Archive for 'Justice'

Generous Justice: Justified by works not faith alone

Generous Justice: Justified by works not faith alone

Posted on 22. Jan, 2011 by Tim Stoner.

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In Generous Justice Timothy Keller does something almost impossible: he wrestles a golden calf off its marble pedestal while keeping the conservative reader from pushing the eject button. The argument he makes is that caring for the widow, orphans, immigrants and the poor is not an option, it is a duty—it is a necessary act of love. Starkly: choosing not to sacrifically serve those in need is not stinginess but “an offense against God”. And most starkly of all: refusing to “do justice” means we have not been truly saved. He does this gently, but for those with ears to hear Dr. Keller has issued a prophetic pronouncement that will rock the boat and hopefully the world.

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LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM: The Tour

LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM: The Tour

Posted on 11. Sep, 2010 by Tim Stoner.

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Coming to a campus near you is the premier screening of a ground-breaking documentary addressing the growing nonviolence movement in Israel and Palestine. Little Town of Bethlehem tells the gripping story of three men—born into sectarian violence and on opposite sides of the conflict, yet willing to risk everything to embrace a non-violent solution to the hostility tearing their homelands apart. Their three paths intersect in Bethlehem, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, now a town in occupied territory surrounded by a 30-foot cement wall crowned with barbed wire.

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Racebased Adoption

Racebased Adoption

Posted on 22. Feb, 2010 by Tim Stoner.

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While I agree with the desire to increase the number of adoptions, what is distressing is the implication, in a blog I read recently, that because trans-racial adoptions may have some negatives, it would be better to let black, Christian families adopt black, orphan children. A question comes to mind, should the social sciences be allowed to dictate Christian ethics? What if anthropologists determined that Anglo missionaries have a destructive impact on primitive tribal cultures? Should that require a moratorium on white missionaries taking the Gospel to New Guinea? Obedience not race or sociology should control.

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“Please don’t become social activists!”

“Please don’t become social activists!”

Posted on 08. Feb, 2010 by Tim Stoner.

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“Please, don’t become social activists!!”
This is not what I expected to hear from a “left-wing,” anti-capitalist who helped launch the Christian social-activist movement in the early 80’s. Ron Sider, author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, had been asked to be the devotional speaker for a conference on Faith and International Development at a local Christian College. Those opening words riveted me but settled like a foreboding fog over the mostly young and zealous audience. But it was just a warm-up for an intolerable “heresy” of scandalous proportions.

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HAITI Displaced Families Works Project

HAITI Displaced Families Works Project

Posted on 29. Jan, 2010 by Tim Stoner.

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I share this post with those of you who are interested in earthquake relief that builds self-worth, strengthens broken infrastructures, protects from dependency and, best of all, is amazingly simple. It was sent to me by Ted Boers, a friend who is successful businessman and has been working in Haiti for several years in land development and job creation for the poor. He is an entrepreneur and a man of intergrity and compassion. He has access to a 15 mile stretch of coastline in Northwest Haiti and is proposing a remarkably practical project to assist the families fleeing from the capitol.

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Haiti Orphan Plane Task Force

Haiti Orphan Plane Task Force

Posted on 24. Jan, 2010 by Tim Stoner.

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The precedent for humanitarian emergency measures to airlift orphans and vulnerabale children was set decades ago. The only question is, do we have the will? We have been assured that we have a strong advocate in Congress. The word we were given was “don’t worry about Washington D.C. prepare the catcher’s mitt in Michigan.”
And so we shall. We are committed to rescuing no less than 10,000 orphans, in a State that has suffered the worst from our economic recession. And perhaps the weakest will lead the way. Perhaps we will help start a flotilla of planes filled with Haitian orphans who have lost everything, including arms and legs, but who will gain the protective nurture of loving families, with room in their hearts and homes for at least one more.

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A Cry For Justice

A Cry For Justice

Posted on 17. Jun, 2009 by Tim Stoner.

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What remains with me is the sound of clapping. I go to Uganda with my wife and some friends and come back with the sound, not of grief but joy, and gratitude, and an honor that is so weighty it could crush your bones. You even start to walk a little hunched over. Maybe you’re just bending down to place your hands on their mostly bald heads and maybe you just are starting to cave in under the pressure. You reach out and hold the thin brown hand and smile back at the face that is shining with delight and at a smile that is sometimes so bright that you can barely look directly at it for very long. It can burn your eyes with its brilliance and as I blink my eyes I wonder if what I’ve really seen is Jesus.

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