D.A. Horton Is Right - Why Social Justice Advocates Actually Encourage Me

Why D.A. Horton’s Tweet About Spiritual and Social Commands Matters

In this video, we're going to have to ask the question, is AD going soft?

I ain't selling you nada. Come on, hon, let's let bygones be bygones. You need to come on and do that. You better make that money. Hurry up. Hey, I say, if you keep them, I don't know what you're going to do with them.

I first came across D .A. Horton on a video from The Urban Perspective on YouTube. In fact, The Urban Perspective was one of the very first videos I ever responded to, so it's got a very special place in my heart.

The video I saw with D .A. Horton, I didn't do a full response to it, but it was called, What About Brown? And the premise of the video was basically, you know, everyone in the church is talking about black and white and race relations and things like that.

What about Latinos, man? What about brown people? And I found the video not very good, not very helpful, kind of silly, a little bit childish, but I didn't really do a full response to it. And ever since then, I've kind of only mildly followed D .A. Horton.

D .A. Horton is someone that I would fundamentally disagree with in so many places, although I have to admit, he strikes me as someone who really does think he's doing the right thing. You know, there are some people in the social justice debate that I think are bad actors, no question about it.

They've got nefarious intentions for the church. D .A. Horton doesn't strike me as that, although I have to admit, I don't really follow him very much. Now, the other day, I was minding my own business and I saw him retweet himself, which he often does.

Now, let me ask you a question. Is there something to retweeting yourself? Because I see a lot of people do it. Does it help the algorithm? Does anyone know about this? Because if it does, I'm gonna start to retweet myself.

The Tweet About Jesus Giving Spiritual and Social Commands

Anyway, here's what the tweet said, and I didn't disagree with this completely. He said, Jesus gave both spiritual and social commands. This is both gospel and discipleship work. Them, social commands?

Now, this is a tweet that's basically intended to mock the perspective that any kind of social engagement or social commands is a distraction from the gospel. It's mission drift. And there are people who make this argument.

Now, a lot of people do make this argument, but actually don't act like it in practice. Because I've seen people make this exact argument before, but then they'll go and they'll be against abortion in our country, which is a social issue.

It's a political issue, but it's definitely very much something that a Christian ought to be for or against or however you're looking at it. So people, when they make this argument, it's not very consistent that they make the argument.

What they're really saying, though, I think a lot of the time, and I think DA knows this, he's trying to kind of posture here a little bit. But what they're really saying when people make this kind of an argument, which again, I grant people do make this kind of argument, what they're really trying to do is say, well, the way you're engaging social issues is unbiblical and a distraction, and it's not discipleship work, and it's not gospel.

And I would agree with that completely. When it comes to the social justice warriors out there, they're not engaging in any kind of gospel-oriented biblical way. They're just engaging in a very progressive way that really looks good, and it makes them feel good, but it actually isn't good.

When you talk about affirmative action and empowering minorities in leadership positions and stuff like that, it's a soundbite that sounds really good. I did a whole video about this the other day, but it's actually against the Bible, and so that's actually, in fact, a distraction.

Now, that being said, I don't think a lot of people do make this argument. And so I would kind of agree with this. If somebody does make this argument and basically says all social interaction or engagement is a distraction from gospel work, and the only thing that the gospel is concerned with is the salvation of your soul in eternity someplace, so you can go to heaven, if somebody does make that argument, which I'm sure people do, I don't think it's enough to really warrant a tweet like this, but if some people do make that argument, I actually agree with D .A. Horton here.

The Great Commission Includes Teaching Obedience

I think he's onto something, because I've said for a very long time, and many of us who are against social justice have said for a very long time that the gospel is all about not only saving souls, so baptizing people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but he's 100 right, teaching them to observe all that I commanded.

But you see, that's where the difficulty lies, because for so long, people have not really wondered about what it is that God commanded. Now, this is a book, it's one of my favorite books. It's called Millennialism and Social Theory.

Millennialism and Social Theory. D .A. Horton, if you ever watch this video, you need to read this book. Now, I've read this book before, and I've been going through it every now and then, just a few different sections of it, just to refresh myself, and I came across this on page 257.

It says, this is a section called No Theoretical or Practical Answers. Here's what Gary North says. He says, in response to the challenge from Christian Reconstruction, the less well-informed critics have said, these people have substituted politics for evangelism.

This is a lie that cannot be supported from our writings, which is why you never see a single direct quote from a Reconstructionist source to support this accusation. But this criticism does raise a legitimate question.

Do Christian Reconstructionists believe that positive feedback process within a culturally Christian social order can be sustained apart from the continuing widespread conversion to saving faith? The answer is no.

Without continuing evangelism and a manifestation of the irresistible grace of God in history, we can expect nothing better than what New England experienced, a slow erosion from Calvinism to the rule of lawyers and merchants, to Arminianism, to Unitarianism, and finally, to Ted Kennedy.

There must be a divine intervention from outside of history in order to sustain the blessings of God in history. Meanwhile, we must obey God continuously. Our job is continuity. God's job is discontinuity.

He goes on. The Christian church today faces a horrendous problem. It has no answers to the question. Ready? What is to be done? It has not even thought about an appropriate answer. This is a very important statement from Gary North.

The Christian church for a long time has had no answer to this question. What should we do? What is to be done? And in many ways, it hasn't even begun to answer that question when we're talking about civil society, when we're talking about the civil government, social theory, social commands, as DA Horton says.

We haven't even thought about it. And that's a real problem. If you haven't even asked the question or really thought about it, what is to be done when it comes to social society, civil society, civil law?

What should we do in terms of law and justice and things like that? If you haven't even asked the question, the pagans are gonna answer the question. And that's the reality. And so this whole social justice commentary, I've said this before, and I'll say it here.

This controversy has actually encouraged me because at the very least, people are starting to ask the question, what should we do? Okay, we're saved. Our souls are, we're totally secure in Christ. We have his righteousness.

We're going to heaven. We're not gonna die. Though he die, yet shall he live. We get all that stuff. What do we do now though? Like what's to be done now? What Jesus says, teach them to observe all I've commanded.

What is the content of what Jesus has commanded? That's the question that we need to ask ourselves. And that's the question that is in play right now. And that's an important shift because Gary North, when he wrote this book in the 80s, I think he wrote it.

No one was really asking the question. That question wasn't in play. And now it is in play. I'm glad that it's in play. And I'm glad that people like DA Horton are putting forward what they think is the answer to that question, which I think is obviously not the answer to that question.

And so that's why we have to have these conversations. So I'm glad that DA Horton's asking this question. I think his answers are completely wrong, upside down, topsy-turvy, the opposite of the way they actually are answered.

But the question being asked is a step in the right direction. And so let's have these debates, guys. I mean, guys, listen, this is the thing. People always talk about having a conversation. Well, let's have a conversation.

Let's model it. You know, these conversations are happening behind the scenes and stuff like that. Well, let's bring it to the forefront. Let's demonstrate. Let's put your social theory, DA Horton, on display.

And let's put someone from my perspective's social theory on display and see which one lines up closer to biblical law, because here's the reality. I can show you how my stuff, how what I think should be happening in the civil society, how that matches the general equity of God's law in a very close way, at least in my opinion, it does.

I'm not really sure that you could do that. I'm not stupid enough to say you can't do it, but I'm pretty sure that if you take a look at the things that you've said and things that you've promoted when it comes to social justice, civil justice, and things like that, that if you compared it to the scripture and you allowed for someone to cross-examine you on some of that stuff and ask pointed questions about it, there would be no comparison.

And that's the reality. So I will praise DA Horton for getting this right. Yes, the gospel and the Great Commission includes baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, but also teaching them to observe all that he commended.

That's not federal vision. That's just standard Great Commission Christianity. But the content of those commands, that's what's at play here. That's where I think you guys are upside down, topsy turvy.

Let's talk about it and see who's right. Anyway, I hope this video was helpful.

Closing Banter and a Friday Movie Quote

God bless. You better make that money. Hurry up.

Did you know that Smokey, when he said that to Hector in Friday, listen, I'm not totally fluent, but I think that's just nonsense that he's saying. I could be wrong, but I think he's just mocking Hector by saying a bunch of Spanish sounding word, but I don't think that makes any sense.

I could be wrong though. And if I'm wrong, let me know what Smokey's saying to Hector, because I really don't know.