Me Too Christianity
When Christians and churches look at what the world of Unbelief is doing and start to say, "Me, too" there is always a whiff of brimstone in the air.
Once again, despite Paul warning us not to be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2), Christians are taking up noxious pagan idolatries and attempting to baptise them with a bit of the Bible. Why?
When it comes to "social justice"--a Marxist construct made popular by our modern Fabian socialists--one reason is a lack of commitment to the Bible itself. One can declare in abstract terms one's belief in Sola Scriptura and the absolute authority of the Bible, but that pie needs to be completely eaten, not just nibbled at. The Bible is sovereign and authoritative over means as well as ends. Genuine, biblical compassion for the poor needs to subject to biblical means and methods of care and concern for the less-fortunate. Otherwise it is just baptized paganism.
Another inadequate motivation for ostensibly Bible-believing people to take up the cause of "social justice" is an attempt to be too clever by half. It arises out of the easily misguided quest for relevance to Unbelief. The modus operandi here is to identify those issues and concerns that pre-occupy the Unbeliever then attempt to show him or her that these concerns are addressed and met by Christ and His Church.
Let's assume that we lived in a ravingly fundamentalist teetotal society. In order to be relevant, the "seeker-friendly" crowd would incorporate teetotalism into the life, practice, and teaching of the congregation. Grape juice would be substituted for wine in the eucharist. Public demonstrations would be organised protesting the perils of alcohol. This "we are just like you" propaganda would play out in the hope that along the way the Unbeliever would become just a little bit curious about the Gospel--and may even become a Christian.
And what would be so wrong with this? You need to deny and dismiss the Bible's teaching about the blessedness of wine and of its commanded use in the sacrament. But a smart Unbeliever would mock such tortuousness. If you, he would say, can suspend or ignore the Bible's teaching about having nothing to do with "taste not, touch not" abstemiousness--which the Bible declares is a doctrine of demons--then why should I accept its authority over anything? Why, indeed.
We live in a world pre-occupied with social justice. Some Christian leaders and churches have started to say "us too". The Bible is clearly concerned about justice and has much to say and teach about it. Sure, Marx hadn't come along and given us his particular brand of larceny and covetousness at the time the canon was completed and special revelation ceased, but if he had been living in apostolic times he would have been warmly welcomed into the apostolic college. So, let's expand the Bible's conception of justice to embrace and include the Marxist conception, as a revelation delivered out to due time--and, hey presto, we are relevant. The Unbeliever will like us and we will win a hearing for our message. And that is just the problem--the message, the Good News, elides into "our message" not the Gospel of God.
Maybe all this is well intentioned, with the best of motives. But as our forbears have pointed out, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Biblical intentions must be applied to biblical ends, all the while subject to biblical standards and commands. Remove any one of the troika, substituting a handy piece of human invention, and the whole fruit becomes quickly rotten.
"Social justice" is the Devil's construct. It destroys society, and it is most certainly not just. Christians and churches must have nothing to do with it.
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