Healing The Wounds Of Injustice – Part 2

Review

We began to break down the title: Healing the Wounds of Injustice.

We explained what we meant by injustice.

We explained what we meant by wounds.

We began to explain what we meant by healing.

By injustice, we mean a legal system that is

• Is Unfair (partial)
• Does not protect the innocent
• Does not respond when harm has occurred
• Is not reciprocal

By wounded we mean wounds borne upon the soul.

By healing we mean the healing of the soul.

What is the Soul?

• What the soul means depends on whether you are a trichotomist or a dichotomist.
  • A tichotomist is someone who sees humanity as a 3-part being [body soul, and spirit] (1 Thessalonians 5:23 (ESV) [²³ Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.])
  • A dichotomist is someone who sees humanity as a 2-part being [body and soul]

How the Inner Life Affects the Outer Life

• • Your life moves in the direction of your most dominant thoughts.
  • God can’t do more in your life than your belief system will allow.
• [3 John 2 (ESV) – ² Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.]

How to Think Like Einstein

Our belief system is a system of rules.

There’s a book called How to Think Like Eienstein, and it is essentially about problem solving.

• Are you willing to abandon your rules for Gods?

Why Wounds Shape Our Rules

Many of our rules are etched in our soul by wounds.

This is what’s deceptive:

• Responding to the external reality of injustice does not necessarily address the internal effects of injustice.

God Still Requires Us to Address Injustice Externally

Psalm 106 (ESV) – 3 Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times!

Isaiah 1:16 (ESV) – 17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

James 1:27 (ESV) – ²⁷ Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Proverbs 31:8-9 (ESV) – 8 Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. 9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

James 2:1 (ESV) – 1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

James 5:4–6 (ESV) – ⁴ Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. ⁵ You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

Proverbs 13:23 (ESV) –23 The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice.

Matthew 26:11 (ESV) – ¹¹ For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.

Proverbs 29:7 (NIV) – 7 The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.

Matthew 25:31–40 (ESV) – ³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸ And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹ And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Eight Ways to Respond to Injustice (both its practice and its effects)

• Advocacy – public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy.
• Activism – “The policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change.” [Oxford online dictionary] 
• Protest – “A protest is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one.” [Wikipedia] 
• Service – Fulfilling people’s basic needs, especially for people who have become casualties in the conflict
• Prayer – Making appeals for divine intervention into both the natural and spiritual causes of injustice
• Fundraising
• Motivation
  • Inspiration 
  • Imagination
  • Innovation
• Development
  • Development of people
  • Development of institutions

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023