Viral Faith

"This was the primary message of the Biblical prophets; religiosity is not an acceptable alternative to doing the works of righteousness and justice." -- Dr. Marvin McMickle in "Let the Oppressed Go Free". Righteousness and Justice are among the most important Biblical words in the Hebrew Scriptures (what Christian's term the Old Testament).  Mishpat , the Hebrew word for "justice" appears in the Hebrew Scriptures over 400 times and Tzedekah , the word for "righteousness" occurs over 300 times.  The words are often used together as they are closely related terms. Tzedekah , or righteousness is far more expansive than how it is typically used in contemporary churches.  We often speak of righteousness in terms of our "rightness to a standard or set of rules".  Yet, the Hebrew word is a relational term.  In fact, there is no Hebrew word in the Scriptures for "individual".  The promotion of individuality is a relatively modern...

  The Church and Societal Forces of Injustice   “Slavery was upheld by three sectors of society: religious, economic, and political.” —Tom Skinner in How black is the Gospel (1971)   One of the ongoing discussions among church leaders is the role of the church in regards to the formation, influence, and regulation of the societies in which they serve.  Many believe that churches are to promote the highest ethical standards and leverage its many privileges to encourage its surrounding society to embrace those same standards.  Others believe the church is a vendor of religious products that seeks to enhance the lives of its adherents, without any responsibility to those outside of its body.  I believe that the answer is clearly spelled out in Scripture, embodied by Jesus Christ, and promoted by the early Church.   Historically, it is important to understand the duplicitous role of the church in both bringing about justice and promoting inj...