Faith Based Justice, Part 2: The Father, Maker of Heaven and Earth

I am a creationist and this is crucial to what I think about social justice.  The word creationist brings with it connotations, so I will clarify.  I do not think that God created the world in six days and I think that the first few chapters of Genesis made this clear long before the idea of evolution.  Nor do I think that the planet is only a few millennia old.  I trust the scientific voices – Christian or otherwise – that conclude that the planet is much older.  Despite my belief that reading the first few chapters of Genesis as a play-by-play is a mistake, I want to turn to these chapters.  They communicate a truth about creation that teaches us more than a simple order of events.  This is important.  The Father is the maker of heaven and earth and this means something.  

There are several descriptions of the creation in The Bible, but I want to focus only on the first two, what I will call The First Week (Genesis 1:2-4) and The First People (Genesis2:5-3:24).  These two stories teach us about God as creator and His expectations of us.  I think these stories teach through a literary genre rather than historical accounts.  However, if you do chose to read these as historical records, the social justice application should still be clear.  Social injustice and creationism are incompatible.

In The First Week we read that creation began as a formless, dark void.  God took that void and ordered it (1:1-2).  We also see that God created people to reflect His image (1:31).  Both of these demonstrate something about social justice.  

As a creationist, I believe the world has an order.  One of the causes of social injustice is our attempt to impose a new order.  This happens both at personal levels and at societal levels.  Unjust acts – whether in the form of a personal assault or in the form of a social structure that favours one group over others – always impose a world order that it is different from the original order.  It is equally important for creationists to see people – everyone – as a reflection of God’s image.  Certainly, sin has made this reflection less than pristine, but God nonetheless created people to show God to the rest of creation.  When we allow a disordered social sphere, we not only tell God that His order for creation is not good enough.  We also say that some of His image-bearers are not overly important.

The First Week claims that an ordered creation containing God’s image-bearer is very good.  Social injustice claims the opposite.  

The First People is not quite as nice a story as The First Week.  It begins well, but quickly becomes a tale about sin and punishment.  Despite this, it also becomes a story about what God did about sin.  The story does not stop with punishment.  

What fascinates me about God’s reaction to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit isn’t that He punishes them.  It seems reasonable to me that the result of disobeying a direct command from a superior is punishment.  What is fascinating is that a fair punishment does not prevent God from serving someone in need, even though the need was of Adam and Eve’s own making.  In Genesis 3 God pronounces three punishments – on the serpent, on the woman, and on the man – and then exiled the Adam and Eve from Eden.  The story continues, however.  Adam and Eve did not have adequate clothes.  If not for their sin, the clothes would be unnecessary.  Regardless, Adam and Eve needed clothes and they clearly lacked them.  Before exiling Adam and Eve from the garden, God provided the man and the woman with what they needed.

What can we take from knowing that we are creatures?  

I cannot help but conclude that being a social justice advocate means being part of what God is doing to re-order a disordered creation.  Judeo-Christian creationism teaches that God is powerful and that He made a very good creation.  It also teaches that sin exists, but that sin is a corruption of creation rather than a part of it.  God began to re-order creation immediately.  The opportunity to re-order is painful, but God did not take the possibility away.  Social justice advocates can see the creation story as a blessing because it teaches that creation began with a proper order and that creation already has the tools God uses to restore this order.  Yes, things are horrible in many ways now that probably will still be horrible tomorrow.  Creationism teaches us that we do not have an impossible task in restoring order, however.

Another conclusion that I think is fairly straightforward is that Judeo-Christian creationism refuses to let us look at even the most evil person and say, “You brought this on yourself,” and neglect their need.  As creatures, we do not get to decide whether someone is worthy of our help.  Adam and Eve sinned.  The result was nakedness.  God did not excuse what they did, but as the Creator He still recognized their intrinsic worth and provided them with clothes.  Creationism teaches us that if we neglect the needs of a hungry person, a homeless person, or a naked person – even when they are responsible for their own trouble – we tell God that His response to Adam and Eve’s nakedness was wrong.

A third conclusion is that Judeo-Christian creationism demonstrates that injustice is not necessary.   On Day 6, God called His creation “very good.”  People existed in God’s perfect image.  People had a job.  People had a structure in which to do this job.  People were equal.  People were blessed.  Nothing about Genesis 1:1-3:4 reflects injustice.  Injustice becomes an issue when Adam and Eve disobey God.   Creationism teaches us that injustice only happens because we choose to let it happen.  Injustice is a choice.  We can choose justice.

I believe in God, maker of heaven and earth.  That is why I am an advocate for social justice.