This has caused me so much trouble and created a lot of pain among the people in my life. Only after finding Jesus did I try to find my authentic self in him.

So yes, I agree: “To be a Christ follower means, in a sense, to give up a great deal of our desire for justice now in the faith and hope that on the day of our resurrection God will vindicate.”

Final vindication will come in the next life (whatever that life is).

And yes, I agree but partially: “we are to display and promote justice in our midst now as a sign and foretaste of the coming kingdom”

I would say we live out justice rather than “display and promote”, but not a huge difference I guess. The issue with displaying justice is that we go riding off on our “holy high horse” or go on witch hunts to demand people to repent (not that I’ve ever been on a high horse or anything…. :)

So my first reaction and the reaction of many is to either fatalistically hope in future justice or become arrogant, self-righteous castle-builders who get rejected by even their close friends for being judgmental. In that case, the self-righteous one has to look to the past to justify his/her present. That describes a lot of how I lived in ubf. I was castle-builder (well KOPHN builder).

The resolution for me came by surrendering my castle-builder sense of justice in the present, laying it at the cross. And yes it was Jesus’ smile on the cross to the criminal next to him in the Passion movie that caused this surrender to grace.

Now I connect final justice to the present with grace– grace extended to all humanity. My castle destroyed and I live outside the gates (more God-speak sorry but it is difficult to articulate this sometimes).

So instead of justice demanding me to display just actions, justice (as understood on the cross) now demands me to embrace humanity, destroy my “castle”, and speak out against the only one injustice that matters: abuse of authority. That injustice is the only injustice I can find where Jesus “let go” and just whaled on those in power who were oppressing people. Jesus was most firm with those who claimed their own authority over other people.

“Justice absolutely requires fairness, honesty and openness without favoritism or preset agendas and without negotiating clandestine back end deals.” – See more at: http://www.ubfriends.org/2013/11/22/what-is-the-central-theme-of-your-life/#sthash.4bJqhvQV.dpuf

That is why I won’t advocate anarchy nor will I join secret attempts to “reform”. I will not collude behind the backs of people. Justice prevents me from following that path.

Justice seems to also be the central theme of millenials today, both of Christians and non-Christians. Justice absolutely requires fairness, honesty and openness without favoritism or preset agendas and without negotiating clandestine back end deals.

A few years ago, I let all my fantasy worldview crash to the ground. And I found that I could resolve the disconnect between my center of justice and the unjust world around me with grace. Now I am much happier. And all my theology/philosophy is consistent. Everything fell into place when I surrendered to grace.

My center is justice.

That’s why I loved super heroes as a kid- Batman, Shazzam, Superman, Spiderman. That’s why I fell in love with Jesus. That’s why I love movies like “A Few Good Men”. That’s why I react and overreact and change my mind when I encounter people and ideologies that promote injustice. That’s why injustice is the single most infuriating thing to me. That’s why I’m often a pain to some people. And that’s why, I believe, I became entangled with ubf.