Glenn Beck Responds: Social Justice 'Is a Perversion of the Gospel'

What about Lydia? Phoebe? They welcomed the infant church into their homes. Jesus doesn't tell everyone to sell everything, he does something that may be more radical: he changes the whole concept, the very DNA of how those who "have" are in relationship with the poor. Give, support, strengthen, feed, clothe, all without benefit to the giver, without kickback or expectation of return.

The US government or any government is not the means by which society is created. When the government "gives" there is a hefty price paid in dependence, in lost dignity, and lost opportunity.

The government cannot be our -the church's- agent in society, and we cannot be the government's handmaid.

I am not only tired of anyone even bothering to speak of glenn beck, who is not worth seeing/listening to, but also of people who think that because they declare themselves 'christians' they are right about everything and the bible is something besides a lot of stories elaborated on by people who were told the stories as children. The church has rewritten those stories so many times that no ancient would have any idea what modern versions of the stories mean at all.

Further, I am weary of the so-called 'christians' thinking that war and greed, etc. are good. Have any of you/them ever READ the New Testament? Using the old testament and its stories has little to do with 'christianity.' READ the very few things that Jesus was supposed to have said and you will find: He did not condone WAR!!! He felt that we should take CARE of the POOR. He didn't want any of you religious nuts trying to run the government either. I, an un-believer, have probably read the bible...both testaments... more than any of you, and I know whereof I speak. I also know that the stories passed down have been changed, tossed out, added to, rummaged with, etc. over a long, long period of time. Take a look at the Dead Sea Scrolls. They tell different stories. Then go get a group of about 25-30 people, seat them in a large circle, tell one person a story and tell him/her to whisper it to the next person, and on around the circle. Then have the LAST person tell the group the story. It will bear no relation to the original story... believe me! This I know and have seen. And you think the stories in the old testament are TRUE. Come on... they were retold too many time, and originally they were used by the OLD MEN of tribes to keep their people in line.

Just like the stories that the OLD WHITE MEN (largely republicans) in the Senate are telling you now about the health bill. The Senate is made up of rotten old men who are elected not by a majority, but by groups of wealthy people in the LESS POPULATED states... and they are in it for themselves. Note how much they PAY to get elected. SO, go ahead and be suckers and believe the OLD MEN. Me, I'm going back to the 60s and not trusting anyone over 30 (and I am in my LATE 70s). get rid of the OLD republicans in the Senate and you will get rid of the sewer rats like glenn beck.

If you're going to keep saying that christians aren't supposed to give other people's money list all of the social programs that the gov't provides you wish to do away with. Making blanket statements like you just did get you nowhere. I can tell by looking at your blog what you think like and it aint pretty.

I certainly agree with Glen Beck's comment that it is our individual calling to help others in need (to share what we are blessed with) and I don't see scripturally how the government is called to enforce this. Scripture is all about "you," in the sense that it is about the decisions you make personally to care for others at least as much as yourself, and to live according to what you are called to do. And no one is accountable for "your" decisions except "you," and ultimately that accountability is to the Lord.

really as dangerous as two right shoes!

So now Glen Beck is raised to canonical status?

So now Glen Beck is raised to canonical status?

Whatever is thought of Mr. Beck, I tend to disagree with him. The Book of Deuteronomy has God providing for the poor, obviously Beck doesn't know the scriptures, which is a familiar scene around here.

"The reason people have to waste time and energy with this giant "you know what", and with other giant "you know whats" is because if they are not forcefully countered, their distortions will become the norm."

Then where are the forceful rebuttals against homosexuality, abortion and all the other twisted unbiblical things that many of our other radio and news hosts believe are ok? Or do we only get to choose which non biblical issues are of real importance.

The Gospel is very indivisualistic in many ways. We should not take out the specks in others until we have removed the planks in our eyes. We should not cast stones less we forget that we are sinners. We must all individually decide to die to ourselves, we cannot be forced or coereced into such a decision. And we individually pay a reward or face punsihment for that decision. The communal aspect of our faith is in how we love each other not in how we lambast each other on blog posts. If God himself felt our freedom of individual will too important as not to impose himself on us why then should subjugate that same free will to man made government?

But Federal courts trump state law and courts.

I pray that Glenn Beck will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Why do so many Christians let Glenn Beck shape their worldview? He is a Mormon who believes the writings of radical thinker Cleon Skousen are divinely inspired. LDS teaching promotes a different gospel that cannot be reconciled with traditional Christianity. Skousen's teachings mix a strident political message with LDS theology.

As far as social justice goes: Jesus proclaimed a social justice message when he read the Isaiah Scroll in Luke 4:14-21. He also healed the sick and fed the poor, and comforted the weary during his earthly ministry.

It seems that the terms "social justice", "social activism", "humanism", "social democracy", "government" ... are scary concepts for many in the inwardly looking evangelical circles. Due to the imposing propaganda by the political and religious right they are immediately confused for socialism, communism, Bolshevism, even fascism. How come Glenn and alike, as they describe the current health reform debate, never make comparisons with use well functioning democracies based on the principles of social democracy, such as the Scandinavian countries, Canada, Australia. There the poorest are taken care of in an expletory way, and yet none of those countires have become a pray of communist or any form of fascist ideology. And yet in each one of them the government plays more significant role that in the US. On the other hand, it is surprising that many of our Christian brethren in the US know very well that a born again Christian is called to love his/her neighbor as oneself. And that this invitation is not just a cosmetic and soft invitation to be kind to only those who are like us, but that in it there is a radical call to love practically and caringly those across all ethnic, national, racial, class group, social class, immigration groups, religious etc lines. And loving all of those does not mean giving them the leftover scraps from our tables, but much more. Call to social justice is nothing more that a call to apply Jesus' command to "love our neighbors" at a societal level, and it represents just as legitimate charge of the Gospel as the calls to human rights, religious freedom, protection of human life represent. Do not worry friends, America is far away form ever becoming a communist country.

"So now Glen Beck is raised to canonical status?"

Neither Amos nor Jeremiah were cannons and they never claimed to be cannons.

That the church has failed is an indictment on the church, but the solution is not further abrogation of our calling. Government has no heart, no soul, and cannot change the hearts of humanity, or turn them to their neighbor. Social justice is not the heart of the Gospel. Social justice is one aspect of a life lived in Christ. The death and resurrection of Christ is the heart of the Gospel. When we die to sin and rise to new life in Him, our response is to live out that new life, be that new creation by growing in right living, by caring for the vulnerable, the needy, the oppressed. Right and left have bifurcated the Christian life. Flesh OR spirit, social justice OR virtue, compassion OR sexual purity, living the Word OR loving the neighbor. To be vulgar: feeding the poor and screwing around isn't acceptable in the Christian life, but neither is screwing the poor and keeping your pants zipped and skirt down. The Christian life is and always has been a both/and life. The fullness of New Life is in caring for body and spirit in wholeness and holiness, both one's own and one's neighbor.

I'm a journalist and thus by temperament very cynical -- I can spot bias in a second, whether left or right --and I stopped subscribing to right-wing media in the 1990s because I knew it to be propaganda; based on what I already know, the videos can only represent such. As I was saying, Obama has NO connections to ACORN, and I have no way of knowing who shot them and pieced them together to make him look bad. (FWIW, I refused to watch "Fahrenheit 9/11" for similar reasons.)

rshin11, I understand your disgust. However, people who believe that GB is a Fox tool employed solely to mislead, distort, lie, and destroy the last fiber of the USA's moral constitution (lower & upper case) must stand up and be heard--for the sake of our children, if not for ourselves. If not us, who?

What do you then you when you actually have some power but don't use it for the benefit of those less fortunate? That wasn't the case in the early church, which was shut out of the halls of power.

Did I say anything about helping at crisis centers?

I wish people would read the thread to see how absolute some people are. Clearly you are a black and white type of person. If you need to show your "superiority" to make you feel better-fine.

I still don't get the reason people come here to blog when it's clear this isn't a site they believe in. I personally don't blog somewhere I don't fit in. Doesn't make sense. There must be something interesting here for you.

I apologize if you're not HomerJ but there's reasons I believe you might be and you haven't denied it-what can I say? Now since you've put the blog on your profile I would have to assume you endorse everything written there.

"He (and a bunch of others) probably rail against the liberals for
doing that. See, that's the hypocrisy for me; it's OK for conservatives to be corrupt but not anyone else."

I would never claim that liberals have a monopoly on hypocrisy. But do you realize that you posed a hypothetical and jumped straight to blaming the conservatives? How about doing the stings first and then pointing out Beck's real hypocrisy, not imagined.

I agree. I'm trying to find out if it is in the context of the government.

Not all Christians believe in the godhood of Jesus.
I've heard that fundamentalists derisively refer to the
Unitarians as "Jewnitarians," because the Unitarians
do not accept the godhood of Jesus.

I'm not a follower of any of the Abrahamic faiths
(Judaism, Christianity, Islam), so I don't take offense
at being labeled "Non-Christian."

Jesus' appearance is not listed in the Vedic (Sanskrit)
literatures along with the other incarnations of God,
such as Lord Krishna, Lord Rama, Lord Narasimha,
Lord Chaitanya, etc.

Whether Jesus is God or an empowered representative
serving on God's behalf (which is closer to the Judaic
concept of the messiah) is subject to debate. The
biblical verse about Jesus sitting "at the right hand of God,"
would be meaningless, unless there were two distinct
individuals: God and Jesus, the Lord and His servant.

Christianity remained a part of Judaism even after the
death and resurrection of Jesus. From the Acts of the
Apostles (2:22), we learn that Jesus' followers believed
him to be "a man certified by God..."

It was God who made Jesus Lord and messiah (2:36),
and they hoped Jesus would soon "restore the kingdom
of Israel" (1:6).

The first Jewish Christians went to Temple daily (2:46),
celebrated the festival of Weeks (2:1), observed the Sabbath
(1:12), and continued to worship the "God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob..." (3:13)

These Jewish Christians carried their belief in Jesus as Lord
and messiah from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria and Galilee
(1:4,8, 8:1, 9:31). Their numbers began to gradually increase.
The initial 120 members of the Pentecostal assembly in
Jerusalem grew to three thousand (2:41), then five thousand (
4:4). Their numbers continued to grow; a great number of
priests embraced the faith (6:7).

The church enjoyed peace as it was being built up. (9:31)
There was a strong community spirit; they broke bread and
said prayers together (2:42). They shared property (2:44,46)
and lived without personal possessions (4:32).

Many Pharisees came to believe in Jesus (15:5) and this
Jewish messianic movement was on friendly terms with
Gamaliel, a powerful and highly respected Pharisee, who
intervened on their behalf (5:33).

The Didache or the Teachings of the Twelve Apostles,
was a manual used by the earliest Christians. Most of the
ethics of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) are
repeated in the Didache.

This book teaches one to love God with all one's heart,
love one's neighbor as oneself, pray for one's enemies,
"turn the other cheek" if attacked or abused, and share
one's possessions with one's brethren. The Didache
admits that the gospel ethics may be too hard to observe,
because it says, "If thou canst bear the whole yoke of the
Lord, thou wilt be perfect; but if not, do what thou canst."

I only referenced him