So this week I was reminded of a problem that we have in Christianity. So a caveat for this article it is directly aimed at my Christian friends but for those of you that are not Christian there is truth here that you can apply to your own belief systems.
I am talking about enculturation. The problem with Enculturation and Christianity is that it is the very nature of Christianity to be able to fit in and be effective in every culture in the world. The problem arises when Christianity fails to have an impact on the culture and the culture succeeds in impacting Christianity.
Christianity has several checks and balances in place within it structures and organizations that keep the culture from infiltrating its teachings. What happens to Christianity and Christians is that these changes are subtle and when asked a Christian will deny their belief but in practice their heretical belief shines brighter than their Christianity.
So let me give you a simple illustration. If I were to ask you what God the Father looked like most people would describe to me a large older white man with a grey beard and a robe sitting on a throne. They would describe his attributes as one that watches over us with intent to protect but also to punish, and that punishment can come in the form of striking you dead usually with a lightning bolt and while you are in the church building no less. The problem with this description is two fold. First there is no description of God the Father in scripture, in fact Jesus said that He was a Spirit. So a well learned and studied Christian should say we have no idea what the Father looks like. Secondly the description given is actually Zeus the greatest of all gods in the Greek polytheistic system. How did this happen? How have Christians been duped into understanding that their God is actually not the God of the Bible and is in fact a false deity? It is enculturation and it happens very subtly.
The illustration I have given you is a very simple one and for the most part has been completely removed within the church of active, personal Christians. What I see taking place today in Christianity is an influence of new age mysticism. The Scriptures have warned us about it. Paul wrote about it to the church at Colossae and Ephesus. That in the latter times that there would be an influx of false teaching from within the church. These kinds of things never happen overnight, it happens when we fail to recognize when it is happening to us and when we do not pay proper attention to the things that we say.
So to be specific, enculturation begins when we allow certain terms and words to enter our vocabulary and do not correct. We know what we mean when we use the term but younger Christians do not and then they hear someone from another faith use the term and believe that the two terms are the same. This is how heresy creeps into the church. The preacher gets up and preaches a sermon straight from the Bible but the terms he is using have been corrupted by the culture and do not mean the same thing that his audience hears him say.
A perfect example of this is the term "the universe". This term made a great influx into Christianity by way of Oprah and the film and book series The Secret. The Secret uses the term the universe as a replacement for the word god or God. I have seen and heard many Christians whom I know to be good Bible believing personal Christian use the term in the place of God. this is very dangerous and we should steer clear of it because even thought we know what we mean the next generation will not know what we mean, and their Doctrine will be corrupted.
Perhaps you feel that I am overreacting but if we do not speak plainly when we are teaching and discipling we will raise a generation of Christians that will not believe in the God of the Bible but will instead believe in a god of their own creation. Consider yourself warned.
- The Pastor
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