Wait, huh?

Ok, so by the number of questions that both Jonathan and I have received over the past few days it is obvious that a lot of you guys out there are a bit confused as to what this whole living justly thing is all about. Well, its a bit hard to sum it up in a short pithy blog post, so if this subject is completely foreign to you I will post a list of books by real, live theologians and pastors that can help you on your way to a nirvana understanding social justice. In the mean time, let us go with this very general working definition of living justly:

"making long-term personal sacrifices in order to serve the interests of the most vulnerable, marginalized, and poor members of society."

In the Bible, the most most vulnerable groups of society that come up over and over again are what some refer to as the "quartet of the vulnerable" and they are the widow, the orphan, the alien, and the poor. In modern times we can expand this to look like many single mothers and elderly, the migrant worker, the refugee, the slave, the homeless.

Right now you might be thinking that I have JUSTICE mixed up with MERCY or CHARITY. But I assure you, I don't. For one, charity implies something that is optional - otherwise it would not be charitable, it would be... a tax? A forced gift is no gift at all. Justice is something that is owed someone. God exhorts us in the Bible to protect these groups - and so therefore that is what they are due. Justice is giving someone what they are due whether it is positive- protection, or negative- punishment.

ONE trickle down application of this, therefore, is your buying power. Think of it as voting with your dollar. So that's what we'll be doing - voting with our dollar. Supporting those companies and places that treat their workers in a just manner.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more to just living than that. We'll explore more in the days to come.