There is a concern that the baby of culture might get thrown out with the bathwater of sin. But we also need to be alert to the dangers of letting contaminated dirty bathwater stick around.
Missionaries in the past have been accused of imposing or expecting a 'western' Christianity and 'pressing' other cultures into a western mould with a bunch of legalistic western cultural 'rules'. Yet on the other hand we can be so 'free' with allowing a local culture to dictate local Christianity that what results is varying degrees of syncretistic Christianity. Both can be devoid of the true purity of the gospel as it is meant to shine through the uniqueness of each person and cultural context. This is a question of importance on the missiological level as well as on the simple straightforward discipleship level.
I recently had a small group of workplace managers ask me some questions during a workshop session and this question of 'what to keep of culture', came up. They were trying to get their heads around what it means to be a Christian and still African, and how to decide what of culture a Christian can keep and what they should lose. They were keen to understand how that fit with their identity as Africans.
As I attempted to give an answer from the perspective of three guiding principles, each point below seemed to help the members of the group. Let me share them with you since they not only relate to Africa, but to every human being, including you and me.
As a Christian:
1. I have a new Identity
What's my identity?
As Christians we have to realise we are Christian first and then our earthly culture - I am a Christian Australian, not an Australian Christian. Our identity is in Christ - who we are and our value is found in Him. We are now part of His family and His culture.
We have been re-born into a new identity, heritage and future. We are co-heirs with Christ of His righteousness and honour. We are a child of the King, adopted as a son of our Father. Our citizenship has changed to God's Kingdom. (Galatians 4: 5-7, Rev 11:15)
2. I have a new Standard.
- God and His Truth is the Standard by which my life is to be measured - not any earthly standard.
- Whatever is in our worldview frame-of-reference on any aspect of life, has to be submitted and evaluated and replaced by what God says in His word. What agrees with God's word will require less adjustment in our lives than what doesn't, but all of our life must always and continually be subject to God's truth.
- Whenever there is a difference between what we (individually or communally/culturally) believe and do, and what God says, we have to let go of our ideas and agendas and go God's way.
I then gave another example to try to help them understand. Since we were made in the image of God to reflect His character and person, we are similar to an image in a mirror. But the image is marred by sin. It's as if the mirror has a horrible dirty smear all over it. Now the image is not a clear reflection. Some areas of the image are almost totally clear and others are totally obscured and not visible, and some are in-between.
It's a bit like each earthly culture is a different smear pattern. Some aspects in some cultures still exhibit fairly clear reflection of how God wants us to be and live while other aspects are showing almost no resemblance to God's design at all. What is clear in one culture may be badly smeared in another. But even if two smeared images match in one area, it doesn't make them 'right' just because they agree. All our smeared marred images need to be evaluated and cleaned up according to what God says in His word and revealed to us through His Son. Then it is to be lived out in us through His Spirit.
We need to understand that no earthly culture or person has a clear image. We all have to measure off a new standard of perfect holiness, and allow our lives to truly reflect the image of Christ. As we grow in the knowledge of God and in holiness through ongoing repentance and faith Scripture tells us we will grow from one degree of glory to another. (2 Corinthians 3:18) Only then will the image more and more shine forth the full light of Christ.
3. I need a New Mind to live a New Life
We all need renewed minds and changed lives.
Our conscience is not preset to define right and wrong according to God's definition of right and wrong.
Many people believe that a person's conscience is pre-programmed to know what God does and doesn't want, and that everyone just knows what God says is right and wrong. However, while we are all born with a conscience, the conscience is more like a judge than a set of lawbooks. A judge makes decisions based on what is in the lawbooks. As we grow we all develop a personal (generally reflective of cultural) set of lawbooks of what we deem to be right and wrong, good and evil. Our conscience makes judgements based on this.
When we do what our lawbooks say is 'right' our conscience is 'clear' and comfortable. When we don't do what our lawbooks say, and we do 'wrong', our conscience condemns and convicts us and tells us we are guilty for 'transgressing' our law, and it is uncomfortable.
When we become a Christian its like we move to a new country with a new set of lawbooks that we have to learn. We have to 'unlearn' the old lawbooks and learn the new. The data by which the conscience makes judgements has to change.
Our minds have to be renewed - that is how we will no longer be conformed to the world but be transformed in our thinking. The old data - twisted, distorted and darkened by Satan's lies, needs to be replaced by the truth and light of God's word. Only then can the conscience function differently. It is then that the Holy Spirit can remind us and apply to our hearts how this new knowledge has to live out in our daily lives.
That is what repentance is all about: - to change our mind about what we think is "right and wrong", resulting in a change to how we act. The conscience is like the judge and guard as it alerts us to discomfort and danger if we do what we know to be wrong....we just have to make diligent effort to understand what is right and wrong by God's standard and definition.
Whatever culture we are from, we have to realise that our minds need renewing and our lives need changing.
No human being or culture has a naturally godly set of data files in the mind for our conscience to act on. We choose what we fill our minds with and thus how our conscience will be influenced. This is all the more reason why we need to set our minds on things above, to think on whatsoever is pure, right, good, etc. (Philippians 4:8)
If we want our conscience to help us live godly lives that honour God, we have to give our conscience godly data in the mind, as its reference point. We all need new lawbooks and knowledge of them - ie. we all need God's word and to grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Word. (2 Peter 3:18, Romans 12:2) It takes time, effort, diligence and perseverance and courage to be counter cultural as God requires.
So how much culture can we keep?
- Only what measures up with God's standard of holiness. Whatever does not obscure but reflects His character, shines forth His light, and clearly reveals His image in our lives.
But some cultures have slightly clearer 'less smeared' sections of the image of what God wants for us to be than others. But no culture is without a smeared image. Our 'less smeared' parts enable us to see God's plan for us in those areas more clearly - but the deal is that we don't know what is 'less smeared' or 'more smeared' until we compare it with the perfect image of Christ who was God in the flesh and the fulfillment of the Law - the truth which is revealed to us in Scripture. The Living Word is revealed in the Written Word.
We are called to be salt and light. We are called to be in the world but not of the world. We are called to not be captive to the traditions of men, no matter what earthly culture we come from.
Let's live according to our new-birth-culture and our eternal citizenship.
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