Christianity, Conformism or Counter Culturalism
As I prepare my message for Sunday, “Living a life of discipleship is counter cultural” (Matthew 5:1-12), my thoughts have been captured by the so called culture war. Wikipedia defines culture war as follows: “The culture war (or culture wars) in American usage is a metaphor used to claim that political conflict is based on sets of conflicting cultural values. The term frequently implies a conflict between those values considered traditional or conservative and those considered progressive or liberal. The “culture war” is sometimes traced to the 1960s and has taken various forms since then.” This is a good working definition as those who see themselves in the culture war believe that they are fighting for traditional values, and one can hardly argue that the values of our nation have largely changed at least on the surface. But I have to wonder if what those on the opposite sides of the “war” when boiled down is really so different.
Much has been said about the culture war among Christian leaders with some even loudly proclaiming that we should not be at “war” at all, but I think they are missing the point. What we are after is worth fighting for, that being nothing less than the soul of America. Now I fully realize that some, who read this will disagree with that statement, take offense at it or misunderstand it. First when I refer to the soul of America, I am not referring to taking control of the country nor am I referring to a Theocracy. I have no desire to force my views on anyone, nor do I want anyone else’s views forced on me. What I am referring to is the souls of the people living in America. Here is where there will be disagreement or even offense. But in order to advance my argument and make my point, for the moment just assume that I am right, that there is a God who will judge all humanity, and those who have accepted Christ will enter into heaven, while those who have rejected and rebelled against God will be cast into hell. Now if I am right then how we live our lives and what we believe will affect our eternal destination, and therefore the values of our society are worth fighting for. But are we fighting in the right way?
John Stott in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount1, Jesus’ first discourse in Matthew chapters five through seven, notes that each successive generation is disaffected with the world it inherits. Whether it is the protesters of the Vietnam war, those who protest the current greed of Cooperate America, or the activism against the destruction of our environment, those who wage their own “Cultural War” against these things live counter cultural to them. The hippies and their slogan of make love not war along with their communal life style, the simple dress and lifestyle of those who oppose corporate greed or who are environmentally minded along with their avoidance of any company or organization which is seen as being in opposition to their views, they all live counter to the culture. These same cultural warriors, according to Stott, “Despise the superficiality of…religious conformism, for they sense that there is an awesome ‘reality’ far bigger than these trivialities” (p. 16). Unfortunately, they are seeking this “transcendental dimension through meditation, drugs or sex” (ibid) things which will never make what they are looking for a reality.
I believe that they are looking in all the wrong places because the right place, the Church, has lost its way and as a result no longer provides a map to the “Awesome reality” they know exist and are seeking to find. Stott, goes on to say that Christians should have “…a sense of Shame. For if today’s young people are looking for the right things (meaning, peace, love, reality), they are looking for them in the wrong places. The first place to which they should be able to turn is the one place which they normally ignore, namely the church. For too often what they see in the church is not counter-culture but conformism, not a new society which embodies their ideals, but another version of the old society which they have renounced, not life but death. They would readily endorse today what Jesus said of a church in the first century: ‘You have the name of being alive, and you are dead’ (Rev. 3:1).
The fact is that Jesus was counter cultural, and the Bible endorses many of the things these cultural warriors, who have rejected the church, are after. Lets look at a few: War- while we are not to be pacifist, and the Bible clearly states that the government bears the sword to punish evil (Rom. 13:3-4) that does not give us the right to go to war at any time with anyone. We should demand that our government tell us exactly why we should go to war, if it is a just war, how long it will take, and the cost of going to war, especially in terms of human lives. If the war is not just, if it will not protect our nation and citizens, or protect the innocent, then we should demand that the war be ended or avoided. Cooperate greed- while the Bible nowhere prohibits capitalism, it does warn against unfair practices, and oppression. We should demand that corporations and businesses treat their workers, suppliers and customers fairly paying fair wages and charging far prices while still allowing for them to make a fair profit. The environment- the first two chapters of Genesis make it clear that God gave man dominion over the earth and placed him here to care for it. And as for the other cultural warriors and their causes, many are simply looking for equality, love and acceptance. While in some cases we will not be able to compromise on the teachings of the Bible and as a result we will not be able to accept or condone their choices, we must still love them and accept them as equals and valuable human beings, for all men were created in the image of God. No one should be denied our basic rights due to their age, sex, religion, race or sexual preference. All have the right to work for equal wages, to vote, to have access to medical treatment, food, water, shelter, housing and to live in peace and prosper.
When you boil it all down on some level we are all looking for the same things (meaning, peace, love, reality), the difference is that as Christians we would argue that non-Christians (and even some so called Christians) are looking in the wrong places. Why then are they not looking at us / the Church for what they desire? I think Ghandi may have said it best, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.” My point, if we truly lived as Christians, that is if we lived like Christ, then we would be counter cultural and would reject conformism. We would embrace the message of the Sermon on the Mount and separate ourselves from worldliness taking stands on moral issues, environmental issues, etc. while ensuring that our attitudes on such issues flow out of a desire to please God and to draw all men to Christ. Then we might not even need to fight a cultural war, or at the very least we would not need to fight it as we currently do opposing anyone who remotely appears to contract the message of the Bible or worse who may determinately affect our conformism and comfort. Maybe, just maybe, we should find a point of agreement with those on the opposite side of the culture war (Matt. 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers”), and join them in their battle fighting for what we both can agree upon. Maybe then unlike Ghandi, they will say, “I like you Christians, you are so like you Christ, will you tell me more about Him?”.
1 John R. W. Stott, “The Message of the Sermon on the Mount”, Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester England, 1985, (p. 15-16)
