Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth: 12 Questions Christians Should Ask About Social Justice

I recently finished reading Thaddeus Williams’s book, Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth.

To quote the famous Christian book reviewer/blogger, Tim Challies, “Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth is the book I’ve been waiting for!”

I sense that many in the church have been concerned and perplexed by the growing “social justice” movement in our society. At least, I can say that I have been for these reasons (and more):

• while “justice” is rightly seen as a biblical issue (there are 138 references to this word in the ESV), and Jesus calls it part of the, “more important matters of the law,” (Matt. 23:23)…
• the people I saw the most vocal about “social justice”-type of issues were simultaneously professing to not be Christians (and even, in some cases, saw biblical Christianity as part of the “enemy”)
• our society has been shown (via poll after poll after poll) to be the most biblically illiterate and god-less that the nation has ever been. Where 124 of the first 127 colleges were explicitly Christian in America (as I’ve read before), today the top colleges are quite anti-Christian (see George Yancey’s research on this, for instance). Yet this is the society that has “seen” and been “woke” to social justice issues that all other generations in America (who are more biblically literate and Christ-centered) have missed? Even more, college campuses (which are the most extreme in their anti-chrisitan ideology) are the places where the “woke” and “social justice” movements are most enlightened? Sadly, this reminds me more of Israel when it was at it’s lowest points morally saying things like, “The way of the Lord is not just,” (Eze. 18:29), and, “Where is the God of justice?” (Mal. 2:17).
• when I’ve conversed with some (not all) who are zealous for “biblical justice,” and tried to talk through biblical justice versus the current “social justice movement,” stances, they seemed cold to me for bringing up the gospel or the Bible. Not that they disagreed with these things, they just didn’t seem as interested in talking through a gospel-centered, biblically holistic version of biblical justice. Yet the Bible teaches, “It is NOT GOOD to have zeal without knowledge…” (Prov. 19:2)
• The modern “social justice” movement seems firmly aligned with the democratic/liberal party, at least in terms of “justice” issues. Yet this is the same party who voted to remove God from their platform and have endorsed and even celebrated abortion and infanticide (unarguably the most socially unjust things done today). Again, this just makes me suspicious that such a movement “stumbled” upon true, biblical justice in certain areas while totally missing it in other areas.

Saying all this, I’d hasten to re-state my first point: “justice” is rightly seen as a biblical issue (there are 138 references to this word in the ESV), and Jesus calls it part of the, “more important matters of the law,” (Matt. 23:23). That is, we should find a comprehensive and biblical view of justice, and seek to be “doers” not just “hearers” of true, biblical justice. Whether we feel like it or not!

With all this background, enter Thaddeus Williams’s book: Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth.

It is just the book that addresses both the “hearing” and “doing” of James 1. In other words, it seeks to faithfully hear what the Bible says about justice and challenge the reader to walk in this.

Specifically, he takes the reader through 12 questions that every Christian should ask about the social justice they are participating in:

Does our vision of social justice…

1. take seriously the godhood of God?
2. acknowledge the image of God in everyone, regardless of size, shade, sex, or status?
3. make a false god out of the self, the state, or social acceptance?
4. take any group-identity more seriously than our identities “in Adam” and “in Christ”?
5. embrace divisive propaganda?
6. replace love, peace, and patience with suspicion, division, and rage?
7. prefer damning stories to undaming facts?
8. promote racial strife?
9. distort the best news in history?
10. make one way of seeing something the only way of seeing everything?
11. turn the “lived experience” of hurting people into more pain?
12. turn the quest for truth into an identity game?

See also the trailer:

If this sounds like a book you’re interested in reading, please contact us. I’ll send a free copy to the first 3 people to write 🙂

Brian