The Bible, church and culture

He called me ‘four-eyes!’ … And I could see the passion in his. Eyes that is. I could also see that an appeal to his wisdom and humility was unlikely to be successful on account of his having none.

Passion may or may not be a good thing. Christians believing something passionately about an issue may or may not be a good thing. There are two things we can to do to make sure that it is a good thing. The first is to understand what is actually fuelling the way we react to certain issues. The second is to make sure this fuel is consistent with following Jesus. That is not as easy as it sounds.

In my first year at Oamaru Intermediate School I failed an eye test and was sent to ‘The Optometrist’. Yes, ‘the’ optometrist! At that time, Oamaru just had the one. (The town has developed significantly since then. Now it has two.) Anyway, the upshot was that I found myself wearing glasses. Initially, I regarded my myopia as catastrophic, but after a while, I got used to the glasses and didn’t notice them, except when someone accused me of having four eyes rather than the standard two.

Glasses are a good example of something that helps us see and make sense of the world, but most of the time we don’t even notice them. And culture is similar. Culture is central to the way we view our life. It shapes the way we respond to the world, but we aren’t usually conscious of it having that effect.

It is important for those following Jesus to understand this because it is not primarily human culture that we look to for direction, but to the Bible and the will of God. All cultures have features that align with the Bible and God’s will, and all cultures have features that don’t. We need to discern which is which so that we can make sure our passion is helpful to God’s mission of restoring people to himself.

Aotearoa New Zealand continues to develop a rich diversity of cultures. Maori culture is indigenous, Pacific Island cultures are well established, and Asian and African cultures are making an increasing contribution to life in this country. However, western culture remains the dominant culture. That is okay. There is usually a dominant culture, and western culture, as with any other culture, has features that are helpful to society. But, like other cultures, it also has features that aren’t helpful.

It is not possible to give a full account of the features of Western Culture here, but I’ll highlight three of them:

Individualism

Every human has an identity that is God given and important to maintain. The biblical view of individual identity is that we are both responsible individuals and community members. When these two realities get out of balance, our culture begins to affect us negatively. Western culture suffers from an overemphasis on the individual. How often have you heard, ‘I’m not hurting anybody’, or ‘You do your thing and I’ll do mine’.

There is a strong sense that what one individual does has no effect on the community. There is also a strong sense that ‘I am only responsible for myself’. Both of these are wrong and come from an unbalanced view of the individual. Other cultures are vulnerable to an overemphasis on family and community. Examples of this are where there are expectations that people contribute financially to family and community even when they are in difficult financial circumstances themselves.

Secularism

The relationship between the State and the Church is an important one to get right. Humanity has experienced both extremes in its history. At one time the Church was the State. Church officials were also political leaders and had a great deal of power over citizens. These officials had an obligation to use their power in a godly way. Unfortunately, few did and the result was a great deal of religious oppression, corruption and violence.

It is not surprising that as society developed it wanted to distance itself from this awful legacy. Unfortunately, we have moved from one extreme to the other. Rather than maintain respect for both institutions while keeping them separate, secularism has contributed to the Church being pushed to the margins of society and politics.

Even some within the Church believe that it should not have a voice when it comes to social and political issues. Certainly, it is true that the Church should not be involved in partisan politics. A message to vote for a particular party would be entirely inappropriate. However, the Church still has an important role to play in holding the State accountable. The Church has a responsibility to comment on social policy from a Christian perspective. More than that, the Church is intended to be the place where Kingdom of God solutions to broken world issues are offered and are seen to work.

Economic Materialism

Few would criticise those people who manage money carefully, or begrudge them their resulting purchasing power. Wise stewardship is good. However, when purchasing power becomes the reason for life, society has a serious problem.

Economic materialism is basically the drive to buy and consume more and better stuff. Social status then becomes dependent on purchasing power; indeed, a person’s inherent value depends on how much they can earn and how much they can spend. People can become reluctant to share their resources. They get possessive and protective and start to envy what others have.

It is ironic that this way of thinking—which equates happiness with having more stuff—actually makes it harder for people to be happy, because there is always someone with more stuff than they have. In a society rife with economic materialism, those with few financial resources or who are seen as a drain on the financial resources of others are quickly marginalised. That is, they have fewer choices, less of a voice in decision making, and less protection from the consequences of those decisions.

If Christians are not aware that we are being influenced by these sorts of cultural features, we can easily misinterpret the direction given by the Bible through God’s Holy Spirit. That is important for Salvationists because we believe that the Bible is definitive of Christian faith and practice. One note of caution, however; a person could quite easily (and many have) take one part of the Bible out of context and make it support any point of view they may wish to take. Proof texting (quoting one piece of the Bible to support a particular point of view) should be used with caution. When we think about what the Bible has to say about one issue, we would be far better to think about what it says as a whole.

We also need to remember—as our Salvation Army Handbook of Doctrine points out—that the Bible teaches there are three pillars which provide a secure foundation for Christian faith and practice: the teaching of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16, 17), the direction of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:29; 9:10-19; 13:1-3; 16:6-8), and the consensus of the Christian community (Acts 15:1-29; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22). The Bible is not safely read without reference to the general understanding of the Christian community throughout history, any more than it is understood without the help of the Holy Spirit. Each of these three foundational sources requires the authentication of the other two to ensure that gospel truth is maintained.

So, being passionate about something can be a good thing. But for the person following Jesus, there is still some work to do to make sure that what we’re passionate about is a good thing. Passion about difficult issues comes easily, wisdom and humility don’t.

Captain Ross Wardle is chair of The Salvation Army’s Moral and Social Issues (Ethics) Council.

Go to  www.salvationarmy.org.nz/masic for more articles.

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by Ross Wardle (c) 'War Cry' magazine, 10 January 2015, pp10-11
You can read 'War Cry' at your nearest Salvation Army church or centre, or subscribe through Salvationist Resources.