FROM JUDGMENT TO HOPE (1 OF 5)
Scripture: Habakkuk 1:1-11
This content is part of a series.
From Judgment to Hope (1 of 5)
Series: Lament, Protest, and Trust: The Book of Habakkuk
Wyman Richardson
Habakkuk 1:1-11
Read Habakkuk 1:1-11
A couple of years ago a church member told me that I had been both complimented and criticized on Facebook. I guess that makes me no different than anybody else, come to think of it! I am not on Facebook, so I asked him what was said. The person told me that my name had come up and that somebody had said that I was decent enough as a preacher but that I was ''an SJW.'' I did get a good laugh out of that! If you do not know, ''SJW'' is a derogatory term that stands for ''social justice warrior'' and is usually applied to far left, screaming liberals who are constantly offended about this or that, whose entire life is dominated by politics, who have adopted a far-left political agenda, and whose lives are enmeshed in gender, race, and identity politics. Since I am usually criticized for not talking enough about politics from the pulpit, you will perhaps understand why I laughed! As far as what ''SJW'' means today as an insult against unstable people who are always protesting this or that or are hyper-sensitive to perceived slights, nothing could be further from the truth. After all, I am a pro-life conservative in my politics and, if pressed to speak to the issue, I will quickly say that I find the extreme fringes of both the political left and the right to be pretty shrill and ineffective. So, as far as the comment went, I found it pretty amusing.
If, however, I could be allowed to detach ''social justice warrior'' from its present-day connotation of a deranged, radical wingnut and use it simply and literally as ''somebody who desires a just society,'' then I very much hope that all of us would own the term. After all, the Bible is filled with condemnations of injustice. Perhaps we find the most poignant and powerful of these in the prophets. Habakkuk is certainly no exception.
In the book of Habakkuk, the pro ...
Series: Lament, Protest, and Trust: The Book of Habakkuk
Wyman Richardson
Habakkuk 1:1-11
Read Habakkuk 1:1-11
A couple of years ago a church member told me that I had been both complimented and criticized on Facebook. I guess that makes me no different than anybody else, come to think of it! I am not on Facebook, so I asked him what was said. The person told me that my name had come up and that somebody had said that I was decent enough as a preacher but that I was ''an SJW.'' I did get a good laugh out of that! If you do not know, ''SJW'' is a derogatory term that stands for ''social justice warrior'' and is usually applied to far left, screaming liberals who are constantly offended about this or that, whose entire life is dominated by politics, who have adopted a far-left political agenda, and whose lives are enmeshed in gender, race, and identity politics. Since I am usually criticized for not talking enough about politics from the pulpit, you will perhaps understand why I laughed! As far as what ''SJW'' means today as an insult against unstable people who are always protesting this or that or are hyper-sensitive to perceived slights, nothing could be further from the truth. After all, I am a pro-life conservative in my politics and, if pressed to speak to the issue, I will quickly say that I find the extreme fringes of both the political left and the right to be pretty shrill and ineffective. So, as far as the comment went, I found it pretty amusing.
If, however, I could be allowed to detach ''social justice warrior'' from its present-day connotation of a deranged, radical wingnut and use it simply and literally as ''somebody who desires a just society,'' then I very much hope that all of us would own the term. After all, the Bible is filled with condemnations of injustice. Perhaps we find the most poignant and powerful of these in the prophets. Habakkuk is certainly no exception.
In the book of Habakkuk, the pro ...
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