The article this is in response to can be found here: InterVarsity Seduced by Compartmentalized "Justice"
Dear Mr. Green,
I read your impassioned critique of Urbana, InterVarsity’s mission conference held in St. Louis this past week, and the stance they took in solidarity with the #blacklivesmatter movement and I was greatly troubled. I am writing this letter in faith, hoping to steward my biblical calling to warn you, not as an enemy but as a brother. (2 Thessalonians 3:15) I will keep watch of myself, lest I too be tempted (Galatians 6:1) in the face of the division you have created with your article, claiming InterVarsity has been “seduced by the cultural fad of ‘justice’."
First, I must ask you to have respect for the dead. At what point will the iniquities of people such as Michael Brown be left alone? All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. I have. You have. Everyone reading this has. I still do not understand the grounds on which people stand when they justify the death of another human being by the actions that warranted their demise. Where is your compassion, especially as a Christian, for your neighbor and for your brother? I ask you also to reconsider your statement in regards to the death of Eric Garner. Your article describes your desire for “very firm evidence” yet turns a blind eye to video recordings of the New York Police Department using an illegal chokehold to apprehend and take Mr. Garner into custody. These men were focused on forced compliance and they neglected the fact that he was not breathing. Regardless of their skin color, criminal or not, if someone isn’t breathing and you have a means to care for them, why wouldn’t you? That same negligence lead to his death. You are operating under the assumption that the highest form of law is upheld by the police department, and belief that the current judicial system is not subject to sin and corruption along with the entirety of Creation.
For the #blacklivesmatter movement, remembering the lives of Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and others is not about valorizing criminal activity but instead, “honoring their deaths” as you mentioned in your article. The movement itself is fueled by an inability to accept police brutality, racial profiling and negligent homicide as “consequences when one confronts police officers.” In fact, the black community continued to strive towards ending injustice as it simultaneously honored the death of their esteemed leader, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and still today they carry on in the spirit of equality and hatred towards injustice that we as Christians should all have, a spirit that is fired up about the causes that God, Himself is fired up about.
Your correction of Ms. Higgins talk should be repealed: Your direct quotation of her talk, pertaining to the lives of her baby boy and baby girl not meeting their untimely death being “tried, condemned… and executed on the street” was then used to fuel your argument: “Where specifically has anyone, in modern America, been ‘executed’ in prison only because of his or her skin color?” On the street. Her plea is that her children’s judge and jury would not hand them their sentence before they were the recipients of their constitutional right to a fair trial, a comment backed by another of her claims you quoted: “Now I don’t want all people of color to go scot-free for wrongdoing… that’s not what we want, that’s not what I want.” Michelle, by this statement, would be okay with her children going to jail if their actions warranted that response from the judicial system. That is not the point. The point she’s making has to do with what she really wants: JUSTICE.
I would ask you, Mr. Green to use your platform to educate us about justice. Your opening paragraph speaks to your knowledge on the topic, as you discredit the “’justice’” sought after by both #blacklivesmatter and InterVarsity and instead perscribes the biblical justice that is “supposed to permeate the totality of the Christian’s life” and is instead, by your definition, an “expense” of the “cultural fad of ‘justice’.” If justice is a cultural fad, then God has been intentional about trend-setting since the fall of man, as His plan to crush the head of the serpent and win His’ victory over sin has been at work since. Your article says that “Christian leaders have a tremendous responsibility to be voices and examples of reason” yet, what are you doing with your influence? Where is your reason for being so calloused? To call the plight of people God has fearfully and wonderfully made and their pursuit of equality “superficial” is not responsible or reasonable. It is unjust.
Your concern with Christian credibility and the #blacklivesmatter movement “reflecting poorly on Christians” is perhaps the most troubling thing about your critique. Jesus Christ set aside all His credibility when He left the seat at the right hand of The Father and took on flesh, entering into a sinful world to be a part of the sinful human race. He came from a place of privilege, and yet, entered into the narrative of a culturally oppressed people group, resisting the authority in place (the Roman Empire) when its’ laws were not in line with God’s will while still respectfully adhering to that same law when applicable. (Recall the story in Mark 12 where Jesus responds to a question about taxes) As a Jewish man, it reflected poorly on Jesus Christ for Him to touch the bleeding woman, and yet He was more concerned with her healing than with His own public perception. He let his emotions be manipulated, as you have outspokenly asked your followers NOT to do and He had compassion on her. He gave up all of His resources to come and change the fate of the people who desperately needed Him. That same compassion and love that Jesus Christ had for humanity is what the #blacklivesmatter movement and all other marginalized people groups around the world are asking for, and as Christians, we have no place in accordance with our faith to deny them. It didn’t matter to Jesus that we were sinners and deserved “trial, condemnation and execution” by God who is just. Instead, He committed His life, He gave His time, He was intentional, He extended grace and mercy to people who He knew didn’t deserve it. With the resources, positions of power, influence and privilege that we have, coupled with our belief in the God of the Bible, our place in the #blacklivesmatter movement is to simply say, “I believe your story, tell me more” to people we as followers of Christ know DO deserve it.
Mr. Green, I want to ask one final question. Strip away the public aspect of this conversation, any feelings of being attacked on either end, take away all the comments that will be made in support of one ideology or another and answer this for me: DO Black lives matter? As a black man yourself, I would hope your answer would be a resounding “YES”. Your life matters to me, sir, as a fellow believer and brother in Christ, and my hope is that you will reconsider what you wrote. Repent and use your resources and influence not to divide, but to partner with the #blacklivesmatter movement in bringing God’s vision for Kingdom living to the Earth.
In Him,
J.D. Mercado
