{"id":7473,"date":"2024-11-01T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T00:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=7473"},"modified":"2024-11-01T09:14:34","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T01:14:34","slug":"333-selective-justice-injures-christian-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=7473","title":{"rendered":"333. Selective Justice Harms Christian Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

What God Requires<\/strong><\/p>\n

6\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cWith what shall I come before the\u00a0Lord and bow myself before God on high?<\/span><\/strong>
\nShall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?<\/span><\/strong>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>Will the\u00a0Lord\u00a0be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil?<\/span><\/strong>
\nShall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?\u201d<\/span><\/strong>
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of you<\/span><\/strong>
\nbut to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?<\/span><\/strong> [Micah 6:6-8<\/span>, NRSV<\/em><\/strong>]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\" <\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

South Africa moved mountains to get the International Court of Justice to give attention to the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza and to demand immediate cessation of the massacre. The UN knows it, and the world knows it: we must escalate to justice in order to de-escalate a genocide. In Christian mission, do we give voice to God\u2019s demand for justice? A recent Christian event is disturbing for casting doubt on the heart of Christian mission.<\/span><\/p>\n

But first, a quick look at the reality in the world today. At the end of 2024, the flames of war and violence threaten to engulf us all, serving as a stark reminder of the urgent need for justice<\/strong>. In Europe, the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict teeters on the brink of escalation to a nuclear war. In the Middle East, the Israel-Palestine decades-long attrition threatens<\/span>\u00a0to sink the Middle-East into a war-torn region with potential to spark a world war if superpowers escalate ally-support. As usual, the USA is the principal enabler of these wars, even as it is bent on stirring up trouble in the South China Sea in the hope of getting China entangled in an Asian war, again far away from the American shore.<\/span><\/p>\n

In wars, justice takes a back seat. But St John Paull II had insisted that \u201cwithout justice, there can be no peace\u201d, and in his 1998 World Peace Day message, he reminded the world that \u201cfrom the justice of each comes peace for all\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Justice, at its core, entails treating individuals equitably and impartially, regardless of their background, social status, or personal beliefs.\u00a0Justice is the embodiment of fairness and integrity, promoting equal opportunities and ensuring that every person has access to their basic human rights. Justice protects the fundamental human dignity of every human person.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peace-seeking is delusional where parties refuse to practise justice. In works of evangelization, we cannot declare Christ in words without displaying Christ in action. So the Christian mission fails if it does not promote justice. And yet, being selective in justice<\/strong>, is not only seen in the political arena that agitates for wars, it is something that sadly plagues Christian missions as well where the justice issue is cleverly covered up by political allegiance or ideological preferences. An incident at the recent 4th<\/sup> Lausanne Movement Congress alerts us to the dangers facing Christian mission.<\/span><\/p>\n

50 years ago, John Stott headed a movement that promised to serve as a great rallying call to the evangelical Church around the world. The movement gave birth to The Lausanne Covenant which defined what it means to be evangelical, and challenged Christians to work together to make Jesus Christ known throughout the world. At the first Lausanne Movement Congress, Latin American theologian Ren\u00e9 Padilla gave what was described as \u201ca speech that shook the world\u201d [1]. In his lengthy and challenging message to the church and its work of evangelisation, he quoted in passing from Elton Trueblood:<\/span><\/p>\n