Culture-led 'Christianity' vs Culturally Relevant, Authentic Christianity
A Coign of Vantage by Lawrence Alma-Tadema 1895
I was sitting at a beautiful, solid oak conference table in the boardroom of an elaborate scam operation, and I was the target—although I did not yet know it. Twenty percent per month return on any money I would invest in their offshore trading. I knew little about business, even less about elaborate scams, but in the back of my mind was a vague feeling that something was off. It had all the appearance of a legitimate business—a suite of offices in the business section of the city, a trading room with people at computers appearing to be monitoring real-time trades, and I was shown charts and financial statements. With six children, I had so little savings that I felt they were doing me a favor by even meeting with me—the representative was so gracious and welcoming!
As I left the office building, my brain was a-swirl with possibilities. Twenty percent return per month! But I was haunted by the old adage, “if it seems too good to be true, it probably isn't.” I wanted this to be true and found myself trying to rationalize away and re-interpret that wise rule of thumb, to convince myself that this particular case was an exception to the general rule. Thankfully, I never went for the scam, and several months later there was a police raid. Those who thought it was a real business lost everything. For some, financial hardship stretched ahead for the remainder of their lives.
There are four interesting parallels between the scam I narrowly avoided and fake Christianity.
The closer it looks like the real thing, the better the deception.
Being gracious, inviting, and inclusive does not equate to being true.
It matters whether it is authentic or not, because the long-term consequences are enormous.
A false version of Christianity may strongly tempt one to gloss over or reinterpret what the Bible actually says.
Because culture-led Christianity looks like the real thing, it is easier to assume it is legitimate. It also has that "too good to be true" aura about it, inclusive, and affirming, allowing one to embrace the current cultural consensus. But it should not be confused with authentic, 'culturally-relevant' Christianity. The consequences of buying into the deception instead of the real thing are enormous.
Why is this important?
Slavery, residential school systems, the medieval crusades, oppression, and the subjugation and pillaging of other peoples—all are examples of actions that are incompatible with the teachings of Christ, yet they were culturally acceptable in their day. When people who appear to have been sincere Christians did things that were incompatible with the teachings of Jesus Christ, they often did so as a result of being led by the culture of the day, rather than by the teachings of Christ. This is why it is so vital to distinguish between a false, culture-led Christianity and an authentic, culturally-relevant, Christ-led Christianity.
The influence of culture
We live surrounded by and immersed in our culture. Every day we are unconsciously shaped and molded to fit in—to accept what our friends accept and reject what the people around us reject. Our relationships are one of the most powerful influences in our lives. It is laughably naïve to think we are not programmed on a daily basis by our culture, because even our ability to evaluate our own thinking is, itself, shaped by our culture, friends, neighbors, co-workers, social media, and governments.
Where the conflict begins
It is seldom the case that culture is one hundred percent evil, or one hundred percent good. The pressure for Christians to deviate from authentic Christianity begins when the culture of the day starts to be out of sync with the teachings of Christ. It is not usually a quantum shift, but a slow change that imperceptibly desensitizes us to what is happening, such that the sincere Christian finds themself conforming to culture without even realizing what is happening.
Culturally-relevant Christianity:
In the rural area where I live, there are Old Order Mennonites who drive horse-drawn buggies and wear clothing that was in style in the mid-1800s. I do not know why the mid-1800s styles are de rigueur rather than, say, the mid-1600s, but that is their tradition. The rules surrounding their plain version of Christianity create an almost insurmountable wall when it comes to representing Christianity to our contemporary culture.
True Christianity must be faithful to God, as well as culturally appropriate and relevant.(1) It is imperative, therefore, that we clearly understand the difference between culture-led and culturally-relevant but authentic Christianity. The two are worlds apart when it comes to eternal consequences.
Key characteristics of culturally-relevant, but authentic Christianity
It is not simply being cognizant of the trends, styles, and thinking of a culture. Rather, it should seek to understand the underlying reasons why a culture thinks the way it does and displays the behavior and attitudes that are current.
It understands and engages society in a culturally-effective way while still accurately representing the real God to our culture.
It is aware of, and understands, the misconceptions and objections culture has against Christianity and explores ways to address them.
It clearly distinguishes between what the Bible actually says from traditions that accumulate over time or are due to cultural trends, and dispenses with the latter if they pose an obstacle to true faith in God.
When there is an incompatibility between honoring God or our culture, it reveres God and His word in a gracious but uncompromising way.
It accepts that the more culture veers away from God, the more likely it is that sincere, authentic Christians will be hated,(2) but it must be due to truth, not obnoxious behavior.
In so many ways, true Christianity is a narrow path with bogs, swamps, and precipices on either side. On the one side, there is the swamp of being tradition-shackled and culturally irrelevant. On the other side is the precipice of being culture-led.
Culture-led symptom
If you affirm actions within our culture that appear to be in contradiction to what the Bible says, and find yourself justifying it by re-interpreting, glossing over, or ignoring the relevant Scriptures, then you are manifesting a classic symptom of culture-led Christianity.
For example, if culture affirms certain sexual relationships that appear to contradict what God has said, culture-led Christianity comes up with creative interpretations that permit its followers to say that the Bible 'allows' us to affirm and engage in that form of sexual relationship.
The cause
Re-interpreting the Bible to make it fit our culture is only a symptom, not the cause of culture-led Christianity. The cause is something deeper and more devastating.
An immediate, maybe even unconscious, motivation can be the emotional and personal bonds we have with our closest friends, siblings, or children who do not follow Christ. There can be a powerful temptation to 're-interpret' what God has said about faith in Christ and eternal life so that we can 'widen the umbrella' of Christianity enough to persuade ourselves that our children or close friends are not actually lost for all eternity.
But to take that step there must be a still-deeper cause—a profound disrespect for God.
Have you ever experienced what it is like to tell someone your view on some issue, and they proceeded to twist what you said to make it fit their own opposing view, and then misrepresented you by 'quoting' you? They would not have done that if they had respected you.
In a similar way, to re-interpret something God has clearly stated in the Bible, (see footnote) and argue that that is not what God 'really' meant, is to manifest a profound disrespect for God and what he has said. The choice is to respect God by accepting what he says or disrespect God by taking the freedom to change what he said to make it fit what our culture deems acceptable.
True love or adultery?
A young man I knew very well married his high school sweetheart -- a sweet young woman, well-liked by all, and he was very much in love with her. Over the next half-dozen years they had several children. Then a single woman moved into the community. Being on her own, she often needed help with repairs and other projects, and the 'concerned' man came to her assistance with increasing regularity. It was not long until his priorities shifted to the single woman, rather than the bride of his youth. If you asked him, he would have strongly denied it at the time, but his actions said otherwise. He eventually left his wife and family in favor of the single woman, causing enormous pain and suffering for his former bride and their children who loved him.
From God's perspective, this is exactly what we do when our culture brings us to the point where our first love shifts to pleasing our culture, rather than being true to the God who loves us. We might still say we love God, but our actions say otherwise.
God often compares his relationship between us and him with marriage—not just any kind of marriage but a union where God loves the individual far beyond our capacity to fully comprehend.
God asks each individual to enter into an eternal faith-commitment to him, centering around his love for us and our love for him. This is why we cannot both be led by our culture, and still be true to God. We cannot be married to both and still be faithful to God. For example, the Spirit of God speaking through the Apostle James wrote ...
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? (3)
Like the man who turned away from the bride of his youth to order his life around the single woman who moved into his community, to allow culture to lead one’s Christianity, rather than Christ, is to turn away from the love of God in order to keep the approval and love of our culture. We can only accurately represent God to our culture through culturally-relevant, authentic Christianity that stays true to God and what he has revealed through the Bible.
(If you would like to talk confidentially and anonymously with an online mentor about how to become an authentic follower of Jesus Christ, follow this link.)
Footnote: Not everything in the Bible is clearly laid out and there is unfathomable depth to most, if not all, the subjects it addresses. Consequently, there can be honest, legitimate discussions of many topics. But, on the other hand, there is much that is quite clear, including moral issues to do with sexuality. The confusion over clear passages is often due to the disparity between the influences of our culture and what God states in the Bible. These so-called “difficult” passages are not difficult because they are unclear, but because we might be reluctant to accept them.
References:
1 Corinthians 9:20-22
John 15:18,19
James 4:4,5
