(A four-minute read)
Ah, those talking heads in the media. Are they connected to hearts and minds?
There is much talk today about the modern “Culture War”: Conservative ideologues trying to impose their beliefs on a nation or people; Liberal ideologues doing the same.
Some historical out-workings have been: Royal church-sanctioned expulsion of Jews from England in the 13th century and from Spain in the 15th century. 100 years later, Spain kicked out all Muslims. Vast populations were forced to flee for their lives, often with only what possessions they could carry.
American genocide of native populations in the name of progress, civilization-building and the expansion of Christendom.
The massive Kulturkampf between the Catholic Church and the secular state in 19th century Germany imposed vast anti-Catholic laws in Germany, only to have them repealed a generation later.
The Marxist “struggle” against capitalism has left tens of millions dead in its wake, with the death toll still mounting in China and elsewhere.
There are other active skirmishes right now in India, Nigeria and the Middle East with persecution of religious minorities (Muslims and Christians respectively, and the Sunni-Shia arguments within Islam). Not to mention the ongoing Jew-hatred that seems to be growing world-wide.
Yes, I cherry-pick, but this is just top-of-mind for me, not academic research.
This cultural warfare is not a new thing. It’s a very old thing. Very, very old. It’s a war that began in the beginning1 and continues on many fronts.
Culture war is a misnomer
The term Culture War is a misnomer. What actually exists is a Culture Creation War. God created culture with roots in the Kingdom of Light,3 whereas the enemy and the world can only imitate. If we take God’s creative perfection as a standard, every human endeavor will fall short.
Hence, the creation of culture (eternal and enduring versus momentary and limited) is the real battlefield, not “culture” itself, meaning worldly culture.
The term “Culture War” implies a fight against the existing culture, and that’s a conflict that Christians will always lose. Why? Because these conflicts are always played out on the devil’s turf. Satan was defeated at the Cross, as any theologian will tell you, and now can only fight a rear-guard action.
The devil knows he is going to hell, but he desires to take as many humans as possible with him.
Well-meaning followers of Jesus are lured repeatedly into engaging with the world, using the world’s rules. We get suckered into fighting this defeated enemy instead of proclaiming the truth of Christ’s victory. Jesus warned that we would do this and He’s not surprised.
In the parable of the shrewd manager, Jesus concludes that “the sons of this world are wiser in their own generation than the sons of light.” 2 Mathew Henry’s Concise Commentary puts it well: “Worldly men, in the choice of their object, are foolish; but in their activity, and perseverance, they are often wiser than believers.”
Here’s the point
The point is that those who don’t follow Christ are often much wiser in the ways of the world than those of us who do. This is why Christians need to live and work (especially to worship and pray) in community. We are stuck in this world until our release through death and resurrection because of the original culture war started in Eden.
The devil won that round against humankind, and we are still paying for it, living in an incredibly messed-up world. And yet, there are always those things that the devils and those they have blinded don’t understand: true love, hope, grace and mercy. When we wage war from those battlefields, we always win.
Surrender to win
Stop trying to fight a Culture War, Christian. Be aware of what’s out there, but don’t react to it. You don’t pet a rabid dog; it will bite, and infect you. If you can, you heal it. If you cannot, at the very least, you avoid it and let it go to its doom.
Instead, let’s create culture of our own and put it in the marketplace. I don’t mean a watered-down ‘nice’ culture.
I mean culture that comes from the straight-up gospel message: identity given; connection with God lost through sin; redemption through confession, repentance and forgiveness.
Yes, that culture is offensive to the world.
And to this I say, “Good”.
1. Genesis 3:6, 17 (MSG) – “When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband and he ate….He [God] told the Man: ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from, “Don’t eat from this tree,” the very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you’ll be working in pain all your life long.”
2. Luke 16:8
3. Acts 28:17-18 – “to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith me Me.”
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