Another Gospel? The Rise of Social Justice within Adventism (Part 2)
Social justice is gaining ground across all of Christianity, including our own Adventist church, and some of the clearest warnings have come from respected Christian leaders. Danny Shelton, founder of 3ABN, warned in his sermon "Is Social Justice a Counterfeit Gospel?" (3ABN, 2026) that political agendas and racial activism are distracting the church from its true mission: calling sinners to repentance and pointing them to Jesus.
The late John MacArthur went a step further, calling social justice "the greatest threat" to the gospel in his lifetime (as cited in Voddie Baucham, Fault Lines, p. 3).
Theologian and seminary professor Owen Strachan has raised the same concerns in his book Christianity and Wokeness (Salem Books, 2021), warning that the social justice movement is hijacking the gospel by replacing the good news of salvation through Christ with a message of group guilt, endless grievance, and a righteousness unattainable for many.
It takes uncommon courage to speak out as they have, because some social justice advocates are quick to damage careers, cancel ministries, and bear false witness against those who question their worldview. The labels most often used to silence such critics include “racist,” “white supremacist,” “sellout,” and, most recently, “Christian nationalist.” But as a friend reminded me recently, “If you’re taking flak, you know you’re over the target.”
In Part 1 of this series, we saw that the gospel unites, while social justice divides.
2. The Gospel Forgives: Social Justice Keeps Score
The everlasting gospel offers forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:13-14), peace (Romans 5:1), reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-19), and "no condemnation" for all who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Having freely received God's mercy, Christians are commanded to extend that same mercy to others (Ephesians 4:32; Matthew 6:12; Colossians 3:13).
Forgiveness is essential to the gospel. Jesus repeatedly taught that those who have received God's forgiveness must also forgive others, or end up like the unforgiving servant in Christ's parable, who lost the grace of God and was handed over to the "torturers" (Matthew 18:21-35, NKJV; Luke 17:3-4).
Charles Swindoll likens these "torturers" to the inner torment of bitterness and grudges that so often afflict those who choose not to forgive ("When You Are the Offended, Part 2," Insight for Living devotional).
Listen carefully, and you will hear the language of grievance, and at times even vengeance, from various Adventist platforms.
White Independent Ministries
Last year, public appeals to boycott "white independent ministries" such as 3ABN and Amazing Facts spread widely online, leaving many to wonder what the leaders of these ministries had done to deserve such treatment.
Apparently their offense was twofold: they were "white," and they had expressed sympathy for Charlie Kirk, a young man publicly gunned down in his prime while exercising his First Amendment right to free speech.
Overlooked was the fact that, five years earlier, after the death of George Floyd, Amazing Facts, led by Doug Batchelor, had expressed similar sympathy, writing, "Our hearts go out to all of the individuals and families, such as that of George Floyd, who have experienced prejudicial treatment and violence" ("Earnestly Praying for Peace and Justice in Our Country," June 2, 2020).
Many who call for such boycotts carry real pain, and our hearts should go out to them, but bitterness rehearsed, not surrendered, deepens the wound and harms the innocent. Scripture warns, "Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many" (Hebrews 12:15, NLT).
Blaming the Kids
Social justice blames children for the sins of their parents, and often demands they pay reparations before any reconciliation is possible.
This is contrary to Scripture and a perversion of Biblical justice (Deuteronomy 24:16; Jeremiah 31:29-30; Ezekiel 18:20), and it fails the test of simple logic as well, for at least five reasons:
Guilt belongs to the one who commits the wrong.
Skin color is no reliable guide to one's ancestry, since millions of Americans descend from immigrants who arrived after slavery ended.
In 1860, fewer than one in ten American households owned slaves, while many Americans gave their lives to end slavery, from the abolitionists to the roughly 360,000 Union soldiers who died in the Civil War.
Those who did the wrong are no longer living to answer for it.
If guilt is inherited at birth, every new generation is born owing it, so the debt can never be settled.
Some point to the second commandment as proof of generational guilt, since God speaks of "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." But they overlook the words that follow: "of them that hate me" (Exodus 20:5). Commenting on this very passage, Ellen White explains, "It is inevitable that children should suffer from the consequences of parental wrongdoing, but they are not punished for the parents' guilt, except as they participate in their sins" (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 306).
Systemic Oppression
A common argument is that today's descendants still live with the daily effects of slavery, passed down through what is called "systemic oppression."
Systemic oppression is the belief that injustice is built into a society's institutions, laws, and customs, so that one group is disadvantaged even when no one intends harm, and no law requires it. In this view, oppression no longer needs an oppressor, and unequal outcomes become proof enough. Ibram X. Kendi puts it plainly: "A racist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups" (How to Be an Antiracist, chapter 1).
The real question, then, is whether such oppression still lives in our laws and institutions today, and as we will see, the claim fails on at least three counts: the laws that once enforced oppression have been struck down, unequal outcomes do not prove present wrongdoing, and Scripture forbids assigning the guilt of some to all. To be sure, Jim Crow was a real system of oppression, written into law and openly enforced. But those laws were struck down by the courts and Congress, and the progress toward equality in this nation has been remarkable:
The Declaration of Independence (1776) proclaiming that "all men are created equal"
The Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
The Thirteenth Amendment (1865), which abolished slavery
The Fourteenth Amendment (1868), which guaranteed citizenship and equal protection under the law
The Fifteenth Amendment (1870), which protected the right to vote regardless of race
Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which struck down segregation in public schools
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed racial discrimination and ended legal segregation in workplaces and public places
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, which struck down literacy tests and other barriers to voting
The Fair Housing Act of 1968, which outlawed discrimination in housing
Yet for some, this progress changes nothing. The conversation returns again and again to slavery, a grave evil indeed, though one practiced in nearly every civilization and by people of every race. Instead of "forgetting those things which are behind" (Philippians 3:13), they remain bound to the past, seemingly reading every present difficulty through that lens. In the same spirit we saw in Part 1, a whole generation has been taught to ask not "Am I being discriminated against?" but "How am I being discriminated against?"
Unequal Outcomes
Those who defend the idea of systemic oppression often point to the wealth gap, the history of redlining, and disparities in incarceration and policing. Yet disparities alone do not prove present oppression, for as Thomas Sowell has shown, unequal outcomes appear in every society even where discrimination is not the cause (Discrimination and Disparities, 2018). Redlining, for example, has been illegal since 1968, and where discrimination does occur today, it is the work of particular wrongdoers breaking laws already on the books, not a guilt shared by an entire race or country.
Once subjective impressions can be used in place of objective evidence to prove oppression, we are fighting ghosts, and a grievance that can never be proven can never be resolved or forgiven.
Grand Old Document
As we saw in Part 1, social justice casts white, straight, Christian men as the oppressor class. Some within our own church have even turned that charge against the Declaration of Independence itself, claiming it was written only for white, straight, Christian, married men who owned land. Such contempt, aimed at both the document and an entire class of people, overlooks the fact that this "grand old document," as Ellen White called it (The Great Controversy, p. 295), planted the very seeds that would bring an end to slavery. Abolitionists like Frederick Douglass, and later civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., appealed to its words, King calling them "a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir."
In my view, it contains the greatest sentence ever penned by mortals outside of Scripture, expressing the very principles Ellen White called the secret of the nation's "power and prosperity" (The Great Controversy, p. 441): "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Forgiving Like Jesus
Suppose it could be proven by documented records or specific actions, and not merely by assumptions drawn from unequal outcomes, that the children are continuing in the sins of their parents through "systemic oppression." Even then, the Bible would still call Christians to a higher kind of forgiveness, the very kind God extended to us, for "when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son" (Romans 5:10, NKJV).
The most amazing thing about the forgiveness of Jesus is when He offered it. As Ellen White observed, it was "while the soldiers were doing their fearful work" that He prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34; The Desire of Ages, p. 744). Stephen followed his Master's example. Even as he was being stoned to death, he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge" (Acts 7:60). Neither of them waited for the injustice to stop, much less for their persecutors to say they were "sorry," pay reparations, or, if you will, commit to doing the work of antiracism. They forgave freely, in the very hour of their deaths, because forgiveness is a gift (it's in the name). As Ellen White also reminds us, "The Lord does not require us to do some grievous thing in order that we may have the forgiveness of sin" (Steps to Christ, p. 37).
Biblical Activism
Forgiving like Jesus never means standing idly by while injustice is done. In His own parable, a widow kept coming to an unjust judge, crying, "Avenge me of mine adversary," until she was heard, and Jesus held up her persistence as an example for us all (Luke 18:1–8). When Paul was beaten and jailed without a trial, he claimed his rights as a Roman citizen, and later he appealed to Caesar himself (Acts 16:37; 25:11).
The difference lies in the heart: forgiveness surrenders the desire for revenge to God, who has appointed civil authorities to restrain evil (Romans 12:19; 13:4), so we may seek justice by rightful means, without carrying bitterness and without adopting the mindset that the end justifies the means.
Making Things Right
Restitution is important as well. When Zacchaeus met Jesus and experienced His grace, the goodness of God led him to repentance (Romans 2:4), and he gladly paid back fourfold the people he had personally cheated (Luke 19:8). When Nehemiah rebuked the nobles of his day for exploiting their poorer brothers, they likewise restored the lands, vineyards, and houses they had taken to the very families they had wronged (Nehemiah 5:7–12). In both cases, restitution flowed from the one who did the wrong to the one who was wronged (Ezekiel 18:20).
Some will answer that they ask today's generation to bear only the consequences of past sins, not the guilt. But while God in His providence may allow consequences to fall, He expressly forbids human beings to impose them, commanding, "Neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin" (Deuteronomy 24:16).
Others will point to Ellen White's statement that "the American nation owes a debt of love to the colored race, and God has ordained that they should make restitution for the wrong they have done them in the past" (Review and Herald, January 21, 1896). Yet she wrote those words while former slaves, and many who had wronged them, were still living, and she called the church to pay that debt through the gospel, through schools, missionaries, and personal love, never through guilt imposed on later generations.
Christians must never look the other way. Wherever there is objective evidence of discrimination against any group of people, whatever their color, we have a Biblical obligation to stand against it, for the Lord calls us to "seek judgment, relieve the oppressed" (Isaiah 1:17). Yet Scripture also warns us not to "follow a crowd to do evil" or to "turn aside after many to pervert justice" (Exodus 23:2, NKJV). It further commands us, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment" (John 7:24, NKJV), which calls for real evidence, not the kind of "spectral evidence" that condemned the innocent at Salem, where testimony about invisible spirits was enough to send men and women to the gallows.
Soul Danger
Teaching people to hold on to grievance in place of forgiveness is a dangerous heresy, for the gospel calls believers to forgive as Christ has forgiven them. The grievance-based ideology of social justice, by contrast, encourages people to relive past offenses and to marinate, if you will, in the toxicity of hatred and resentment.
Jesus gave one of Scripture's strongest warnings on this subject: "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew 6:14-15, NKJV). The apostles echoed this warning, for Paul urged believers to forgive "lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices" (2 Corinthians 2:11), and John declared that "whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3:15).
This should deeply concern every teacher, preacher, and church leader who promotes social justice, for the ideology they are advancing is one that does not forgive. Jesus warned, "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:6). James likewise cautioned that those who teach "shall receive the greater condemnation" (James 3:1). To teach bitterness and unforgiveness is to put the salvation of our children at risk, and for Christ's sake and theirs, it must stop.
Grievance Hierarchy
One way social justice keeps grievance alive is through intersectionality, Kimberlé Crenshaw's theory that individuals may experience multiple, overlapping forms of oppression based on characteristics such as race, sex, and sexual orientation.
In practice, the more intersecting grievances one can claim, the greater moral authority one is afforded within social justice culture. The result is a framework that tends to preserve and amplify grievances rather than resolve them through forgiveness and reconciliation.
This is especially harmful to our children, who are taught to see themselves as either victims or victimizers, when the gospel tells them they are sons and daughters of God, "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17), rich in a privilege no earthly hierarchy can give or take away.
Scripture calls us to the very opposite of grievance. Paul wrote, "Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you" (Colossians 3:13, NIV, emphasis mine).
Discrimination as a Remedy
Social justice, by contrast, replaces old wrongs with new ones. We need only listen to the movement's own leaders to see it. Ibram X. Kendi, one of the best-known advocates of antiracism, wrote: "The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination" (How to Be an Antiracist, p. 19). Robin DiAngelo, author of the bestselling White Fragility, goes further still, insisting that "a positive white identity is an impossible goal" (White Fragility, p. 149).
Taken together, these two statements leave no path to reconciliation, for Kendi prescribes discrimination as the only remedy and DiAngelo removes any hope of ever escaping the guilt. This is the very opposite of the gospel's promise that "there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1).
These counter-gospel statements stand in sharp contrast to Jesus' teaching, which commands His followers to love their enemies, bless those who curse them, and overcome evil with good (Matthew 5:44; Romans 12:17-21), and Ellen White adds, "Nothing can justify an unforgiving spirit. He who is unmerciful toward others shows that he himself is not a partaker of God's pardoning grace" (Christ's Object Lessons, p. 251).
The everlasting gospel does not answer evil with evil, discrimination with discrimination, or hatred with hatred. Those who have been forgiven much love much, and must forgive much (Luke 7:47; Matthew 18:35). The everlasting gospel begins by bringing every sinner to the cross, where mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13), forgiveness wins over grievance, and Christ's love overcomes a hateful world.
In Part 3, we will examine a third contrast, one that strikes at the very heart of the everlasting gospel: where the gospel justifies sinners by faith in Christ, social justice justifies or condemns them by their group identity and their works.
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Gary is the one on the right.
Gary Blanchard is President of the Northern New England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
