Social Justice Archives

Why Pornography is BAD but Sex is GOOD: Non PhD Version

Pornography is a distortion of human sexuality. Yes, pornography is bad, sinful, wrong. It is wrong because it is not REAL—it is FANTASY. It is the ultimate abstraction, with fake body parts, fake portrayals of sexual relationships, and thus, it creates false expectations for what…

Jason LiefSeptember 7, 2019

Politics Theology

The Hate in Our Religion

Yesterday, the Washington Post had a story revealing the young man who opened fire at a synagogue in California is a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian church. This denomination and mine (the Christian Reformed Church) are part of the Calvinist tradition. You could say our…

Jason LiefMay 2, 2019

Biblical Studies

Eating with Sinners and the Elder Son

Luke 15 starts with this: "And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying 'This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.'" What follows are three parables, each of them about something lost that is found. The first is a sheep, the second a…

Jason LiefApril 24, 2019

Biblical Studies Theology

Maybe God Doesn’t Take Sides: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Reading the parables of Jesus with Jewish New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine (Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi) has been unsettling. During lent I've preached some of Jesus' parables, and listening to Levine unpack them causes me to cringe. I'm…

Jason LiefApril 18, 2019

Uncategorized

Palm Sunday and the Immigration Crisis

Satan presents Jesus with three temptations: bread, kingdoms, and miracles. Each of them corresponds to very real temptations facing the Christian community today: economics, politics, and religion. For Jacques Ellul, they all represent a manifestation of coercive power that divides and names. These expressions of…

Jason LiefApril 12, 2019

Theology

Loving Money and Serving Mammon

"No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon.” Luke 16:13 In my part of the world there are self…

Jason LiefMarch 27, 2019

Politics

Ornamental Cross: Racism and Cheap Grace

Those who think the gospel is being co-opted by a leftist ideology like to throw around the term "social gospel". Bringing the gospel into conversation with social problems like racism or poverty, in their mind, misrepresents the gospel. Jesus came to die for our personal…

Jason LiefMarch 15, 2019

Essay Politics Theology

Mastering Sin and Tearing Down Walls

"Sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it." This is what the Lord says to Cain. Cain is angry; he’s preparing to rage. His offering wasn’t good enough. He worked the ground, the ground the Lord cursed.…

Jason LiefOctober 26, 2018

Politics

Taking Responsibility: A Political Gospel

How do you tell someone struggling with their faith that the Christianity they experience isn't Christianity at all? In Mark 10, as Jesus and his disciples are leaving Jericho, the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, tries to get their attention. He yells, "Jesus, Son of David, have…

Jason LiefOctober 5, 2018

Biblical Studies Essay

This is America

The time has come for our politics to die; it has become too sick and twisted to save. Our politics has become infected with privilege as the rich and famous dance on the backs of the poor. Increasingly, the poor are disproportionately sent into wars…

Jason LiefSeptember 28, 2018

Social Justice

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