What is the Christ & Culture Intersect?

In the last few months I have been a part of and heard many conversations about the connection between Christianity and culture...aka: The Christ and Culture Intersect! They have covered a large array of issues ranging from what the connection should be between Christianity and media...or politics...or social justice issues. These are obviously not all the issues that I have heard talked about or that could be talked about, but they are issues that should be talked about.

During my undergrad, I took a class that dealt specifically with the idea of developing a Biblical Perspective on Current Issues. It was a great class and really helped stimulate thinking on this issue. One thing I loved is that the professor encouraged you to think about this intersect, but did not expect you to agree with him on everything...which is good, because I disagreed with him on a few things. He did however, expect us to be able to defend our positions and make sure they were based on Biblical ideas and thoughts. In that principle, I want to give a couple of Bible passages that I think are very applicable as a base perspective in looking at issues, as well as developing opinions & actions based in reaction to them. The first is Colossians 3 (with a centerpoint being verses 8-17 & 23).

We first see some things that should not be a part of the discussions or our lives for that matter: "anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth; Do not lie to one another". I will make it my goal to avoid these things for myself and ask that those who want to post do the same. The goal of this blog is to promote, in a healthy way, the topics that are being approached. In a healthy diet, one of the top issues is to make sure that one is not ingesting harmful things...things that are unhealthy or poisonous both right away or ones whose side effects are seen over time. We need to conduct ourselves in ways that helping people to draw nearer to God and His Body, NOT build barriers. It is Ok to be passionate, in fact, I encourage it...but try to not use the above methods. Equally important to remember is that we are human and prone to resort to these ways many times...in that, Grace and Forgiveness needs to be remembered as well.

The flip side of the things we should not do is that there are things we should: "put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts...be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you". We need to make sure our diet is filled with things that help us grow in size and stature. We need energy food. We need to eat in ways that enable healthy growth (Patience..."slow down when you eat"...talk through issues).

Here is the ultimate way of thinking about it: "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."
It's the whole "What Would Jesus Do?" aspect in a way. Basically, in view of Christ's life and sacrifice on account of you and I, we need to live as if that is the most important thing. We need to let our lives and language be seasoned with Christ in every aspect of it.

In looking at the intersect of Christ & Culture we need to remember that we have an enemy in Satan who seeks to deceive and divide and he is extremely devious in his schemes. Another class I had during undergrad was one on World Civilizations. The prof had everyone memorize Colossians 2:8 "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ."

Recently we have seen the rise of Christian groups that are basically seeing & approaching God and the Bible through the lens of their culture. When they don't match up, they opt to adjust their view of God and the Bible. They are questioning THE standard of truth, rather then adjusting their view of the culture. As Christians, we are to view everything...EVERYTHING, though the lens of God and the Bible. When they don't match up, we need to question the culture NOT God.

Please...join along and feel free to express your ideas/thoughts and know that you can do so passionately. Those that know me, know that I am passionate about a few things but I try to stay informed on them, so as to discuss them intelligently. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, just as I will probably disagree with others at times...but that is how we refine each other, but we can only refine and build up each other if we do it in the above ways.

Feel free to state your own opinions and to also include articles, links, videos, etc...that you feel add to the discussion. Please make sure that you cite your sites :-)! No Plagiarism! I know there are times when it can be hard to articulately make a point, but that doesn't take away the validity of your perspective...feel free to refer to someone who makes your point in an understandable way.

I look forward to our discussions...or at least hope there will be discussions. I'm just hoping the that people will even come to this page at this point. :-)

~James