The Social Justice Declaration: meaningless talk

It appears the Evangelical Machine has spoken, so now we call all rest knowing what to think about social justice. 🙄

A group of self-appointed Evangelicals got together and signed a document regarding social justice. But who actually wrote it? They don't say. Their lone resource they offer their readers is John MacArthur's commentary remarks on social justice. If it was the signers, why not say "the writers"? And who wrote what parts? Who are these men and why did they supposedly get a say in this issue? Where have they been? They are YEARS late to this--the horse already left the barn, the Titanic has already sunk, people have already apostatized. NOW they want to "say" something (which is hardly courageous because they do it in numbers and they do it well after horrible things like Revoice has happened)? These are followers, not leaders. These are cowards, not brave men.

The worst part is their statement on Jesus Christ:

Gospel

WE AFFIRM that the gospel is the divinely-revealed message concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ—especially his virgin birth, righteous life, substitutionary sacrifice, atoning death, and bodily resurrection—revealing who he is and what he has done with the promise that he will save anyone and everyone who turns from sin by trusting him as Lord.

WE DENY that anything else, whether works to be performed or opinions to be held, can be added to the gospel without perverting it into another gospel. This also means that implications and applications of the gospel, such as the obligation to live justly in the world, though legitimate and important in their own right, are not definitional components of the gospel. End quote.

The problem is glaring. They omit that Jesus Christ is God and that He is Creator. Two things that are foundationally laid out when "introducing" Jesus Christ in the very first chapter of Hebrews, Colossians, Revelation, and John. Of course Revelation and John go into detail about these things in the rest of their books. But this SJ&G statement is so vague, even a heretic or cultist like a Mormon can sign on to it. Remember, it wasn't the human flesh of Jesus that people got upset over, but it was the deity of Jesus Christ that caused men to murder Him and His disciples. For "Bible experts" who make a career out of teaching the Bible both in churches and in seminaries, it is indeed a very stunning, and I believe, deliberate omission. Of all places to be precise, this is where one should be very precise. The statement is written in stand-alone sections or articles (this one on Jesus is Article VI), so that one can jump around to see what they say on any given topic. Therefore, to omit the deity of Jesus and Him being Creator (which is tied to Him being Savior, Messiah, etc), is to present a false Jesus under the section that directly speaks about "him".

On heresy, they say:

IX

Heresy

WE AFFIRM that heresy is a denial of or departure from a doctrine that is essential to the Christian faith. We further affirm that heresy often involves the replacement of key, essential truths with variant concepts, or the elevation of non-essentials to the status of essentials. To embrace heresy is to depart from the faith once delivered to the saints and thus to be on a path toward spiritual destruction. We affirm that the accusation of heresy should be reserved for those departures from Christian truth that destroy the weight-bearing doctrines of the redemptive core of Scripture. We affirm that accusations of heresy should be accompanied with clear evidence of such destructive beliefs.

WE DENY that the charge of heresy can be legitimately brought against every failure to achieve perfect conformity to all that is implied in sincere faith in the gospel.

End quote.

How can anyone be conformed to Christ if the Evangelical Mafia Machine removes that which conforms them to Him which is doctrine?

Joh 17:17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.

This is a very self-serving statement. Besides their vague notions of "essential" and "non-essential" doctrines with no list, their false view of heresy and deflection of any charge of their own buddies is clear. Doing what Post-Modernists are wont to do, use vague notions and then claim the sin of humanity shields them from the accusation of heresy. In other words, we who have the Spirit and the Word are warned to not use the word nor charge of heresy because "who among us is perfect"? The problem is that Jesus stated 1) the Triune God is the standard of perfect and to fall short of His glory is to sin and be a sinner, and 2) He doesn't excuse the Pharisees or any other false teacher with being a heretic solely because they aren't perfect. That's a straw man argument. Rather, Jesus warned the disciples in Matt. 5-9 and 23 specifically, to watch out for the HYPOCRISY of the Pharisees and Herod. Moreover, Christ Himself said that they had heard and read the Truth,

The fraud of the "social justice" declaration: there is no unity on what they call "essentials" and "non-essentials", which is why there is no list. Mark Dever, for example, uses the "non-essential" doctrine of eschatology to judge a church and it's elders with sin if they take a dogmatic stand and expect agreement with it at their respective churches. (Yet Scripture connects it with other doctrine like the Lord's Supper and self-examination.)

They state in their introduction:

"The Apostle Paul’s warning to the Colossians is greatly needed today: “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8)." But the problem is that, they are guilty of doing that very thing. Their doctrinal triaging IS man-made and IS literally, according to the world's philosophies. Al Mohler, who wrote a book on the topic said he got the idea from the medical field (when he was in the emergency room) and indeed, triaging dates back to Neopolean's army which later translated into the medical profession, and today Mohler's promoted it in Evangelicalism. Additionally, any doctrine that is not biblical, is by definition is false and in error and by definition cannot lead a person to soundness of thinking and life, since "sound" doctrine in the Greek means "healthy". What these men have done is to elevate themselves to a level of (irrelevent) authority when they are steeped in the unrepentant sins of partiality, pride, and hypocrisy. To preach to people against a worldview like liberation theology (social justice) while fellowshiping and promoting men who teach that doctrine is by very definition, hypocritical.

They also say: "We further deny the legitimacy of any charge of sin or call to repentance that does not arise from a violation of God’s commandments." So what about the sin of partiality and hypocrisy? Saying one thing: "social justice is wrong" and yet: stand on the same platform, sell books, and refuse to call out the very ones promoting this social gospel is hypocrisy. It is done out of loyalty to one's friends and associates. James 2 is one major passage that deals with the sin of partiality. How about this: when Mark Dever, one of your own guys, tells pastors, "So if you’re a pastor and you’re listening to me, you understand me correctly if you think I’m saying you are in sin if you lead your congregation to have a statement of faith that requires a particular millennial view. I do not understand why that has to be a matter of uniformity in order to have Christian unity in a local congregation."" Yet Scripture teaches a particular eschatology and says that our sanctification is inseparably bound to it. Rev 1:1  The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
Rev 1:2  who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
Rev 1:3  Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 
2Pe 3:11  Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 
2Pe 3:12  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 

2Pe 3:13  But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.