Comments on: Trendy Justice http://chadblock.ca/2009/05/03/trendy-justice/ Personal Blog of Chad Block Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:13:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: James http://chadblock.ca/2009/05/03/trendy-justice/comment-page-1/#comment-2395 James Tue, 05 May 2009 04:56:03 +0000 http://chadblock.ca/2009/05/03/trendy-justice/#comment-2395 I hear you chad.  Having worked with a few NGOs over the past year and a half, I've seen both how "trendy justice" has helped and hindered.  On one hand, aside from motives, the average individual is more aware of issues going on, and are more likely to help.  On the other hand, if that desire to help isn't rooted in anything deeper, that desire goes away quicker.  I've noticed that when money gets tight, supporting non-profits (Christian and non Christian) drops way down the priority list, if not completely off.  While money isn't the be all and end all, it is an indicator of our values, and at the end of the day, most NGOs aren't self sufficient. The other problem I see with "trendy justice" is that it only caters to a select few.  If you supported whatever was trendy at the moment, you were considered socially conscious and responsible.  I remember back a few years ago when all things Africa were trendy.   I wasn't one of the ones, who particularly cared for Africa, and often felt like an outsider.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that I didn't care for Africa at all, or didn't think there were worthy causes/efforts there, but it wasn't where my heart was.  I suspect I wasn't the only one. I hear you chad.  Having worked with a few NGOs over the past year and a half, I've seen both how "trendy justice" has helped and hindered.  On one hand, aside from motives, the average individual is more aware of issues going on, and are more likely to help.  On the other hand, if that desire to help isn't rooted in anything deeper, that desire goes away quicker.  I've noticed that when money gets tight, supporting non-profits (Christian and non Christian) drops way down the priority list, if not completely off.  While money isn't the be all and end all, it is an indicator of our values, and at the end of the day, most NGOs aren't self sufficient. The other problem I see with "trendy justice" is that it only caters to a select few.  If you supported whatever was trendy at the moment, you were considered socially conscious and responsible.  I remember back a few years ago when all things Africa were trendy.   I wasn't one of the ones, who particularly cared for Africa, and often felt like an outsider.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that I didn't care for Africa at all, or didn't think there were worthy causes/efforts there, but it wasn't where my heart was.  I suspect I wasn't the only one.

]]> By: Jon http://chadblock.ca/2009/05/03/trendy-justice/comment-page-1/#comment-2394 Jon Tue, 05 May 2009 00:57:46 +0000 http://chadblock.ca/2009/05/03/trendy-justice/#comment-2394 Social justice is popular these days, but only anonymously and in small amounts. If you can give lunch to a farmer in Cuba by buying your latte at a fair-trade coffee shop or tattooing an equals sign on your wrist, you're hailed for your social responsibility, but you go largely unnoticed if you build an orphanage in a war-devastated country. At Emmaus, we've been going through Proverbs, and I can't count how many times a proverb is coupled with a result like "that it may go well with you" or "that you may live long in the land"; in other words, the whole motivation for doing good is the good you get from it. Now, James has explained that Proverbs was written as "Torah for Dummies" for Judah. At the time, Israel was in captivity, and Judah turned to God so that they wouldn't have to be in exile as well, and so the writers played into that a lot. Still, while reading it, I couldn't help but think that it was against everything I'd learnt from both instruction and experience. Doing good things doesn't always result in good things happening back to you. As Pastor Ron says, obedience and service shouldn't be out of a spirit of compulsion and obligation but rather as a natural expression of love for God. That said, God created that awesome feeling inside that we get from doing good, not so we can pat ourselves on the back, but because He wants us to know that someone cares when we work hard for a good cause. Yeah, we get a reward, but we're working for God. As Colossians 3:23 says, <blockquote cite="23">Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ You are serving.</blockquote> Social justice is popular these days, but only anonymously and in small amounts. If you can give lunch to a farmer in Cuba by buying your latte at a fair-trade coffee shop or tattooing an equals sign on your wrist, you’re hailed for your social responsibility, but you go largely unnoticed if you build an orphanage in a war-devastated country.

At Emmaus, we’ve been going through Proverbs, and I can’t count how many times a proverb is coupled with a result like “that it may go well with you” or “that you may live long in the land”; in other words, the whole motivation for doing good is the good you get from it. Now, James has explained that Proverbs was written as “Torah for Dummies” for Judah. At the time, Israel was in captivity, and Judah turned to God so that they wouldn’t have to be in exile as well, and so the writers played into that a lot. Still, while reading it, I couldn’t help but think that it was against everything I’d learnt from both instruction and experience. Doing good things doesn’t always result in good things happening back to you. As Pastor Ron says, obedience and service shouldn’t be out of a spirit of compulsion and obligation but rather as a natural expression of love for God.

That said, God created that awesome feeling inside that we get from doing good, not so we can pat ourselves on the back, but because He wants us to know that someone cares when we work hard for a good cause. Yeah, we get a reward, but we’re working for God. As Colossians 3:23 says,

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ You are serving.

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