Bible passage:
Colossians 3:10, 11 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Revelation 7:9, 10 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Galatians 3: 27, 28 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 9:19 - 23 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
Acts 15: 7,9,12,19,20 Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe... and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith... And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
Disclaimer: There are different views regarding how we may engage with culture. God has led each of us through different paths, and from what we've seen, we may differ on what aspects we think is redeemable, and what is irredeemably linked with evil. That's alright. Feel free to write your opinions as a comment if you disagree.
My views and desires to engage with culture strengthened after long discussions with L T Jeyachandran uncle. (I acknowledge him as I've borrowed many points from him.) He defines culture as the interaction of human creativity with God's creation. Doug Hayward mentions that God speaks through culture while revealing Himself, and we obey God in the culture that He has placed us in. Thus, engaging with it by understanding the assumptions of the people around us on what they consider to be real or sacred is important. As years go by, culture also dynamically changes - the economic, political, marriage, production, religious, social, and kinship systems change along with it. The expressions of them in cutoms, behaviour patterns, priorities, cuisine, attire, art forms, language also changes along with them.
Richard Niebuhr classifies the church's response to culture as follows:
1) Christ against culture: This view considers that the church and culture have no common ground. “What has Jerusalem to do with Athens?” E.g. Amish communities.
2) Christ of culture: Culture is seen as inherently good and without any conflict and with the values that are equal to the Christian truth. E.g. Liberal or woke Christianity.
3) Christ above culture: Culture is seen as basically good. However, Christian revelation is required to best explain and perfect those cultural expressions.
4) Christ and culture in paradox: The interaction is characterized to be in a constant state of tension, where Christians are to simultaneously live between the kingdom of this world and the Kingdom of Heaven by accepting some aspects of culture and rejecting others.
5) Christ the transformer of culture: A Christian engages and participates with God to transform the values and objectives of culture for the service and glory of God.
View 1 and 2 typically form the extreme ends of the spectrum, and the common reformed understanding is close to View 5. Though, many Christians differ in opinion on the importance that is to be given to this area, especially considering the fog that blurs our vision of what aspect is to be transformed.
India is one of the top diverse countries in the world. Let's celebrate diversity and work towards and await seeing these beautiful cultures in New Jerusalem.
In every heart, if there is a God-shaped hole, in every culture there is a longing for God and even groaning for redemption. When there was a question of what to do regarding the practices of Greek (gentile) Christians, Paul, and others discussed in the Jerusalem council, and with God's wisdom decided what to do. We are the Pauls and Peters that God has placed in our nation. Let's pray that God would give us the discernment, wisdom, and passion to serve the people of our nation, even as we see Christ transforming the culture through us.
Prayer points:
Praise God for the beautiful diversity in His creation, that images the diversity of persons of God in the unity of the Trinity.
Pray that the beauties of each culture are strengthened by His power and that every falsehood, evil, and darkness that is present would be exposed and removed.
Pray against the pressures of valuing uniformity over unity. Pray that every culture is able to respect other cultures as they come together under one banner. Pray against ideologies of domination, or the erasure of one culture over the other.
Pray that God would teach Christians how to engage with culture, and wade through the unanswered questions seeking God's guidance.
If you can, try memorizing 1 Corinthians 9:19.
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