Social Justice and Critical Theory 3

Introduction: I realize how in intellectual the last two lessons have been as we have looked at social justice and critical theory.

I want to thank you for sticking it out with me, and thanks for all the encouraging feedback, as it is certainly my goal to be clear and helpful.

So tonight will be our last night exploring social justice and critical theory, and I hope to really summarize in the simplest ways I know how so that you walk away thinking:

“I certainly don’t understand everything about social justice and critical theory, but I know what to look out for in order to not be blown about by these winds of doctrine.”

Eight lies the church must never believe:

1. People of color in the US are oppressed.

This is not saying that no person of color is ever oppressed. It is saying that people of color as a whole group are not oppressed.

Dictionary definition of oppression:

The exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner; a situation in which people are governed in an unfair or cruel way and prevented from having opportunities or freedoms.

Isaiah 58:6

6 “Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of wickedness,

to undo the straps of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?

Ezekiel 18:5–9

5 “If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— 6 if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, 7 does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 8 does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, 9 walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord God.

Isaiah 53:7

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

Exodus 1:22

22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

Social Justice and Critical Theory wrongly redefines oppression:

The way in which certain groups like whites, men, heterosexuals, and Christians impose their values on culture such that these values are deemed natural, neutral, and objective; a systemic and structural problem practiced by a well-intentioned liberal society.

2. Sin is oppression.

It is true that oppression, properly defined, is sin.

But, it is a completely different matter to say that sin is oppression, as if the only morality that exists is oppression and nothing else is sin.

Sin at it’s foundation is a breaking of God’s law.

1 John 3:4

4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

Mark 7:21–23

21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Proverbs 14:31

31 Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker,

but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

We must first think of sin vertically, then horizontally.

Mark 12:30

30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Psalm 51:4

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

3. Straight white males need to listen.

Everyone needs to listen!

James 1:19

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

4. The Bible was written from the perspective of the oppressed.

The claim is being made that the social location of an oppressed person today give them greater insight into the correct interpretation of Scripture, which is false.

Consider King Saul, King David, and King Solomon.

While diversity can help expose our theological blindspots, it is not necessary for a proper understanding of the Bible or for strong, communal worship.

5. Whiteness is wicked.

Dictionary definition of whiteness:

The fact or state of belonging to a population group that has light pigmentation of the skin.

Social justice and critical theory wrongly redefines whiteness:

A pernicious ideology that suffuses our culture in which people of any ethnicity can participate; an ideology of racial superiority.

One’s skin pigmentation and ancestry is a morally neutral quality.

6. Justice is part of the gospel.

The questions we must ask and understand:

Is the gospel an indicative statement of what God has done in Christ? or

Is the gospel an imperative statement, a command to perform some duty or set of duties?

7. There can be no reconciliation without justice.

The lie is that Christians are not entirely reconciled to one another by the gospel, they also must offer justice through apology and reparations, all on the lines of race and gender, in order for true reconciliation to occur.

Ephesians 2:11–22

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

8. Christianity is about liberation from oppression.

The lie is that Christianity is primarily about political and socioeconomic liberation from material oppression.

Luke 4:18–21

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

John 6:27

27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

Mark 8:36

36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Luke 19:10

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”