Results 1 - 8 of 8
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | What's the proper response to injustice? | 1 Pet 2:19 | Aixen7z4 | 153057 | ||
Waiting for an answer, as to what can be done about injustice, and waiting for justice, are alike, both painful processes. One is interested in what the brethren think, and what God feels, and thinks, as he looks on. “Our transgressions are multiplied …, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; … “Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. “Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment“ (Isaiah 59). The sight of injustice may arouse our emotions. It may arouse the most common feeling, fear. It may give rise to anger or, as has been suggested, angst. Or it may leave us apathetic. As always with God, there are choices, and for our choices there are consequences. When we see injustice, we can ignore it. But the Lord says, “He that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey“. In other words, “Those who turn away from evil make themselves victims”. (GW). We should think about that. We can condemn it. The Lord says, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression”. But showing God’s people their transgression can but much like placing a picture before a blind man. The psychologists call it denial, but it seems we need a stronger word. A brother protested to me recently that there is no prejudice in the church, in America. One who complained about a young man being denied an opportunity to use his gifts in the church was described as “envious”. One man took another man’s wife, and they both continued in the church. The one who lifted his voice to “cry aloud” was taken aside and counseled to be quiet. We can work against it. But then the pronoun “we” is hardly apt, for such a person often has to do that work alone. One may feel quite the Lord’s man then, and identify with the Lord himself, for it is he who “saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him“ (Isaiah 59:17). Of course, we can continue doing as we are doing now. That might include one of the choices mentioned above, but it could be otherwise. I am not sure whether an “intercessor” in this case is one who prays or one who takes some action, intervening. Either way, the Lord looked and wondered, because there was no intercessor. There was no one who prayed, and there was no one who did anything, about injustice. So he took action himself. It is in that vein that he said: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; “To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; “To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified“ (Isaiah 61). That is what Jesus did when he was here. He did not only speak it; he also did it. He began to say unto them, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21). What a message! And what a program of liberation! And as he was leaving he said, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father“ (John 14:12). We are here now. We are his body. We are to do his work. And one of his apostles said, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). This does not suggest that we attempt to fix things in the world. We preach the Gospel and call people out of the world and into the church. Then we should do what we can to ensure that there is justice, if not in the world, then surely in the church; if not for ourselves, then surely for our brethren, in the church. |
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2 | What's the proper response to injustice? | 1 Pet 2:19 | Mommapbs | 153058 | ||
"Waiting for an answer, as to what can be done about injustice, and waiting for justice, are alike, both painful processes. One is interested in what the brethren think, and what God feels, and thinks, as he looks on." First of all Aixen, you KNOW what God thinks about sin in the church - 1 Cor 5:11- we are not to even eat with an immoral brother. You KNOW how God feels about sin - He hates it. (see Prov 6:16-19)What should concern us about the way that the brethren think is this: are they be thinking the things that will prompt obedience righteousness and godliness? See, when we don't hate what God hates, when we don't delight ourselves in the LORD, when we don't address sin in the church, we becaome just as guilty of injustice. By not responding to sin, we don't submit ourselves to the Lord and we in essence, practice injustice. We don't apply the justice of God as revealed in Christ's death and we will reap the consequences of unrepentant behavior - the discipline of God. By refusing to address sin in the church we become paticipants in that sin (recall our recent discussion of 1 Tim 5:22; vv19-20 are quite explicit of what response God expects us to take see also Titus 3:10-11; 2 John 10-11; Romans 16:17-18) 1 John 3:22 whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. May these references bless and guide you along the path that God has marked out for you dear brother. mommapbs |
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3 | What's the proper response to injustice? | 1 Pet 2:19 | Aixen7z4 | 153064 | ||
You are correct, of course, especially with reference to that previous discussion. The answers have been given to the leaders of the church. We presume that they have read the letters and they know what to do. But we are in the same situation as Habakkuk saw, and Jeremiah, where it is the leaders themselves who are perverting justice. One may well sing the dirge again: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” from Psalm 11. It is a rhetorical question, perhaps, and one should not expect an answer, except the one that God gives. The truth is, my dear sister, that I ask the question here in fear. There has been someone who would discourage anyone from providing suggestions here because he knows that I seek these answers, not necessarily for myself, but for some who come to me for help. And sometimes I am lost for words to say to one who is suffering emotionally and otherwise because of the treatment they receive at church. I have tried what I know, to give words of comfort, and to intervene on their behalf. And I know what it means to be ignored, or attacked, for “interfering” on behalf of a victim of injustice. But I ask the question if perhaps it might focus attention on what is going on, and maybe prick a conscience. I am about to leave for a meeting now, and I am taking along a young man who has been a victim. I can but hope that the sight of him will touch the hearts of the leaders who have been against him. I am afraid that he will leave the church and abandon his efforts to serve the Lord there. I do not know if this trip will be a step forward or backward. I think of your words again, and Jesus’ words, that one must be wise and harmless. I hope I can be that. It is a strange phenomenon that I see, no matter how often I see it, and though I know the word of God is true: “If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they” (Ecclesiastes 5). One should rest in the fact that God sees, perhaps, but it is hard to stand and look. Even men of the world have been moved by conscience to shake off slavery and apartheid and discrimination. But what will the righteous do? |
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4 | What's the proper response to injustice? | 1 Pet 2:19 | Mommapbs | 153181 | ||
Aixen - I am confused about your fear here. Perhaps the problem is that the church is negligent in its appreciation for the gifts that God gives to the body. Not one person alone, but many . . . using their gift as the Holy Spirit has given . . . not for selfish gain or pride, but in humility, esteeming the needs of others and seeing ALL as valuable members. I have been told that this is not a church, yet, if we as believers are gathered about to study God's Word together, is that not an act of worship? It is not being done in isolation, but in view of all. As individuals we might be mindful of James instructions for proper speech (type qualifies here)See James 3 and Psalm 109:17. I read a great "one-liner" on this: whenever we open our mouth, our mind is on parade. (So what we type here is quite revealing too) All too often we do not find a blessing, but rather we find attitudes that are devoid of the mind of Christ, such as condescension, ridicule or even disgust. Titus 3:14 reminds us to use our gifts to meet needs. In this way, BOTH, the needful and the giver are fruitful. How did the meeting go for you? Blessings, mommapbs |
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5 | What's the proper response to injustice? | 1 Pet 2:19 | Aixen7z4 | 153211 | ||
Understand that the matter is important. It is not a theoretical issue, even as the Bible is not a theoretical book. God’s word is given to guide our lives. In it there is direction as to the way to confront injustice and to promote justice. But most of us ignore the problem even as our brothers and sisters, and sometimes we ourselves are suffering from it. The least we can do is to talk about it, but my fear is that we won’t, and that some will seek as in the past to actively suppress the discussion. I know it sounds paranoid, but that is what happens. That is why the issue is not discussed. That is why injustice proceeds unchallenged, and justice fails, to the detriment and suffering of many. That is my fear, that the issue will be not only ignored but actively suppressed. I hope you understand. The meeting that I spoke of went quite well, in many ways. The Gospel was preached and some came to faith in Christ. The young man in question took part and said that he was glad for it. But the leaders of the church were not there to see what he was willing to do and able to do. That is what I had planned for them to see and I had hoped it would encourage them to allow him to use his gift in church. As it was, they did not get to know him that way and they still have not called him as they had promised about the task he had volunteered for. He told me he will look to other churches now for opportunities, and indeed he visited another church with me the next day and spoke to the elders there. It is good that there are other churches, and I trust that he will have a chance to use his gifts and further develop them. I understand and agree with all that you have said. We all should use our gifts to meet needs. The scriptures teaching that are well known, I hope. Titus 3:14 is a key passage concerning this. Thank you for pointing it out. But we must keep in mind it was Paul writing to his delegate and specifically instructing him to monitor and facilitate this. “I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking” (Titus 1:5). There are things that are lacking, and some would volunteer to make up the lack and use their gifts to meet the needs. But there are those who guard the gates and choose the players, and injustice occurs when some are denied opportunity. I hope you agree that everyone has both needs and gifts. That is what I get from passages such as Ephesians 4:16. The question has been how we should react when we see injustice, when gifts are not used and needs are not met. I had hoped that this discussion would have revealed some scriptural ideas for us to use, each in our area, as we see the need. Contrary to the idea of promoting some and consigning others to the role of spectator, which often takes hold, we ought to provoke one another to love and to good works. |
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6 | What's the proper response to injustice? | 1 Pet 2:19 | Morant61 | 153212 | ||
Greetings Aixen! I have been reading your thread, but I am confused as to what injustice you are referring. Can you, or will you, elaborate some? Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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7 | What's the proper response to injustice? | 1 Pet 2:19 | PasserBy | 153221 | ||
Hello: Where have you been? By that statement, I mean several things. First: Why have you not come into this discussion before? You can ask me the same thing, because I ask myself the same thing. I wonder if we have the same reason. Second: Have you not been to the churches? Even if Aixen had not talked about it, have you not seen injustice there? Third: Have you actually read the thread? It seems that Aixen is saying there is injustice for two reasons. 1. People with needs are not getting their needs met. Have you not seen that? 2. People with spiritual gifts are denied an opportunity to exercise those gifts. Have you not seen that? In so far as it is true that some gifts and some needs are systematically ignored, it is unjust. What do you think? Aixen speaks about fear, but I think he is actually very brave. It takes a brave person to point this out, since many see it and do not have the courage to speak up. He has brought it up. It remains to be seen whether he himself will be ignored or attacked for doing so. I am not here to defend the brother. But I wonder why others have not seen what he has seen. Perhaps it is because he travels a lot and visits many churches. But now he has talked about it, I wonder why it is hard for you to even understand what he has said. What would you do about the case of that young man that he spoke about? That person introduced a program into a church and ran it for a short time. Then it was summarily taken away from him and given to others. Would you say that was injustice? Or would you do like someone else has done, to imagine reasons why they had just reasons to do that? Or should he say to the young man that he should “keep hoeing”? I am sure that Aixen could elaborate and illustrate with many stories, but I do not think we need to prove the point that there is injustice. If you have not seen it yourself, then you may not understand. The Bible talks about it and we need ideas from the Bible to deal with it. |
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8 | What's the proper response to injustice? | 1 Pet 2:19 | Morant61 | 153226 | ||
Greetings Passerby! First of all, welcome to the forum. :-) Secondly, the references to the injustice were very vague which is why I asked for clarification. In the case of this young man, why is he being denied the opportunity to use his gifts? The reason would determine if this is actually an injustice or not. :-) There could be many valid reasons for a churches leadership to deny someone the opportunity to minister. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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