2. WHAT IT'S GOING TO TAKE - TRUE JUSTICE

WHAT IT’S GOING TO TAKE, Part 2 

TRUE JUSTICE

I need your forgiveness. It has been rightly said that whenever you put an adjective (a modifying word) in front of the word justice that justice no longer means justice. This is why ‘social justice’ actually distorts the word justice. Thus, because I am forced to entitle this second instalment, True Justice (so as to distinguish it from all of the other modified versions of justice), I must seek your forgiveness – but I hope that the content of what I am going to manifesto will compensate for my literary violence. In this second instalment of my manifesto for how our society can experience and enjoy the divine blessings of happiness, security, wellness, fulfilment, enlightenment, and prosperity, I am going to challenge those who are called to arena of justice to fulfil their calling just as I did for those called to politics and government in the first instalment.

O LORD, You hear the desire of the afflicted;
You will strengthen their heart;
You will incline Your ear
to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
Psalm 10:17-18

WHAT IS JUSTICE?

Justice is primarily about what is right and true. It involves reasonable fairness based on what is right and true. (This is why we must be careful using the term social justice because it invariably involves positive unfairness.) Because it is grounded in what is right, it is unavoidably linked to the work of legislators who are responsible for codifying (writing in Law) what is right. This is why words matter. And this is why grammar matters (including pesky little things like commas and apostrophes which can inadvertently change the entire sentiment of a law).  

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Psalm 82:3

The Scriptures speak a lot about the need for those people of influence to defend those less fortunate from abuse and oppression. The need for justice is viewed in Scripture as especially needed for the vulnerable – widows, fatherless, disabled, and the destitute – who are most susceptible to have it denied to them. In the late 17th century in England, a person could be imprisoned for missing a repayment on a loan, or, even if it was only alleged (even falsely) that they had committed an offence, and there was no judicial process for them to get justice – and no release from their imprisonment – until they had paid the jailer for their time in remand. One of the reasons we should all thank God is for a legal right called Habeas Corpus which was introduced by the British Parliament in 1679, and has since been adopted by most western countries. It now means that someone cannot be imprisoned unless they have been charged with a crime and had their case heard in a court of law. Habeas Corpus is fundamentally grounded in a Christian worldview which regards all people as being equal under the law and entitled to reasonable justice. Sadly though, there are too many nations today where this is not the case and people can be held in prison – and even tortured – without being charged with an offence or the due process of having their day in court. Saudi Arabia is one of the worst such human rights abusers of any nation according to Amnesty International.  Obviously they are not the only nation which do not recognise Habeas Corpus as a human right. China, Yemen, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Russia, and Turkey, each fail to provide reasonable justice to its citizens. Because I regard the unstoppable light of the Gospel through Spirit-empowered Christ-ambassadors to the transforming force for good in the world, I expect that eventually each of these nations will succumb to the message and influence of the Gospel and that they will subsequently embrace a Christian worldview in the justice systems. I therefore expect that there maybe teens reading this whom God has called from birth (they would have already become known for their keen sense of justice and concern for human rights globally) to become lawyers, or barristers, or attorneys, or judges, or justices, who will play a role on the international stage of diplomacy by using their trained legal minds to become the agents of such national transformations.

How blessed are those who promote justice,
and do what is right all the time! 
Psalm 106:3 NET

WHY DOES JUSTICE MATTER?

Justice matters for three important reasons. Firstly, it is the express will of God our Creator and an expression of His heart of love for all mankind. To promote true justice is to invoke God’s blessing (Psalm 106:3; 112:5). Secondly, it fulfils the second of God’s two great commandments for all people – to love your neighbour as yourself (Matt. 22:39). Thirdly, it becomes the framework for the Gospel to be understood and heightens men’s consciences to their unworthiness and need for a Saviour (Rom. 7:7).

Have you sensed the call of God on your life to be a minister of justice? I’ve already mentioned lawyers and judges as ministers of justice, but there are also those who serve as police and in the military. In addition to these public service roles, there are other ways to minister which you may not be familiar with and while some of them are ‘front-line’, many are invaluable behind the scenes roles. For example –

The International Justice Mission – works to free slaves around the world by working with local law enforcement. IJM Officers are usually seconded from experienced ex-Police and Military personnel. They rely on public donations for their vital work. Did you know that there are more people in slavery today than at any other time in human history?

Compassion Australia – is a Christian based organisation which is working to break the cycle of poverty in the Two-Thirds World. On their website they state, “Worldwide, 385 million children live in extreme poverty. Poverty robs children of their basic rights to learn, play and grow. In its ugliest form, poverty can lead to exploitation, child labour and even death. It’s unacceptable. That’s why our Child Sponsorship Program exists. Because more powerful than poverty is the hope of Jesus, the care of a local church and the encouragement of you: a loving sponsor.“

World Vision is possibly the world’s largest child sponsorship ministry. In Australia, under the leadership of Claire Rogers, they have made a significant re-mission focus back toward being a Gospel support ministry.

The Alliance For Defending Freedom is based in the USA and has a team of attorneys who take up the legal cause of Christians who are being ill-treated because of their faith in Christ. There are moves afoot to launch a similar ministry in Australia.

WHAT IT’S GOING TO TAKE

For those called into the frontlines of the judicial system as lawyers and barristers, and for some of you, as justices, your pathway necessarily involves you reading the classics and studying history, theology, English, philosophy and rhetoric – before you embark on your law degree studies. Chances are, that if God has already called you into the legal fraternity, you have already met practising lawyers and law students. Your road ahead is going to hard. It will require you to become highly self-disciplined and determined. You might be surprised how God will use you once you have qualified as a lawyer – it may not be in the courtroom where He will use you and your training! 

In recent times in America, and in other countries, radical social change has taken place when just one unelected judge made a ruling that changed the law and thereby the course of history! We need lawyers and judges who fear the Lord and understand the Christian worldview is not about imposing religious ideas, but about upholding reasonable justice and th truth for all – especially the most vulnerable. For those of us, and that’s most of us, who are not called into the frontlines of administering and ensuring justice, we can play our part in three vital ways:

Labor Party Policy on Abortion promotes great harm to the most vulnerable

1. At the ballot box – don’t waste your vote! If any political party or candidate promotes injustice (especially where the most vulnerable will be abused) do not vote for them! No political party or candidate is perfect, but whenever a party scandalously boasts about having a policy where they will fund the termination of a person’s life – whether it be a baby in the womb, or grand-parent in a nursing-home – do not vote for them!

2. Over coffee – whether it be catching up with your girlfriends or mates, or even around the water-cooler at work, when injustice is innocently and ignorantly promoted in conversations, be prepared to offer a winsome, reasonable, correction. This might be in the form of two questions- “Do you believe the unjustified taking of an innocent human being’s life is wrong?” “Did you know that without exception, those who work in the field of Human Embryology all regard a foetus in a mother’s womb as a human being?” 

3. On your knees – those in the political and justice spheres often feel that the Christian community are not fully behind them – and often feel that many in the Church simply do not care about the big issues confronting our society. As someone who is frequently the beneficiary of other’s prayers, I well know the difference between having people praying for you and no-one praying for you. It is my desire to inspire and help many more Christ-followers into politics and law, and it is equally my desire to muster people who will pray for them to be strong in Christ and His Word, and filled with courage to do what is right.  

Can I count on you to do these three much needed things? If you are one of the few whom God has called into the sphere of Law, you are destined to play an important role in defending the rights of the vulnerable, and uphold the reasonableness of the Christian worldview. And this is a role we need more lawyers and justices who know the love of Christ to fulfil. Tell me what you think and leave your comments below.

-Andrew Corbett

CREATED TO BE CLOSE

Last Sunday I preached two-part message on Being Human. Since we each have some personal experience with this topic, you might think that dealing with this topic was completely unnecessary. But as I hope I was able to show last Sunday, being human is not as obvious as we might think. As I stated in Part 1 of the message, delivered in our morning service, how we understand this topic is not a matter of life or death – it’s a matter of how many lives will be lost and how many unnecessary deaths will occur! What may have surprised those there last Sunday was that the driving forces behind trying to answer the question What is a human being? is not the science – but two very different competing stories. What is so alarming is just how many followers of Christ are reading from the wrong script when it comes to understanding who we are and what life is really all about.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
Psalm 1239:14

STORY #2, MATERIAL NATURALISM

We are not the random result of some uncaused cosmic accident. As obvious as this statement should be, it is the underlying foundation to the mythical story shaping our culture at the moment. The Material Naturalism Story says that there is nothing more to the universe than its material components which assembled accidentally in a completely unguided fashion. This story denies that any immaterial substance is even possible let alone exists in reality. Despite its appeal to science, this story is not grounded in science. This is born out by those in the biological sciences pointing out this story does not correspond to, or explain, reality. For example, Dr. Fazale Rana Ph.D., a biochemist, states the Material Naturalism’s evolutionary attempts to explain the universe and its diversity, fails to account for some crucially important pieces of life’s puzzle. He writes –

Currently, evolutionary biologists lack explanations for the key transitions in life’s history, including these-

• origin of life,
• origin of eukaryotic cells (see diagram below),
• origin of sexual reproduction,
• origin of body plans,
• origin of consciousness,
• and the origin of human exceptionalism.

To be certain, evolutionary biologists have proposed models to explain each of these transitions, but the models consistently fail to deliver, as a recent review article published by two prominent evolutionary biologists from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences illustrates.1

If you take a close look at the inner workings of this diagram of a eukaryotic cell, even you are untrained biol-chemically, you will notice the incredible complexity and elegance within this microscopic human cell. I only mention this biochemistry to show that despite Material Naturalism’s appeal to science, reason, and rationality, it is nether scientific nor rational. As bad as its lack of scientific credibility as an explanation for how life works is, worse still is its influence on how Material-Naturalists view the world – and especially human beings. In their view, a human being is only of value if they can communicate, contribute, consider their own consciousness, and have the ability to live and interact independently. Only when they can do these things should they be considered a human-person and thereby entitled to the usual protections which come with human rights. This is why Material Naturalists have no qualms about prematurely ending the life of an unborn child, or an elderly patient in a nursing home. 

“Peter Singer insists that the severely mentally incapacitated are candidates for euthanasia because they ‘were once persons’ but no longer. ‘Their lives have no intrinsic value….They are biologically alive, but not biographically.'”
Nancy Pearcey, ‘Love Thy Body’, 2018, p. 92,  citing, ‘Practical Ethics’ by Prof. Peter Singer, 2nd Ed., Cambridge University Press New York, 1993, 192

Fortunately, there is another story which corresponds far more accurately to the actual world in which we live.

    

STORY #1, THE BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW

American astrophysicist, Dr. Neil Tyson deGrasse, criticises Christianity because, in his mind, it seeks to make humans special. In his mind, human beings are no more special than any other collection of molecules in the universe. This Material-Naturalist view stands in stark contrast to the view of the world presented by the Bible. We should not write this sharp difference off to some ‘Science versus Religion’ misunderstanding. The Biblical worldview is not some weird and novel way of looking at the world. Rather, it is an accurate description of the way the world is, and a particularly accurate description of who human beings are and why we each share a common problem.

The Biblical worldview is in perfect concordance with science. This includes: the Universe had a beginning of all space, energy, time and matter; life appeared on earth over progressive stages; large-bodied life appeared suddenly and without transition (“Day 5”, “the Cambrian Explosion”); mankind appeared fairly recently in the Universe’s history (Creation Day 6). But only the Biblical worldview gives us an explanation for the human condition, and an explanation for why humans are capable of supererogatory acts (self-sacrificing for the weak), yet also the most heinous evil. This is because we are all created in the image of God, yet fallen into sin. 

Being created in the image of God gives every human being a very special status. As the founders of the American Constitution wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed with certain inalienable rights. This means that all human life – from the womb to the tomb – is sacred. Our humanity is not determined by our size, level of development, environment, or, dependency (S.L.E.D.). This is why it has been Christians, envisioned with a Biblical worldview, who have helped the most vulnerable in society by establishing hospitals and medical clinics, schools and universities, aid and relief agencies, orphanages, and hostels.

“In the ancient world, Christians were distinctive for their humanitarian efforts – taking care of babies and slaves, of widows and orphans, of the sick and elderly, of the unwanted and abandoned.”
Nancy Pearcey, ‘Love Thy Body', 2018, p. 81

HOW THESE COMPETING STORIES AFFECT OUR VIEWS OF VALUE, RIGHTS, GENDER, & SEXUALITY

In the Material-Naturalist worldview, some human beings are not ‘human persons’ and are therefore not deserving of human rights (which is a concept they borrow from the Biblical worldview story). In the Materialist’s worldview, personhood is an immaterial reality – even though the Materialist denies anything immaterial exists! This is why gender becomes very confusing for the Materialist. In the Biblical worldview, our Creator has designed a correspondence between our material biological sex and our gender. For Materialist, sexuality is nothing more than a physical encounter. For the Christian, sex is a sacred bonding between a man and a woman who have covenanted their lives together whereby they lovingly celebrate their union in a complementary physical union which has the potential to procreate life. Thus, sex involves emotional blending, intellectual merging, as well as the ultimate physical intimacy two people can experience.

This is why the Genesis account describes the sexual union of a man to his wife as becoming ‘one flesh’ (Gen. 2:24) and the Apostle Paul stated that when a man and a woman united sexually that they became ‘one body’ (1Cor. 6:16). We now know that our Creator has designed that when a man has sex, his body is designed to release a hormone called vasopressin which has a remarkable effect upon the male brain –

“The irony is that science is constantly uncovering new evidence of the profound interconnection between body and person. Pick up any recent book on sexuality and you will read about the role played by hormones such as oxytocin and vasopressin. Scientists first learned about oxytocin because of its role in childbirth and breastfeeding. The chemical is released when a mother nurses her baby, and it stimulates an instinct for caring and nurturing. It is often called the attachment hormone…

Consequently, the desire to attach to the other person when we have sex is not only an emotion but also part of our chemistry. Oxytocin has been shown to create a sense of trust…

The same is true for men. The main neurochemical responsible for the male response in intimate sexual contact is vasopressin. It is structurally similar to oxytocin and has a similar emotional effect. Scientists believe it stimulates bonding with a woman and with offspring. Vasopressin has been dubbed the monogamy molecule.”
Nancy Pearcey, “Love Thy Body“, 2018 p.127  

Once again, science confirms what God’s Word reveals: there is something sacred about our bodies and our sexuality. While Materialism pretends that there is nothing special, particularly intimate, or sacred about sexuality, the litter of hurt, broken, lonely, depressed lives can no longer endorse the pretence. Instead, these shattered souls bear testimony to the truth of God’s Word that we are indeed created to be uniquely close to someone – and ultimately this One is God Himself. 

POSTSCRIPT: WELCOMING REFUGEES

Over the next few months we expect to see increasing numbers of ‘refugees’ – those people who have been hurt and broken by a culture gone mad – seek sanctuary with our church. I pray that you’ll join with me in welcoming these precious ones into our healing community.  

Pastor Andrew

WHEN CARING MEANS DOING RIGHT

This month is our church’s Month of Care. This doesn’t mean that we don’t care any other month – but it does mean that this month we are going to focus on how we can improve our care and be inspired to care with some wonderful stories of how care has changed lives. As we prepare to look a little more closely at what caring for each other, those in our community, and even those in our families, can look like, there is currently before us an urgent need to show life-saving care for another category of candidates.

When the cares of my heart are many,your consolations cheer my soul.
Psalm 94:19

THE JOURNEY TO CARE

When we arrived in Legana in 1995, our church had 17 members and a handful of visitors and children. Legana was a town of 1,500 people and we were just one of four existing churches in the town. I was in my early 30s. The average age of our congregation was 65. The age difference caused some problems for many, but not nearly as many problems as where I had just come from! Our last church was in a city of 3 million people. We had people from many different nationalities in this Melbourne church of ours. And prior to this, I was the assistant pastor in another Melbourne church with around 400 members. This background of mine caused many of the 17 members to treat me with suspicion and dare I say it, coldness. 

I did my best to win my new congregation over. I visited them in their homes, in their hospital wards, and even in their workplaces. All the while I talked on Sundays about the need for us as a church to reach out to those who did not know Christ. This confirmed the fears of some of the members that I didn’t really care about them but was only here to make a name for myself by building a church with outsiders. Many times in the first few years of my pastorate at Legana I was confronted with comments like, “You’ve been here a couple of years now, I guess you’re getting itchy feet to move on?” “Not at all”, I would respond, “God has called us here to sow our lives into this church.” No matter how hard I tried, people doubted that I really cared about them, our community, or even our town.

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
Acts 20:28

But then things changed. People’s attitudes changed. It happened after we had been here for 8 years. Someone actually said to me, “So you really are staying then!?” While all this happening, I was completing my doctoral studies which had trained me to be more rigorous in my writing and preaching. This involved learning how to research and to put an argument together. At this time, I encountered some visiting scholars from England who the Bible Society had brought to Tasmania. These two men rocked my world. For the first time in my life I saw a clear connection between how the political realm shaped a society to be either open and receptive to the Gospel and its claims, or, to be closed and resistant to it.

¶ First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
First Timothy 2:1-2

At this time, the then State Labor Government seemed to be seeking to deliberately undermine Christianity’s influence in our State. As a student of history, I knew that this was not the reason that the Labor Party had been founded, yet they were becoming increasingly influenced by a Neo-Marxist philosophy that promoted voluntary euthanasia, late-term aborting of unborn viable babies, and same-sex couple adoption rights. Having already been introduced to the profound work of William Wilberforce in the political sphere of Britain’s late-18th and early-19th century culture and the parallel benefit this had for the Gospel transforming millions of lives across England, I knew that it was time for the church of living God to step up and flex its muscles for the good of our society. Along with the help of several others, I was part of a group which successfully campaigned against the then State Government’s proposed changes to the Adoption laws, then its attempts to introduce voluntary euthanasia, and its proposed loosening of the Prostitution and Brothel laws. All the while this was happening we were seeing people join our church and come to Christ out of some of the very sectors of society these pieces of legislation were targetted at.

Then along came the proposed Pulp Mill. There was always something smelly about the proposed Pulp Mill. Environmentalists were up in arms about it. I had some environmental concerns, but my increasing concern was over the morality of it. I met with company representatives, politicians, and leaders from the environmentalist movements. I then wrote a paper outlining why I believed that the Proposed Pulp Mill on the Tamar River was fraught with ethical and even moral dangers. This drew a lot of attention. ABC TV sent a production crew from 4Corners down to film one of our church services and to interview me about my concerns. History now records that not only did that project not go ahead, the company proposing it eventually went bankrupt. Curiously, as a result of these public campaigns, people stopped wondering whether I cared or whether I was really committed to stay.  

for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
Acts 20:27

THE NEED TO CARE BEYOND

¶ Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Romans 12:9-10

It’s necessary for us to care for each other in our church family (Rom. 12:9-10). But not everyone believes this should be a priority for a church. Some people criticise churches that make loving one another a priority claiming that they end up becoming more of a club than a church. These critics claim that the church only exists to evangelise and when a local church focusses on caring for one another they are neglecting the Great Commission and are therefore being disobedient to Christ. I think these people need a hug! 

I am a father of four children and I can share that it is possible for a parent to love each of their children without having to divide up their love for each of them. Similarly, it is possible for us to love our brothers and sisters in our church family and have a heart to reach people we know who have not yet accepted God’s offer of eternal forgiveness for their sins. This means that the choice between loving your brothers and sisters in Christ, or, having a heart to reach out to people outside of Christ, is no choice at all. It is not ‘or’, it is ‘and’. In like manner, our love also extends to those in our society of whom there is no real expectation that they could ever join our church. And this leads me to explain the title of this article. Right now in our State we have people pushing an evil agenda which is one of the most insidiously uncaring agendas I have ever seen. These people want to have the State Government spend millions of your tax-dollars to eradicate unwanted children. The other week a small group of them, led by several female State Labor and Greens politicians, protested for the right to have their unwanted children surgically killed in the womb. We have several good politicians who are doing all they can to withstand this. They care. And I conclude this edition of my Pastor’s Desk with a plea for us to care as well. These caring politicians need public support. Our Premier in particular needs to be encouraged to join with these caring politicians and to have the confidence to stand for what is right and caring. This month, as we consider what caring can look like within and by the church, it is also worth considering that caring sometimes means doing what is right and involves writing letters – to Premiers and Newspaper Editors. 

Pastor Andrew Corbett