Our Mission
Simply stated is...
To use the skill sets and resources that have been entrusted to us by God to "balance the scales of justice" by defending the innocent and the oppressed, who due to circumstances outside of their control, find themselves powerless in their time of need.
The teachings of Jesus make it very clear that God himself has a lot of energy and much to say concerning this issue. In order not to be redundant here, please take the time to read The Band of Brothers vision. There we lay out in detail not only what He has to say concerning the downtrodden, but what He will do on behalf of those who chose to take up their cause. We can’t think of anything more exciting than to join forces with God on an issue that He is extremely passionate about!
What Does it Mean to Know God?
The quest to know God is one of the key goals of all those that follow the teachings of Jesus. We have a longing in our hearts to understand Him and His ways in order for us to follow in His footsteps. In the time of Jeremiah the prophet, God called King Jehoiachin to task and said to him…
Does it make you a king to have more and more ceder (wealth?)
Did not your father have food and drink (wealth?)
He did what was right and just, so all went well with him.
He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well
"Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the Lord.
- Jeremiah 22:15-16
It does not get any more plainly spoken. In the mind of God, those that truly know Him are those that “defend the poor and needy.”
Civil vs. Biblical Justice
For most of us at first glance the concepts of “Compassion” and “Justice” seem to be strange bedfellows. In fact for some they may seem to be diametric. This is because we understand "compassion" as a tender feeling from the heart that we get when seeing another human being suffering. Because we understand justice strictly as a cerebral unfeeling legal issue and therefore without the component of emotion, its rare if at all that the two words are found together in the same sentence. Those of us that have grown up in the United States (which is a nation ruled by law) often see justice as a principle that the courts determine and that the police enforce.
For some justice is a form of vindication, an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This is particularly true in some religious traditions. The laws of Moses which are the basis for most modern day “Civil Laws” were set up as a means of establishing order in a nation. They were a way of governing a people and insuring that justice prevailed. We define this type of justice as “Civil Justice.” If one strictly looks at the “the law” as a code without understanding the heart of God behind it, you miss much. Jesus interaction with those who caught a women in adultery would be a case in point. He was in conflict with them as they pursued civil justice but they had all together missed the heart of the law and were as guilty as she was. His tactful handling of the situation is an example of Biblical Justice.
Howard Zehr, wrote in his book, “Changing Lenses "The test of justice in the biblical view is not whether the right rules are applied in the right way.” Instead, “Justice is tested by the outcome. The tree is tested by its fruit… Does the outcome work to make things right? Are things being made right for the poor and the least powerful, the least 'deserving'? Biblical justice focuses on right relationships, not right rules."
Justice is a means of protecting those that are vulnerable to oppression, or a means of delivering those oppressed from their oppressors. It gives strength to the weak and delivers them from the hand of the strong.