awesome. A lot of people were unaware of net neutrality until Beck bought it up. He can be credited for a lot of traction against the democrats.

in need. But he wanted it to be from a free heart and not under compulsion. No where in the Bible did Jesus indicate that the Roman Empire should redisrtibute wealth. The Bible teaches the government is instituted by God to maintain law and order among the people. (Romans 13) Social justice is nothing more than a Socialist attempt to sound religious.

This ‘making government into the Church’ when it comes to the poor has needed to be addressed. There is so much said about the poor in the Bible, and not much of it has anything to do with government. Most of it has to do with individuals taking care of the poor within their own family, the church taking care of the poor within the church, and individuals and the church giving to the poor in the community. I believe the government’s role as a temporary safety net is good, but the main function of government in this regard should be to encourage and reward private charities and individual giving.

And, I don’t think many people will really believe that Glenn was attacking the central tenants of the Bible.

I can’t find anywhere where he said Go and sell everything of your neighbors’ and give that to the poor. Anybody know where that verse might be found?

Ya gotta love the left, they’re always shooting their mouths off about the Bible – I think they believe they don’t have to read it to know what it says.

Jim Wallis and his intellectual ancestors dating back to the Social Gospel movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries peddle a false version of Christianity.

Some peddle the liberal version of social justice because they believe they can usher in the Kingdom of God on earth throug the works of men. Scripture is clear that this will not happen.

Others peddle the liberal version of social justice because they want to provide religious cover to a power grab by a liberal government. Instead of trusting to the power of Christ to change lives, they turn to the federal government. Instead of demanding, as Christ did, repentence and a commitment to follow him, they demand nothing but subservience to the state.

Wallis is an apostate to true Christianity and the social gospel movement is a Christian heresy. It has no basis in Scripture. Christ nor the apostles ever called for the state to redistribute wealth or to enforce charity.

Beck’s doing a great job. Not too happy with O’Reilly’s “happy hour” Funnyh ha ha type of journalism though, I wish he’d get more serious.

Last night I made it to about 15 minutes of his show, then turned to the food channel. Correct me if I am wrong, but, did he adopt the Ron Paul version of Foreign Policy? I heard him saying the same things as Paul has said. He said we need to get out of other countries, and bring all our troops home. Now, when the world has truly become a very dangerous place, and many countries would love to see the US destroyed, he wants the US to bring all our troops home. His reason is also the same as Paul’s, so the US can save money.

I understand he also told O’Reilly, as a guest on his show last week, that he supports a 2% VAT on everything, personal and corporate.

I’m not surprised that Beck was taken out of context on the social justice issue, he invites being taken out of context. Like Mark Levin has said, Beck is very confused, and mostly doesn’t know himself whatever it is he’s promoting. He hasn’t figured it or himself out yet.

Beck is promoting the Libertarians. If they come up with a better candidate in 2012, unlike Bob Barr in 2008, he will be tooting that party’s horn. I promise.

Beck is right to fight again the liberal propensity to redefine words and phrases such as “social justice”. Johan Goldberg has made a similar point a number of times. His best example is about the meaningless titles of federal legislation. He makes his point by stating that you could call something the “Playful Puppies and Cute Baby Act” but in the heart of the legislation have it round up citizens who disagree with the government. But who could be against playful puppies and cute babies? It is the same with social justice. Who could be against social justice, and yet the devil is in the details. They play the same game with bilingual education which is neither bilingual nor education in the way it is carried out.

on this. More even than just promoting marxist ideals, the “social justice” movement is about promoting moral relativity, which is in and of itself one of the greatest evil’s of our time. So its not just bad Christianity – it is the opposite of Christianity.

I have just posted a 2007 letter I wrote after first encountering Mr. Wallis through a liberal friend of mine. It is long and boring and Catholic centered, but I believe it clearly exposes Wallis’s brand of social justice as opposed to Christian doctrine.

http://www.redstate.com/jerry39/2010/04/16/my-2007-run-in-with-social-justice-and-jim-wallis/

Thanks again for the post, we must realize that for all the advances conservatives are making this year, the liberals’ deceptive seduction of religous peoples’ will bear fruit if it is not stopped.

of the times? I know the Copper King owned Montana, from every Senator state or federal, to the newspaper writer. The magnates and financiers had bought american democracy, and many people were living in squalor, as animals, not men. It’s easy to trash progressive reforms of that time, but you wouldn’t want to live like them. Bank crashes occurred every twenty years. Cities were a nightmare for way too many. The farm was a place to get away from. I know it is appealing to think of America as a scene from some nice plate on the kitchen wall, but if you put a scene from the inner city, or from the camp around the coal mine, up in your kitchen, you wouldn’t have too many visitors after that.
As Republicans we should stay focussed on education, small business, family centered economics, and any thing else that helps promote the american way out of poverty. We should condemn the use of the commerce clause to take from one group who is struggling to make it up, and giving to another group who isn’t even trying.
This VAT tax idea means the lower and middle classes pay a two percent tax on everything they make, because they have to spend everything they make to live. Those making enough to pay income tax, make enough to hide money in IRA’s T-bills, investments etc. i have a contractor friend who used to build apartment complexes, with investment funds from Doctors, and Engineers who wanted a depreciable asset. It didn’t even matter if the complex made money. The tax deduction was worth more to them than a profit. The doing well set will always gain rules and exceptions in the tax code to help them keep their wealth. If, as Republicans, you do not want to be tyranized by the poor, via the Dems, pay attention to the demographic trying to make it upward. The NY bankers and traders are not our friends, and never have been. They were full partners in the slave economy of the South, and have moved onto other more profitable peoples to exploit.

You state the following in your article.

“So Glenn Beck has taken on social justice — a hallmark of leftwing ideology where they redact every part of the Bible except those parts where Christ tells the government to help the poor and needy and condemn as hell bound racists all those who disagree, or something like that”

The truth is that Jesus NEVER spoke to any governmental or political leaders while He walked on this earth. I recently spoke about this in front of our congregation. Look at the text carefully because he was speaking to his followers and disciples. He never proclaimed this message at any time to Pontius Pilate, King Herod or the Sanhedrin for that matter. Responsibility for the poor is the responsibility of the individual, not the government. When Jesus said to “give unto caesar the things that are caesar’s” you have to look at it in context. The Roman Government at that time had no programs for the poor and needy. In fact, the Roman Government persecuted the poor through their indifference to their position in life while forcing them to pay taxes. The tax collections of that time were despised by the Israelites. Jesus was telling them that they should obey the law and let God take care of the justice.

With the annual disclosure of (tax deductions for) charitable giving by those who are so compassionate and caring they endorse ‘wealth redistribution’ to help the poor. While Al Gore’s Year 1999 tax return, disclosed during the 2000 election campaign is a model for all-time cheap-skate ($254 — my then-teen aged kids did better than that from their paltry part-time-job paychecks), VP Biden’s compassion-challenged personal gifting is a close second. Obama did give a tidy sum, possibly via the donation of his Nobel prize money — but does anyone know whether he has yet “helped out” his aunt, who lives in public housing in Boston? Or his brother, who lives on $12 per year in a one-room Kenyan shack, sans in-door plumbing or running water?

If charitable giving was dependent on liberal (personal) generosity, I suppose government-based “compassion” would be a necessity. I can’t think of a worse solution, but that’s what liberal/progressive governance amounts to: Talk up the “caring” hype, but look the other way when passing a needy soul.

Social justice and government justice means two different things, at least to most. To try and create social justice using government means perverts the two.

I think Hayek had a distaste for the use of the word society. We use society and government interchangably and I think that is what leads to problems: Trying to solve individual problems with the broad stroke of law.

Government activism should never be confused with producing social justice.

Liberals like to use government to help those they identify as needing it for several reasons: they don’t want to personally care for others and would rather pay taxes to alieviate their guilt, and when government programs don’t work, they aren’t personally to blame. It is an immaturity.

In our family, we pitch in and help out as much as possible, whether personal care or financial help. It’s old fashioned, but works for us.

In Michigan, those leaving the unemployment rolls are entering the welfare rolls. It was reported today that 3 million Michiganders rely on government money, 4 million Michiganders work. Our socially conscience government of the past 8 years combined with the national one has not helped the poor one bit. They are even more discourgaed than a year ago.

I heard of Jim Wallis a few years back, checked him out briefly, then ignored him as a Biblical or Christian scholar.

then the colonials in America got their freedom and things went downhill from there for the British. And the reason the colonists fought was for THEIR FREEDOM.

Well, now the progressives and their ilk and the wrong headed moderates or whoever got the idea that the USA should be the world’s police force and now the world’s “builders of democracy” started the big “foreign policy extravaganza and foreign aid idea that we can buy their loyalty and friendship”. So, we spend all this money and give away all this money that we don’t have to “keep the peace” (ha ha) around the world. Right!

If we have Germany pay for all our bases there, Britain pay for the bases there, Japan pay for all the bases we have there and S Korea, etc., then we would save money. No, the great USA must pay them to maintain our bases there and the full freight to protect their sovergnity from their jealous neighbors.

So, I believe his point is and I agree, either have the so called “allies” pay for our protection in full or bring our troops home to the USA. That will reduce a great expense in the DOD budget. Wouldn’t need all those personnel, so we could reduce personnel costs and put that money into improving our defense systems and upgrading our deployment equipment. Protect the homeland and let the so called allies “fight their own wars” and defend themselves from China, Russia and the Muslim onslaught coming to Europe, Africa, South America and yes to North America. Bring the troops home and fight the enemies from within and control our borders.

Going broke and losing all that has been built from within during our short 230 year history is not what I wish for. If we do not get our financial house in order and protect our Constitution herein, we will not survive and it will not matter if our troops are overseas or not. Who is going to pay for them to get home? Or do they just become paid warriors to the highest bidder and work their way back home? Think about it.

Isn’t social justice more or less the same as liberation theology which is distinctly Marxist and had been denounced by the Catholic Church when South American priests were going off the reservation with this brand of enforced “charity”?

forcing him to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Jesus’ exhortations to His followers to share their blessings with others was to the individual, NOT the collective. Giving is a matter of the heart, NOT the state. It is so that Jesus can truly see the fruits of our hearts that He gave us free will.

That is why you will see that the ones that are moving us toward Socialism are the least giving of their hearts, as evidenced by the Magnanimous Joe (1.4% to charity) Biden.

Did you know that there is no law that prevents one from paying MORE in taxes than they are due? I’d be willing to bet there is even a special form for that, but I dare you to find even ONE of these wealth-spreaders who has ever paid more than what is marked on that final line on their 1040.

They are generous with other people’s money, for sure. But their own? I believe that Jesus would have called them charlatans and thieves. Their entire goal in spreading the wealth is to keep useful idiots in their pocket so they can stay in power.

So I will end this with another of the Lord’s statements on “social justice:”

2 Thessalonians 3:10 “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.”

My name is Natalie Hopkins-Best. I am a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, and I am conducting research for my master’s thesis. As a mass communications student, I am very interested in the way that people use news blogs as a form of their news intake. I would greatly appreciate you taking a few minutes of your time to complete an online survey that should take no more than 15 minutes. If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact me. Please follow this link to begin: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22AGLALXAPU

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I Tivo’d Glen’s special on Social Justice. I was appalled at the work twisting and spin that was used to attack him afterward. I do not always think Glen Beck is right – but he was correct in his exposing of the lefts keen ability to use catch phrases to stir up the masses and lean them toward social re-engineering. Here are the notes I posted on the ABC Religion pages online…

This is going to be a rant – but here goes.

This is one of the most one-sided and misrepresented portrayals of a media or political personality that I have ever seen. On your video you are misquoting Glen Beck’s view points and statements. The particular airing of the Glen Beck program that address the issues and terms of ‘Social or Economic Justice’ contained the following – which he repeated and reiterated on several occasions:

Point 1 – (I am paraphrasing what Glen Beck said) – the ideals of ‘social justice’ are in the Bible; expected of Christians to take care of and were spoken of by Jesus, Paul, etc. They are values and expectations of ‘personal’ responsibility, accountability, etc. He (Jesus) was speaking to individuals and their own behavior and how they should live and support one another in their shared community – that each person has an individual responsibility to help and love his neighbor. What Glen Beck said (I am paraphrasing through this) is that if your church is providing services, assistance to the poor, orphans, those in need via programs in your local church and community – that if we are followers of Christ – then we are commanded by Christ and the scriptures to participate in and support such efforts. The scripture does not advocate or command us to complete this important work by giving to the government.

As a Christian – I have read the Bible through many times and more importantly studied it many times – there is not one – NOT EVEN ONE – time where Jesus or any other leaders in the early church commanded or suggested that the people should turn their money over to the government and allow or trust them to use it or distribute for the betterment of others.

Point 2 – when G. Beck said listen carefully and read what our churches are printing, etc. he did suggest that we leave such a church if they are espousing fulfillment of social justice via the government (I will elaborate further below). When he said “flee for your life and report them to the authorities” – that was him using tongue and cheek satire – he was trying to be entertaining. He was not serious about reporting them to the authorities.

Point 3 – Glen Beck rightly stated that a Church that is comingling with the elected officials in power and peddling their brand of Social Justice – meaning taxes raised and redistributed to the poor via welfare or other support programs – that this is out of step with Biblical Christianity. (After all I thought we wanted a separation of church and state. Just about every society in our history that has had a shared goverenment power of Church and State has been disastrous to the people. It has created more Tyranny, poverty and suffering). Glen Beck did say (and has said on his program) that he is not suggesting no government such as anarchy – or such a small government that it is incapable of helping people. There are those in our society that must have a safety net that is provided by the taxpayers. His criticism is of the massive wasteful spending, ineffectiveness of government; well placed suspicion of accumulating too much power centralized in Washington and the Federal Government. Government should be limited and programs needed to help people should be left to the states and local governments. (Personally I think the church mostly walked away from taking care of the local community needs decades ago – we have developed a subconscious idea that says, “why should we take care of it – the Federal Government will do it”. This has resulted in more poverty, programs that do not work and an entitlement mentality from a large portion of our citizenry. I personally do not waste my time attending or supporting churches that are not taking care of these needs. The body of Christ needs to wake up and take its responsibilities seriously).

Point 4 – Father Beck was talking about the Hebrew Bible – the Old Testament and the prophets that spoke of social injustice. Yes – the prophets took the word of God and spoke against the leaders of their time who were keeping the people in suffering, and exploiting the poor. However, there is not one instance in all of the Old Testament where the prophet’s words or the word of the Lord advocated or commanded that the government redistribute wealth to the poor. It only spoke of the evil and the tyranny that people were placed under by the government – that people should be free.

Father Beck referred to the book of Amos as an example of tackling the issues of social injustice. Once again here – the poor were being oppressed by the Government! The elite and wealthy were getting wealthier at the expense of the poor – here are the details:

…..From c. 780–745 b.c. the Assyrian Empire was unable to continue the pressure it had put on the nations of the Canaanite coast during the previous century. At this same time, both Judah and Israel were blessed with fairly stable governments. As a result of these two factors, the two nations were experiencing a time of wealth and prosperity unparalleled since the day of Solomon. This was especially true for the northern kingdom, Israel. Judah tended to be more isolated from the world at large and possessed less arable land than did Israel. Thus, when opportunities for amassing wealth and the trappings of prosperity presented themselves, Israel was in a better position to capitalize on those opportunities.

As has tended to be true throughout history, the Israelites took this wealth and prosperity to be unmistakable signs of the blessing of God. Thus, they were reinforced in their belief that “the day of the Lord” would soon dawn in which God would subdue their enemies under their feet and make them the rulers of the world. But in fact, their present wealth and power was not evidence of the blessing of God. As Amos conclusively showed, they were actually under the curse of God because of their egregious breaches of their covenant with him. Much of their wealth had been amassed at the expense of the poor, whom the rich and powerful were systematically oppressing. Their worship of God was little more than attempts at magical manipulation of him, much like the religion of their pagan neighbors…….

Point 5 – Father Beck – says that Glen B. is at odds with his own church because Glen is advocating that we do not serve the poor. On this one I am going to assume that Father Beck did not actually watch the segment – if I assume otherwise then it could appear that Father Beck is lying. The fact is that Glen Beck said on multiple occasions that we should serve the poor – particularly by supporting our local church, missionary group or denominational programs that are taking care of the poor, the orphans and the widows. Again – he was telling people that when you hear government officials suggesting we do so through the government that it hardly ever turns out well; and that we should be suspicious of this. Here when Obama says “social justice or economic justice” he is talking about “spreading the wealth” – as he said to Joe the Plumber and others during the campaign. Forced redistribution of wealth is not justice nor is charitable. While good Christians donate, serve and want to see people in need helped – we do not want more wealth redistribution entitlement plans that waste millions of dollars and do not alleviate any poverty. They have never worked effectively.

Point 6 – when Chris Cuomo says that Glens Beck’s gripe is that the Government wants to raise your taxes, take your money and give it to the poor. That’s right on! I have worked in ministry for two decades. I give generous amounts of my personal income (well over 10%) to help the poor. I have also worked within government sponsored programs as well. Newsflash – the ministry and church directed plans I have been a part of for twenty years are far more effective in taking people out of their poverty and lifting them up to a place of self reliance and a much greater quality of life. So; to be a good steward of the money that God has entrusted to me (and it’s all His), would it be better to give more to the government or through the ministries or church I support and volunteer in? Rhetorical question – obvious answer. Father Beck said “I hate to inform him, but distributive justice is also part of Christian teaching”. Again this suggests the Glen Beck said it is not; or that he implied it was not. Glen Beck emphasized over and over again during the segment that we should distribute our wealth and treasure to help the poor; to do it though our church or local ministry but not the government. Again – nowhere in the Bible are we commanded or even suggested as believers to rely on the government to take care of the poor. We are to assume that responsibility individually and communally. It is one thing to give my money out of my own free will. It is something entirely different for the Government to take it from me and use it for others.

Father Beck talked about changing structure to help the poor, and advocacy for the poor. Again the government does the worst job of that, and the church or many para-church organizations do a much more effective job of this. That being said there are local congregations and churches that are not doing enough, or doing a poor job of it. The government has never done it well.

Glen Beck reiterated – when you hear government bureaucrats and those who call themselves ‘Progressives’ use the terms “social or economic justice” – their definition does not reflect the Biblical notion of the same words. Same words – but two different meanings. In fact- Beck was emphasizing how those in power tend to use phrases that connect with the citizens in one way, but actually have totally different meanings to those delivering the message. This is how so many of us get duped.

Two comments in closing:

1. If Father Beck thinks it is the responsibility of the government to take care of the poor, then he is out of the step with the clear teaching of the Bible. It is the churches responsibility to take care of the poor – this is found clearly from the words of Jesus and throughout the New Testament. Jesus and the Church leaders were highly critical to those who oppressed the poor, which were most often the government and the Pharisees. When Chris Cuomo – described it as each person working hard to get theirs; and the government should be un-intrusive – and charity is an individual responsibility – he is correct and ironically he is in complete agreement with what Glen Beck has been espousing.
2. Glen Beck is speaking out loudly against the clear writing on the wall that is coming from our current leadership in Washington. They are advocating for greater centralized government, control and power. What we seem to be witnessing is a greater and greater reach into the private sector and private lives – growing government and creating more legislation by progressives nearly always results in a loss of freedoms. What we see happening is a tilting toward socialism. Throughout all of human history – we see many societies and governments that have moved in that direction – it has not once turned out well for the people.

Final note – while I am a Christian, there are some areas both political and theological that Glen Beck and I would disagree on. I have an entire accumulation of studies and facts that support the idea that the Mormon Church is a cult or at least ‘cultic’. They have many basic tenants of Christianity that they do not include in their religion. However, when it comes to understanding our Constitution and the ideas of smaller government, liberty balanced with personal responsibility – we agree.

Remember his speech where he was trying to say the Bible tells us to “be our brother’s keeper”?

Granted, the Bible encourages personal and church charity, but this “brother’s keeper” phrase appears only once in the Bible…

Genesis 4:8… Cain murders his brother Abel.

Genisis 4:9… (NRSV) Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

In other words Cain is lying to cover his sin – it’s the smart-ass remark “What?! It was not my day to watch him!”

There’s no Biblical injunction for us to “be our brother’s keeper”.

This is what happens when those with an agenda cherry-pick a catch phrase they like and use it for their purposes.

Like the apologists quoting a fragment of Koran verse 2:256 “There is no compulsion in religion…” to show us the “religion of peace”. The principle of abrogation – where Allah “takes the opportunity to revise and extend his remarks” has this verse being abrogated by later verses leaning more towards if infidels don’t convert, subjugate them or kill them..

Any disingenuous pusher of an agenda can cherry pick phrases to try and promote their points.

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“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” – James Madison