Letter 23

“The thing to do is to get a man at first to value social justice as a thing which the Enemy demands, and then work him on the stage which he values Christianity because it may produce social justice.” Screwtape

This letter is filled with insights. especially insights on what Lewis saw as an advancement of the enemy. He mentions the “historical Jesus” moments through time and how it’s used to disprove who Jesus was or how a “historical Jesus” is twisted to support some type of social justice movement.

I know the theme of social justice is a hot topic and a dangerous one to approach in 2020. Further more, this blog cannot address all the complexities of the issue in a satisfactory way and in reality anything I say on the subject short of support of what is going on in our country would be rejected even if it was true (which I aim for) just because I am white, which says more about the hypocrisy of the social movement itself than it does about me.

But this letter brings up how the enemy weaves social justice issues into Christianity so that the movement to get the gospel to people – which is the true mission of the church – becomes convoluted with an emphases of lesser value – social justice. Even in the denomination I am currently a part of, social justice issues have gotten us off track from the mission of reaching the world with the gospel and the work God has given us to do to advance His kingdom. We have spent too much time with resolutions to make us politically accepted instead of figuring out how to better reach the lost in our communities – which by the way makes all social justice issues mute. For the gospel reaches all people and doesn’t fix this current culture, for that isn’t its goal. It moves people’s citizenship from this fallen world to God’s Kingdom which is here now but also coming.

If we think for a moment that Jesus died on the cross to support and solve the social issues of our time, we are sadly mistaken. The redemptive plan is to save people out of a world that is spinning out of control, a world that is on a path to destruction and place the ones that are saved in a New World that God will bring on the scene hopefully in the very near future.

That said – DON’T GET DISTRACTED CHURCH!!! Share the message of the gospel. A message that will be relevant and the same till Jesus comes back where as social issues change with the wind. They are here today and gone tomorrow.