Paradox of Social Justice and Secularism

Can you logically have a secular point of view, and hold a deep true passion for social justice and equity world wide? I don't know, it seems too much like a paradox to me...

As an assignment for one of my classes my professor asked each member of the class to write what influenced us to enter into the field of public health, more specifically global health. I thought it was an interesting exercise and was excited to not only reflect within myself and put my motives on paper, but also to see what had drawn my classmates to the seats beside me. At the beginning of class the professor read quite a few of the answers anonymously. I was blown away at the remarkable number of people that put "a desire to fight for social equity and social justice worldwide" as their motivation and number one influencing factor. Many cited the church or Catholic practices as the birthplace of their exposure to helping others, though they made it quite clear that they did not choose to pursue this field because of any religious belief or church. (In fact, my professor has made it quite clear that he does not believe in a God accompanied by many nods of agreement from my classmates) Interesting…all this talk of social justice and human's rights without a God got me thinking...is that paradoxical?

What is social justice and do all humans deserve it? Do all humans deserve the right to education, health care, clean water, electricity, plumbing? Are there basic human rights? If so, who came up with them? Who said that each person is entitled to a set of universal rights strictly because they are a person, alive? (In fact, the UN has a Universal Declaration of Human Rights)Why do we have rights? Why are we? 

I think it is all about your perception of who people are, what a person is. From a secular point of view, I really just don't get it. Please help me to understand: Why fight for social justice if you don't believe in a logical reason for justice, if you don't believe in God, if you believe in the 'American dream' mindset, if you believe in logic and intellectual reason over mysticism? If you don't believe in a Creator and family among the human race, why care so much about others?

According to evolution (or spontaneously accidental creation), man formed overtime beginning with a hot mess of chemicals and elements some billions of years ago. Throughout time, the theory of survival of the fittest ensued and only the species that learned to out survive, out run, out think, out plan other species, indeed survived. So we get to man from this soup along the evolutionary bio-chain.

Within the human race, would you predict that the survival of the fittest to still hold true? Maybe. That would explain the huge health disparities observable between continents, countries, even counties and districts within nations. That would explain a lot. BUT it would fail to explain social justice and why people fight for that, why people are even aware or sensitive to the idea of social justice. If it is survival of the fittest, why would you want to 'help a brother out?' Go out of your way to serve another, love another, fight for another if there is no observable benefit for yourself or your own personal survival (or survival of loved ones)? Maybe on an emotional level there is the benefit-to feel better about oneself, giving you an emotional edge over other people? The happier a person is, the longer they will most likely live? (what is happiness anyway?) So by helping other people, fighting for others' 'rights', you indeed are extending your own longevity, your own survival? That is one way of looking at it, I guess…

Alternatively, maybe survival of the fittest isn't so much a concept on the individual level, but more so on a species or communal level. Lions travel in prides right without killing each other? Birds in flocks, and fish (naturally the most intelligent) in schools. As a species maybe we feel the need to band together and fight for one another so that we, the human race, will endure for all eternity (or until a huge meteor from space takes us out, ice age part 2 anyone?).  To me, this theory would make more sense (again, from a secular point of view). That would do a better job of explaining why people fight for social justice…though it still does little to resolve the issue of where these so called human rights come from, and why as a human being we deserve or should be warranted such rights. However, the question is thus posed that if this is indeed true and we as a race feel an innate need to band together for the survival of our species, why did disparities even form in the first place? What made man first feel the sensation of entitlement and superiority causing others to fall out of reach from the socioeconomic ladder or below the poverty line while they ran ahead in fields of opportunity and advancement? Why are we not all living in equal luxury or lack of luxury? According to this theory, disparities  should not be among us. We should look for the survival of our species as a whole…or maybe our idea of 'species' has evolved into a new definition, to instead refer to our own population or nation or cohort. I mean we now have culturalism, patriotism, racism, nationalism right? Where we take pride and unite with our own nation, race, culture, etc. But again, that would lead to yet another unresolved question of why fight for social justice for a population or cohort other than your own? Why? Why travel abroad, why leave comforts, why demand equal rights for all if that 'all' is not solely encompassed within your immediate vicinity? I just don't get it. What makes you aware of these injustices and what is justice? Have we evolved yet again to just thrive off of a sense of adventure? Do we long so bad to feel good about ourselves and thus help others? That does not explain the passion I see on news' reels of marches and protests, it does not explain the urgency eminent on my classmates faces when the topic of equity and social justice arises in classes. So much unexplained…if you don't believe in God.

Maybe people want to help others because they are searching for a hope in the meaninglessness of life. They reason that if they can bring hope to another, bring good and change into someone else's life, that will give their life meaning and purpose. Otherwise, as a being created from a heated chemical stew, our lives are quite frankly meaningless and just random chance. There is no hope. People long for meaning and purpose, and more so the hope of that. From a secular point of view though, there is no hope. Once again, social justice is not a logical cause even if on conquest for a sense of hope. Hope simply can not exist apart from God.

The Bible explains all of this. It is very clear that no one deserves a thing, we don't deserve the right to medicine, or technology, or clean water, or love, or justice, nothing! Yet, we have it. That is by the grace of God, our Creator, who loves us thus has bestowed all of these upon us. Yet disparities exist. Does this mean that those with advantage or more access to their 'rights' are more loved by God? Does the existence of disparities question the goodness and love of God? Absolutely not. God has empowered the human mind with knowledge which has led to the creation of technology, economics, medicine, etc. Again, a gift from Him. It is how humans have used this gift that has created the disparities we see today. The fact that health and socioeconomic disparities exist is merely a reflection of the sin inside of man. The desire to serve oneself over others, and the desire to feel superior by excluding others. Quite a paradox then to fight for social justice. War and hate, sin and a desire for entitlement is in each man's heart. This has led to the limiting of access and available opportunities for advancement worldwide. This has segregated populations, nations, cultures and brothers globally and locally. While man has the propensity, the desire to be good, he cannot. (with Christ we are made one with Him and thus overcome our sin). Maybe man fights for social justice because he wants to be good, he has that desire. He knows, he feels that there is something not quite right with the world today, things aren’t as they were intended to be. And they aren't, this isn't the way God intended for Creation to go (though He knew it would). Maybe that instinct of wanting to be good is what leads non Christians to fight for social justice, to feel and believe that each human has a set of universal rights though they can't yet explain why. They are trying to fix the wrong of this world, the reflections of sin in this world. But they can't. Not without God. "If a man abides in me and me in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing!"

While I still have no idea why a non Christian would be passionate about social justice or more specifically choose to go into the field of global public health, I know why Christians do. "He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly before your God." "Love your neighbor as yourself." "Love even your enemies."  "They will know you are His by your love." "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself." "Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and surely I am with you until the end of the ages." "Dear brothers, let us not love with word or tongue, but in actions and in truth." We have a responsibility as Christians to love the unlovable, to bring hope to the hopeless, to seek the lost, and to open doors of opportunity and joy to the broken and abandoned. That is why I am in Public Health. To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God that all the earth may know that He is. That, my friend, is no paradox.

In Transit-Are People Good?

From daily making use of public transit in Boston, the MBTA, I have come to the conclusion that people want to be good, maybe they just don't know how. Yes, our natural inclination is sin and selfishness and disobedience (the Bible, and my unchecked actions, are very clear on that), but from watching people I think that our natural inclination is also to fix that, to try to be good.

Early last week I rode the 47 bus, as I typically do, to class. Each time I have taken that bus or another or even the T, I have noticed a sort of subculture forming within the bus. A subculture of comradory that transcends racial lines, socioeconomic status, and even age and gender identities. A subculture developing merely because of our shared environment and experience: riding the bus somewhere between Ruggles Station and the Boston Medical Center. When an elderly individual walks in, immediately people stand to allow him or her to sit, or someone with a cane (even if they look slightly crazy). People help one another, shouting if the door closes before some poor softspoken girl can get off as she rushes to the front through the packed out T. People want to be good people. Thank God. Thank God that He put that desire within us, if He had't can you imagine what this world would look like given what it looks like now?

However, people wanting to be good just isn't good enough. We are still selfish and innately unrighteous. More times than not our selfishness outweighs our desire to be good, especially when no one is looking on. It is easy, excuse me-easier, to do the right thing in a bus full of people with others looking on as an elderly individual boards. The motivation to stand and offer your seat may not come from a desire or wanting to be good but more so a desire to look good, not be a good person but appear as a good person. The latter showing in fact the absence of true goodness within, true goodness lies in the motivation for good actions. The actual act of getting up though does show a desire to want goodness, even if that desire comes out of selfish motivations. The problem then is that we can't be good no matter how hard we try because the truth is, our selfishness gets in the way. After a long hard day one may be less inclined to get up from their seat with a justified thinking that "someone else will rise to the occasion, my circumstances warrant me a deserving right to sit down." We can't make ourselves selfless, we can't make ourselves perfect, without wrong, we can't make ourselves good all the time no matter how much we may want to, or want to appear that we are. We are selfish.

It gives me hope that people do try though, try to be good. By trying, that insinuates a desire to change, a desire to find a solution. That solution is Jesus Christ who makes us perfect and holy and sinless through His redemptive obedience on the cross and the subsequent indwelling of the Holy Spirit in each believer. Thank God that I can be good, not on my own accord, but with dependence on and action of the Holy Spirit within me. I can be good even when I am alone, even when I am not on a packed out bus with eyes watching on. The hard part though, is choosing that goodness. Choosing the Holy Spirit over my selfishness. That choice is hard and usually uncomfortable, but not impossible (thank God). Selfishness is comfortable and easy. So then, it is a daily choice to be good, a daily choice to utilize the Holy Spirit, a daily choice to depend. Thank you God for the choice, for the desire and for the possibility to be good as I desire to be. The more I choose God's goodness the more I want to choose God's goodness because I realize that choice allows me and enables me to live to the full potential and opportunity that God has called me to, through His abundant grace.


2 Cor 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

John 15:5, 8 "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing...By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."

1 Peter 1:14-16, 22-23 "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."...Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth from a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God."

John 7: 38 "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"

We are enabled to live a holy, righteous, being-good life by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit through Christ's sacrificial act of the cross. Not because of us, but because of Him. (Eph 2:8-10)

While I Wait: Micah 7:7 "But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me."

Transitions are scary times, they are scary because they imply the eminent future to be full of unknowns. Unknowns are scary because, well, they are unknown. They explicitly highlight our inability as humans to know everything, to plan and predict the future, to be all-knowing. We thus become dependent on others for help as we transition to the things we do not know. We must ask questions, spend time familiarizing ourselves with the new, and adjust from old habits to form new that work in our new environment. Asking for help, now that is scary. That is scary and hard especially in a world and culture that urges us towards self-reliance and 'pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps' if you will. Asking for help is typically seen as a sign of weakness, but is it?

I guess it all depends on your perspective.

I like to refer to this whole idea of needing help as the Burden of Not Knowing. It is a burden because, it sucks. BUT it is a beautiful burden because it is a hardship that causes us to realize, recognize and rely upon God. We don't know everything that we may seek the One who does, God. This is one of many burdens (see Eccl. 3:10) I see that God has placed in man's life for him to recognize His presence, and respond appropriately.

As I move forward to follow Jesus where I feel that He has called me, I find myself filled with fear, but also with peace, mostly with peace. That is how I know I am doing the right thing by moving, because a peace like this can come from none other than Jesus Christ. Thank you God. This peace I know I have received because I have asked for help from the One who knows all, and more than that, I trust Him. Waiting on the Lord has been a common theme I have thought long and hard on these last couple weeks or so because in the unknown it is necessary to not only ask for help, but to also wait for a response. I have asked for help…now I must wait on the Lord for an answer. But what does waiting on the Lord really mean? Am I to just sit here, and do nothing until I hear clearly the Words of God? I don't think so, I think there is more to waiting than just passing time.

Waiting...the very verb to wait brings about such a negative connotation. We wait in line at amusement parks bored, we wait in painful suspension at doctor's offices and hospitals, we frustratingly are forced to wait in traffic as we rush to get from point A to point B. We wait only when we have to because of circumstances. No one purposefully chooses to wait.

 So if waiting is such detestable and avoided activity, why would the Bible tell us to wait on the Lord? Even more so, if it is such a waste of time, why would He call us to wait? Doesn't that sound a little counter intuitive for spreading the Gospel, the very thing Christians are beckoned to do. Jesus did say to us, "follow Me." And, "GO therefore an make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Yet, Scripture also tells us to WAIT on the Lord. How can we wait, and still follow and go?

Dwelling on this I came to realize that waiting isn't so much an inaction that God is asking of us, but more so a reason for action. Waiting on the Lord is meant to more so be a mindset we have. "For we focus not on what is seen, but on what is unseen." As Christians, naturally we are waiting, waiting for the second coming of Christ. But in our waiting, we are to live, and live life to the fullest in fact! Our waiting for Him is to bring us hope because we have overcome the world through Jesus thus we take on life with all of its hardships, mishaps, adventures and joys with confidence and a no regrets attitude because we have hope that we are waiting for something, someONE that redeems, rescues, and makes all of our living while waiting full of purpose, the very purpose we were created for: to proclaim God's praise. So, waiting on the LORD is a mindset. It is an action, not an inaction. It is an attitude we live life with.

To wait on the LORD is to Walk with Him, Acknowledge Him in all things, Invest in others, and Tell of His deeds.

So, as I move from the beautiful 2 year season that was my time at TEAMeffort Missions in Georgia to the unknown academia that awaits me in Boston: I will ask for help in the unknown, and I will wait. As I wait I will walk with Jesus, following His footsteps instead of making my own new ones. It is so easy to think that waiting on God means lots of quiet times at coffee shops and solitary times of prayer locked away somewhere. While those quiet times are good and can be essential in an individual's relationship with Christ, they are not the essence of a Christian life. Waiting on the Lord means to seek Him, when I seek Him I am moved out of myself to the world and community around. Even if I do not feel His presence, I must continue to step out in faith and not stand still. Standing still leads to complacency in faith, complacency leads to apathy towards our faith in Christ. There is no growth in apathy. Waiting on God should cause growth, not apathy. This is why I know I must move, I fear becoming stagnant. So, to wait on God means that I must walk, I must move, I must make my inactions actions towards Him and towards growth. This requires much prayer.

Waiting on God means seeking Him and thus being in constant communion and communication with Him, pray continually. "In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:6) We must proclaim God always and give Him all the glory. This means recognizing Him in every aspect of life: every new morning, every conversation, every beauty of nature, every laugh, every tear, God is near.

When we wait on God we must also invest in those around us. Jesus said that the law could be summed up in two commandments: Love the LORD your God above all else, and love your neighbor as yourself." We love ourselves easily, we are a naturally selfish people. But, to love others means looking out for their well being, their needs, their wants. When we wait on Jesus' return He desires for us to build relationships with those around us, love them, and live out Jesus before them. This will attract them to Christ. Then they can wait on Him as well! Especially as we tell of all the amazing things He has done in our lives. Remembering what God has done leads to reverence for Him, and a readiness to go out and tell the world!

And so, I will continue to write (I think) while I wait. While I wait for Christ's return, I will live. Bring on the adventure!

I can hardly wait, can you?

Psalm 27:14 "Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the LORD."

Micah 7:7 "But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me."

Isaiah 40:31 "Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."

Romans 8:25 "But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it."

Psalm 130:5-6 "I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the LORD more than the watchmen for the morning; indeed,, more than the watchmen for the morning."

Lamentations 3:25 "The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him."