Is Justice Possible?

I was so looking forward to read this book! Finally! Let’s address the injustices of today from a Christian perspective!

Oh, Jim…when will you learn?

This may be the dumbest solution to a real problem. The only way for judges to do their job well is for all of them to be Christians who study their Bible regularly. Huh. It was Christians who study their Bible regularly that kept slavery going, impeded the civil rights movement, and push for these horrible convictions and punishments in the first place.

Well, I had high hopes for this. Yes, we crave justice. Yes, we don’t have it like we should.

But:

<i>The correct starting point of justice must be - and can only be - God.</i>

But man interprets the Bible! The author and I are on the same page about the need for justice in our world. But I don’t get how anyone can say something has to come from God. Because all of it is man’s interpretation.

<i>God is holy - He is the moral standard. God is righteous - He conforms to the moral standard. God is just - He requires His creatures to likewise conform to the moral standard.</i>

These all sound good on the surface - but they are going to conform to what man <b>thinks</b> God’s moral standard is - not what God’s actual moral standard is. See the difference? No one reads the Bible without interpretation.

And then we get into God’s wrath. Justice includes punishment - and God is all about that, too. According to this author, anyway. Quoting from Romans 13:

<i>Once a human judge determines if conduct was good or bad, justice is to follow. “If you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain,” and as God’s servant he is “an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” (v. 4). Don’t miss the mention of God’s wrath. Wrath is God’s holy response against sin and unrighteousness (Rom. 1). God must judge sin. When He does, the Bible calls it His wrath. God expects human judges to carry out His wrath on evildoers.</i>

Oh, good god. Or, maybe not so good.

He then gets into unjust laws in the past. In this section, he described many horrid, racist laws that do not square with God’s law. But it’s still his interpretation. While I agree that all of these laws are atrocious, I don’t believe it’s because they go against the Bible, but because they take away human dignity and equality.

And then.

Oh no.

And then.

Ugh. He uses the Bible to suggest Row v Wade is unjust.

And then you realize he’s a fucking homophobe. He claims the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling is unjust “because it arrogantly dismisses biblical marriage.”

Justice for all! (Unless you’re gay, then fuck you!)

*sigh*

He suggests that we have injustice for 2 reasons: we don’t know everything and we have implicit bias.

The problem I have isn’t with the first reason - it’s with his answer to it. We must pray and discern the will of God. I’m sorry - but that’s crazy. What - we throw the First Amendment out the window, make Christianity a state-sponsored religion and force all people in government to worship the Christian God and pray to him for all our decisions? I don’t see another path if this preacher has his way.

Now, I do love his chapter on implicit bias. I think this should pulled out of the book and be required reading for everyone. It’s an excellent primer on implicit bias - what it is, and how to avoid it.

Of course, we get to the next chapter - and in the same chapter where he says <i>Government leaders can suffocate individual liberty through laws designed to wrongly control its citizens</i> he also says same-sex marriage should be outlawed. Well, which is it?

And he tries to argue the same old faux Christian persecution bullshit - religious liberty is under attack in our country. Uh, no - just because you aren’t allowed to force your religion on other people doesn’t mean it’s under attack. The First Amendment is there so you can’t force your religion on others - not so you can.

But, then - I agree with all his suggestions for prison reform.

And he ends the book with all the crazy fundamentalist Christian end times shit. It cracks me up that people think they know exactly what the end times are going to be like - what judgment day is going to be like and what the afterlife is going to be like. Because almost every Christian denomination knows exactly what it’s like - but none of them agree.

And then, there’s this quote:

<i>An evil leader who was responsible for the slaughter of millions, such as an Adolf Hitler, will endure more punishment than perhaps a peaceful but unbelieving Aborigine who worked a subsistence farm his entire life. A child rapist and murderer will be sentenced to more torment than a moral, dedicated but unbelieving public school teacher. Everyone will be judged.</i>

This is so stupid. It still puts hateful believers above compassionate unbelievers. What kind of god is this?

Disappointing. So much potential. And so much crap.

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and Moody Publishers for a copy in return for an honest review.</i>