Archive for April, 2008

I’ve been reading Tim Keller’s book “The Reason for God” and taking my time. I haven’t enjoyed a book like this for a while. Here’s a quote from his section on “The Social Consequences of Sin”.

If we get our very identity, our sense of worth, from our political position, then politics is not really about politics, it is about us. Through our cause we are getting a self, our worth. That means we must despise and demonize the opposition. If we get our identity from our ethnicity or socioeconomic status, then we have to feel superior to those of other classes and races. If you are profoundly proud of being an open-minded, tolerant soul, you will be extremely indignant toward people you think are bigots. If you are a very moral person, you will feel very superior to people you think are licentious. And so on.

There is no way out of this conundrum…. Racism, classism, and sexism are not matters of ignorance or a lack of education…. The real culture war is taking place inside our own disordered hearts, wracked by inordinate desires for things that control us, that lead us to feel superior and exclude those without them, and that fail to satisfy us even when we get them. [emphasis mine]

When I read this I had this realization that on a small level I had bought into the subtle message from our culture that the key to overcoming bigotry, racism, classism, etc is education and more awareness. But if our efforts towards social justice are not ultimately driven by a desire to honor Jesus and draw people to Him we are not going to solve our societies problems. The root cause of all social injustice is sin to which Jesus is the only antidote.

[tags]social justice, Tim Keller, The Reason for God[/tags]