The gospel solution to oppression is not vengeance upon the oppressors. It is the liberation of both the oppressed and oppressors from the cycle of oppression.
Gustavo Gutierrez recognized this important point in the story of Jonah. It was not only that Jonah had racial/ethnic hatred of Ninevites, but it was also the fact that he preferred vengeance upon the oppressors of his people rather than liberation (read his "God of Life").
This is seen in the story of Zaccheus, who brings reparation as an outflow of saving grace to make right those he oppressed and defrauded. Jesus goes to his house, of all places, to free him from being an oppressor.
The Bible is replete with evidence that God is the God of the oppressed and that he lifts up the humble and brings down the exalted. However, we must also realize that God seeks to liberate oppressors and free the oppressed from wanting vengeance and violence on their oppressors.
Both of these truths must be held together, or else you end up with a God who either couldn't care less about the oppressed or a God who prefers to perpetuate the cycles of oppression and violence through the hands of the oppressed.
For the oppressed to turn around and oppress their former oppressors is just bondage by another name. The gospel brings true nonviolent disruption and liberation through the bloody death and victorious resurrection of the forsaken one. Blood has been shed once for all times.

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More from @tisaiahcho

21 Nov
Many White Evangelical Christians have a defensive reaction to the idea of "white privilege" without understanding what it means in the first place.

racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/…

Peggy McIntosh's important work "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" defines white
privilege as an "invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was 'meant' to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools ,
and blank checks." She's clear that white privilege is not white guilt - the idea that White people should collectively feel responsible and guilty for the racism White people have committed in the past.

McIntosh specifically lists 50 instances of white privilege that people of
Read 7 tweets
30 Oct
Christians are debating over whether policy or character is the determinative factor for choosing who to vote for as President. The problem is that many are talking as if Trump's policies somehow make up for or are worth voting for despite his character flaws. But they don't.
They are perfectly in line with his character flaws, not some sort of saving grace.

The claims that his administration has purportedly "saved" the American trifecta of religious liberty, the pro-life movement, and capitalism - are dubious and misleading and also make one
question exactly how "Christian" certain policies even are in the first place.

His purported pro-religious liberty policies have coincided with a multifold growth of both Christian nationalism and jaded ex-vangelicals. His purported pro-life policies have resulted in the
Read 8 tweets
21 Oct
If a Christian's understanding of politics is greatly shaped by the assumption that "taxation is theft," he or she ought to realize that such a view is quite novel, not just for the Protestant/Reformed tradition, but the history of global Christianity as a whole.
In reality, such an idea finds more commonality with Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment prioritization of the individual than any semblance of a biblical understanding of communal life and thriving.

Can taxation become a form of theft? Absolutely. But that is entirely
different from seeing taxation *inherently* as theft. A biblical understanding of communal life and thriving recognizes that there is a mutual responsibility of one to another that involves cost, time, and effort. Infrastructure and communal needs expand in proportion to the
Read 6 tweets
19 Oct
"Which kids deserve to go to bad schools?" is a better and more piercing question to ask when it comes to the discussion of public school funding and school choice.

A holistic Christian pro-life ethic creates equitable opportunities for education and development for all children
within your sphere of influence. This ethic will seek to disrupt the current systems that were developed to propagate generations of inequity and prevent families from thriving.

Likewise, "Who deserves to have bad healthcare?" is the question that needs to be asked about
healthcare access and affordability in our country.

A holistic Christian pro-life ethic at the very least will seek to provide basic healthcare at free or affordable levels to all as a necessary expense for communal thriving. This ethic will creatively find ways for Christians
Read 4 tweets
16 Oct
The Reformed confessions of faith state that the sine qua non of a faithful church are 1) faithful preaching of the Word, 2) administration of the sacraments, and 3) loving discipline.

Yet, in the history of the White American church, we have evidence that Christians invented
new doctrines (e.g. The curse of Ham), took literal pages out of Bibles they gave to slaves, and failed to preach texts that spoke of liberation and justice.

We have well documented evidence that Christians redefined baptism to allow slave holders to continue to enslave those
who became Christians, and the eucharist was celebrated in a segregated manner that completely went against the intent of the Sacrament.

We have clear evidence that the church failed to and/or refused to discipline those who were in the sin of slave holding and partiality
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10 Oct
On numerous occasions, I've heard Christian leaders talk about how "people are changing the definition of racism" that's "different from what we grew up with." The "new definition," they argue, comes from Critical Race Theory/Marxism/liberalism, and therefore is bad.
The problem is that we don't do this with nearly any other sin. "Sexual immorality" from a previous generation has had to be defined more expansively to include the changing dynamics and influx of nearly ubiquitous porn, the recognition of sex trafficking and sex slavery,
as well as systems, laws, and policies that tend toward sexual licentiousness.

Likewise, our understanding of murder has had to be expanded and reshaped to include ethical questions such as abortion, euthanasia, and any systems that may tend toward unjust death.

With many
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