Starting At The Beginning
With the prologue and definition of culture completed in the last article, what has all this to do with culture shaping worship? My premise is simple: everything. Culture warps the subject big-time.
Let’s examine the evidence, starting with the Biblical record, moving on to past societies & finally the present-day one. What we are going to see is that culture affects theology (and conversely, theology affects culture). Remember, culture, by definition, is: “The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs...”, etc... It is the iceberg of human influence.
Starting with Lucifer in heaven as the covering cherub, we find that the culture he was surrounded by certainly affected Lucifer’s theology. Ez.28:15 says, “You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.” This perfect culture helped engender a perfect being, until the mysterious emergence of the founding principle of selfishness gave rise to a competing culture (defined by iniquity). That culture (in Heaven) was one established by God as conducive to universal harmony. The visible & invisible iceberg of heavenly culture could be said to be founded on one principle: self-sacrificing love, from which all the nuances of that culture blossomed in multi-faceted ways across the universe. Notice this:
“The law of love being the foundation of the government of God, the happiness of all intelligent beings depends upon their perfect accord with its great principles of righteousness. God desires from all His creatures the service of love--service that springs from an appreciation of His character. He takes no pleasure in a forced obedience; and to all He grants freedom of will, that they may render Him voluntary service. So long as all created beings acknowledged the allegiance of love, there was perfect harmony throughout the universe of God. It was the joy of the heavenly host to fulfill the purpose of their Creator. They delighted in reflecting His glory and showing forth His praise. And while love to God was supreme, love for one another was confiding and unselfish. There was no note of discord to mar the celestial harmonies..”( PP 34.3}
Certainly this describes the culture of the unfallen universe, pervaded by this simple fundamental. But somehow, the mystery of iniquity that the apostle Paul talks about, raised its ugly head in Lucifer, and began to create a new cultural paradigm, one never known before.
'“Little by little Lucifer came to indulge the desire for self-exaltation. The Scripture says, "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness." Ezekiel 28:17. "Thou hast said in thine heart, . . . I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. . . . I will be like the Most High." Isaiah 14:13, 14. Though all his glory was from God, this mighty angel came to regard it as pertaining to himself (The beginnings of a counter-culture...). Not content with his position, though honored above the heavenly host, he ventured to covet homage due alone to the Creator. Instead of seeking to make God supreme in the affections and allegiance of all created beings, it was his endeavor to secure their service and loyalty to himself. And coveting the glory with which the infinite Father had invested His Son, this prince of angels aspired to power that was the prerogative of Christ alone.
Now the perfect harmony of heaven was broken. Lucifer's disposition to serve himself instead of his Creator aroused a feeling of apprehension when observed by those who considered that the glory of God should be supreme. In heavenly council the angels pleaded with Lucifer. The Son of God presented before him the greatness, the goodness, and the justice of the Creator, and the sacred, unchanging nature of His law. God Himself had established the order of heaven; and in departing from it, Lucifer would dishonor his Maker and bring ruin upon himself. But the warning, given in infinite love and mercy, only aroused a spirit of resistance. Lucifer allowed his jealousy of Christ to prevail, and became the more determined.” {PP 35}(emphasis mine)
Lucifer began to create unknowingly a new culture, a new paradigm, supremely different from “..the order of heaven”.
This is the fountain-head of all culture on earth today. It is the default setting for mankind because of the Fall. External culture is the outworking of inner character. The “behavior patterns, (and) beliefs” that were born out of Lucifer’s antithesis of self-sacrificing love- self serving love -have flooded the world and influenced everything it touches.
We see it begin in the Garden of Eden with Eve. She was convinced through Satan to want something God had not given her, the very same delusion Lucifer had self-nursed in heaven. Here, the culture created by Lucifer in himself and passed on to his fallen compatriots, was injected into the human race through Eve’s desire to “be like God”. Remembering that culture is “.. the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group...” , this in its embryonic form in satan was transferred to earth, supplanting the culture of Heaven created there by God.
It is important here to realize that heaven has a culture; it is not just an earthly phenomenon. And that culture was to be reproduced on Earth, with its DNA self-sacrificing love. (The mere fact that it originates from only one person here is not to be dismissed as “not true culture”, as though culture is all about a body of people, not an individual. All culture starts somewhere. It starts in an individual and is transferred to others, who embrace it, modify it, and transmit it to others.)
The Biblical story of the human race is preeminently the story of one culture usurping another. And, there are in reality only two cultures to consider: the heavenly vs. the earthly.
Unequivocally, in Genesis 1 & 2 humanity started out with the heavenly culture spliced into their social/biological genetics, and in Revelation it will end with that social/biological genetics restored. In between, is the sad story of Satan’s social/genetic/cultural engineering experiment with “the guinea pig race”. I have spliced the words social and biological genetics together on purpose, even though science sees them as mutually exclusive, like two species who cannot cross-breed. Just as it is true that God created mankind genetically & biologically perfect, so He also created a perfect culture for them to live within, patterned after Heaven and defining the true form of our living & worshiping.
Culture did not start with Man; it started in Heaven. If the Bible tells us anything, it tells us that human beings cannot survive biologically if the culture is not correct. Biological death is the end result of the race spliced together with satan’s counterfeit culture.
Where We Went From There
Without being exhaustive, there are clear landmarks in the Bible record of the disposition of Mankind from Eden onward to continue reflecting the culture satan introduced. While some sought to retain the heavenly culture, by the time of the Flood well nigh the whole race had succumbed to the counterfeit culture of God’s adversary. What was the result?
Despite what might be termed the biological intelligence of the race before the Flood, the saturating culture of that time period warped their judgement and they were not able to discern the truth for their age, & they were lost.
With the calling out of Abram, God begins the process of re-introducing the Heavenly culture to Mankind in a more systematic way. And centuries later, as Israel comes out of Egyptian bondage, the first major warning shots are fired across satan’s bow as God at Sinai begins to teach Israel more fully the theology that will shape their culture, which is to be diametrically opposed to the culture of heathendom.
“You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you...”, God says in Deuteronomy 4:2-3. It is here pre-eminently in utterances like this that the battle of culture vs. culture is joined in full force. And so, as the history of Israel progresses through the Bible, we find statements like this accumulating:
“According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 18:3-4).
“Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles” (I Sam.8:19-20).
“And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone” (Ez.20:32).
“When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it” (Deuteronomy 12:29-32).
It is quite apparent from these verses that God understood the danger Israel faced. Just as it was true that His theology would shape Israel’s culture, God also understood that heathen culture would warp & shape their God-given culture. Why? Because they are each mutually exclusive, and the former would find an unfortunate responding cord in Man. Each starts with a basic, fundamental premise: self-sacrificing love, or, self-serving love. The Old Testament is full of the sad history of Israel trying to amalgamate worldly culture with God culture, to the point in fact that by the time the Messiah appeared, the Hellenizing influence of Greek culture upon Israel’s remaining vestiges of her Godly past made her well-nigh blind to the Savior in her midst. They believed they were reflecting God’s culture, though the evidence of Scripture & Jesus’s own words belie the fact.
Jesus’s emphasis on being “born again” is consummately all about the kingdom (culture) of God supplanting the kingdom (culture) of the world in us. His emphasis is emphatic: “...(you) cannot enter the kingdom of God...”(Jn.3:5) unless one is born again.
The Pattern Man
Because Jesus is our example, and we are to “..walk as Jesus walked...” (1 Jn.2:6), our best object-lesson for how to deal with culture is His life. How did Jesus avoid being manipulated by the culture He found Himself in? He became obedient, the book of Philippians says. And how important was that obedience? “..even unto death...” the Bible says.
Jesus understood the inculcated biological/social cultural norms in the race He was born into would naturally derail Him from His mission. What was He obedient to? Every word that proceeded from the mouth of His Father. His mantra was, “It is written”. Written where? In the Bible, the very Bible that today we are told has cultural admonitions in it that are not relevant to our day & age. Jesus nowhere reveals a tendency to pick & choose in the Bible, as though threading a minefield & avoiding some culturally inappropriate explosive nestled there. Ellen White reminds us:
“It takes all of eternity to unfold the glories and bring out the precious treasures of the Word of God. Do not let any living man come to you and begin to dissect God's Word, telling what is revelation, what is inspiration and what is not, without a rebuke. Tell all such they simply do not know. They simply are not able to comprehend the things of the mystery of God. What we want is to inspire faith. We want no one to say, "This I will reject, and this will I receive," but we want to have implicit faith in the Bible as a whole and as it is.
We call on you to take your Bible, but do not put a sacrilegious hand upon it, and say, "That is not inspired," simply because somebody else has said so. Not a jot or tittle is ever to be taken from that Word. Hands off, brethren! Do not touch the ark. Do not lay your hand upon it, but let God move. It is with His own power, and He will work in such a manner that He will compass our salvation. We want God to have some room to work. We do not want man's ideas to bind Him about” {7BC 920.1}.
Taking something “..as it is...” does not imply cultural baggage; quite the contrary. When Scripture says to “..come out and be separate...”, it presupposes that there is something not good that we are to come out of, and a something better to come out to and a benchmark by which to measure it. That benchmark is the Bible, taken “as it reads”.
“The Christian has duties to do in the world, and God holds him responsible for their faithful performance. He is not to confine himself in monastic walls, nor to avoid all association with worldlings. It is true that his principles will be put to the severest test, and he will be pained by what his eyes see and his ears hear. But he must not, by becoming familiar with these sights and sounds, learn to love them. By association with the world, we incline to catch the spirit of the world, and to adopt their customs, tastes, and preferences. But we are commanded, "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters." Never let the world say that worldlings and Christ's followers are alike in their tastes and pursuits; for God has drawn a line between his people and the world. This line of demarcation is broad and deep and clear; it is not so blended with the world that it is not discernible. "The Lord knoweth them that are his." "By their fruits ye shall know them” {ST, May 15, 1884 par. 12}.
Here then, was Christ’s commission to His disciples:
“The Jewish people had been made the depositories of sacred truth; but Pharisaism had made them the most exclusive, the most bigoted, of all the human race. Everything about the priests and rulers--their dress, customs, ceremonies, traditions--made them unfit to be the light of the world. They looked upon themselves, the Jewish nation, as the world. But Christ commissioned His disciples to proclaim a faith and worship that would have in it nothing of caste or country, a faith that would be adapted to all peoples, all nations, all classes of men” {DA 819.4}.
There is no room for conforming to earthly culture in these words. In our last article, we will see what effect culture has had & is having on the Church Jesus began.
Bob Stewart is pastor at Grand Rapids Central SDA Church, and Lowell/Riverside Fellowship in Michigan.