Thoughts on Justice in the Church

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

- Friedrich Nietzsche

* * DISCLAIMER * *

While it is my inclination and desire to want to delve into details about what I have been told I will not do so until I have clarity of mind and heart as well as a clearance from those who would invariably be affected by the divulgence of details.

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To say I am disillusioned this afternoon as I write is a vast understatement. I have learned some things about good men, men whom I had come to respect, to admire. The problem, of course, with knowledge is once you learn something you cannot unlearn it. Once you have been given the responsibility of knowing a particular thing your life is invariably affected by it. I think about this quote from Nietzsche today and while I do not agree with his ideology, philosophy or theology (if he had one) I must say this quote is very profound. As I reflect on the knowledge I have gained today I am brought immediately to this quote. How does a person who is admired, respected and loved within his own sphere of influence become the object of scorn, rebuke and chastisement? I ask myself and have been asked this many times in the last few weeks and all I can come up with (this afternoon at least) is this quote. 

If you look long and hard enough into the abyss you will invariably be drawn to it. If you spend all your time battling (or associating) with monsters you will wake up on morning, look into the mirror and realize you have become one. What I know is monstrous, it is unbelievable, it is only capable by a person who has had their life engulfed and filled with the emptiness of the abyss. In a world filled with moral relativism, political correctness and watered down tolerance, the people of Christ's Church want to know; "Where is justice?" In a legal system where Johnny Cochran can help you get away with murder the people of this country and across the world want to know; "Where is justice?" In a time when rogue dictators can threaten the very sanctity and rights of numerous countries and their own people in a quest to inflate their own ego and fascist ideals, the world is crying out; "WHERE IS JUSTICE?"

Sadly the Christian Church has sold itself out on this as well. We like preaching the "buddy Christ" who doesn't ever tell anyone they are wrong, who loves everyone enough to completely ignore the deplorable way they live their lives, who never offends, never condemns, and who never makes any substantive statements about anything. We have watered down the justice of the Church and turned our doctrine of God into a rank heresy for a modicum of modern appeal. John recounts for us Jesus' attitude towards the secularization of His temple in chapter 2 verses 13 through 22. 

It is a familiar story, Jesus goes to the Temple and see moneychangers and merchants there. Angered about their practices Jesus doesn't politely asked them to take their business elsewhere, He doesn't complain to the leaders (who were just as corrupt), and He doesn't just walk away and do nothing. He grabs some ropes and made Himself a whip out of them. He then proceeds to chase them out of the Temple. Jesus' sees wrong being done in the Temple and He removes it. If you want my opinion (and since you are reading this I am assuming you do) I would say this needs to be the model we use for dealing with injustices in the Christian Church. 

We do not need to play nice with persons who willingly and with ill intent and malice make it their purpose to deceive and use the Church for their personal gain. We also don't need to merely ask them nicely to go away. Do you think people were surprised by what Jesus did in John 2? If you read the chapter and the the other accounts of this story in Matthew 21:12-17, Luke 19:45-48 and Mark 11:15-19 you will see people were there and they responded both positively and negatively to His actions. The leadership of Christ's Church should not be afraid of the reactions of their congregations when it is a matter of justice. Give the people of Christ's Church some credit and let them decide how to react rather than trying to predict and preempt their responses. If they don't like it and leave, bid them farewell and let them know they are welcome to return. At least you were honest.