Watch Kevin DeYoung in this video in three particular places:
- 31:31–34:55
- 40:50–43:50
- 55:12–57:39
(This is from a panel discussion at TGC’s national conference in April 2011.)
Related:
- Kevin DeYoung, “Are Christians Meant to Feel Guilty All the Time?”
- Kevin DeYoung, “Getting to the Root of Radical: A Review and Response”
- Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert, What Is the Mission of the Church? Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission
Kevin DeYoung makes great points here. What he calls “moral proximity” is commonsense, reasonable, practical, and biblical. Technology has “shrunk” the world, putting the whole world, as it were, at our doorstep with all of its massive and all consuming problems made to be ours, as though we all individually and corporately were equally responsible to address each and every need. But of course, the world is not really any smaller. We succumb to false guilt, as Kevin points out, when we accept the false notion that we are equally accountable to end poverty and hunger in Somalia as we are to address the needs of those within our real spheres of influence, what Kevin calls “moral proximity.” Globalism, for whatever benefits it may bring, has also brought about some terrible downsides as well. The loss of a proper and biblical sense of moral proportionality is one of them. It is easy to call for the doing of “social justice” (code word, by the way) around the globe while doing gross injustice to those under one’s own nose. There is nothing moral about this, yet I’ve witnessed it a thousand times, and I’m talking about people in the church, not the world. I’m talking about “evangelical” activists who are easily moved by pictures and news reports from remote places but who are equally unmoved by the injustice that immediately surrounds them and to which they actually contribute by denouncing anyone who who does not share their activist and globalist worldview which is rooted in a particular social-political theory rather than in things Christian and Scriptural.
Very interesting. I really like the point Kevin makes with “moral proximity.” I recently attended a school out here in Colorado put on by Eric and Leslie Ludy, which I really enjoyed. However, I think they focus way too much on social justice. They also heavily teach Keswick theology, but that’s a different topic. ;)
Chase, you mentioned that you attended Ellerslie’s school. Was it the weekend, one-semester, or one-year school? I, too, am Reformed in my theology, but some of Ludy’s teaching sounds right-on. Did you find his instruction to be biblical? What areas did you think were incorrect?