Journal: Reformation and Revival
Volume: RAR 03:3 (Summer 1994)
Article: Thinking Like Christians in a TV Culture
Author: Rick Ritchie

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RAR 3:3 (Summer 1994) p. 97

Thinking Like Christians in a TV Culture

Rick Ritchie

Everyone loves justice in a crisis. The Los Angeles riots offered to TV viewers an opportunity to vent their fury at injustice no matter which side they took on the trial.

For some, massive looting and arson were hailed as a long-overdue response to an unjust distribution of money and political power. For their law-and-order neighbors, the justice called for was putting the rioting hoodlums in jail.

Even for those caught in the middle—who saw that the riot began as a response to a real evil, but saw in the raiding of liquor stores more of a party than a protest—there was a grand opportunity to pontificate, perhaps more so. They could condemn injustice on both sides.

For pastors, the very real question was whether to preach to the protesters from Romans 13 on obeying the governing authorities, or to preach to the oppressors from Amos on God’s hatred of solemn assemblies when justice is neglected by the powerful.

Within a month, the issue of justice had receded for all but those who really lived in the crisis. Perhaps it is unrealistic to think that everyone who viewed the crisis on television bore responsibility to clean it up. Many of us had never been to the communities burning down on our TV screens, or had any contact with their inhabitants. Perhaps we are not made guilty by our failure to redress every evil we see on television. But if guilt cannot travel over the airwaves, self-righteousness can. How can we be so indignant without planning to act on what we see?

Righteousness and Truth As Entertainment

Righteousness and truth are very closely related. In the Old Testament, the prophets tell us that the people who forsake one also forsake the other (e.g., Isa. 59:14–15). To be righteous, one must be properly related to the true order of things. Anything which severs us from truth is likely to sever us from righteousness.

RAR 3:3 (Summer 1994) p. 98

Amidst all the cries for social justice, the attack on truth which undermines the possibility of justice goes unnoticed. Today’s philosophers tell us that truth is whatever helps an individual to function in his or her own tribe. My guess is that the word “tribe” is supposed to make us picture a council of wise elders who have the best interests of society, and yes, of course, the environment, in mind—in contrast to our individualistic society where self-interest and environment rape prevail. If they had used the word “society” instead of “tribe,” perhaps we would be more likely to remember that under Soviet Communism...

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