Culture only takes us so far

I once heard someone define culture as a kind of collection of answers to everyday problems. Not necessarily the best answers. Just good enough for us to function without having to analyze every decision. This morning, I put on clothes, ate breakfast, drove on the right side of the road, placed my order at the coffee shop in ounces and with English words. I didn't have to think very hard about any of it.

That's culture. But culture only takes us so far.

Sometimes we find ourselves in new places. Sometimes we don't know the answer (or even the language). Sometimes this not knowing is fun and creative—a welcome challenge. Sometimes it's not.

Yesterday's study in Illuminate considers Paul's discussion of eating food sacrificed to idols (1 Corinthians 8). It's a question that used to have a clear answer for the Corinthians but that—as a result of freedom found in Christ—no longer does. They had to figure out what to do, and they didn't all just agree, probably at least in part because many of the believers came from different sub-cultures (a discussion for another time).

Kara Wenger suggests the tension was between license and legalism. As if we could blame the problem on those disrespectful kids who just want to get away with stuff and don't care about the rules. As if we could blame the problem on those stodgy, old traditionalists who are stuck in the past. 

When it comes to real people, it's never quite that cut and dried. Unfortunately.

The benefit of culture is that it saves us time, makes it easier to function in a world where other people can't be avoided. It helps us to get along. The problem is that culture keeps moving. It is dynamic and fluid, subject to change without notice.

Kind of like people. 

So what do we do?

Kara suggests we approach the question, whatever it is, through love—love of God and love for each other: "The church's goal should be to love." And she challenges us to remember that "how [we] treat one another through life's ups and downs . . . building each other up in love" is ultimately the only answer to whatever cultural question we face.

So what questions are you facing today? And in the face of those questions, how are you doing at loving one another?

Eric Muhr