By Edward Thal
Here’s a resolution not to add to your list for the New Year: Be a do-gooder in 2025!
The devil is a sly deceiver about Christianity, aiming to place it on the same level as the multitude of other useless world religions that seek to please the gods they worship. A favorite emphasis of mere religion is to reform or replace unjust or harmful aspects of human society, though some choose to pretend that evil is simply an illusion.
If you wonder what could be so bad about helping to eliminate bad stuff in the world, here’s an illustration that might help to clarify the problem: Many years ago, I was in conversation with two church-going ladies who were working to establish a homeless shelter in a large city. Since the community already had several well-funded shelters, I presumed the new one would offer a Christian focus and I said I would be happy to provide Bibles and tracts and make frequent stops there to share the Gospel with residents.
The ladies were shocked at my suggestion. “You can’t do that!” said one. “We want to help disadvantaged people by providing a welcoming and comfortable environment; we don’t want to embarrass them by shoving Jesus at them.”
My reply was to paraphrase the words of Jesus who originally offered this thought in the context of gaining riches: “What will it profit a homeless person if you provide him with a good meal and a bed, and he loses his eternal soul?”
The barely veiled contempt that met my words indicated a fundamental misunderstanding about the difference between religion and the Gospel. On the one hand, religion that offers rules and rituals in response to human needs is an embarrassment to common sense. Conversely, social justice Christians preach a gospel that transforms the parable about the Good Samaritan into a homily about providing material comfort to those less fortunate. This secular focus denies the need for complete inner transformation available only in Christ, whose Gospel addresses the essential problem of human souls utterly corrupted by rebellion against God.
The condition of the soul was described by the Prophet Jeremiah about 2,600 years ago in words that have been mostly ignored ever since: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked…” (Jeremiah 17:9).
Until redemption won through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is willingly received by every sinful human heart, injustice and suffering will continue to be a feature of human existence. While Christians should always be generous in assisting others in need, their priority is to dispense spiritual oil and wine to wounded souls.