The responsibility of the church for society

Introduction Niebuhr defines responsibility as the ability and requirement to give account to somebody for something. In the context of social relations, the concept of responsibility, with the obligation and freedom it implies, has its place. He further asserts that being responsible is being a self in other-selves’ presence and that one is bound to these other-selves and is capable of answering to them freely. Responsibility entails trusteeship or stewardship over common life things of the selves.

Christ says that they will have done all these to him. The goats, on the other hand, represent the sinners who Christ will put in his left hand and cast into eternal fire/punishment for having failed to do the above to their neighbors and therefore to Christ (The Holy Bible, New International Version, Matt. 25. 31-46).

Mathew 19: 19 encourages Christians to honor their parents as well as loving their neighbor as themselves. In Luke10: 25-37, Jesus gives the parable of the Good Samaritan where he emphasizes on loving one’s neighbor as oneself as well as caring for/helping those in need. Isaiah 61: 1-3, indicates that Christ came for the poor, the broken-hearted, the captives, the prisoners, the mourners and for those who grieve in Zion to provide and bring salvation to them. James 5: 1-5 condemns the self-indulging rich and declares misery for them and destruction of their wealth for hoarding wealth and failing to pay those who mowed their fields and their harvesters their wages (The Holy Bible).
The above scriptures are a clear indication that the responsibility of Christians towards their neighbors is that of love for one another. They should perform good deeds towards them taking care of them, especially those in need. This is a command from God and failure to adhere to it leads to eternal damnation.

Discrimination is treating a person less auspiciously than another person based on his/her class, category or group (Scobell, para1). These Scriptures relate to the concept of discrimination in that they show how God will treat the group of sinners differently from that of the righteous in the Day of Judgment. Therefore, this is an indication that in the Christians’ life, there is room for discrimination as far as God and his judgment are concerned. Scriptures to support this include Matthew 13: 24-30, Romans 6: 23, Psalms 72: 2, Ecclesiastes 3: 17 among others (The Holy Bible).

However, this is not a license for Christians to discriminate against others. They should not use this as a justification to oppress others, not to love or even not to help those in need. This is evident in Galatians 3: 28, Matthew 7: 12, James 2: 2-4, Matthew 5: 44, Deuteronomy 27: 19, James 2: 8, 1Timothy 4: 12, Galatians 5: 14, Luke 10: 27, Mark 12: 31 among others. The only way in which Christians should show partiality is by not allowing sinners to draw them away from God or associating in their wickedness as seen in 2 Corinthians 6: 14, Ephesians 5: 11, 1John 1: 6, Exodus 23: 2 among others (The Holy Bible).