Politics, or rather: The Church and injustice

The previous musings about politics reminded me of a talk a friend recently did on the Church and injustices. Now for those of you unfamiliar with world history, one thing often held against the Church as an institution is the way that it is associated with many injustices in the world. Just think of the Crusades, the Inquisition, the use of biblical backing for apartheid (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, then Wikipedia is YOUR friend).

But as my friend pointed out, there're two extremely valid reasons why the Church messes up time and time again.

1) The Church is made up of immature Christians.
As Christians, we recognise that we are not perfect, and that we are sinful. Sometimes we get it wrong - extremely horribly badly wrong with dire consequences. This is because although we are constantly growing to be more and more Christlike, we aren't always quite there yet. But sometimes we get it right - where we realize our errors and try correct them. Think about the fact that many charity organizations have been started by Christians. A friend of mine recently told me that in Ancient Rome, during times of plague, Christians would be the only ones caring for plague victims, to the point where Nero got so irritated by this that he started his own charity that would do the same. Only thing is, cause the members of his charity didn't really have the same motivation as the Christians, they kinda didn't compare.

2) The Church is made up of non-Christians
Funny point, you might say. But true. There are many people who claim to be Christians, but this doesn't show in their way of thinking or the way of acting. So it's quite easy to just point out the Church as the baddy here, but think about the people that make up the Church.


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Grace