...no Christian can have
any, or should have any difficulty with the concept that God wants human
being to be free. And whatever is
oppressing them from that, we should seek their liberation.
The idea of the liberation of
human beings from political, economics, social, personal, moral degradation and
oppression—that we should seek their liberation is part of the gospel. Of course we want human beings, made in the
image of God, to be liberated from anything that dehumanizes them. We want them to be authentic human beings. They can’t be if they are oppressed.
So to liberate them from
dehumanizing influences so that they become more human is a desire that all
Christian people should have.
Now our problems with the liberation theologians,
particularly in Latin America, is, I think, first that they tended to confuse that liberation with what the New Testament means by
salvation. And they are not
identical things; they are two different things.
Secondly, that
they tended to use Marxist, socialist analysis to
explain the oppression under which people are laboring and
suffering, which may be true but may not.
But it’s a pity, I think, to baptize any political
ideology into Christ as they’ve baptized Marxism into Christ.
And thirdly, they
tended—again, I’m generalizing—they tended to espouse violence, that the only way to secure this liberation of the poor and the oppressed was not an evolution, not
reform, but revolution.
So those are the
three reasons I have question marks about them while applauding their
commitment to human liberation.
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