God’s Word is Our Guide, Not Culture

Culture is the unwritten set of values that come from society. These beliefs influence our behavior and how we choose to live our lives. Culture tells us how to dress, how to talk, how to interact with each other. Culture varies from one place to the next, but in every area of the world, culture has a powerful impact on our lives. Christians, however, believe that our beliefs, values, and behavior should be informed by scripture. There is no problem with the influence of culture unless it contradicts the biblical mandates for our lives. When that happens, we believe we should choose to obey scripture and ignore what the culture says to us. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples of the confrontation of culture and the Bible.

It’s culturally acceptable for teenagers to be sexually active, but that is contrary to scripture. Today the majority of teens are sexually active when they graduate High School. Many parents condone their teens’ choice to be sexually active and even support them in this behavior. However, scripture is unequivocal that sexual intimacy should belong to marriage: “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral” (Heb 13:4). Culture argues that it is too hard for teenagers to control their sexual impulses, so we should expect them to be sexually active. This is not the view of scripture. God views sex as something extraordinary—so unique that it should be reserved for your life partner.

Culture is misinforming us in this area because teenagers are suffering enormously from the fallout of being sexually involved with other teens. A teen is not equipped emotionally or psychologically to deal with such an intense relationship. What happens to their emotions when they break up? This sexual involvement is contributing to teen depression, teen alcoholism, and teen suicide.

Our culture overwhelmingly approves of the social drinking of alcohol. It is so culturally acceptable that if you choose not to drink, you will be viewed as odd. Scripture gives us many warnings about alcohol,

“Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise” (Prov 20:1). Our culture seems to ignore the basic facts of the danger of a substance that is so addictive. There are between 15-18 million alcoholics in this country and how many more million family members are caught in the vice of dealing with these substance abusers. Did you know that 40% of all family problems brought to the domestic court are alcohol-related? Almost 60% of all domestic assaults are alcohol-related. An astounding 75% of all juvenile delinquents have a least one alcoholic parent. Alcohol abuse is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States. Alcohol may be culturally acceptable, but scripture would teach us to view it very differently.

The essential thing in a Christian’s life is his or her connection to God. The Bible informs that connection. From the scriptures, we are informed of what is important, what has value, and what does not, what is temporal and what is eternal. Culture has value, but scripture always has the final word for a believer.

Rock Solid

When Jesus finished his Sermon on the Mount, he concluded with a parable about being a committed follower. A parable is a story that involves taking something that is familiar and lying it beside something that is not familiar so you can learn a truth. The story describes two extreme settings. Two houses are built, one on rock and the other on dirt. Then the storm comes and beats both houses, but only one house is left standing—the one built on rock. Our lives will stand or fall depending on our faith and obedience to Jesus’ words (Luke 6:46-49).

The story is about the storms of life that assail us, and when they do, the only way we can withstand them is whether or not we have a foundation built on Christ. Jesus made it clear that he identified authentic disciples as those who listened and understood his words and then put them into practice. Storms are a part of life, and we cannot avoid them, but we can be prepared to weather them out.

The following story illustrates literally and figuratively how sudden storms appear. This happen to us early in our missionary career. One day an incredible storm swept down from the Andes Mountains and brought torrential rains in which the streets of our neighborhood became literal rivers. That day I had left for a short trip, but seeing the dark clouds I turned around and headed for home. By the time I made it to our street, the car was in knee deep water and had to be abandoned. Fighting the swift current of the water to stand up, I struggled the next few blocks until I made it to our home on calle Peru. Once I finally found our house in wet darkness, I could see water running out of the front door. When I went in, I found Marilyn had our two kids sitting on the bed while she was fighting a losing battle with the water.

There had been storms like this before, but our home had never been flooded. Our house would be flooded two more times before we figured out how to solve the problem. Directly behind our house were four more houses, and because of the slope of the land, their water was draining onto our property. We eventually came to realize our house was literally the drain for all the other neighbors. On top of that problem, we were shocked to learn that one neighbor was choosing to empty his huge swimming pool during the storm.

Solving this problem seemed impossible, and it was so discouraging to think about moving, as it was difficult and costs were prohibitive. First of all, the landlord refused to do anything about the problem. Once we determined we were staying, however, we decided to build a brick wall with cement columns all the way across the back of our property. That not only took care of our water problem, but it also caused all the neighbors to have to find another way to drain their excess water to the streets rather than using our house as their handy drain.

When the storm came, it seemed to sweep away our hopes and left us so demoralized. We learned however, it was simply a test of our will to stay faithful to God. It was an opportunity to show that our faith was built on the solid rock of Christ and not the sinking sand.

Not Buying It

This week I saw this article posted by John Shore where he emphatically declares there is no such place as a literal hell. Mr. Shore represents a new brand of Christians who know what the Bible really says. They kind of remind me of the Supreme Court that knew what the founders really meant to say, even though they didn’t say it, in regard to abortion. Here is a portion of what Shore says about hell:

The idea that the Bible declares hell a real and literal place is no more valid than the toxic lie that the Bible condemns homosexuality.

Yet the idea that hell is real persists. Why? Because over the centuries those in positions of power within the institutions of Christianity have methodically, relentlessly, and with great art used the doctrine of hell to exploit the innate fear of death that is harbored by one and all.

Show me a Christian terrified of hell, and I’ll show you a Christian ready to pay good money for the assurance that he is not going there. If you don’t think the “doctrine” of hell is about the accrual of money and power, then … then God bless your naiveté.

For the rest of us, it’s certainly worth asking what a Christianity without hell would look like. Well …

A Christianity without hell would be literally fearless…[i]

Mr. Shore gives no real argument for his position of no hell, although I’m sure he has them. However, several questions come to my mind after reading his article. Why does the Bible talk about hell so much? In fact, Jesus spoke of hell more than heaven. The idea of judgment is pervasive in Jesus’ teaching, but all this can be dismissed by an arbitrary statement that it doesn’t exist.

The article states that a real hell is no more valid than the lie that the Bible condemns homosexuality. We get two for one in this article. Mr. Shore and his like-thinking companions know more about what the Bible says than the writers of the Bible, the early church fathers, and thousands of years of traditional Christians who have believed in a literal interpretation of the text. Their intelligence seems to know no limits, and it is as vast as their arrogance.

Mr. Shore says that teaching the doctrine of a literal hell somehow equals revenue for the teachers. What is hard to believe about that is I don’t see very many people preaching about hell these days. The people making money on TV are preaching a Christianity that makes people feel good not bad.

Mr. Shore says a literal hell doesn’t fit with the spirit of Christianity. What he means is that it doesn’t fit with his version of Christianity, and I would certainly agree. However, it does belong in the original version, the one delivered to us by Jesus. I for one am not buying into Mr. Shore’s Christianity. I believe in a savior that saves people from sin—a sin that if not redeemed would send a person to hell.  Yes, I believe sin separates us from God, but it doesn’t have to because Jesus died on the cross to save us and reconcile us to our Father.

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[i] http://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnshore/2014/10/what-christianity-without-hell-looks-like/