Social justice will not set us free.

I got a question about what I thought about the social gospel Christianity that this person is talking about. This is my response:

This man is preaching the Law, isn't he? He's preaching about commandments, conscience, and the responsibilities and obligations we have towards God and our fellow man. He's preaching God's demands of justice and holinesss. All that is good, and we should say yes to the call to "live the Kingdom" so to speak. And, yeah, all Christians should be doing that.

I'm not saying that the community represented by Shane Claiborne does this, but the danger with the social gospel is that it is far too often lacking the "gospel" part. It's just full of demands and "if-then". If I'm a a Christian then I must live a certain lifestyle. If I'm polite and kind enough, then I will deserve being loved. If I give away a certain percentage of my income to the poor, then I'll finally be Christ-like. If I eat ecological foods and reduce my carbon footprint, then I will be worthy to take up space on this planet. If I'm inclusive enough, then I will be free to call out others on their racism and homophobia. If we want the Kingdom of God, then we must work for it.

The road of the "if-then" is dangerous, and can far too easily lead to either prideful self-righteousness, or soul-crushing despair at our inability to attain the righteousness we think God desires. We need the other side of the coin. We need the Gospel, which says that our Christianness is not about our achievements, but about our belonging. Being a Christian is about belonging to Christ, and none of our sucesses is necessary for it, and none of our failures excludes it. Our Christianness, and our inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven is a graceful gift by God, independent of works of the law. This truth will set us free like no social justice ever will.