Social Justice is for Liberals. Personal Holiness is for Conservatives.

     For the last month, I have been wandering a lot about the relationship between social justice and personal holiness. In my own life, I have tended to gravitate more toward the issue of social justice. During high school, I was challenged and grew the most through the call that I felt to be Jesus' hand and feet, to serve the poor and outcast, to do social justice. However, I have noticed the tendency for most messages at CCU (during chapel, small groups, etc.) to focus on pursuing personal holiness, even to the extent of largely neglecting to emphasize social justice. There is certainly a need to focus on issues of personal morality (ex. sexual immorality, lying, etc.), as well as issues of personal growth - through discipleship, mentoring, etc. In addition, there is a need to focus on the destitute of the world - such as the tens of thousands of children that die from world hunger and preventable diseases every day, and the 27 million in the world that are enslaved. 

     Before I move on to the questions that this raises for me, let's define some terms... Personal holiness and social justice are both terms in the language of "Christianese." However, these terms are used in different circles. In fact, it is interesting to see who uses these terms. When doing some google searches on this topic, the vast majority of findings on social justice were writings by members of the United Methodist Church and the Wesleyan Church - both churches influenced by John Wesley. However, I know that this term is also used in the Lutheran and Catholic Churches. The term "social justice" is not always used in the mainstream evangelical church though. I asked a few of my friends at CCU what they thought of the relationship of personal holiness and social justice and they both responded, "What is social justice?" This just goes to show, that the term is jargon and needs to be defined. However, the fact that mainstream evangelicals don't know the term "social justice" may also point to the fact that the evangelical church isn't focusing enough on serving others. In any case, here are my definitions for the sake of this post...

Personal Holiness - while no one is truly holy other than God, all Christians seek to be holy - or morally right and free of sin. This is result of the fact that as Christians we believe that receiving salvation from sin and death because of Christ not only frees us from Hell, but also from sin in the world, prompting the need for us to pursue holiness. Personal holiness also explains personal growth through accountability and discipleship groups, as well as mentorship programs. (Personal righteousness is synonymous to personal holiness.)

Social Justice -  the practice of serving the poor, the outcasts, and the needy. This deals with not just giving to those in need, but also dealing with the root causes of poverty and trying to bring justice to those who are considered "lesser."

1. Are personal holiness and social justice two different approaches to faith OR are both necessary parts of faith? 
     
     To answer this question, you must note that the Christians tend to separate these two things; there is a misconception that social justice and personal holiness are mutually exclusive. However, the following excerpt from David McKenna explains otherwise.

"Social justice and personal righteousness go hand in hand as universal virtues that God expects of His children. Throughout the ages, however, the two have become divided in the preaching and witness of the Church. In our day, for instance, liberal Christians tend to identified with their work for social justice while conservative Christians emphasize the priority of personal righteousness... John Wesley said, 'There is no personal holiness without social holiness' and Dietrich Bonhoffer wrote, 'Christianity is the most worldly of all religions.' Whether justice or righteousness comes first in the listing is incidental to the fact that they are inseparable."¹

 2. Which does come first - personal holiness or social justice?

     There is a common belief that personal holiness precedes and leads to social justice. The thought follows these lines - personal holiness allows us to be "filled" with God's truth and righteousness, and as we are "filled", we are then able to "pour" into others through acts of service (or to use the phrase again - we are then able to pursue social justice). I feel like this belief is illustrated very well in Acts 8 (verses 9-25). In this story, a sorcerer named Simon wants the ability to share the Holy Spirit with others just as the Disciples did. However, Peter says "You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God" (Acts 8:21). I see this statement by Peter to be very insightful and true. We need to seek God and have a trusting relationship with Him in order to serve others. (How can we preach a lifestyle that we don't even live ourselves?) Also, having a life wrecked with the desires of the flesh (i.e. desire for drugs, porn, etc.) makes us want self-gratification, and disables us from being able to suffer for the sake of others and truly love on others. Moreover, we need personal holiness to be effective in working for social justice.

     I don't necessarily believe that our faith has to be, or even should be, a process of personal holiness preceding social justice. There are a few reasons that may cause us to not put full faith in the idea of being filled with holiness and then pouring that out in servanthood. First of all, how do we know if we are full enough of God's truth to be able to speak into the lives of others? We are always growing closer to God in this life, and we will never fully know and understand Him on Earth. Thus, the image of being "filled" is somewhat trivial. Second, can't social justice also help us to grow in our personal faith too? While it may appear like pursuing holiness is a process of growing and pursuing social justice is a process of applying that growth, it is not nearly that simple. Pursuing social justice is in itself a very spiritual practice. Pursuing social justice is answering Christ's call to "take up your cross," sacrifice for others, and live a life of servanthood. Serving others holds deep implications for connecting with God and learning too. (Anyone returning from a mission trip will be able to share more about what they learned than what they taught others.) Service is certainly a form of worship. Moreover, social justice does lead to personal growth, in contrast to common thought.

     At this point, I think we must return to what David McKenna already succinctly stated: "Whether justice or righteousness comes first in the listing is incidental to the fact that they are inseparable."¹

3. Is there too much emphasis on personal holiness in the Church today?

     First of all, personal holiness taken the wrong way can end up being legalistic. God's love in a relationship with Him should lead to our desire to seek holiness. When we begin to think that personal holiness leads to a relationship with God, we become like the Pharisees.

     I found the second issue of emphasis summed up on someone else's blog: 

"Recently, I have had numerous conversations with some Wesleyan pastors and students who have voiced some concern over holiness issues and the negative impact popular evangelicalism has had on our denomination (The Wesleyan Church) and local congregations. What is being defined as popular evangelicalism is personal holiness. Reflected in our preaching, conversations, budgets and programs; the message seems to be that personal holiness is what really counts. All the things we hold dear - personal righteousness entire sanctification, tithing, worship, discipleship, and ministry programs tend to stem from the mindset of ‘personal holiness’.


The concern that some folks have for popular evangelicalism is the under emphasis of a more holistic idea of holiness. Holiness should not only bring about personal piety, but also cause the body to counter social injustices, influence political powers to effect change, conserve the resources of God’s creation, and so forth."²

     Basically, we need to be careful of what we emphasize as Christians... What we emphasize will be overplayed in the minds of others, and if we are emphasizing anything other than the true and simple Gospel, we have the potential to deter people from Christ. Thus, the mainstream evangelical's emphasis on personal holiness often drowns out the saving Gospel that we really stand for. Outsiders to our faith will often associate us with being intolerant of homosexuals and strictly against abortion. While both of these are important issues to discuss, we tend to over-emphasize them in the Church. Whether we are right or not in what we say about these topics, people have these popular topics overplayed and distorted in their heads, giving the Church and even Christ a bad reputation. Why not focus more on the love of Christ that brings redemption, salvation and justice to all people, including the poor and needy?

     In the words of Stan Perea...

"... we're willing to discuss the sin of homosexuality, but we won't discuss the sin of ignoring the poverty in the midst of our McDonald's obsessed obesity. As long as you're willing to do one but not the other, you're missing the boat.
     We can't pick and choose which sins to address. We have lost relevance, lost our influence, by picking issues instead of addressing sin. We cannot demand that people listen to us if we're not willing to address all sin equally. There are many more heterosexual people involved in sex outside or marriage than homosexual, and how are we going to respond to that? Wholeness is found at the foot of the cross, and at the foot of the cross there is no room for picking and choosing."⁵

     In conclusion, social justice and personal holiness are both crucial to our faith. Neither one matters though if we are not being guided by Christ and are not acting out of the love of Christ that empowers us.

References:
1. McKenna, David. The Preacher's Commentary. 18. Print. <http://books.google.com/books?id=IkbicZODCMcC&printsec=frontcover>.
2. Summers, Jeremy. ""...no holiness but social holiness!"."One: Thought, Word, Action. N.p., 18 Mar 2006. Web. Web. 6 Mar. 2013. <http://jeremysummers.blogspot.com/2006/03/no-holiness-but-social-holiness.html>.
3. Allen, Jeff. "“Balancing Personal and Social Holiness”." 20 Feb 2011. Address.
4. Turner, Mark. "Renrutkram." Social Justice and/or Personal Holiness: A Quandry?. N.p., 11 Nov 2009. Web. Web. 6 Mar. 2013. <http://renrutkram.com/2009/11/11/social-justice-andor-personal-holiness-a-quandry/>.
5. Perea, Stan. The New America. Denver, CO: His Ministries Publications, 2004. 235. Print.

Follow the Suffering Christ or the Triumphant Christ?

     One of the really interesting classes that I am taking this semester is Latin American Studies. This class covers history, culture and everything in between. One of the major points in the course so far has been the difference between Individualistic culture and Communitarian culture (aka. Collectivistic or Enmeshed culture). While studying this content, we read a very insightful book entitled The New America: The America of the Moo-Shoo Burrito by Stan Perea. The book focused on what these two models of living - individualistic and communitarian - looked like for the future of the U.S. To give you a super short generalized summary, individualistic cultures include the traditional face of the U.S. and the Western World. Individualistic cultures are focused on the individual, success, etc. Communitarian cultures are usually found in the developing world, including places such as Latin America, East Asia, Africa, etc. Communitarian cultures find their identity in their group, and are very relationally based. While I just gave you a fraction of a glimpse, these two models can be applied to family dynamics, education, business, the justice system, entertainment, politics and even the church. So, what does this have to do with you and me? We all live somewhere on this model in which complete individualism and complete communitarianism are both pathological. Thus, we need to find balance on this model and in our lives.

     One of the points that I have found really interesting about this book that is very relevant to each of our lives regards the way we worship and represent our faith. On the Individualistic extreme, which can be seen in the faith of many white Americans, we focus on our faith being a victory. The image of the church is one of the cross (with nothing on it). Jesus rose to new life and through His resurrection we have victory - victory over evil, sin and death, and all our problems and discomforts. We have success. People on the communitarian extreme view their faith very differently. They tend to portray their faith as a cross with the crucified Jesus on it. While they know He is risen, they find comfort in the fact that Jesus suffered just as humans suffer in life, and that Christ is present in pain.

     Both of these views are correct, but when taken alone, they are wrong. It is bad to just see faith as our success and triumph in life. It is equally bad to just see the suffering in life and not realize that we have been saved and redeemed not only in the next life, but in this life too. Nevertheless, it seems like an appropriate combination of the two extremes is seeing our faith as a spiritual pilgrimage - a journey filled with pain and blessings. 

     The idea of life and faith being a spiritual pilgrimage is an idea that was presented in one of my classes last fall. This approach embraces the fact that in our faith and in our lives we will go through the "Valley of Death" as well as the springs of life. Both struggles and triumphs are necessary and inevitable; they both teach us about the nature of God and living in his creation. To deny one of the facets of pilgrimage is to deny an inevitable fact of life and to be ignorant of an opportunity to grow. Therefore, we must embrace pilgrimage to live fully, taking joy and sorrow in stride.

     This idea of pilgrimage is presented in Psalms 84:5-7
          "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts o pilgrimage.
          As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs;
          the autumn rains also cover it with pools [blessings].
          They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion."

     So, what does this mean for our lives?

     It means seeking God at all times, while realizing that life will not always be enjoyable and will not always go as we like. It also means recognizing and accepting the fact that we may go through "dry spells" in our faith, meaning that we may have a hard time being grateful and we may even feel distant from God at times. Instead of trying to deny this fact, we should embrace it as a part of the journey and stay obedient to God while moving towards the nourishment of living springs that He provides. Spiritual pilgrimage involves living in the truth that we are redeemed by Christ in this world, yet we do not live perfect lives and we will fall short time and again. We should realize that we were not made for this world; our home is in Heaven. But, we are making the best of our time in this world by living and growing in all circumstances. 

     It's not easy to accept all events in life, but hopefully we can all learn to see our lives and faith as a Spiritual Pilgrimage. Even if we can't see God's presence in the midst of circumstances, hopefully we will be able to learn from His ways in hindsight. A faith lived in connection with the suffering and the resurrected Christ is a strong faith; it is a faith worth striving for. In any case, I hope you can find comfort in the fact that even though your life will be filled with the twists and turns and unexpected surprises of a journey, your ultimate destination will be the Paradise that your Creator gifted you with in His infinite love.

Blogging With a New Purpose

     Not too long ago I wanted to blog to share all the knowledge that I would accumulate in college and share all the epic experiences I would have with God. However, I soon found that things wouldn't come as easy as I though. I haven't had time to blog about the things that I've learned and experiences I have had. I also realized that the more I learn, the more questions I have. In fact, I have developed many more questions since being in college than I came into it with. Furthermore, I have realized that my faith isn't always a fruitful paradise; there are certainly dry spells too. As weird as it is to say, I assumed that being at a small Christian college meant that my relationship with God would come easy and I would automatically know God on a deeper level. However, the truth is that I have probably had more struggles and questions since being here. Don't get me wrong. There have been huge blessings too. In reality, my life is overwhelmed with blessings and opportunities, but I am just now learning to live with the struggles as well as the blessings because it is all a part of this crazy ride called life!

     I would like to turn this blog into a space where I can ask questions, as well as share stories and insightful discoveries. I want to seek answers and truth to questions I have; and honestly, I also like to share my opinion and be recognized for that. However, I need help remembering not to lose sight of the big picture. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what gets answered, what I learn or what I say as long as you and I know that God loves us through our mistakes and successes, ups and downs - all the time. So, when I blog - which will probably be sporadic - please give me your input and thoughts. You can respond on the blog, via e-mail, or facebook message. My hope is that we can learn and grow together. And please, please hold me accountable to speaking about things that are worthwhile and glorifying to God. If I am not communicating God's love, please let me know because above all else God's love needs to be shared!