This Changes Everything Part 4 (#961)
Kyle and Wayne continue their conversation with Tobie van der Westhuizen, from Bloemfontein, South Africa. This week they focus on the life love teaches us to live. By focusing on personal righteousness at the expense of interpersonal justice, Christianity robbed its followers of their most powerful influence in the world. As Christ's body, we were meant to be the embodiment of his justice in the world, not gatekeepers of doctrine or piety. Learning the joy of loving and watching how that love treats others the way we would want them to treat us, allows the kingdom to be revealed against the darkness. This is the fourth in a series that are best understood by listening in order.
Podcast Notes:
- We're sorry, but there was no video recording of this podcast.
- Part 1 of this conversation
- Tobie's NaturalChurch Blog and Email
- URGENT! Helping the Orphanage in Kenya
- Join the God Journey After-Show on September 28, 2024. It will stream live on The God Journey Facebook page at 11:00 am Pacific Daylight Time, and be available after for any who want to hear it. If you'd like to be part of the conversation in the Zoom room, please email Wayne in advance to get the link. (This is a change from our previously announced date of September 21.)
- Read Wayne's newest book: It's Time
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Although I am really trying to grasp the truely transformative that I know is here, while listening this time, Wayne, I felt you were trying to shove something down my throat….like there was a standard that we all better Mekong very sure we measure up to here.?
Without knowing what give you that impression, Jo, I can only say I’m truly sorry you felt that way. That would never be my intent. I haven’t heard that from others, but I will keep my heart open. My joy at this discovery may have gotten in the way of sharing it more accessibly to others. Please forgive me.
This is great stuff. It chimes so much with Jenny (Rowbory)’s most recent blog post about her faith journey. She writes about love that transforms our hearts, that makes us naturally want to treat others as we’d want to be treated. Those tugs and promptings. She says a lot more than that but you might have already read it. She posted a link to it on facebook.
I’m loving this whole conversation about righteousness/justness but I don’t know if it changes much for me – I kind of thought that this is what you already were espousing in living loved – loving others and thinking of them is then what happens naturally as a result. I certainly ended up at this point already because of how my heart has changed from when I first read your books Wayne (that’s when things changed for me personally). So, it doesn’t feel like my relationship with God or others has been changed by this new conversation about righteousness/justness, but it has given language to it and maybe confidence to those who needed the Bible to click into place more to back it up.
I spend very little time on FB, so I miss most of Jenny’s posts, but thanks for letting me know. Glad you’re loving this conversation, and as we’ve often said it doesn’t change much for those who are living in Father’s love, because he’s already been teaching them to live with an awareness of others. But it is nice to have the language. Thanks for posting here. God bless!
Hi Wayne & Kyle, thanks for another great episode. I don’t recall if anyone has mentioned this thus far but I discovered that the Douay-Rheims version of the English Bible has translated the Greek dikaiosyn? as JUSTICE in nearly all of the places where it occurs in the New Testament.
Also the kind of Justice you are talking about, Restorative Justice, is actually being adopted, at least experimentally in several countries like Norway, Belgium and seemingly a number of others.
I have also noted individual cases in the last twenty plus years where people have had a family member murdered and then reconciled with the killer and adopted them into their family.
Your comments about the emphasis on Righteousness rather than Love is so true. Churches have been rigorously and emphatically trying to teach Righteousness but merely quoting verses about Love, not teaching Love itself.
No, we haven’t been able to mention it yet, but are well aware the “Catholic Bible” does include justice as the translation of the d-k words from the Greek. Thanks for letting others know as well.
Hi again, I forgot to mention that the Douay-Rheims version of the Bible is Public Domain and therefore available in many of the free web based Bible resources & Apps like BibleGateway, Bible Hub, YouVersion phone App, e-Sword, etc.
This reminds me of the scripture “You are the light of the world.”
A few years ago a series of books written by Rupert Ross were recommended to me. The first is Dancing with a Ghost. I read all three and yearned for such justice to be practiced all through our “justice” system. Instead of accusing and throwing away someone who had violated another they counsel both, separately, finding the wounds and healing. Then both the victim and the violator are brought together and hear each others stories in company with counsellors and elders (Indigenous). Only when the one who had committed the “crime” had repented would they do this. If there was no repentance the “accused” was forced to leave the community to prevent them doing more harm. They would visit with this person from time to time to see if there was change. If change occured they were invited into healing and then into a healing circle with the one harmed. Many times there was healing on both parts and reconciliation with the two parties and the community. They practice this in a reservation in Manitoba. I sounds more like the justice you have been discussing the past weeks and like the justice of Jesus who told us to talk with one another to reconcile rather than separate.
Yes it is, Maggie. It’s called restorative justice and there are places it is done in America as well.