Culture

For Christians, one of the great competitions they face in life is the tension between secular cultures, and Christian culture.  Society offers various cultures, but for our purposes, we will refer to the conglomerate as one so to accent the Christian.  Those cultures are obvious in racial contexts, and are admitted as African-American, or Asian-American, or, in the majority eclectic or largest division, simply American. Over time the majority culture usually incorporates parts of the many minority cultures, and vice versa. There may be the youth culture, the mid-life culture, and the culture of the elderly.  There are sub-divisions within these, so that we may have the boomers, the hippies, and others.  During some periods in a society one culture, even in minority, may exert greater force than the majority.  At the time of this writing the youth culture has gained strong voice in the media, in business interests, in education – the story may be extended.  There are divisions in what may be called religious cultures, and subdivisions of those.  The Christian culture, as identified in writings, shows quite a range of contexts, some of which may be distant from biblical Christian.  For those who hold firmly to Scriptural authority, and its clarity for defining Christianity, which includes culture, there emerges a definitive context, and approach to society.

Approaching society is first to acknowledge public culture.  There is much in it that is good, but much that is corrosive.  Sexual intimacy, for example, is sacred and private to persons and marriage, but made carnal in some of general culture.  Christians believe that the obvious facts of nature, seen in the structure of the male and female dictates what is sacred to life, marriage and the family.  Other orientations are determined by the culture, and have provided material for debate about sexual orientation for millennia.  Cultures have argued for polygamy, for same sex marriages, even for abstinence from any sexual experience.   Uses of resources related to wealth are seen, by the Christian, as a means for self-responsibility and assisting others in human needs.  The materialistic culture sees accumulation, sometimes in excess, as a means for independent personal wealth.  Differences are presumed by the Christian to be cause for discussion and fodder for conversation and modeling, not for conflict and mutual abuse.  The contrasts might be continued here relative to the uses of language, politics, entertainment, habits, and other factors related to healthy and holy life including relationships.  Christian education must include what might be called education for life.  The general culture asks for education that makes one successful, and skillful at using the institutions of society.  The Christian supports such skills, but that is secondary to the necessity imposed by God, that the individual present a personal model guided in righteousness, and then supportive to the approved factors in any culture in love, family, peace, safety, health, progress, and relationships.

Today’s morning paper included a major article about Warren Buffett, the world’s guru on successful investing.  He openly professes to purchasing only companies that have promise for making money.  He makes sure that the ones he buys do so.  He lives well, but not nearly as royally as do many less rich.  He believes that he is under-taxed.  He has given his billions of dollars to a foundation of a wealthy couple (Gates), a foundation seeking primarily to end some diseases in the world.  All this to the good, and we credit him even though he makes no statement about spiritual interests.  Once yearly he invites business students to Omaha, Nebraska, talks to them about business, has a social and lively exchange of great fun. The article states that he talks to them about their responses to culture.  They should be careful in the choice of a mate, should engage with persons they believe are better than themselves, and so the story goes.  This last statement doesn’t mean that the persons are actually better, but Buffett (whether he knows it or not) takes a position taught in the Scripture: . . . let each esteem others better than themselves, (Philippians 2:3).  Like Buffett I determined some years ago to communicate to Christian students about life, business, personhood, family, service and educative experiences in living well the Christian life.  We share the fundamentals of life together and learn how some persons have gained fulfillment by joining the effort to find what the good life is and the place of God in natural life to death – and the promised followup.