Teaching on Scripture, Culture, and Christian Living
The Word and Modern Culture Posting
Modern U.S. culture has more influence than ever in our everyday lives. Views of morality and acceptable behavior have shifted significantly over the past few decades. Although there are variations of views of morality, overall it now deviates more and more from biblical principles. Within Christianity, there are significant differences on many key issues. Today I am raising awareness to the differences between what the Word of God states about godly behavior and what many modern Christians now believe and are being taught. This difference has no basis in correct biblical study or analysis, but instead is in response to secular culture's pressure and influence on the individual and the church.
Read more →Culture Matters Posting
Any dedicated Christian should go to the Word of God to seek guidance on any particular topic they are facing. They also refer to their pastors and others they trust for direction as well. Unfortunatly too many take the easy route and just trust the words of others without studying or understanding where and what the Word says about it. You can take the word of others, but you separate yourself from the rewards of studying it yourself. The simple approach is to read the appropriate scriptures and just follow its direction, which is biblical literalism. For many things that is enough. For others, it is not enough. The reason is that you most go through the process of examining and analyzing scripture (exegesis). Exegesis bridges the gap between the ancient world of the first century and our modern reality by comparing historical context with contemporary application. Exegesis means the careful interpretation of a biblical text through examination of the original Greek and Hebrew, alternate word meanings, and context. To examine culture, you must look at the original audience's culture and compare it to our own. This analysis is very important, as the historical culture in many cases is much different than our own. I want to start with a relatively non-controversial topic: the apostolic directive to 'greet each other with a holy kiss' (Romans 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:20, 2 Corinthians 13:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:26,1 Peter 5:14). In U.S. culture you will not see this often, but in certain cultures in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East it is a common social greeting. How to most of us in the U.S. justify not doing exactly this, especially if you are a biblical literalist? I however do see that many greet with hugs, handshakes, and verbal greetings. Many of those would probably say that they are fulfilling the intent of the scripture, and that the manner of greeting is not as important as actually acknowledging one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. Establishing a clear way of examining scripture in the simple cases will help lay a foundation for the more complex issues.
Culture Matters
Pick any important topic on modern Christian life, and the Word of God will have something to say about it. You will also see there are significant differences in how many movements and denominations interpret the scriptures. When delving deeply into scripture an analysis or exegesis is required to arrive at guidance and meaning. There are common ways to examine the Word, including a comparison of historical, cultural and modern cultural views. This is vitally important in determining the context in which the scriptures were written. Most all the new testament was written to churches to address certain current issues that they faced, and had specific remedies for the situation. The main idea is to carefully consider the cultural context when studying scripture.
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