CULTURE & CHRISTIANITY
Kevin Rutherford
Many Jews were living unfaithful and ungodly lives when Jesus came to this earth. John the baptizer and Jesus the Christ preached to them a much needed message of repentance (Mark 1:4-15). Because of the poor example given by so many Jews the name of God was blasphemed by the Gentiles (Romans 2). The hypocritical Jews were still professing to be followers of God but they had given in to the wicked culture of the day and God was not pleased.
When Christianity began to spread to Gentile cities such as
The New Testament specifically and clearly teaches Christians to be different from the culture in which they live any time that culture conflicts with godly and moral living (Romans 12:1, 2). We are not surprised to hear that many of the denominations of men are trying to mold Christianity into a form that pleases those who are tied to the current culture. This is, after all, how the Catholic Church had its beginning. The Catholic Church is a merger of Jewish, Christian, and pagan religious beliefs. The Catholics brought in many pagan religions practices and gave them Christian sounding names in order to appeal to the pagans. They compromised with culture and created a new religion that is distinctly different from New Testament Christianity.
It is wrong, sinful, immoral, and
wicked to change the church in order to fit into the ever-changing culture in
which it lives. The standard for the
church is, and always shall be the New Testament (2 Timothy
Cultural compromisers in the churches of Christ are not ashamed to twist and distort Christianity into a contemporary religion that is not modeled after the pattern in the New Testament. To appeal to the entertainment emphasis in culture they bring in instruments, vocal bands, and choirs. To appeal to the subjective philosophy underlying cultural thought they teach that one does not need to be baptized to be saved, and that one can be added to a man made church and still be saved. They have no respect for the unique authority of Christ to establish His church, nor do they care for the unique character and identity of the church which He established.
Our culture actively promotes
homosexuality. Now some in the church
are seeking to justify this sinful action (Romans
Christians are
giving in to the cultural norms on modesty, and allowing their children to do
the same (Galatians
Someone once said the church is
like a boat and the culture is like the water. The boat has to be in the water, but you don’t
want the water in the boat. The church has to exist within the culture but you
don’t want the culture in the church (1
Corinthians 5:9-13). The arrogant,
yet troubled church at
Swirling, churning, bubbling, and racing are the vile and wicked aspects to our 21st century American culture. Those deadly currents of sin and compromise will pull you under, immerse you in the world, and drown your soul in damnation. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1, 2).