyond that caused by mere listening to words so amiable and bland.”

Aimiable and bland.

Revolutionary words that are not lived become the most bland of all. Just like continually overheated rhetoric eventually fails to burn anyone anymore. We should be cautious about our use of Jesus' words about death and taking up our cross and the kingdom of God. Obviously, this is not to say that we shouldn't publicly confess believing his words; it means that we weigh those particular words more heavily than all others. They should not roll off our tongues without first jarring our hearts or getting lodged in our throats. Again, I say this in the context of Mill's quote above, and not to discourage anyone from always being ready to give a reason for the hope we have.

My own tendency has been to pull out the most devastating words of Christ in moments where I needed them to buttress my particular point - points often made in the building of some argument that exists more for my ego than for building up the Body or encouraging a brother. Jesus did not say what he said primarily that I might have disquieting rhetorical devices, he said what he said so that I would hear and be saved. I needed someone to teach me about God, and to save me from God and from myself, and to call me to a life that looks away from my own desires.

Jesus' words are not spiritual slogans, nor witticisms, nor are they meant to make us feel clever. They are meant to rend our hearts and call us to love and obey God. And if the speaking of them does not produce those effects, then let my words be few.

Domination and Procreation

No culture is immune from desiring, perhaps at the collective subconscious level, the opportunity to be king of the hill for a while. The current self-loathing exhibited by western cultural and academic elites is a relatively new condition caused by the feverish neuroses of late 20th century political correctness. However, recorded history prior to the 20th century is remarkably devoid of firesales of power, and even those Americans who would like nothing better than to see America severely humbled do flex their political and rhetorical muscle with nervy confidence in the morality of their cause. In short, "everybody wants to rule the world" (copyright, Tears for Fears), or at least a share of it.
Cultures with said urges to dominate have collective plans. Conservative Americans plan to win the 'war on terror'; liberal Americans plan to win the war on conservatives. Europhiles plan to nurture a continental social and economic bloc to one day counterbalance American hegemony. The Chinese plan to grow the world's largest economy and host the Olympics. Fundamentalist Muslims in Iran plan to overthrow the Great Western Satan, install Sharia law and finally clean this planet up.
However, these plans all require people. Lots of them. I mean millions and millions of them. All kinds - men, women. And at the current rate most of these plans wil have to be shelved simply because they lack the necessary populations to carry them out.
Spengler of the Asian Times and Mark Steyn of Opinion Journal both offer entertaining and illuminating descriptions of the how demographic reality will ultimately determine the success or failure of the great cultural/economic/religious projects of our time.