I think I hit something profound a while ago during class...
We've been studying cross-cultural communication, how things get in the way, stuff gets misread and differences in cultures just totally confuse the process. So at one point we were discussing missions and taking the gospel to a culture radically different from our own and how to separate the gospel from our culture. Often when missionaries enter a culture, they spread Western culture as well, which is not only necessary but destructive and not, in my opinion, God' desire for the nations of the world. I don't think that what we have going on in the West is the answer to all the world's problems or the perfect society...I know, heresy right?
So my desire is to determine which parts of my faith are the result of Biblical foundation or Western culture, ie does a gathering of believers have to happen in a church building from 9-12 on Sunday mornings or can it happen in the evening on Friday when it's cool and the majority of people have the day off? Are we propagating Jesus Christ or the American Dream? And how do I discern which is which? It turns out this whole worldview thing goes a bit deeper than I realized!
The very assumption that life has value is just that-an assumption. There are vast portions of humanity that assume time is fluid and cyclical, so it's not a big deal if things don't work out in these 80-90 years. Whether or not they're wrong has nothing to do with it; the fact that it's what they believe means every time I communicate with them it will be from the foundation of this belief. The difficulty I was confronted with today is the vastness of the gap between myself and other cultures. To become truly a part of another culture is very nearly impossible for me, if I'm totally honest.
How can I possibly hope to understand people well enough to represent Christ to them? I feel so totally incompetent. I feel like a very warped and distorted mirror.
Before I move on to the solution to my overwhelmed state...another thought that beat me up today. (All of this courtesy of lots of authors and the teaching of David Stone :) )
Christianity is not a Western religion. It began in the heart of the Middle East, right next to where Islam began and not far from the birth places of every other major religion. The first disciples of Christ moved up into Western Asia first then eventually spread into Europe, where presumably we 'Westerners' were just as uncivilized, wicked and deceived as the rest of the world. So why is Christianity perceived as a Western Religion?
Pause for effect....
because we have so closely tied our culture and worldview with Christianity that we can no longer see the difference. When we aim to spread Christianity, we export capitalism, linear logic, anti-hierarchy, individualism and so much more that is neither good nor bad, simply NOT Christianity. We demand the culture change so that they can understand our logical explanations of theological issues and such, instead of recognizing pre-existing traditional mediums of communication of truth-most often story telling and communal learning/decision making. We knee-jerk away from so many things, when in reality the thing in itself is amoral, having no applicable Biblical principal for guidance. Ok....I think that's the end of that light bulb.
So back to my dilemma of realizing how far I still have to go to adapt to this culture, how different the people really are at heart, and how horrible I am at communicating with the other person in mind. It dawned on me that although this is my responsibility, it's much simpler than it feels.
The answer is love. :) Sounds simplistic huh? So remember that whole 'Love is patient, love is kind,' verse? Well, the end flicked through my mind at that moment during class. Love never fails-faith, hope and love abide, but the greatest of these three is love. Wow...is there a pattern in life here? It seems like love is kind of a big deal, but maybe that's just me. Love and humility, I think I keep relearning those ones over and over and over again. Anyway, so love is like the ultimate piece, the ultimate element of God's character that expresses who he is. (Well duh, God is love...sheesh, think I would remember these things.)
So when I'm trying desperately to pierce through the ambiguity of communicating the gospel in someone else's cultural mindset, the most important thing for me to communicate is love. My love, God's love, love itself if necessary-this is the answer. Not that I tell them, 'God loves you,' sixty times in a row instead of using some of those breaths to talk about the rest of who God is and the story of Christ. The undertone, the implicit message, the writing between the lines of everything I say and do needs to scream LOVE!!!!! If something else is coming out, it had better jive with love otherwise my representation of God will be faulty.
Ok, so at first I was relieved that the answer to my overwhelmed-ness was such a simple answer, but obviously living love is not easy. Walking it out is....hard. Like whoa, it's hard. But in some ways it does take the pressure off-I don't have to be a genius to love people well. There are things i need to learn, like how to express love in this culture, what really hits that nerve deep down in people's hearts, you know? We all know love when we see it in America (Titanic is a crapy example, btw. In the words of Jason Witt, “There was totally room on that piece of wood for the two of them, man! Move over lady!!!” My thoughts exactly. haha)
So the closer I grow to God, the more I will understand his love, the foundational stuff that transcends culture and verbal communication. The more I gaze upon him, the more I will be transformed into his likeness!
We've been studying cross-cultural communication, how things get in the way, stuff gets misread and differences in cultures just totally confuse the process. So at one point we were discussing missions and taking the gospel to a culture radically different from our own and how to separate the gospel from our culture. Often when missionaries enter a culture, they spread Western culture as well, which is not only necessary but destructive and not, in my opinion, God' desire for the nations of the world. I don't think that what we have going on in the West is the answer to all the world's problems or the perfect society...I know, heresy right?
So my desire is to determine which parts of my faith are the result of Biblical foundation or Western culture, ie does a gathering of believers have to happen in a church building from 9-12 on Sunday mornings or can it happen in the evening on Friday when it's cool and the majority of people have the day off? Are we propagating Jesus Christ or the American Dream? And how do I discern which is which? It turns out this whole worldview thing goes a bit deeper than I realized!
The very assumption that life has value is just that-an assumption. There are vast portions of humanity that assume time is fluid and cyclical, so it's not a big deal if things don't work out in these 80-90 years. Whether or not they're wrong has nothing to do with it; the fact that it's what they believe means every time I communicate with them it will be from the foundation of this belief. The difficulty I was confronted with today is the vastness of the gap between myself and other cultures. To become truly a part of another culture is very nearly impossible for me, if I'm totally honest.
How can I possibly hope to understand people well enough to represent Christ to them? I feel so totally incompetent. I feel like a very warped and distorted mirror.
Before I move on to the solution to my overwhelmed state...another thought that beat me up today. (All of this courtesy of lots of authors and the teaching of David Stone :) )
Christianity is not a Western religion. It began in the heart of the Middle East, right next to where Islam began and not far from the birth places of every other major religion. The first disciples of Christ moved up into Western Asia first then eventually spread into Europe, where presumably we 'Westerners' were just as uncivilized, wicked and deceived as the rest of the world. So why is Christianity perceived as a Western Religion?
Pause for effect....
because we have so closely tied our culture and worldview with Christianity that we can no longer see the difference. When we aim to spread Christianity, we export capitalism, linear logic, anti-hierarchy, individualism and so much more that is neither good nor bad, simply NOT Christianity. We demand the culture change so that they can understand our logical explanations of theological issues and such, instead of recognizing pre-existing traditional mediums of communication of truth-most often story telling and communal learning/decision making. We knee-jerk away from so many things, when in reality the thing in itself is amoral, having no applicable Biblical principal for guidance. Ok....I think that's the end of that light bulb.
So back to my dilemma of realizing how far I still have to go to adapt to this culture, how different the people really are at heart, and how horrible I am at communicating with the other person in mind. It dawned on me that although this is my responsibility, it's much simpler than it feels.
The answer is love. :) Sounds simplistic huh? So remember that whole 'Love is patient, love is kind,' verse? Well, the end flicked through my mind at that moment during class. Love never fails-faith, hope and love abide, but the greatest of these three is love. Wow...is there a pattern in life here? It seems like love is kind of a big deal, but maybe that's just me. Love and humility, I think I keep relearning those ones over and over and over again. Anyway, so love is like the ultimate piece, the ultimate element of God's character that expresses who he is. (Well duh, God is love...sheesh, think I would remember these things.)
So when I'm trying desperately to pierce through the ambiguity of communicating the gospel in someone else's cultural mindset, the most important thing for me to communicate is love. My love, God's love, love itself if necessary-this is the answer. Not that I tell them, 'God loves you,' sixty times in a row instead of using some of those breaths to talk about the rest of who God is and the story of Christ. The undertone, the implicit message, the writing between the lines of everything I say and do needs to scream LOVE!!!!! If something else is coming out, it had better jive with love otherwise my representation of God will be faulty.
Ok, so at first I was relieved that the answer to my overwhelmed-ness was such a simple answer, but obviously living love is not easy. Walking it out is....hard. Like whoa, it's hard. But in some ways it does take the pressure off-I don't have to be a genius to love people well. There are things i need to learn, like how to express love in this culture, what really hits that nerve deep down in people's hearts, you know? We all know love when we see it in America (Titanic is a crapy example, btw. In the words of Jason Witt, “There was totally room on that piece of wood for the two of them, man! Move over lady!!!” My thoughts exactly. haha)
So the closer I grow to God, the more I will understand his love, the foundational stuff that transcends culture and verbal communication. The more I gaze upon him, the more I will be transformed into his likeness!
This is real good Laura. i might remember this post and copy and paste it into some paper i'll probably have to write during our 'senior year.' this has also been a major topic of discussion with us too. it's so interesting to think about how much of what we think is part of this whole being a christian thing really isn't. it's just added on.
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