Ridgell's Originals

 People live in different cultures.  Political systems are different.  Economic systems are different.  Cultural belief systems are differnt.

Jesus is not different.  God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

So no matter the culture, people sin.  No matter the culture, God loves the people that live in that culture.  Jesus died for the people of all cultures.

I believe the Bible to be true in every culture.  I do not think the truth of Scripture is a moving target depending on the culture you live in.  

But how we live that truth is different in differnt cultures.

Here are a couple of examples.  

I believe baptism is our participation in the death of Jesus.  Our sins are forgiven and we get the Holy Spirit to live in us.  True across every culture.  

But baptism does not look the same in every culture.  I grew up in a church culture where the preacher did 90% of the baptisms.  Now you see a lot of Dads and granddads baptizing their kids.  I think that is a great development.  Don't think it was wrong before.  There are cultures where almost all baptisms are in bodies of water like lakes, rivers, ponds, etc.  And I live in a culture where almost all baptisms are in water help in baptistries or pools.  Still baptism.

Chrisian service is different in different cultures.  I grew up in a culture where if someone was hungry, you would take something to them from your garden.  Today, we do shopping trips or even give gift cards. 

There are cultures where taking care of the sick is literal.  Not so much in the culture I live in.  But praying for the sick is the same.

Worship looks different in different cultures.  Singing.  How you take communion.  In my culture, it is almost always grape juice.  In other cultures, wine.  Sometimes homemade.

And it sure is easy to confuse truth and culture.  

Everyone has heard the stories of American missionaries who taught the gospel.  And then taught the gospel of the American culture.  Buildings and budgets.  Worship order and style.

Some even try and determine truth based on culture.

But here is the one thing I am absolutely sure about when it comes to Chrisitans and culture.  Christians will never be at home in any culture.  Never.  This world is not our home.  Our allegiance is to a greater Kingdom than anything here.

And if your faith is really comfortable in your culture... you probably need to examine your faith more closely.

Just thinking out loud...

But I think truth is truth in any culture.  How we live out that truth may look a little different.

# posted by Steve @ 5:00 AM